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158-740: The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , mainly known as the Knights Templar , was a French military order of the Catholic faith, and one of the wealthiest and most popular military orders in Western Christianity . They were founded c.  1119 to defend pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem , with their headquarters located there on the Temple Mount , and existed for nearly two centuries during

316-663: A monastic Catholic religious order for the protection of these pilgrims. King Baldwin and Patriarch Warmund agreed to the request, probably at the Council of Nablus in January 1120, and the king granted the Templars a headquarters in a wing of the royal palace on the Temple Mount in the captured Al-Aqsa Mosque . The order, with about nine knights including Godfrey de Saint-Omer and André de Montbard , had few financial resources and relied on donations to survive. Their emblem

474-499: A document indicating the value of their deposit, then showed that document upon arrival in the Holy Land to claim treasure of equal value to their funds. This innovative arrangement was an early form of banking and may have been the first use of bank cheques ; it protected pilgrims from robbery, while augmenting Templar finances. Based on this mix of donations and business dealings, the Templars established financial networks across

632-627: A force of French, Spanish, and English Templars left France to join the Second Crusade , led by King Louis VII . At a meeting held in Paris on 27 April 1147 they were given permission by Pope Eugenius III to wear the red cross on their uniforms. They were led by the Templar provincial master in France, Everard des Barres , who was later one of the ambassadors that King Louis sent to negotiate

790-537: A hierarchical structure of leadership with the grand master at the top. The Knights Templar, the largest and most influential of the military orders, was suppressed in the early fourteenth century; only a handful of orders were established and recognized afterwards. However, some persisted longer in their original functions, such as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and the Order of Saint John ,

948-639: A major Templar presence (France, Poitou , Anjou , Jerusalem, England , Spain , Portugal , Italy , Tripoli , Antioch , Hungary , and Croatia ) had a Master of the Order for the Templars in that region. All of them were subject to the Grand Master, appointed for life, who oversaw both the order's military efforts in the East and their financial holdings in the West. The Grand Master exercised his authority via

1106-527: A mixed Muslim-Christian heritage who became Christians, or members of the local population in Syria . Sometime in the 13th century, turcopole became a formal rank held by Templar brothers, including Latin Christians. Starting with founder Hugues de Payens, the order's highest office was that of Grand Master, a position which was held for life, though considering the martial nature of the order, this could mean

1264-705: A tenth were actual knights. There was a threefold division of the ranks of the Templars: the noble knights, the non-noble sergeants, and the chaplains. The knights wear white mantles to symbolise their purity and chastity. The sergeants wore black or brown. All three classes of brothers wore the order's red cross. Before they received their monastic rule in 1129 at the Council of Troyes, the Templars were referred to only as knights ( milites in Latin), and after 1129 they were also called brothers of their monastic order. Therefore

1422-596: A tort et a péché. Il va bientôt arriver malheur à ceux qui nous ont condamnés à mort" ("God knows who is wrong and has sinned. Soon a calamity will occur to those who have condemned us to death"). Clement died only a month later, and Philip died while hunting within the same year. The remaining Templars around Europe were either arrested and tried under the Papal investigation (with virtually none convicted), absorbed into other Catholic military orders, or pensioned off and allowed to live out their days peacefully. By papal decree,

1580-591: A very short tenure. All but two of the Grand Masters died in office, and several died during military campaigns. For example, during the Siege of Ascalon in 1153, Grand Master Bernard de Tremelay led a group of 40 Templars through a breach in the city walls. When the rest of the Crusader army did not follow, the Templars, including their Grand Master, were surrounded and beheaded. Grand Master Gérard de Ridefort

1738-524: A year earlier), was sent to retake the town after it was captured by Muslims. They were initially successful, but the Muslims regrouped outside the town and were able to take it back from the Templars. The Order's mission also developed from protecting pilgrims to taking part in regular military campaigns early on, and this is shown by the fact that the first castle received by the Knights Templar

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1896-693: Is a hill in the Old City of Jerusalem that has been venerated as a holy site for thousands of years, including in Judaism , Christianity and Islam . The present site is a flat plaza surrounded by retaining walls (including the Western Wall ), which were originally built by King Herod in the first century BCE for an expansion of the Second Jewish Temple . The plaza is dominated by two monumental structures originally built during

2054-630: Is already referred to as a distinct entity. In 2 Chronicles, Solomon's Temple was constructed on Mount Moriah (3:1), and Manasseh 's atonement for his sins is associated with the Mountain of the House of the Lord (33:15). The conception of the Temple as being located on a holy mountain possessing special qualities is found repeatedly in Psalms, with the surrounding area being considered an integral part of

2212-508: Is considered the third holiest site in Islam . According to Islamic tradition, the plaza is the location of Muhammad 's ascension to heaven from Jerusalem , and served as the first " qibla ", the direction Muslims turn towards when praying. As in Judaism, Muslims also associate the site with Abraham , and other prophets who are also venerated in Islam. Muslims view the site as being one of

2370-579: Is derived from the Quran 's Surah 17 ("The Night Journey") which writes that Muhammad travelled from Mecca to the mosque, from where he subsequently ascended to Heaven . Arabic and Persian writers such as 10th-century geographer Al-Maqdisi , 11th-century scholar Nasir Khusraw , 12th-century geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi and 15th-century Islamic scholar Mujir al-Din , as well as 19th century American and British Orientalists Edward Robinson , Guy Le Strange and Edward Henry Palmer explained that

2528-500: Is thus doubly armed, and need fear neither demons nor men. ― Bernard of Clairvaux , c.  1135 De Laude Novae Militae – In Praise of the New Knighthood Although the primary mission of the order was military, relatively few members were combatants. The majority acted in support positions to assist the knights and manage their financial infrastructure. Although individual members were sworn to poverty,

2686-660: The Binding of Isaac , Jacob's dream, and the prayer of Isaac and Rebekah . According to the Talmud, the Foundation Stone is the place from where the world was created and expanded into its current form. Orthodox Jewish tradition maintains it is here that the third and final Temple will be built when the Messiah comes. The Temple Mount is the place Jews turn towards during prayer. Jewish attitudes towards entering

2844-520: The British captured it from the Ottoman Empire . The Templars were forced to relocate their headquarters to other cities in the north, such as the seaport of Acre , which they held for the next century. It was lost in 1291, followed by their last mainland strongholds, Tortosa ( Tartus in present-day Syria ) and Atlit (in present-day Israel ). Their headquarters then moved to Limassol on

3002-412: The Council of Pisa in 1135, Pope Innocent II initiated the first papal monetary donation to the Order. Another major benefit came in 1139, when Innocent II's papal bull Omne Datum Optimum exempted the order from obedience to local laws. This ruling meant that the Templars could pass freely through all borders, were not required to pay any taxes and were exempt from all authority except that of

3160-625: The Dome of the Rock , was the spot from where the world was created and expanded into its current form, and where God gathered the dust used to create the first human, Adam . Jewish texts predict that the Mount will be the site of a Third and final Temple , which will be rebuilt with the coming of the Messiah . The rebuilding of the Temple remained a recurring theme among generations, particularly in thrice daily Amidah (Standing prayer), central prayer of

