After Jerusalem was captured in 1099, many crusaders soon returned to Europe, believing their obligation had been fulfilled. This left the Kingdom of Jerusalem vulnerable and overstretched. Those who remained had to cope with repeated Muslim raids, natural hardships, and a severe lack of manpower. In response, church and secular authorities convened the Council of Nablus to strengthen governance and social control in the fragile crusader state.
The council issued 25 canons intended to regulate both moral conduct and public order. These laws addressed crimes and behaviors such as adultery, sexual relations deemed illicit, theft, marriage regulations, and contact between Christians and Muslims. The attention given to interreligious relations suggests that such interactions were common enough to alarm authorities. Punishments were extremely harsh and often involved bodily mutilation, including the removal of the nose. The legal framework of the canons appears to have been influenced by Byzantine traditions, particularly the Ecloga, a legal code issued by eighth-century Byzantine emperors.
The Council of Nablus is also closely connected to the early history of the Knights Templar Order. Around this time, Hugues de Payens and his companions received formal recognition for their mission to protect pilgrims traveling through the Holy Land. This assignment, granted by King Baldwin II and the Patriarch of Jerusalem, probably late 1119, followed massacres of pilgrims and serious military defeats earlier that year. The group was freed from previous obligations to the Holy Sepulchre and granted residence on the Temple Mount. This marked an advancement from an earlier task, given around 1115, when they guarded the strategically important fortress of Destroit along the pilgrim route.
Although the Nablus Canons do not explicitly name the Templars as an order, they mention a prior of the “Temple of the Lord,” likely Achardus de Aroasia. While not conclusive, this suggests the growing recognition of a group of armed religious knights. Finally, Canon 20 was especially significant, as it allowed clerics to bear arms for self-defense. Though controversial within Church doctrine, it reflected the urgent military realities of the kingdom and opened the way to a military task for religious organisations such as the juvenil Templar group.
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