Message #241468

[Templar]

HUGH DE PAYENS AND THE KNIGHTS TEMPLAR:



Sir Hugh de Pagen (Payens) was a French (noble) knight from Champagne. He was thought to have been a man of deep religious values, humility, and valor. Hugh was married to Catherine St. Clair, and after her death he took his religious vows (Wasserman, James. The Templars and the Assassins: The Militia of Heaven. Rochester, Vermont: Inner Traditions, 2001, 156). Hugh was nearly fifty (50) years of age, when he founded the Order of the Poor Knights of The Temple of Solomon (The Knights Templar). Hugh was a veteran of the First Crusade (in 1099) and had spent twenty-two years of his life east of Europe. In 1118/1119, "Hughes and eight other knights, took vows of obedience to Warmund of Picquigny, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, resolving to live in holy poverty and charity, and to devote themselves to the care and protection of Christian pilgrims..." (ibid).

The Templars were given lodgings in the al-Aqsa mosque near the Dome of the Rock, which was thought to have been the original site of the Temple of Solomon. The Templars were founded in 1118, and were dedicated to the survival of both the pilgrims and Christendom in the Holy Lands. The first Templar preceptory outside the Holy Land was built on the St. Clair/Sinclair Estate in Scotland.

Hugues (Hugh) de Payens was a cousin and vassal of the Comte de Champayne. The first crusade resulted in the fall of Jerusalem, and established the Christian states of Jerusalem, Antoich, Tripoli, and Edessa. About 3,000 knights set out from Constantinople with 12,000 infantry. Hugh and Godfrey St. Omer founded the Order of the Templars of the Cross, which gained great size and power during the Middle Ages. He (Hugh) was sent by Baldwin II of Palestine as envoy to the Kings of France and England, and he was a famous crusader. In Robert Payne's book, The Dream of the Tomb: A History of the Crusades, it states that Hugh appeared to have been sweet-tempered, totally dedicated, and ruthless on behalf of the faith. The Knights Templar were Soldiers of Christ, ascetic almost to fanaticism, single-minded to the exclusion of all ideas except the worship of God and the annihilation of the Saracens (125). Even though Christ had urged his followers not to kill, the Templars were now to kill in his name. St Bernard decided that killing infidels was not to be considered homicide, but malicide (the killing of evil).

The Templars were to safeguard the lives of pilgrims who flocked to Jerusalem and other holy places. They were armed monks, priestly swordbearers, chivalrous only on behalf of God, and shock troops to fight righteous battles. Their courage was legendary.

Saewulf wrote: The Saracens lie in the mountain caves to surprise Christians ... Saewulf, with his Anglo-Saxon companions, arrived at a time when the King of Jerusalem was first established. Hundreds died before they saw Jerusalem's golden gates.


http://www.angelfire.com/mi4/polcrt/KnightsTemplar1.html