3318-616: The Encyclopaedia of Islam , the phrase was originally understood as a reference to a site in the heavens. A group of Islamic scholars understood the story of Muhammad's ascension from al-Aqsa Mosque as relating to the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem . Another group disagreed with this identification and preferred the meaning of the term as referring to heaven. Al-Bukhari and Al-Tabari , for example, are believed to have rejected

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3476-600: The First Temple was built by King Solomon , the son of King David , in 957 BCE, and was destroyed by the Neo-Babylonian Empire , together with Jerusalem , in 587 BCE. No archaeological evidence has been found to verify the existence of the First Temple, and scientific excavations have been limited due to religious sensitivities. The Second Temple, constructed under Zerubbabel in 516 BCE,

3634-651: The Hebrew Bible indicate that during the time when they were written, the Temple Mount was identified as Mount Zion. The Mount Zion mentioned in the later parts of the Book of Isaiah (Isaiah 60:14), in the Book of Psalms , and the First Book of Maccabees ( c.  2nd century BCE ) seems to refer to the top of the hill, generally known as the Temple Mount. According to the Book of Samuel , Mount Zion

3792-524: The High Priest of Israel entered the sanctuary once per year on Yom Kippur , carrying the blood of a sacrificial lamb and burning incense . According to the Bible, the site functioned as the center of all national life – a governmental, judicial and religious center. The Genesis Rabba , which was probably written between 300 and 500 CE, states that this site is one of three about which the nations of

3950-682: The Holy Land . Although the city of Jerusalem was relatively secure under Christian control, the rest of Outremer was not. Bandits and marauding highwaymen preyed upon these Christian pilgrims, who were routinely slaughtered, sometimes by the hundreds, as they attempted to make the journey from the coastline at Jaffa through to the interior of the Holy Land. In 1119, the French knight Hugues de Payens approached King Baldwin II of Jerusalem and Warmund, Patriarch of Jerusalem , and proposed creating

4108-715: The Jewish liturgy , which contains a plea for the building of a Third Temple and the restoration of sacrificial services . A number of vocal Jewish groups now advocate building the Third Temple without delay in order to bring to pass God's "end-time prophetic plans for Israel and the entire world." The Temple was of central importance in Jewish worship in the Tanakh ( Old Testament ). In the New Testament , Herod's Temple

4266-576: The Knights Hospitaller , the Knights of Saint Thomas , and the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus also had charitable purposes and cared for the sick and poor. However, they were not purely male institutions, as nuns could attach themselves as convents of the orders. One significant feature of the military orders was that clerical brothers could be subordinate to non-ordained brethren. In 1818, orientalist Joseph von Hammer compared

4424-709: The Middle Ages . Officially endorsed by the Roman Catholic Church by such decrees as the papal bull Omne datum optimum of Pope Innocent II , the Templars became a favoured charity throughout Christendom and grew rapidly in membership and power. The Templar knights, in their distinctive white mantles with a red cross , were among the most skilled fighting units of the Crusades . They were prominent in Christian finance ; non-combatant members of

4582-498: The Muslim conquest of Jerusalem in 638 CE, Caliph 'Omar ibn al Khatab , reportedly disgusted by the filth covering the site, had it thoroughly cleaned, and granted Jews access to the site. According to early Quranic interpreters and what is generally accepted as Islamic tradition, in 638 CE Umar, upon entering a conquered Jerusalem, consulted with Ka'ab al-Ahbar – a Jewish convert to Islam who came with him from Medina – as to where

4740-566: The Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel to form the Royal Military and Hospitaller Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem united , which remained listed as of royal protection in the French Royal Almanac until 1830. England Chivalric and/or military orders that could qualify depending on definition. A few of the institutions survived into honorific and/or charitable organizations, including

4898-728: The Peace and Truce of God . The foundation of the Knights Templar in 1118 provided the first in a series of tightly organized military forces for the purpose of opposing Islamic conquests in the Holy Land and in the Iberian Peninsula — see the Reconquista — as well as Islamic invaders and pagan tribes in Eastern Europe which were perceived as threats to the Church's supremacy. The first secularized military order

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5056-466: The Rashidun and early Umayyad caliphates after the city's capture in 637 CE: the main praying hall of al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock , near the center of the hill, which was completed in 692 CE, making it one of the oldest extant Islamic structures in the world. The Herodian walls and gates, with additions from the late Byzantine , early Muslim , Mamluk , and Ottoman periods, flank

5214-725: The Second Temple . During the Second Temple Period , Jerusalem was the center of religious and national life for Jews, including those in the Diaspora . The Second Temple is believed to have attracted tens and maybe hundreds of thousands during the Three Pilgrimage Festivals . The holiday of Hanukkah commemorates the rededication of the Temple at the beginning of the Maccabean revolt in

5372-667: The Six-Day War of 1967. Shortly after capturing the site, Israel handed its administration back to the Waqf under the Jordanian Hashemite custodianship , while maintaining Israeli security control. The Israeli government enforces a ban on prayer by non-Muslims as part of an arrangement usually referred to as the "status quo". The site remains a major focal point of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict . The name of

5530-631: The United Nations , by its Secretary-General and by the UN's subsidiary organs. The Temple Mount forms the northern portion of a narrow spur of hill that slopes sharply downward from north to south. Rising above the Kidron Valley to the east and Tyropoeon Valley to the west, its peak reaches a height of 740 m (2,428 ft) above sea level. In around 19 BCE, Herod the Great extended

5688-502: The Vatican Archives by Barbara Frale , apparently after having been filed in the wrong place in 1628. It is a record of the trial of the Templars and shows that Clement absolved the Templars of all heresies in 1308 before formally disbanding the order in 1312, as did another Chinon Parchment dated 20 August 1308 addressed to Philip IV of France , also mentioning that all Templars that had confessed to heresy were "restored to

5846-440: The largest mosques in the world . For Sunni and Shia Muslims alike, it ranks as the third holiest site in Islam . The plaza includes the location regarded as where the Islamic prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven , and served as the first " qibla ", the direction Muslims turn towards when praying. As in Judaism, Muslims also associate the site with Solomon and other prophets who are also venerated in Islam. The site, and

6004-417: The papal orders of knighthood . While other contemporary Catholic societies may share some military organizational features and ideology, such as the Society of Jesus , they differ from the medieval military orders in the absence of military purposes or potential. Modern orders may still be founded explicitly as a military order; the Military Order of Loyalty ( Spanish : Orden Militar de la Constancia )

6162-432: The reborn Sunni regime in Egypt . Dissension arose among Christian factions in and concerning the Holy Land. The Knights Templar were occasionally at odds with the two other Christian military orders , the Knights Hospitaller and the Teutonic Knights , and decades of internecine feuds weakened Christian positions, both politically and militarily. After the Templars were involved in several unsuccessful campaigns, including

6320-420: The turcopolier commanded auxiliary forces, and the prior was the head of the church at the headquarters. The headquarters and its most senior officials were known as the convent and its role was to assist and advise the Grand Master with running the administration of the Order. No precise numbers exist, but it is estimated that at the order's peak, there were between 15,000 and 20,000 Templars, of whom about

6478-429: The twelve Israelite tribes , conquered Jerusalem and brought the Israelites ' central artifact, the Ark of the Covenant , into the city. When a great plague struck Israel, a destroying angel appeared on Araunah's threshing floor. The prophet Gad then suggested the area to David as a fitting place for the erection of an altar to Yawheh . David bought the property from Araunah, for fifty pieces of silver, and erected

