Templars in Switzerland - then and now

As we have argued in an earlier post, certain historians and conspiracists alike suggest that the Knights Templar did in fact form Switzerland.  The evidence and likelyhood seem plausible. At the same time hard evidence is scarce and circumstantial at best. 

An historical fact is that the Order of the Temple counted on the current Swiss territory only two commanderies: La Chaux and Geneva.

 La Chaux in Cossonay is attested in 1223 and Geneva (district of Rive) is quoted in 1277. These had other dependent houses, particularly in Cologny, Bénex (commune of Prangins) and Entremont (commune of Yvonand). All these establishments belonged to the baillie (or preceptory) of Burgundy, subdivision of the Templar province of France. La Chaux Commanderie was given by the lords of Cossonay to the Knights Templar before 1223. 

This commandery does not seem to have been particularly profitable, because in 1277 part of the possessions was sold to the Franciscan order to pay debts. After the dissolution of the Order, it passed in 1315 to the Knights of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. The commandery depended the hospices of Orbe, Villars-Sainte-Croix and Montbrelloz. After the Protestant Reformation in the 16th Century, the commandery was secularized, subordinated to the last commander, then in 1539 to the brothers of the reformer Guillaume Farel, finally sold in 1540 to Robert du Gard.

In Geneva there is a Ruelle de Templiers. This name comes from a house and a chapel of the Knights Templar who were there. At the suppression of the order in 1312 they passed, as everywhere, to the Hospitallers of Saint John. This establishment was destroyed in 1534 with the suburbs of the left bank.

There is no credible academic evidence that any substantial group of Templar knights continued as an organized military or religious community in Switzerland after 1312. Many popular and internet sources, including non-academic blogs, pseudo-historical narratives, and conspiracy-leaning accounts, claim that Templars escaped to Switzerland or founded Swiss institutions. These theories sometimes invoke the coincidence of Switzerland’s foundation around 1291 or alleged folk memories of “white knights”, but such stories are not supported by scholarly documentation. These suggest that former Templar properties were subsumed under other orders or secular powers, such as the Knights Hospitaller. This aligns with the broader European pattern of Templar dissolution, in which surviving members were either pensioned off, or integrated into Hospitaller structures. Johanniter (Hospitaller) Commanderies were present all over Switzerland, and are still present there.

Modern Swiss Knights Templar, probably part of the OSMTH.net branch, though this Order is not referred to explicitely on the website, are organized in the Commandery Bertrand de Blanquefort, situated in the hart of Geneva, and the Commandery André de Montbard at Kanton Vaud (no town mentioned).

This blog is mainly based on the text on La Chaux on Wikipedia and sources mentioned therein as well as quick literature scan with main links referenced in the text. The top illustration, own work by Alexey M (source), shows La Chaux Commandery and the bottom illustration (source) shows the two historic commanderies in Switzerland. Top Illustration Wikipedia CC BY-SA 4.0. 

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