Reshaping the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem - 1847 to present

"After their origin in 1103 and some 80 years of existence, the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem first began to fail as a cohesive military body of knights after Saladin regained Jerusalem in 1187, and completely ceased to exist in that format after the defeat of Acre in 1291. Only in 1847 the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem was restored and Pope Pius IX modernised the Order. 

The Approach of the modern Knights Templar OSMTH

The main modern international Templar Order is the "Ordo Supremus Militaris Templi Hierosolymitani" OSMTH or Knights Templar International. What is the Approach from the OSMTH according to the Order's Overview of Purpose and Activities?

Breaking away of the Church from the secular society in the 11th century

From the eleventh to the thirteenth centuries, medieval Europe and the development of the Church saw rapid and radical change. After centuries of a move away from the archaic values of the desert fathers, the Church became embroiled in the political structure of Europe and became more and more intertwined with the secular world as the secular and spiritual worlds fought for power. How did this change come to be?

A Comparison of the Cistercian and Knights Templar Orders

The Cistercian Order is often seen as the religious main precursor and mentor of the Order of the Knights Templar. Was that established through structure or ideology? And what was the role of Bernard of Clairvaux?

The trial of the Templars summarized

"The trial of the Templars is one of the most sensational events of the high middle ages. Contemporaries expressed astonishment when, on the 13th, the day after the funeral, all the members of the order in France were suddenly arrested and accused of what amounted to the renunciation of the faith that they were supposed to be defending with their lives. 

The Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem - non-military blueprint of the Knights Templar?

The origins of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem date back to the First Crusade, when its leader, Godfrey de Bouillon, liberated Jerusalem. As part of his operations to organise the religious, military and public bodies of the territories newly freed from Muslim control, he founded the Order of Canons of the Holy Sepulchre. 

The Ribat, a muslim model for Christian religious militia such as the Knights Templar?

"The Templars were the first military order,  a completely new, hybrid type of organization merging the hitherto mutually exclusive spheres of chivalry and monasticism into a single institution of sacred violence. Beforehand, chivalry and monasticism had been regarded as incompatible spheres. It was only at the beginning of the nineteenth century that the suggestion was first made that this order was inspired by Muslim institutions. Was that justified?

Cultural development in the Middle Ages: Barbarians, Christians and Muslims

"The Middle Ages were not only a period of European civilization. There was the western medieval period and that of the Eastern Empire, which still survived among the splendours of Byzantium for 1000 years after the fall of Rome. During those same centuries a great Arab civilization flourished, while in Europe there was a more or less clandestine, but very lively Jewish culture. The boundaries between these different cultural traditions were not as marked as people think today.

March 18, 2016 - 702nd Commemoration death of Jaques de Molay

On March 18, 2016 we commemorated the 702nd anniversary of the death of the last official Grand Master of the Knights Templar, Jacques de Molay. De Molay, born in 1244 was put to death in Paris by the King of France on 18 March 1314. He was the 23rd and last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, leading the Order from 20 April 1292 until it was dissolved by order of Pope Clement V in 1307.

Though little is known of his actual life and deeds except for his last years as Grand Master, he is the best known Templar, along with the Order's founder and first Grand Master, Hugues de Payens (1070–1136). Jacques de Molay's goal as Grand Master was to reform the Order, and adjust it to the situation in the Holy Land during the waning days of the Crusades.

Death-site plaque of Jaques de Molay on Isle des Juifs, Paris

As European support for the Crusades had dwindled, other forces were at work which sought to disband the Order and claim the wealth of the Templars as their own. King Philip IV of France, deeply in debt to the Templars, had De Molay and many other French Templars arrested in 1307 and tortured into making false confessions. When de Molay later retracted his confession, Philip had him executed by burning upon a scaffold on the Paris Ile des Juifs in the River Seine on 18 March 1314.

source text and illustrations wikipedia.org