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6636-418: The "Noble Sanctuary". It mirrors the terminology of the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca ; This term elevated the compound to the status of Haram , which had previously been reserved for the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca and the Al-Masjid an-Nabawi in Medina . Other Islamic figures disputed the haram status of the site. Usage of the name Haram al-Sharif by local Palestinians has waned in recent decades, in favor of

6794-406: The 1190s in Palestine, but their strong links to Germany diverted efforts from the Holy Land to the Baltic. Between 1229 and 1290, the Teutonic Knights absorbed both the Brothers of the Sword and the Order of Dobrzyń, subjugated most of the Baltic tribes and established a ruthless and exploitative monastic state . The Knights invited foreign nobility to join their regular Reisen , or raids, against

6952-409: The 2nd century BCE. During the first century BCE, the Temple was renovated by Herod . It was destroyed by the Roman Empire at the height of the First Jewish-Roman War in 70 CE. Tisha B'Av , an annual fast day in Judaism , marks the destruction of the First and Second Temples, which according to Jewish tradition, occurred on the same day on the Hebrew calendar . The Book of Isaiah foretells

7110-482: The Catholic military orders, in particular the Knights Templar , to certain Islamic models such as the Muslim sect of Assassins . In 1820, José Antonio Conde suggested they were modeled on the ribat , a fortified religious institution which brought together a religious or hospital way of life with fighting the enemies of Islam. However popular such views may have become, others have criticized this view, suggesting there were no such ribats around Outremer until after

7268-409: The Chain Street – a street in the Muslim Quarter at the level of the platform, actually sitting on a monumental bridge; the bridge is no longer externally visible due to the change in ground level, but it can be seen from beneath via the Western Wall Tunnel. In 1980, Jordan proposed that the Old City be listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and it was added to the List in 1981. In 1982, it

7426-400: The Christians considering it a fulfillment of Christ's prophecy at, for example, Matthew 23:38 and Matthew 24:2. It was to this end, proof of a biblical prophecy fulfilled and of Christianity's victory over Judaism with the New Covenant , that early Christian pilgrims also visited the site. Byzantine Christians, despite some signs of constructive work on the esplanade, generally neglected

7584-467: The Cross, but only from my mouth and not from my heart"). The Templars were accused of idolatry and were charged with worshipping either a figure known as Baphomet or a mummified severed head they recovered, amongst other artefacts, at their original headquarters on the Temple Mount. Some have theorised that this head might have been believed to be that of John the Baptist , among other things. Relenting to King Phillip's demands, Pope Clement then issued

7742-421: The Crusaders states of Antioch, Tripoli , and Edessa his vassals between 1137 and 1142. Templar knights accompanied Emperor John II with troops from those states during his campaign against Muslim powers in Syria from 1137 to 1138, including at the sieges of Aleppo and Shaizar . In 1143, the Templars also began taking part in the Reconquista in Iberia at the request of the count of Barcelona . In 1147

7900-399: The Dome of the Rock was the site of Solomon's Temple , gave it the name " Templum Domini " and set up their headquarters in al-Aqsa Mosque adjacent to the Dome for much of the 12th century. In Christian art , the circumcision of Jesus was conventionally depicted as taking place at the Temple, even though European artists until recently had no way of knowing what the Temple looked like and

8058-446: The Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. This has been construed to mean that Jesus dispensed with physical location for worship, which was a matter rather of spirit and truth. Among both Sunni and Shia Muslims, the entire plaza, known as the al-Aqsa Mosque, also known as Haram al-Sharif or "the Noble Sanctuary",

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8216-406: The Gospels do not state that the event took place at the Temple. Though some Christians believe that the Temple will be reconstructed before, or concurrent with, the Second Coming of Jesus (also see dispensationalism ), pilgrimage to the Temple Mount is not viewed as important in the beliefs and worship of most Christians. The New Testament recounts a story of a Samaritan woman asking Jesus about

8374-408: The Grand Master. These were held as temporary appointments rather than for life. The second-in-command of the Order was the seneschal . The highest ranking military official was the marshal , while the preceptor (who was also sometimes called the commander) was responsible for the administration and provisions. The draper was responsible for their uniforms, the treasurer was in charge of finance,

8532-436: The Holy Land, support for the order faded. Rumours about the Templars' secret initiation ceremony created distrust, and King Philip IV of France , deeply in debt to the order, turned this distrust to his own advantage. In 1307, he pressured Pope Clement V to have many of the order's members in France arrested, tortured into giving false confessions, and then burned at the stake. Under further pressure, Pope Clement V disbanded

8690-416: The Holy Land. With the order's military mission now less important, support for the organization began to dwindle. The situation was complex, however, since during the two hundred years of their existence, the Templars had become a part of daily life throughout Christendom. The organization's Templar Houses, hundreds of which were dotted throughout Europe and the Near East , gave them a widespread presence at

8848-443: The Jordanian military periodical published since the early 1970s, and the associations of both the southern and northern branches of the Islamic Movement in Israel are all named Al-Aqsa after this site. During the period of Mamluk (1260–1517) and Ottoman rule (1517–1917), the wider compound began to also be popularly known as the Haram al-Sharif, or al-Ḥaram ash-Sharīf (Arabic: اَلْـحَـرَم الـشَّـرِيْـف ), which translates as

9006-434: The Knights Templar ( French : Les Chevaliers Templiers ), or simply the Templars ( French : Les Templiers ). The Temple Mount where they had their headquarters had a mystique because it was above what was believed to be the ruins of the Temple of Solomon . After the Franks in the First Crusade captured Jerusalem from the Fatimid Caliphate in 1099, many Christians made pilgrimages to various sacred sites in

9164-405: The Latin East. In the kingdoms of Castile and León, they obtained some major strongholds (such as Calatrava la Vieja or Coria ), but their vulnerablility along the border was exposed during the Almohad offensive. In Aragon, the Templars subsumed the Order of Mountjoy in the late 12th century, becoming an important vanguard force on the border, while in Portugal they commanded some castles along

9322-410: The Levant still under Muslim control. Gaza was given to the Knights Templar, becoming the first major Templar castle. In 1152 Everard stepped down as the Grand Master of the Order for unknown reasons, and his successor was Bernard de Tremelay . In January of the following year, Bernard led the Templars when King Baldwin III led a Crusader army to besiege Ascalon . Several months of fighting went by until

9480-442: The Mount's natural plateau by enclosing the area with four massive retaining walls and filling the voids. This artificial expansion resulted in a large flat expanse which today forms the eastern section of the Old City of Jerusalem . The trapezium shaped platform measures 488 m (1,601 ft) along the west, 470 m (1,540 ft) along the east, 315 m (1,033 ft) along the north and 280 m (920 ft) along

9638-402: The One Who took His servant ˹Muḥammad˺ by night from the Sacred Mosque to the Farthest Mosque whose surroundings We have blessed, so that We may show him some of Our signs. Indeed, He alone is the All-Hearing, All-Seeing. The Qur'an does not mention the exact location of "the furthest place of prayer", and the city of Jerusalem is not mentioned by any of its names in the Qur'an. According to

