Counting the Templars is an exercise in archival triangulation because, as we know, the Templars did not keep membership lists; certainly none have survived. From a handful of founding knights in the 1120s to a pan-European order by the later thirteenth century, estimates vary widely. This blog synthesises peer-reviewed scholarship and trial-catalogues to give the best evidence-based picture of membership and rank composition of the Templar Order during its first century of existence.
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