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Knights Templar

medieval Christian military order, 1118–1312

39 dated entries naming Knights Templar, drawn from 36 separate years between 1118 CE and 1320 CE. Nothing here is written by us: each line is the sentence a Wikipedia year article used, and the link beside it opens the exact revision.

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12th century

  • 1118Knights Templar were founded in Jerusalemsource
  • 1120Baldwin II grants the Knights Templar under Hugues de Payens and Godfrey de Saint-Omer a headquarters in a wing of the royal palace on the Temple Mount in the captured Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem.source
  • 1122King Alfonso the Battler of Aragon creates the lay community of knights known as the Confraternity of Belchite. It is the first local attempt to imitate the Order of the Knights Templar created in Palestine.source
  • 1128Honorius II recognizes and confirms the Order of the Knights Templar. The French abbot Bernard of Clairvaux codifies the rule of the Order. Hugues de Payens, French Grand Master of the Order, visits both England and Scotland, where he raises men and money for the Order.source
  • 1131The Knights Templars appear in the North-East of Spain and are receiving privileges from King Alfonso I (the Battler). The Templars support him to regain land from the Almoravids. Alfonso grants them exemption of tax on a fifth of the wealth taken from the Muslims. The Templars found their first stronghold in Aragon.source
  • 1134Called by Olegarius, the bishop of Tarragona, the Knights Templar establish their first stronghold in Catalonia.source
  • 1144Autumn – Geoffrey de Mandeville, 1st Earl of Essex, is mortally wounded by a stray arrow received in a skirmish. Because he is an outlaw, his burial is denied at the monastery he has founded, Walden Abbey. Geoffrey's body is eventually accepted by the Knights Templar community for burial within the Temple Church in London.source
  • 1158Summer – King Henry II of England travels to France to meet King Louis VII and propose a marriage between his three-year-old son Henry and Louis' daughter Margaret (less than a year old). She is shipped to England, as the future wife and queen. The Vexin region is promised to Margaret as dowry and is put under the care of the Knights Templar, until her future husband is old enough to take control of it.source
  • 1160The island of Lundy is granted to the Knights Templar by Henry II of England.source
  • 1160A plot of land at Miholjanec is donated to the Knights Templar, who build a monastery in nearby Zdelia. This is the earliest historical mention of the Templars in Croatia and Hungary.source
  • 1170Winter – Egyptian forces, led by Saladin, invade the Kingdom of Jerusalem, and besiege Darum on the Mediterranean coast. Its defenses are weak, and though Saladin has no siege engines with him, the fall seems imminent. King Amalric I withdraws his Templar garrison from Gaza, to assist him in defending Darum. Saladin raises the siege and marches on Gaza, where he captures the lower town (despite the stiff resistance ordered by Lord Miles of Plancy), and massacres the inhabitants. However, the citadel is too strong for Saladin, and he is forced to retreat to Egypt.source
  • 1179June 10 – Battle of Marj Ayyun: A Crusader army (some 10,000 men) led by Baldwin IV is defeated by Muslim forces under Saladin near the Litani River (modern Lebanon). The Knights Templar join the battle, but they are driven back in confusion. Baldwin narrowly escapes being captured in the route. Amongst Saladin's prisoners are Odo de St. Amand, Grand Master of the Templars, and Lord Baldwin of Ibelin.source
  • 1184The first royal ordinance demanding that the Knights Templar and Hospitaller assist in the collection of taxes is promulgated.source
  • 1185Evidence is first uncovered that Henry II of England is using the safes of the Temple Church in London (consecrated February 10), under the guard of the Knights Templar, to store part of his treasure.source
  • 1187April 29 – A delegation under Balian of Ibelin is sent to Tiberias, to reconcile with Raymond III, prince of Galilee. After Easter, a second delegation (supported by the Knights Templar and Knights Hospitaller) is sent to Tripoli, but the situation remains unchanged.source
  • 1191August 25–26 – Richard I leads a fast-moving advance-guard and establishes a strong position at the fortress near Merle before Saladin arrives. He then hurries back to support the rearguard, to regain contact with the Crusader forces. Richard reorganizes his marching column. The elite Templar and Hospitaller knights hold the van and rearguard, while Richard and a central mass of knights are screened on their landward left side by dense ranks of well-armoured infantry, whose panoply makes them almost immune to Muslim missile attacks.source