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9796-433: The Order on 26 February 1310: Henri Zappellans or Chapelain, Anceau de Rocheria, Enard de Valdencia, Guillaume de Roy, Geoffroy de Cera or de La Fere-en-Champagne, Robert Harle or de Hermenonville, and Dreux de Chevru. Some had sufficient legal experience to defend themselves in the trials , but in 1310, having appointed the archbishop of Sens , Philippe de Marigny, to lead the investigation, Philip blocked this attempt, using

9954-610: The Order was assigned "4 horses, and one chaplain-brother and one clerk with three horses, and one sergeant brother with two horses, and one gentleman valet to carry his shield and lance, with one horse". As the order grew, more guidelines were added, and the original list of 72 clauses was expanded to several hundred in its final form. Military order (religious society) Most members of military orders were laymen who took religious vows , such as of poverty, chastity, and obedience , according to monastic ideals. The orders owned houses called commanderies all across Europe and had

10112-398: The Sacraments and to the unity of the Church". This other Chinon Parchment has been well known to historians, having been published by Étienne Baluze in 1693 and by Pierre Dupuy in 1751. The current position of the Roman Catholic Church is that the medieval persecution of the Knights Templar was unjust, that nothing was inherently wrong with the order or its rule, and that Pope Clement

10270-433: The Seljuk Turks and other Muslim powers used different tactics than those in Europe at that time. In later years, the Templars adapted to this and also became strategic advisors to the leaders of the Crusader states. The first recorded battle involving the Knights Templar was in the town of Teqoa , south of Jerusalem, in 1138. A force of Templars led by their Grand Master, Robert de Craon (who succeeded Hugues de Payens about

10428-484: The Tagus line. One of these was Tomar, which was unsuccessfully besieged by the Almohad Caliphate in 1190. Due to the expense of sending a third of their revenues to the East, Templar and Hospitaller activities in the Iberian Peninsula were at a disadvantage to the Hispanic military orders expended all their resources in the region. The details of the Order's early military activities in the Middle East are vague, though it appears their first battles were defeats, because

10586-448: The Templar Order controlled vast wealth even beyond direct donations. A nobleman participating in the Crusades might place all his assets under Templar management during his absence. Accumulating wealth in this manner throughout Christendom and the Outremer, in 1150 the order began to issue letters of credit for pilgrims journeying to the Holy Land: pilgrims deposited their valuables with a local Templar preceptory before embarking, received

10744-537: The Templars considered their ships to be mainly for commerce rather than military purposes. From 1139, chaplains constituted a third Templar rank. They were ordained priests who cared for the Templars' spiritual needs. These Templar clerics were also referred to as priest brothers or chaplain brothers. The Templars also employed lightly armed mercenaries as cavalry in the 12th century that were known as turcopoles (the Greek term for descendants of Turks). Its meaning has been interpreted as either referring to people of

10902-612: The Templars were charged with numerous other offences such as financial corruption, fraud, and secrecy. Many of the accused confessed to these charges under torture (even though the Templars denied being tortured in their written confessions), and their confessions, even though obtained under duress , caused a scandal in Paris. The prisoners were coerced to confess that they had spat on the Cross. One said: "Moi, Raymond de La Fère, 21 ans, reconnais que [j'ai] craché trois fois sur la Croix, mais de bouche et pas de cœur" ("I, Raymond de La Fère, 21 years old, admit that I have spat three times on

11060-403: The Templars were indicating an interest in founding their own monastic state, just as the Teutonic Knights had done in Prussia and the Baltic and the Knights Hospitaller were doing in Rhodes . The Templars were accused of enabling corruption in their ranks which often allowed them to influence the legal systems of Europe to act in their favor and gain influence over local rulers' lands at

11218-410: The Temple Mount area. The war between Seljuqs and Byzantine Empire and increasing Muslim violence against Christian pilgrims to Jerusalem instigated the Crusades . The Crusaders captured Jerusalem in 1099 and the Dome of the Rock was given to the Augustinians , who turned it into a church, and al-Aqsa Mosque became the royal palace of Baldwin I of Jerusalem in 1104. The Knights Templar , who believed

11376-578: The Temple Mount, especially when a Jewish attempt to rebuild the Temple was destroyed by the earthquake of 363 . It became a desolate local rubbish dump, perhaps outside the city limits, as Christian worship in Jerusalem shifted to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre , and Jerusalem's centrality was replaced by Rome. During the Byzantine era, Jerusalem was primarily Christian and pilgrims came by

11534-498: The Temple in Jerusalem. Mujir al-Din , a 15th-century Jerusalemite chronicler, mentions an earlier tradition related by al-Wasti, according which "after David built many cities and the situation of the children of Israel was improved, he wanted to construct Bayt al-Maqdis and build a dome over the rock in the place that Allah sanctified in Aelia." According to the Qur'an , Muhammad

11692-634: The Temple itself. The governmental organization which administers the site, the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf (part of the Jordanian government), have stated that the name "The Temple Mount" is a "strange and alien name" and a "newly-created Judaization term". In 2014, the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) issued a press release urging journalists not to use the term "Temple Mount" when referring to

11850-660: The abolishment of the Novgorodian merchants' monopoly of the fur trade. From the early 13th   century the military orders provided garrisons in Old Livonia and defended the German commercial centre, Riga . The Livonian Brothers of the Sword and the Order of Dobrzyń were established by local bishops. The Sword Brothers were notorious for cruelty to " pagans " and converts alike. The Teutonic Knights were founded during

12008-642: The aftermath of the Babylonian conquest of Judah were eventually allowed to return following a proclamation by the Persian king Cyrus the Great that was issued after the fall of Babylon to the Achaemenid Empire . In 516 BCE, the returned Jewish population in Judah, under Persian provincial governance , rebuilt the Temple in Jerusalem under the auspices of Zerubbabel , producing what is known as

12166-596: The altar. God answered his prayers and stopped the plague. David subsequently chose the site for a future temple to replace the Tabernacle and house the Ark of the Covenant; God forbade him from building it, however, because he had "shed much blood". The First Temple was instead constructed under David's son Solomon , who became an ambitious builder of public works in ancient Israel : Then Solomon began to build

12324-644: The appropriate place to worship, Jerusalem (as it was for the Jews) or Mount Gerizim (as it was for the Samaritans ), to which Jesus replies: Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship

12482-541: The area where the Holy of Holies stood, since, according to rabbinical law, there is still some aspect of the divine presence at the site. The Al-Aqsa mosque compound, atop the site, is the second oldest mosque in Islam , and one of the three Sacred Mosques, the holiest sites in Islam ; it is revered as "the Noble Sanctuary". Its courtyard ( sahn ) can host more than 400,000 worshippers, making it one of

12640-530: The banking facilities of the Knights Templar. In 1147 Bernard of Clairvaux persuaded Pope Eugenius III that the Germans' and Danes' conflict with the pagan Wends was a holy war analogous to the Reconquista; he urged a crusade until all heathens were baptised or killed. The new crusaders' motivation was primarily economic: the acquisition of new arable lands and serfs; the control of Baltic trade routes; and

12798-415: The best spot would be to build a mosque. Al-Ahbar suggested to him that it should be behind the Rock "... so that all of Jerusalem would be before you." Umar replied, "You correspond to Judaism!" Immediately after this conversation, Umar began to clean up the site – which was filled with trash and debris – with his cloak, and other Muslim followers imitated him until the site was clean. Umar then prayed at

