Chartres cathedral and the Templars

Undoubtedly the Templars were awed and inspired by the huge religious building projects of their days, such as Chartres Cathedral. But did they initiate, lead and/or support that build as is suggested in some literature? The facts. 

Templar estate management - subsoil and technological development

According to the information in the 1185 Inquest in England the Templars seem to have chosen the location of their holdings in Lincolnshire with care. Geology was important, also as the basis for technological development such as water- and (later) windmills. 

2022 International OSMTJ Knights Templar Convent in Portugal

Video of the "2022 International OSMTJ Knights Templar Covent from October. Hosted by Grand Prior Luciano Fernandes of Portugal, with knights attending from all over Europe, USA and the world. Also attending was the rightful Grand Master of the OSMTJ, Ronald S Mangum, and our Royal Patron, Prince Radziwill. Please enjoy this beautiful presentation of these events, both formal and informal."

 

English Templar estates - origin and sources

"Templar scholars have tended to concentrate on the military aspects of the Order rather than the extent and organisation of their estates in England. Conversely, students of medieval agriculture have concentrated on the records of secular and ecclesiastical estates other than those of the Templars. The Templar estates have fallen between two stools." Until recently.

The Templar admission ceremony: secret or not?

"The eighty-eight charges against the Templars which were used as the basis of interrogations in the proceedings against the Templars in the British Isles, 1309–11, included the charge that admissions into the Order were secret, and that only brothers of the order were present. What are the facts?

The population of the Holy Land during the Crusading period

It is often thought that the crusaders in the different crusader states in the Holy Land were a tiny Christian elite ruling over predominantly Muslim populations. The facts are different. 

October 13, 1307 - the Templars' demise remembered and retold

On Friday, October 13, 1307, King Philip IV of France, also known as Philips the Fair, had all of the Templars throughout the domains of France arrested in one surprising campaign. This was done on the basis of the King's secret orders to his baillis and sénéchaux throughout France, dated September  14, 1307. 

The Templars' arabization - inspiring fantasy for today?

"In medieval times, European Christians had some access to information about real Muslim practices, but instead chose to believe in their own fantasies (regarding those Muslim practises). Many neo-Templars, confusing the fantasies of medieval Christians about medieval Muslims with reality have tried to emulate the medieval Templars.

Bernard de Clairvaux - the Cistercian promotor of the Templars

The paths of the Cistercians and embryonic Templars crossed in the person of Bernard de Clairvaux. Bernard was the most famous churchman of a century that experienced a religious renaissance not seen since the reign of Charlemagne. He had already raised the Cistercians to greatness with his preaching when he encountered the Templars. He was a master propagandist, mostly because he believed everything he said, however contradictory.