13th century

  • 1203First evidence that the Temple in London is extending loans to John, King of England. The sums remain small, but are often used for critical operations, such as the ransoming of the king's soldiers captured by the French.source
  • 1216February 14 – Leo I, King of Armenia ("the Magnificent"), with support of the Knights Hospitaller, reconquers the Principality of Antioch. Armenian troops enter Antioch while Prince Bohemond IV of Antioch ("the One-Eyed") is absent. The Knights Templar, supporting Bohemond, abandon the citadel, and Raymond-Roupen is installed as Prince of Antioch by the Latin Patriarch, Peter II.source
  • 1241April 9 – Battle of Legnica: The Mongols, under the command of Baidar, Kadan and Orda Khan, defeat the feudal Polish nobility, including the Knights Templar.source
  • 1242Spring – The Templar Knights raid the city of Hebron. Meanwhile, An-Nasir Dawud, Ayyubid ruler of Damascus, sends forces to cut off the road to Jerusalem, and to levy tolls on the pilgrims and merchants that pass by.source
  • 1248December – Louis IX decides to spend the winter on Cyprus to make preparations against Egypt. Meanwhile, the nobles persuade him to start negotiations with Sultan As-Salih Ayyub to intervene in the internal Ayyubid affairs. But Louis rejects this offer and orders the Knights Templar to break off their negotiations with As-Salih.source
  • 1256War of Saint Sabas: A dispute between Venice and Genoa arises about concerning land in Acre owned by Mar Saba but claimed by both Venice and Genoa – which leads to a Genoese attack of the monastery in the Venetian quarter. The Venetians are supported by Pisa and the Knights Templar, while the Genoese are joined by the Knights Hospitaller.source
  • 1263The Lord Edward, son and heir of Henry III of England, seizes £10,000 which had been deposited to the trust of the Knights Templar in London by foreign merchants and English magnates.source
  • 1266July 23 – Siege of Safed: Mamluk forces capture the castle of Safed, defended by a garrison of 1,700 men (including some 500 Knights Templar), after a 6-week siege. Sultan Baibars promises safe conduct but when the Christians and Templars are on their way towards Acre, they are seized and beheaded.source
  • 1271February – Mamluk forces led by Sultan Baibars continue their territorial expansion in western Syria and appear before Safita Castle (called the White Castle) built by the Knights Templar. After a heroic defense, the small garrison is advised by Grand Master Thomas Bérard to surrender. The survivors are allowed to withdraw to Tortosa.source
  • 1290October – Qalawun orders a general mobilization of the Mamluk forces. In a council, it is decided that a peace delegation be sent to Cairo under Guillaume de Beaujeu, Grand Master of the Knights Templar. However, Qalawun demands huge compensation for those killed in Acre, and sends a Syrian army to the coast of Palestine, near Caesarea.source
  • 1291July – Thibaud Gaudin arrives with the surviving knights, with the treasure of the Order, in Sidon. There, he is elected as Grand Master of the Knights Templar, to succeed Guillaume de Beaujeu (who was mortally wounded during the siege of Acre). Shortly after, Mamluk forces attack Sidon and Gaudin (who has not had enough knights to defend) evacuates the city and moves to the Sidon Sea Castle on July 14.source
  • 1299December – Mongol forces (some 10,000 men) led by Ghazan Khan cross the Euphrates River and invade Syria. They continue south, and successfully take Aleppo. There, Ghazan is joined by forces from his vassal state of Cilician Armenia. King Hethum II leads the Armenian army (which includes Templar and Hospitaller knights). He participates during the Mongol offensive and regains all the Armenian territories which have previously been lost to the Mamluks.source