12956-511: The body's experts access Jerusalem's holy sites to determine their conservation status". While the text acknowledged the "importance of the Old City of Jerusalem and its walls for the three monotheistic religions", it referred to the sacred hilltop compound in Jerusalem's Old City only by its Muslim name Al-Haram al-Sharif. In response, Israel denounced the UNESCO resolution for its omission of

13114-568: The concept of the Mount as a topographical feature separate from the Temple or the city itself first came into existence is a matter of debate among scholars. According to Eliav, it was during the first century CE, after the destruction of the Second Temple. Shahar and Shatzman reached different conclusions. In the Books of Chronicles , edited at the end of the Persian period , the mountain

13272-832: The devastating defeat at the Battle of Hattin. The last Grand Master was Jacques de Molay , burned at the stake in Paris in 1314 by order of King Philip IV. Bernard de Clairvaux and founder Hugues de Payens devised a specific code of conduct for the Templar Order, known to modern historians as the Latin Rule . Its 72 clauses laid down the details of the knights' way of life, including the types of garments they were to wear and how many horses they could have. Knights were to take their meals in silence, eat meat no more than three times per week, and not have physical contact of any kind with women, even members of their own family. A Master of

13430-529: The earliest and most noteworthy places of worship of God . They preferred to use the esplanade as the heart for the Muslim quarter, since it had been abandoned by Christians, to avoid disturbing the Christian quarters of Jerusalem. Umayyad Caliphs commissioned the construction of al-Aqsa Mosque on the site, including the shrine known as the " Dome of the Rock ". The Dome was completed in 692 CE, making it one of

13588-474: The enemy lines ahead of the main army. One of their most famous victories was in 1177 during the Battle of Montgisard , where some 500 Templar knights helped several thousand infantry to defeat Saladin 's army of more than 26,000 soldiers. A Templar Knight is truly a fearless knight, and secure on every side, for his soul is protected by the armour of faith, just as his body is protected by the armour of steel. He

13746-674: The expense of the rulers. In 1305, the new Pope Clement V , based in Avignon , France, sent letters to both the Templar Grand Master Jacques de Molay and the Hospitaller Grand Master Fulk de Villaret to discuss the possibility of merging the two orders. Neither was amenable to the idea, but Pope Clement persisted, and in 1306 he invited both Grand Masters to France to discuss the matter. De Molay arrived first in early 1307, but de Villaret

13904-550: The extent of eventual gradual geographical distribution outside of their region of concern. Thus when being recognized, the Pope allowing only the " Order Of Christ " a Portuguese order and its Papal branch Supreme Order of Christ can claim to have any descent from the Templars, which is now used for Honorary State merits in Portugal and preserved as such. In 1609, King Henry IV of France linked it in France administratively to

14062-739: The house of the LORD at Jerusalem in Mount Moriah, where [the LORD] appeared unto David his father; for which provision had been made in the Place of David, in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. Solomon placed the Ark in the Holy of Holies – the windowless innermost sanctuary and most sacred area of the temple in which God's presence rested; entry into the Holy of Holies was heavily restricted, and only

14220-520: The influence of Philip & the crown. Under his protection, Templar organizations simply changed their name, from "Knights Templar" to the reconstituted Order of Christ and also a parallel Supreme Order of Christ of the Holy See ; both are considered successors to the Knights Templar. In September 2001, a document known as the Chinon Parchment dated 17–20 August 1308 was discovered in

14378-649: The international importance of the Temple Mount: And it shall come to pass in the end of days, that the mountain of the LORD'S house shall be established as the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many peoples shall go and say: 'Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths.' For out of Zion shall go forth

14536-625: The island of Cyprus, and they also attempted to maintain a garrison on tiny Arwad Island , just off the coast from Tortosa. In 1300, there was some attempt to engage in coordinated military efforts with the Mongols via a new invasion force at Arwad . In 1302 or 1303, however, the Templars lost the island to the Egyptian Mamluk Sultanate in the siege of Arwad . With the island gone, the Crusaders lost their last foothold in

14694-515: The last unconquered Baltic people, the Lithuanians . These were fashionable events of chivalric entertainment among young aristocrats. Jogaila , Grand Duke of Lithuania , converted to Catholicism and married Queen Jadwiga of Poland resulting in a united Polish–Lithuanian army routing the Knights at Tannenberg in 1410. The Knights' state survived, from 1466 under Polish suzerainty. Prussia

14852-586: The late 12th century the Templars were also politically powerful in the Holy Land. Secular nobles in the Kingdom of Jerusalem began granting them castles and surrounding lands as a defense against the growing threat of the Zengids in Syria . The Templars were even allowed to negotiate with Muslim rulers independently of the feudal lords. The Templar castles became de facto independent lordships with their own markets, further growing their political authority. During

15010-464: The later books of the Hebrew Bible or in the New Testament . The term remained in use throughout the Second Temple period , although the term “Mount Zion”, which today refers to the eastern hill of ancient Jerusalem, was used more frequently. Both terms are in use in the Book of Maccabees . The term Har haBayīt is used throughout the Mishnah and later Talmudic texts. The exact moment when

15168-427: The law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. In Jewish tradition, the Temple Mount is also believed to be the location of Abraham's binding of Isaac . 2 Chronicles 3:1 refers to the Temple Mount in the time before the construction of the temple as Mount Moriah ( Hebrew : הַר הַמֹּורִיָּה , har ha-Môriyyā ). The " land of Moriah " ( אֶרֶץ הַמֹּרִיָּה , ereṣ ha-Môriyyā ) is the name given by Genesis to

15326-479: The letter In Praise of the New Knighthood , and in 1129, at the Council of Troyes , he led a group of leading churchmen to officially approve and endorse the order on behalf of the church. With this formal blessing, the Templars became a favoured charity throughout Christendom , receiving money, land, businesses, and noble-born sons from families who were eager to help with the fight in the Holy Land . At

15484-531: The local level. The Templars still managed many businesses, and many Europeans had daily contact with the Templar network, such as by working at a Templar farm or vineyard , or using the order as a bank in which to store personal valuables. The order was still not subject to local government, making it everywhere a "state within a state" – its standing army , although it no longer had a well-defined mission, could pass freely through all borders. This situation heightened tensions with some European nobility, especially as

15642-461: The location of the binding of Isaac. Since at least the first century CE, the two sites have been identified with one another in Judaism, this identification being subsequently perpetuated by Jewish and Christian tradition . Modern scholarship tends to regard them as distinct (see Moriah ). According to the rabbinic sages whose debates produced the Talmud , the Foundation Stone , which sits below

15800-405: The major Abrahamic religions : Judaism, Christianity and Islam. It has particular religious significance for Judaism and Islam. The Temple Mount is considered the holiest site in Judaism. According to Jewish tradition, both Temples stood at the Temple Mount. Jewish tradition further places the Temple Mount as the location for a number of important events which occurred in the Bible, including

15958-544: The military orders had been founded. The role and function of the military orders extended beyond their military exploits in the Holy Land , Prussia , and the Baltics. In fact, they had extensive holdings and staff throughout Western Europe. The majority were laymen. They provided a conduit for cultural and technical innovation, such as the introduction of fulling into England by the Knights Hospitaller, and

