History of the Crusades

the Crusades Episode 22, the Knights Templar Part 1.

Hello again.

Over the past few weeks we've been looking at the establishment of the crusader states and generally following the history of the

crusades in chronological order. Well today we are going to take a break from that. This is the first specialist episode.

The specialist episodes will delve into a topic in more detail than would be the case if it was just part of the chronology.

You could of course skip these episodes if you want and it wouldn't affect the chronology

although the episode on Eleanor of Aquitaine coming up in a few weeks

will include quite a bit of background to the Second Crusade, so you wouldn't want to miss that one.

Hopefully these specialist episodes will improve your knowledge about topics

relevant to the Crusades and hopefully you'll find them interesting.

So with no further ado, let's get started.

Around the year 1118, French Knight in Jerusalem, called Hugh de Pan, had an idea.

It was a pretty radical idea and he must have pondered on it a lot and talked it over with his fellow knights before

deciding to act on it.

His idea was this, what if you were to take a group of knights and incorporate them into a religious order?

The purpose of a knight was clearly to fight on behalf of their patron,

whether that be the king of Jerusalem or a nobleman to whom they owed allegiance back in Europe.

But what if the Knights wore allegiance only to God?

Monestries were common in medieval Europe full of men who had dedicated themselves to God, living lives of poverty, chastity and obedience, spending their days in quiet contemplation and undertaking

charitable deeds.

What thought you would happen if you bought a group of knights together, had them swear vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience,

...