14th century

  • 1306April 26 – French knight Amalric, Lord of Tyre, with the aid of the Knights Templar, stages a Coup d'état against his older brother Henry II, King of Cyprus. Although Henry remains the nominal king, he is confined at the Cypriot city of Strovolos, and Amalric assumes all of the King's powers. Amalric will be assassinated in 1310.source
  • 1306July 22 – The Great Exile of 1306: King Philip IV of France turns his attentions to Italian bankers and orders the Jews to be exiled in France. The Jewish quarter in Paris is cleared and goods are confiscated – to regain money spent on expanding the domains of Flanders and Gascony. Meanwhile, rumors of a secret initiation ceremony of the Knights Templar create distrust, and Philip – while being deeply in debt to the Order for loans from his war against England, uses this distrust for political and religious motivations against the Templars.source
  • 1307October 13 – King Philip IV of France orders the arrest of all members of the Knights Templar in France. The Templars, together with their Grand Master Jacques de Molay, are imprisoned, interrogated, and tortured into confessing heresy. In Paris, the king's inquisitors torture some 140 Templars, most of whom eventually make confessions. Many are subjected to "fire torture": their legs are fastened in an iron frame and the soles of their feet are greased with fat or butter. Unable to withstand these tortures, many Templars eventually confess.source
  • 1308August 12 – Pope Clement V publishes the papal bull Faciens Misericordiam ("The granting of forgiveness"), absolving the Knights Templar from charges of heresy and declaring that the Roman Catholic Church, rather than any individual nation, will be in charge of future charges against the Knights. On the same day, he issues the bull Regnans in coelis, summoning what will become the Council of Vienne in 1311.source
  • 1308June 28 – After 138 members of the Knights Templar were convicted of heresy on October 19, 1307, a trial is held for 54 Templars who testify before Pope Clement V, with most confessing to at least one charge.source
  • 1310May 12 – In France, 54 members of the Knights Templar are burned at the stake for heresy at Paris, on orders of King Philip IV of France (Philip the Fair). Pope Clement V attempts to take control of the situation by issuing a papal bull, to assert the Church's authority over the matter and demands Philip turn over the Templars and their property to ecclesiastical officials, who will then try the Templars for charges themselves. (→ Trials of the Knights Templar)source
  • 1311October 16 – Council of Vienne: Pope Clement V convokes the 15th Ecumenical Council at Vienne, France, in the presence of 20 cardinals, about 100 archbishops and bishops, and a number of abbots and priors. The main item on the agenda of the council is the Order of the Knights Templar. Clement passes papal bulls to dissolve the Templar Order, confiscate their lands, and label them as heretics.source
  • 1312March 22 – Pope Clement V, under pressure from King Philip IV of France, officially disbands the Order of the Knights Templar at the Council of Vienne, issuing the bull Vox in excelso. The Order's property and monetary assets are given to a rival order, the Knights Hospitaller. Meanwhile, Jacques de Molay, last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, is held in prison in Paris, where he is forced to commit false confessions.source
  • 1314March 18 – Jacques de Molay, Grand Master of the Knights Templar and Geoffroi de Charney, are, by orders of King Philip IV of France ("Philip the Fair"), burned at the stake in front of the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris on the Île de la Cité in the Seine. Jacques declares his innocence and that the Templar Order is also innocent of all the charges of heresy. It is said that Jacques correctly predicts the deaths of both Philip and Pope Clement V within the year.source
  • 1319March 14 – The Military Order of Christ (Ordem Militar de Cristo) is established in Portugal by King Denis of Portugal after Pope John XXII issues the papal bull Ad ea ex quibus. The new Order is the revival of former Knights Templar who had aided the Kingdom of Portugal in its post-war reconstruction.source
  • 1320February 15 – Pope John XXII grants a mandate to the Archbishop of York, William Melton, to order restitution of confiscated Knights Templar property in England to the Knights Hospitaller.source

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