Templar liturgy and pastoral work in the Middle Ages

"Templar assets, including liturgical books, instruments and garments, but also all other writings which the Templars had possessed or produced, dispersed widely and were absorbed into the treasuries and sacristies of laymen and ecclesiastics after the disintegration of the Order around 1312. Only few religious books once pertaining to the Order have as yet been discovered. They shed light on the question whether or not the Templars used a uniform liturgy and what they used it for. (...)

Templar provincial chapters in medieval times

Every year the Templars of each Western province met in chapter, le chapitre provincial, to pay their dues, report on their houses and judge faults. Alan Forey has reconstructed how these assemblies worked around 1300. Where did they meet, who came, and what did they decide?

Where was the first Templar Church on Temple Mount?

In about 1120 King Baldwin II decided to lend his palace at what now is called the Al-Acsa Mosque, temporarily to the juvenil Templar Order. Its Primitive Rule (after 1129, TN) implies that their compound at the palace, after having come into Templar hands, would have comprised a refectory, a chapel or church, a chapter house, and an infirmary. Where was in the early days that church?

Nine Templar founders - fact or fiction?

One of the myths that the Templars told about their own beginning was that for the first nine years there were only nine knights. This is first mentioned in William of Tyre but was often repeated by later chroniclers who learned it from the Templars of their own time. Fiction or fact?

Underground cisterns at Temple Mount, Jerusalem

The immense consumption of water at the Temple sanctuary required the development of a complex water system on the elevated Temple Mount. How was this arranged?

Climate in the Levant during Crusader times

How was the climate in the Levant during Crusader times? The many chronicals and travel reports shed some light on this.

The Templar Rule and Easter

The 77 paragraphs of the original Primitive Rule (1129-1131) hold many details on how the Knights Templars should behave during and between feast days, such as Easter. 

The Templar missal of Modena

At the archives of the cathedral of Modena a precious liturgical code is preserved. According to some authors, the medieval code would come from a local scriptorium.  Others believe it would come from Piacenza where was the House of S. Mary of the Temple, one of the most important Templar foundations of Italy. What is the importance of this liturgical manuscript?

Origin, layout and access of the Templar stables under Temple Mount, Jerusalem

Under the southeastern part of the Haram al-Sharif esplanade (Temple Mount) is a vast subterranean complex that is often indicated as King Solomon's Stables. This complex was actually used as stables by the Knights Templar. What is known about its origin and use?