Templar and Cistercian Refectories - Same Meal, Different Setting

Bernard de Clairvaux helped draft the Templar Rule, and the order's meals were built almost line for line on Cistercian custom: silence, scripture read aloud, equal rations. Yet the rooms where Templars ate rarely resembled a Cistercian refectory at all. What did the two orders actually build, and why did the buildings diverge?

Diet of the Knights Templar - key to health and a long life

Hugues de Payens, founding Grand Master, died at 66. Jacques de Molay and Geoffroi de Charney, executed in 1314, were 67 and 63. In an age when most men barely reached 40, Templar longevity was called a divine gift. Could their daily rule, not heaven, explain it?

Hugues de Payens' promotion tour - 1128-1129

Hugues de Payen, the first (grand)master of the Knights Templar, did in 1127 venture out on a fund-raising and recruitment trip to the West that lasted until mid 1129. What were the stages of his journey?