16116-559: The oldest extant Islamic structures in the world. The Al-Aqsa Mosque , sometimes known as the Qibli Mosque, rest on the far southern side of the Mount, facing Mecca . Early Islam regarded the Foundation Stone as the location of Solomon's Temple, and the first architectural initiatives on the Temple Mount sought to glorify Jerusalem by presenting Islam as a continuation of Judaism and Christianity. Almost immediately after

16274-403: The order but were instead outsiders who were hired for a set period of time. The Templars did not perform knighting ceremonies, so anyone wishing to become a knight in the Templar had to be a knight already. Beneath the knights in the order and drawn from non-noble families were the sergeants. They brought vital skills and trades from blacksmiths and builders, including administration of many of

16432-437: The order in 1312. The abrupt disappearance of a major medieval European institution gave rise to speculation and legends, which have currently kept the "Templar" name alive. The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon ( Latin : Pauperes commilitones Christi Templique Salomonici and French : Pauvres Chevaliers du Christ et du Temple de Salomon ) are also known as the Order of Solomon's Temple, and mainly

16590-523: The order's European properties. In the Crusader States , they fought alongside the knights as light cavalry with a single horse. Several of the order's most senior positions were reserved for sergeants, including the post of Commander of the Vault of Acre, who was also the de facto admiral of the Templar fleet. But he was subordinated to the Order's preceptor instead of the marshal, indicating that

16748-521: The order, and Ad providam , which turned over most Templar assets to the Hospitallers. As for the leaders of the order, the elderly Grand Master Jacques de Molay, who had confessed under torture, retracted his confession. Geoffroi de Charney , Preceptor of Normandy , also retracted his confession and insisted on his innocence. Both men, under pressure from the king, were declared guilty of being relapsed heretics and sentenced to burn alive at

16906-469: The order, who made up as much as 90% of their members, managed a large economic infrastructure throughout Christendom. They developed innovative financial techniques that were an early form of banking , building a network of nearly 1,000 commanderies and fortifications across Europe and the Holy Land . The Templars were closely tied to the Crusades. As they became unable to secure their holdings in

17064-517: The papal bull Pastoralis praeeminentiae on 22 November 1307, which instructed all Christian monarchs in Europe to arrest all Templars and seize their assets. Clement called for papal hearings to determine the Templars' guilt or innocence, and once freed of the Inquisitors ' torture, many Templars recanted their confessions. Several Templars are listed as having come from Gisors to defend

17222-591: The passage of the Crusader army through the Byzantine Empire on its way to the Holy Land. During the dangerous journey of the Second Crusade through Anatolia , the Templars provided security to the rest of the army from Turkish raids. After the Crusaders arrived in 1148, the kings Louis VII, Conrad III of Germany , and Baldwin III of Jerusalem made the decision to capture Damascus , but their siege in

17380-566: The pivotal Battle of Hattin , Jerusalem was recaptured by Muslim forces under Saladin in 1187. The Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II reclaimed the city for Christians in the Sixth Crusade of 1229, without Templar aid, but only held it for a little more than a decade. In 1244, the Ayyubid dynasty together with Khwarezmi mercenaries recaptured Jerusalem, and the city did not return to Western control until 1917 when, during World War I ,

17538-481: The pope. However, in practice, they often had to respect the wishes of the European rulers in whose kingdoms they resided, especially in their handling of funds for the local noblility in their banks . With its clear mission and ample resources, the order grew rapidly. Templars were often the advance shock troops in key battles of the Crusades, as the heavily armoured knights on their warhorses would charge into

17696-420: The previously forced confessions to have dozens of Templars burned at the stake in Paris. With Philip threatening military action unless the pope complied with his wishes, Clement finally agreed to disband the order, citing the public scandal that had been generated by the confessions. At the Council of Vienne in 1312, he issued a series of papal bulls, including Vox in excelso , which officially dissolved

17854-511: The property of the Templars was transferred to the Knights Hospitaller except in the Kingdoms of Castile, Aragon, and Portugal. Portugal was the first country in Europe where they had settled, occurring only two or three years after the order's foundation in Jerusalem and even having a presence during Portugal's conception. The Portuguese king, Denis I , refused to pursue and persecute the former knights, as had occurred in some other states under

18012-664: The regency after the death of King Baldwin IV in 1185, the royal castles were placed in the custody of the Templars and Hospitallers : the Grand Masters of the two orders, along with the Patriarch of Jerusalem , each had a key to the crown jewels. From the mid-12th century, the Templars were recruited (jointly with the Hospitallers ) to fight the Muslim kingdoms in the Iberian Peninsula, in addition to their campaigns in

18170-669: The region. For example, the Al-Aqsa Intifada (the uprising of September 2000), the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades (a coalition of Palestinian nationalist militias in the West Bank), al-Aqsa TV (the official Hamas-run television channel), al-Aqsa University (Palestinian university established in 1991 in the Gaza Strip), Jund al-Aqsa (a Salafist jihadist organization that was active during the Syrian Civil War),

18328-404: The respective Catholic and Protestant successors of the Knights Hospitaller, alongside the Order of the Holy Sepulchre , which remains active under the Pope's sovereignty. Those military orders that survive today have evolved into purely honorific or ceremonial orders or else into charitable foundations. In 1053, for the Battle of Civitate , the Knights of Saint Peter ( Milites Sancti Petri )

18486-472: The same places, sometimes under different names. The recognition, use of and respect for these names is paramount." The term Har haBayīt – commonly translated as "Temple Mount" in English – was first used in the books of Micah (4:1) and Jeremiah (26:18), literally as "Mount of the House", a literary variation of the longer phrase "Mountain of the House of the Lord". The abbreviation was not used again in

18644-449: The site is disputed, primarily between Muslims and Jews, in the context of the ongoing Israeli–Palestinian conflict . Some Arab-Muslim commentators and scholars attempt to deny Jewish connection with the Temple Mount , while some Jewish commentators and scholars attempt to belittle the importance of the site in Islam. During a 2016 dispute over the name of the site, UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova stated: "Different peoples worship

18802-429: The site vary. Due to its extreme sanctity, many Jews will not walk on the Mount itself, to avoid unintentionally entering the area where the Holy of Holies stood, since, according to rabbinical law, there is still some aspect of the divine presence at the site. According to the Hebrew Bible , the Temple Mount was originally a threshing-floor owned by Araunah , a Jebusite . The Bible narrates how David united

18960-488: The site, which can be reached through eleven gates , ten reserved for Muslims and one for non-Muslims, with guard posts of the Israel Police in the vicinity of each. The courtyard is surrounded on the north and west by two Mamluk-era porticos ( riwaq ) and four minarets . The Temple Mount is the holiest site in Judaism, and where two Jewish temples once stood. According to Jewish tradition and scripture,

19118-485: The site. In 2017, it was reported that Waqf officials harassed archeologists such as Gabriel Barkay and tour guides who used the term at the site. According to Jan Turek and John Carman, in modern usage, the term Temple Mount can potentially imply support for Israeli control of the site. 2 Chronicles 3:1 refers to the Temple Mount in the time before the construction of the temple as Mount Moriah ( Hebrew : הַר הַמֹּורִיָּה , har ha-Môriyyāh ). Several passages in

