The Knights Templar in France

No country in Europe is richer in Knight Templar sites than France. The first Templars were Frenchmen and the final destruction of the knights was initiated by the French king. Across the country, you can find castles and villages that date back to this order of holy warriors.

Before going any further, let me just clear up something about the country we call France today. During the Templar period, much of modern France was either ruled by the King of England (whose family had come from Anjou in France – confusing, eh?) or was ruled by semi-independent barons such as the County of Champagne, the Duchy of Burgundy, the County of Flanders, and the County of Toulouse.

The map below might help clarify things – hopefully. Note that in terms of land mass, the King of England ruled more of France in the year 1200 than the man who called himself the King of France.

The Templar treasures of Larzac

Just over an hour’s drive from the southern French coastal city of Montpellier is a cluster of picturesque medieval villages in the Larzac region. These include La Couvertoirade, which claims – rather immodestly – to be the most beautiful village in all of France. It was founded by the Knights Templar and when they were disbanded, handed over to the Knights Hospitaller.

The village is incredibly well preserved and has been rightly described as a ‘dream’ to encounter – it’s so idyllic. Encircling it are the original medieval ramparts, which are twelve metres high and over four hundred metres long. The Templar fortress, built in the Romanesque style, is still standing – along with the 12th century church dedicated to Saint Christopher.

Half an hour’s drive through the gorgeous countryside is Sainte-Eulalie-de-Cernon, where you can visit a Templar hospital. Other Templar sites in this area include the fortress at La Cavalerie; the remains of a commandery at Le Viala-du-Pas-deJaux; and the beautiful Cistercian abbey at Saint-Jean d’Alcas. The Templars and Cistercians were closely aligned.

Templar glories in the Champagne region

The Knights Templar were based in Jerusalem but the leadership came from the Champagne region of France – corresponding to the more modern ‘département,’ of Aube. Its most populous city is Troyes, which hosted major commercial fairs in the Middle Ages.

The first Templar grand master, Hugues de Payens, was born in a manor near Troyes. There was a commandery in the city but it burned down, along with much of medieval Troyes, in the great fire of 1524. However, a great deal of Templar Troyes is still there in the form of quaint churches and timber-framed houses.

The soaring cathedral hosted the Council of Troyes in 1129 that agreed the Templar Rule. The man who pushed for the church and state to accept and support the Templars was Saint Bernard of Clairvaux and his Cistercian abbey – Clairvaux – is based nearby. Sadly it was absorbed into a notorious prison in the 19th and 20th centuries (condemned by the French novelist Victor Hugo) and only recently, have the authorities begun transforming the abbey into a tourist destination.

Other Templar sites in the Aube department include a very well preserved Templar commandery at Avalleur where the knights generated significant income from vineyards and livestock farming. During the trials of the Templars, a brother, Chrétien de Bissey, detailed his secret initiation behind the altar of the chapel at Avalleur in 1294.

At Fresnoy, there is a well preserved Templar chapel. The order was active here from the 1180s and bequests were made by the nobility in the area in 1253 and 1299. It’s interesting to note that even in the years up to the destruction of the Templars, rich people were still handing over land and money to the order. During the trials, a local 18-year-old Templar, Jean de Fresnoy, was questioned by the inquisitors.

The Knights Templar in Haute-Marne

South of Aube, but still in the ‘Grand Est’ area of France, we enter the department of Haute-Marne. Mormant Abbey is a simple, austere building that truly evokes the rural life of the Templars. It has survived along with the tithe barn (where taxes were gathered from the peasants in the form of agricultural produce), a section of the ramparts, and some wall frescoes.

Mormant was founded by the Augustinians as a religious community in 1121 and only acquired by the Templars around 1300, just seven years before they were put on trial. After the Council of Vienne shut the Templars down in 1312, Mormant passed to the Knights Hospitaller. After the 1789 French Revolution, much of Mormant was dismantled, leaving what you see today.

