The Order of the Knights Templar was founded in 1118 in Jerusalem by Hugues de Payens, a French Knight from Champagne, in the years that followed the First Crusade. Payens, the Order´s first Grand Master, and eight companions took a vow to protect pilgrims travelling along the routes to the Holy Land.
The Templars were one of two major military religious orders - the other being the Hospitalers - that were set up during this time with the encouragement of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, the head of the Cistersian Order and the power behind the Papacy.
With St. Bernard as their patron, the Poor Fellow Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon (Ordo Pauperum Commilitonum Christi Templique Salomonici) were formally approved by the Council of Troyes in 1128. Their rule was written by St. Bernard himself based on the Cistercian one, and was accepted by Pope Innocent II. Their distinctive uniform - the white tunic and red cross - were added later.
The Templars were warrior monks who took the monastic vow of poverty, chastity and obedience, but also had special dispensation to fight and shed blood. They were given quarters in the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem which was wrongly believed to have been the site of Solomon´s Temple, hence their title.
Apart from being excellent warriors and the most terrifying special forces of their time, the Templars quickly became immensely influential attracting within their ranks many noble members. They grew in wealth and acquired property throughout Christendom. Kings and noblemen all over Europe donated gifts of land, and soon the Order was second only to the Church itself in its influence and power.
When Jerusalem fell in 1187, the Knights of the Temple moved to Acre with the Knights Hospitaler where a great rivalry and hatred developed between the two orders.
In 1291, Acre, too, fell and the Templars were forced to go to Cyprus. This, however, did nothing to lessen their power. On the contrary, their wealth allowed them to set up the first modern banking system and to act as bankers to the nobility of most of Europe.
