The Templars established themselves in the duchy of Brittany in the
second quarter of the twelfth century, perhaps as early as 1128, during
the travels in western Europe of the first master of the order, Hugh of
Payns.
The Templars lived on well beyond the Middle Ages in the local
collective memory, in spite of the poorness of the buildings which may
be directly ascribed to them.
Even if the present paper is interested in
the traditions and myths the Templars provoked in Brittany, it is based
on medieval and modern sources which are not as scarce as scholars have
often thought.
Thus, over a period of two hundred years, this study
explains the Templars’ regional growth, violently broken by the trial of
1307, and it throws light on the establishment of a complete network of
possessions organized at its peak, during the second half of the
thirteenth century, in about ten commanderies and integrated in the
province of Aquitaine.
This blog quotes the English abstract of the paper "Les Templiers en Bretagne au Moyen Âge : mythes et réalités" by Philippe Josserand published on journals.openedition.org. Illustration from the same sorce, showing the Chapel of the Commandery of Coudrie (cliché Chr. Renault).
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