If you have time after visiting Mormant, continue on to the chapel of Saint John the Baptist at what was once a Templar commandery in Xugney. This almost circular chapel is bolted on to other buildings that once formed part of a Templar hive of activity, including living quarters for the knights. Its a stunning example of Romanesque architecture dating back to the 1160s.

The Templars in Bourgogne

Carrying on southwards, we hit the department of Côte-d’Or, which encompasses the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region – old Burgundy to you and me. The former capital of the Duchy of Burgundy is the largest city in the area: Dijon – famous for its mustard. Bernard of Clairvaux’s father, Tescelin le Roux, was a Burgundian knight whose job was to guard the road from Dijon to Paris.

At Épailly, there is a Templar chapel but the surrounding preceptory, endowed by the local nobility, has long gone. This place is important in Templar history because its commander at the end of the 13th century was Hugues de Pairaud who competed with Jacques de Molay to become the last Templar grand master. He was lucky to lose the election. Whereas De Molay was burned at the stake in 1314, De Pairaud received a life sentence in prison.

De Molay was received into the Templar order in 1265 at a chapel in Beaune. However, should you wish to walk through the medieval doorway where De Molay once trod, you’ll have to go to New York. The medieval entrance to the chapel was sold at some point to The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The Templars and Chinon

Chinon has one of the most impressive medieval castles in Europe. It comes closest to Walt Disney’s idea of a Middle Ages fortress. And it has a long association with the Templars, who had a commandery nearby. After the arrest of the Templar order in 1307, De Molay and other senior knights were imprisoned in the Coudray Tower, which still stands proud.

It was here that Pope Clement V sent inquisitors to interrogate De Molay and get his side of the story regarding the charges of heresy and sodomy. The result of this encounter was the so-called Chinon Parchment, which partially exonerated the Templars – though still led to the execution of De Molay and others.

Gisors castle and the Knights Templar

Heading north-west of Paris, there is the 11th century castle keep at Gisors, built on an artificial hill known as a ‘motte-and-bailey’. De Molay was also imprisoned here along with Hugues de Pairaud, Geoffroy de Gonneville – Master of the Province of Poitou and Aquitaine – and Geoffroy de Charnay (also spelt De Charney and De Charny), Preceptor of Normandy, who was burned with De Molay in 1314.

Gisors has become a feature in esoteric theories about the Templars focussed on the interpretation of graffiti in the castle dungeon that allegedly indicates the knights secretly transported their treasure from Paris to the port of La Rochelle ahead of arrest warrants being served on them in 1307.

In the early 1960s, the writer Gérard de Sède hired Roger Lhomoy, a former guide and janitor at the castle, who claimed to have discovered a hidden chapel and treasure at Gisors. An official investigation, including excavations, was launched, but the search for the treasure proved unsuccessful. Nevertheless, the belief endures that sacred items were once at Gisors and may have been concealed there by the Knights Templar.

Paris Temple

Finally, on our Templar tour of France, we arrive in the capital, Paris. This is a city dripping with history. You can visit Notre Dame, now repaired after the appalling fire in 2019, and a short walk will take you to the exact spot where De Molay was burned at the stake. A very missable plaque indicates the location.

The medieval skyline of Paris was dominated by the Paris Temple – the headquarters of the order – also known as the Enclos du Temple. This imposing structure was still there when the French Revolution erupted and ironically, the overthrown king of France – Louis XVI – descendant of Philip IV who had annihilated the order – was imprisoned in the Paris Temple before being tried and guillotined.

Under the Emperor Napoleon, the decision was taken to began demolition of the Temple to prevent it becoming a royalist shrine – a place where supporters of the older order could pay tribute to the decapitated Louis. So, there is zero trace of it today. Its location was in the very hip Marais district of Paris and is indicated by the Square du Temple and Carreau du Temple.

If you would like to know more about the Knights Templar, then get your hands on a copy of my book: The Knights Templar – History & Mystery. Published by Pen & Sword and available on Amazon, Waterstones, Barnes & Noble, and WHSmith. Don’t miss out on your copy!