History of the Templars

exploits, and the last their deplorable end.

Their order did not last two hundred years; it began in 1118 and was abolished in 1312. (1) It originated in Jerusalem: several knights, noble and God-fearing men, devoted themselves to His service original: "à son service"; referring to the service of God or the Holy Sepulchre. in the hands of the patriarch, and promised to live perpetually in chastity, obedience, and poverty, like canons Canons were members of the clergy who lived in a community attached to a cathedral or church, following a specific rule of life.. The two principal founders were Hugues de Payens and Geoffroi (2) de Saint-Aldemar*, and as they had neither a church nor a fixed residence, the King of Jerusalem, Baldwin II Baldwin II was the second King of Jerusalem, reigning from 1118 to 1131., gave them lodgings

(*) Dupuy Pierre Dupuy (1582–1651), a French scholar and librarian who wrote a famous history of the Templars' trial. says Geoffroi de Saint-Omer and adds that the names of the seven other founders are unknown.