THE HISTORY
OF
The Knights Templars,
THE
TEMPLE CHURCH, AND THE TEMPLE.
BY CHARLES G. ADDISON, ESQ.
OF THE INNER TEMPLE.
TESTIS SVM AGNI.
LONDON:
LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS,
PATERNOSTER ROW.
1842.
LONDON:
PRINTED BY G. J. PALMER, SAVOY STREET, STRAND.
TO THE
MASTERS OF THE BENCH OF THE HONOURABLE SOCIETIES
OF THE
Inner and Middle Temple,
THE RESTORERS
OF
The Antient Church of the Knights Templars,
THIS WORK
IS
RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED
BY
THE AUTHOR.
PREFACE.
The extraordinary and romantic career of the Knights Templars, theirexploits and their misfortunes, render their history a subject of peculiarinterest.
Born during the first fervour of the Crusades, they were flattered andaggrandized as long as their great military power and religious fanaticismcould be made available for the support of the Eastern church and theretention of the Holy Land, but when the crescent had ultimately triumphedover the cross, and the religio-military enthusiasm of Christendom haddied away, they encountered the basest ingratitude in return for theservices they had rendered to the christian faith, and were plundered,persecuted, and condemned to a cruel death, by those who ought in justiceto have been their defenders and supporters. The memory of these holywarriors is embalmed in all our recollections of the wars of the cross;they were the bulwarks of the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem during the shortperiod of its existence, and were the last band of Europe’s host thatcontended for the possession of Palestine.
To the vows of the monk and the austere life of the convent,[Pg viii] the Templarsadded the discipline of the camp, and the stern duties of the militarylife, joining
“The fine vocation of the sword and lance,
With the gross aims, and body-bending toil
Of a poor brotherhood, who walk the earth
Pitied.”
The vulgar notion that the Templars were as wicked as they were fearlessand brave, has not yet been entirely exploded; but it is hoped that thecopious account of the proceedings against the order in this country,given in the ninth and tenth chapters of the ensuing volume, will tend todispel many unfounded prejudices still entertained against the fraternity,and excite emotions of admiration for their constancy and courage, and ofpity for their unmerited and cruel fate.
Matthew Paris, who wrote at St. Albans, concerning events inPalestine, tells us that the emulation between the Templars andHospitallers frequently broke out into open warfare to the great scandaland prejudice of Christendom, and that, in a pitched battle fought betweenthem, the Templars were slain to a man. The solitary testimony of MatthewParis, who was no friend to the two orders, is invalidated by the silenceof contemporary historians, who wrote on the spot; and it is quite evidentfrom the letters of the po