19276-409: The south, giving a total area of approximately 150,000 m (37 acres). The northern wall of the Mount, together with the northern section of the western wall, is hidden behind residential buildings. The southern section of the western flank is revealed and contains what is known as the Western Wall . The retaining walls on these two sides descend many meters below ground level. A northern portion of

19434-479: The southern end of the compound as a result of the Islamic qibla being moved from Jerusalem to Mecca. The two different Arabic terms, translated as "mosque" in English, parallel the two different Greek terms translated as "temple" in the New Testament : Greek : ίερόν , romanized :  hieron (equivalent to Masjid) and Greek : ναός , romanized :  naos (equivalent to Jami'a), and use of

19592-529: The spot where it was believed that Muhammad had prayed before his night journey, reciting the Quranic sura Sad . Thus, according to this tradition, Umar thereby reconsecrated the site as a mosque. Muslim interpretations of the Quran agree that the Mount is the site of the Temple originally built by Solomon , considered a prophet in Islam , that was later destroyed. After the construction, Muslims believe,

19750-475: The stake in Paris on 18 March 1314. De Molay reportedly remained defiant to the end, asking to be tied in such a way that he could face the Notre Dame Cathedral and hold his hands together in prayer. According to legend, he called out from the flames that both Pope Clement and King Philip would soon meet him before God . His actual words were recorded on the parchment as follows: "Dieu sait qui

19908-453: The summer of that year failed and ended with the defeat of the Christian army. In the fall of 1148 some returning Templars took part in the successful siege of Tortosa in Spain , after which one-fifth of that city was given to the Order. Robert de Craon died in January 1149 and was succeeded as Grand Master by Everard des Barres, one of the few leaders at the siege of Damascus whose reputation

20066-558: The temple was used for the worship of the one God by many prophets of Islam, including Jesus. Other Muslim scholars have used the Torah (called Tawrat in Arabic) to expand on the details of the temple. The term Bayt al-Maqdis (or Bayt al-Muqaddas ), which frequently appears as a name of Jerusalem in early Islamic sources, is a cognate of the Hebrew term bēt ha-miqdāsh (בית המקדש),

20224-491: The tens of thousands to experience the places where Jesus walked. After the Persian invasion in 614 many churches were razed, and the site was turned into a dump. The Arabs conquered the city from the Byzantine Empire which had retaken it in 629. The Byzantine ban on the Jews was lifted and they were allowed to live inside the city and visit the places of worship. Christian pilgrims were able to come and experience

20382-431: The term "al-Aqsa", in relation to the whole plaza, is also a central identity symbol for Palestinians , including Palestinian Christians . Since the Crusades , the Muslim community of Jerusalem has managed the site through the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf . The site, along with the whole of East Jerusalem (which includes the Old City), was controlled by Jordan from 1948 until 1967 and has been occupied by Israel since

20540-437: The term "mosque" for the whole compound follows the usage of the same term for other early Islamic sites with large courtyards such as the Mosque of Ibn Tulun in Cairo, the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus and the Great Mosque of Kairouan . Other sources and maps have used the term al-Masjid al-'Aqṣā to refer to the congregational mosque itself. The term "al-Aqsa" as a symbol and brand-name has become popular and prevalent in

20698-544: The term Masjid al-Aqsa refers to the entire esplanade plaza which is the subject of this article – the entire area including the Dome of the Rock , the fountains, the gates , and the four minarets – because none of these buildings existed at the time the Quran was written. Al-Jâmi' al-Aqṣá refers to the specific site of the silver-domed congregational mosque building, also referred to as Qibli Mosque or Qibli Chapel ( al-Jami' al-Aqsa or al-Qibli , or Masjid al-Jumah or al-Mughata ), in reference to its location on

20856-452: The three main ranks were eventually known as knight brothers, sergeant brothers, and chaplain brothers. Knights and chaplains were referred to as brothers by 1140, but sergeants were not full members of the Order at first, and this did not change until the 1160s. The knights were the most visible division of the order. They were equipped as heavy cavalry , with three or four horses and one or two squires . Squires were generally not members of

21014-411: The traditional name of Al-Aqsa Mosque. Some scholars have used the terms Sacred Esplanade or Holy Esplanade as a "strictly neutral term" for the site. A notable example of this usage is the 2009 work Where Heaven and Earth Meet: Jerusalem's Sacred Esplanade , written as a joint undertaking by 21 Jewish, Muslim and Christian scholars. In recent years, the term "Holy Esplanade" has been used by

21172-429: The visitors-general of the order, who were knights specially appointed by the Grand Master and convent of Jerusalem to visit the different provinces, correct malpractices, introduce new regulations, and resolve important disputes. The visitors-general had the power to remove knights from office and to suspend the Master of the province concerned. The central headquarters of the Templars had several offices that answered to

21330-450: The vizier of Egypt, when he tried to flee from Cairo to Damascus after losing a power struggle. Abbas was killed and the Templars captured his son, who they later sent back to the Fatimids. In the late 1150s the Egyptians launched raids against the Crusaders in the areas of Gaza and Ascalon. In the mid-12th century, the tide began to turn in the Crusades. The Islamic world had become more united under effective leaders such as Saladin , and

21488-491: The wall of the city was breached in August 1153, at which point Bernard led forty knights into Ascalon. But the rest of the army did not join them and all of the Templars were killed by the Muslim defenders. Ascalon was captured by the rest of the army several days later, and Bernard was eventually succeeded by André de Montbard . After the fall of Ascalon, the Templars continued operating in that region from their castle at Gaza. In June 1154 they attacked Abbas ibn Abi al-Futuh ,

21646-451: The western wall may be seen from within the Western Wall Tunnel , which was excavated through buildings adjacent to the platform. On the southern and eastern sides, the walls are visible almost to their full height. The platform itself is separated from the rest of the Old City by the Tyropoeon Valley, though this once deep valley is now largely hidden beneath later deposits and is imperceptible in places. The platform can be reached via Gate of

21804-422: The whole of Christendom. They acquired large tracts of land, both in Europe and the Middle East; they bought and managed farms and vineyards; they built massive stone cathedrals and castles; they were involved in manufacturing, import, and export; they owned fleets of ships; and at one point they even owned the entire island of Cyprus . The order arguably qualifies as the world's first multinational corporation . By

21962-415: The winter of 1149 and 1150, King Baldwin III oversaw the reconstruction of the fortress at Gaza City , which had been left in ruins. It was part of the ring of castles that were built along the southern border of the Kingdom of Jerusalem to protect it from raids by the Egyptian Fatimid Caliphate , and specifically from the Fatimid troops at the fortress of Ascalon , which by then was the last coastal city in

22120-449: The words "Temple Mount" or "Har HaBayit", stating that it denied Jewish ties to the site. Israel froze all ties with UNESCO. In October 2017, Israel and the United States announced they would withdraw from UNESCO, citing anti-Israel bias. On 6 April 2022, UNESCO unanimously adopted a resolution reiterating all 21 previous resolutions concerned with Jerusalem. The Temple Mount has historical and religious significance for all three of

