THE KNIGHTS TEMPLAR
1119
‘POOR FELLOW-SOLDIERS’
A French knight called Hugues de Payens establishes a monastic order of the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ in Jerusalem. Tasked with protecting Christian pilgrims on the routes to the Holy City, they are headquartered on the Temple Mount from 1128. This gives them their name Templars.
1139-45
OMNE DATUM OPTIMUM
In 1139 Pope Innocent II that officially endorses the Templars and exempts them from tithes and taxes. Two further bulls in 1144 and 1145 greatly increase Templar privileges, including the right to build their own churches.
