Papo History Templar knight 39383

The Order of the Knights Templar or Knights Templar (Order of the Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon) (Latin: Pauperes commilitones Christi Templique Solomonici) was a Christian crusader order that, at the time of the Crusades, waged a Holy War against the Muslims entered the Holy Land. They were structured as a monastic order on the model of the Cistercians and active both monastic and military. The order originated from a brotherhood of mainly French crusaders, of which at least Hugo van Payns and the Flemish nobleman Godfried van Sint-Omaars were part. Around 1118, the Brotherhood made the classical monastic vows of poverty, chastity and obedience before the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem. The order was then officially recognized by the Catholic Church in 1129 and continued for nearly 200 years. The Knights Templar eventually became so powerful and wealthy that the French King Philip the Fair did everything he could to get rid of them. The brotherhood initially consisted of a small group of knights who had conceived the plan to protect the pilgrims in Palestine. During their journeys through the Holy Land, from one Crusader-protected place to another, the pilgrims regularly fell victim to raids by the natives of the countryside.