22278-671: The words: "Dieu n'est pas content, nous avons des ennemis de la foi dans le Royaume" ("God is not pleased. We have enemies of the faith in the kingdom"). Claims were made that during Templar admissions ceremonies, recruits were forced to spit on the Cross, deny Christ, and engage in indecent kissing; brethren were also accused of worshipping idols , and the order was said to have encouraged homosexual practices. Many of these allegations contain tropes that bear similarities to accusations made against other persecuted groups such as Jews, heretics, and accused witches. These allegations, though, were highly politicised without any real evidence. Still,

22436-428: The world cannot taunt Israel and say, "you have stolen them," since it was purchased "for its full price" by David. The First Temple was destroyed in 587/586 BCE by the Neo-Babylonian Empire under the second Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar II , who subsequently exiled the Judeans to Babylon following the fall of the Kingdom of Judah and its annexation as a Babylonian province . The Jews who had been deported in

22594-401: Was added to the List of World Heritage in Danger . On 26 October 2016, UNESCO passed the Occupied Palestine Resolution that condemned what it described as "escalating Israeli aggressions" and illegal measures against the waqf, called for the restoration of Muslim access and demanded that Israel respect the historical status quo and also criticized Israel for its continuous "refusal to let

22752-538: Was already deeply in debt to the Templars from his war against England , decided to seize upon the rumours for his own purposes. He began pressuring the church to take action against the order, as a way of freeing himself from his debts. At dawn on Friday, 13 October 1307 – a date that helped influence the superstition, but not necessarily the origin, of the popular stories about Friday the 13th – King Philip IV ordered de Molay and scores of other French Templars to be simultaneously arrested. The arrest warrant started with

22910-424: Was beheaded by Saladin in 1189 at the Siege of Acre . The Grand Master oversaw all of the operations of the order, including both the military operations in the Holy Land and Eastern Europe and the Templars' financial and business dealings in Western Europe . Some Grand Masters also served as battlefield commanders, though this was not always wise: several blunders in de Ridefort's combat leadership contributed to

23068-406: Was delayed for several months. While waiting, De Molay and Clement discussed criminal charges that had been made two years earlier by an ousted Templar and were being discussed by King Philip IV of France and his ministers. It was generally agreed that the charges were false, but Clement sent King Philip a written request for assistance in the investigation. According to some historians, Philip, who

23226-409: Was founded as a militia by Pope Leo IX to counter the Normans . In response to the Islamic conquests of the former Byzantine Empire , numerous Catholic military orders were set up following the First Crusade . The founding of such orders suited the Catholic church's plan of channeling the devotion of the European nobility toward achieving the Church's temporal goals, and it also complemented

23384-608: Was founded in 1946 by the Spanish protectorate in Morocco . Awarded to both Spanish and Moroccan military officers and soldiers , the single-class order was abolished in 1956. Temple Mount The Temple Mount ( Hebrew : הַר הַבַּיִת , romanized:  Har haBayīt , lit.   'Temple Mount'), also known as The Noble Sanctuary ( Arabic : الحرم الشريف, 'Haram al-Sharif'), al-Aqsa Mosque compound , or simply al-Aqsa ( / æ l ˈ æ k s ə / ; The Furthest Mosque المسجد الأقصى , al-Masjid al-Aqṣā ), and sometimes as Jerusalem's holy esplanade ,

23542-440: Was later renovated by King Herod and was ultimately destroyed by the Roman Empire in 70 CE. Orthodox Jewish tradition maintains it is here that the third and final Temple will be built when the Messiah comes. The Temple Mount is the place Jews turn towards during prayer. Jewish attitudes towards entering the site vary. Due to its extreme sanctity, many Jews will not walk on the Mount itself, to avoid unintentionally entering

23700-515: Was located four hundred miles north of the pilgrim road from Jaffa to Jerusalem, on the northern frontier of the Principality of Antioch : the castle of Bagras in the Amanus Mountains . It may have been as early as 1131, and by 1137 at the latest, that the Templars were given the mountainous region that formed the border of Antioch and Cilician Armenia , and included the castles of Bagras, Darbsak , and Roche de Roissel . The Templars were there when Byzantine emperor John II Komnenos tried to make

23858-488: Was not damaged by the event. After the Second Crusade, Zengid forces under Nur ad-Din of Aleppo attacked the Principality of Antioch , and in June 1149 his army defeated the Crusaders at the Battle of Inab , where Prince Raymond of Antioch was killed. King Baldwin III led reinforcements to the principality, which led Nur to accept a truce with Antioch and not advance any further. The force with King Baldwin included 120 Templar knights and 1,000 sergeants and squires. In

24016-461: Was of two knights riding on a single horse, emphasizing the order's poverty. The impoverished status of the Templars did not last long. They had a powerful advocate in Saint Bernard of Clairvaux , a leading Church figure, the French abbot primarily responsible for the founding of the Cistercian Order of monks and a nephew of André de Montbard , one of the founding knights. Bernard put his weight behind them and wrote persuasively on their behalf in

24174-400: Was pressed into his actions by the magnitude of the public scandal and by the dominating influence of King Philip IV, who was Clement's relative. The Templars were organised as a monastic order similar to Bernard's Cistercian Order, which was considered the first effective international organization in Europe. The organizational structure had a strong chain of authority. Each country with

24332-443: Was the Order of Saint George , founded in 1326 by King Charles I of Hungary , through which he made all the Hungarian nobility swear loyalty to him. Shortly thereafter, the Order of the " Knights of the Band " was founded in 1332 by King Alfonso XI of Castile . Both orders existed only for about a century. The original features of the military orders were the combination of religious and military ways of life. Some of them, like

24490-433: Was the site of several events in the life of Jesus , and Christian loyalty to the site as a focal point remained long after his death. After the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE, which came to be regarded by early Christians, as it was by Josephus and the sages of the Jerusalem Talmud , to be a divine act of punishment for the sins of the Jewish people, the Temple Mount lost its significance for Christian worship with

24648-539: Was the site of the Jebusite fortress called the "stronghold of Zion", but once the First Temple was erected, according to the Bible, at the top of the Eastern Hill ("Temple Mount"), the name "Mount Zion" migrated there too. The name later migrated for a last time, this time to Jerusalem's Western Hill. The English term "al-Aqsa Mosque" is a translation of either al-Masjid al-'Aqṣā ( Arabic : ٱلْمَسْجِد ٱلْأَقْصَىٰ ) or al-Jâmi' al-Aqṣā ( Arabic : ٱلْـجَـامِـع الْأَقْـصّى ). Al-Masjid al-'Aqṣā – "the farthest mosque" –

24806-548: Was transformed into a secular duchy in 1525, and Livonia in 1562 . These are military orders listed chronologically according to their dates of foundation and extinction, sometimes approximate due to scarce sources, and/or repeated suppressions by Papal or royal authorities. Presently active institutions are listed in consideration with their legitimacy according to the International Commission on Orders of Chivalry . They are divided into international and national according to their adherence, mission, and enrollment, disregarding

24964-476: Was transported to a site named Al-Aqsa Mosque – "the furthest place of prayer" ( al-Masjid al-'Aqṣā ) during his Night Journey ( Isra and Mi'raj ). The Qur'an describes how Muhammad was taken by the miraculous steed Buraq from the Great Mosque of Mecca to al-Aqsa Mosque where he prayed. After Muhammad finished his prayers, the angel Jibril ( Gabriel ) traveled with him to heaven, where he met several other prophets and led them in prayer: Glory be to

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