Around the year 1119, a band of knights in Jerusalem formed the order of holy warriors we have come to know as the Knights Templar. But what was their motive? One reason given is that they were shocked by the massacre of hundreds of Easter pilgrims by the Saracens in that year, by the river Jordan.
At the end of the 1090s, the First Crusade had been launched after a stirring speech by Pope Urban at Clermont exhorting Catholic Europe to defend Christians in the Middle East who, it was alleged, were being killed, tortured or enslaved. Worse, places of worship were being defiled. The call to action was heeded and thousands of knights, peasants, and brigands marched through eastern Europe, then past Asia Minor, and into the Levant. In the year 1099, the city of Jerusalem was overrun by crusader forces pushing out its Muslim rulers.
FIND OUT MORE: Why were the Knights Templar formed?
In the years that followed, several crusader kingdoms were formed including Jerusalem, Tripoli, Antioch and Edessa. But these were not easy territories to govern. They were surrounded by enemies, the borders were porous, and the population under crusader control was often hostile. The kings and princes in charge of these new Christian realms in the east often intrigued against each other, while the knights who were supposed to defend these lands were torn between their duty there and running their estates back in France, England, or Italy. The whole situation was very volatile.
With Jerusalem and other holy places back under Christian control, after four hundred years of Muslim rule, pilgrims from all over Europe believed it would be relatively safe to journey to the lands of the bible. How wrong they were!
From the port city of Jaffa to Jerusalem, the pilgrims ran the gauntlet of bandits, thieves and murderers. The skeletons and empty purses of the faithful littered the dusty paths. This was not good business for the crusader kingdoms who needed revenue from the pilgrims – and sometimes their manpower – to defend these new Christian possessions.
In Easter 1119, hundreds of pilgrims made their way to the river Jordan to pray at the site where Jesus was baptised by John the Baptist. They were weakened by fasting and their long trip to the east. These pious souls were set upon by Saracens and mercilessly slain. This was intended to send a stark message back to every Christian household across Europe that they were not wanted in the Holy Land.
It’s then claimed that a knight called Hugh de Payens (1070-1136), shocked by this development, resolved to form an order of knights that would remain in the Holy Land all year round and live by the monastic rule of poverty, chastity, and obedience. Not an obviously attractive career route for young medieval men but it gradually captured the imagination of a generation that yearned for a heroic and militant form of Christianity.
They vowed to protect pilgrims coming from Europe to the Levant, ensuring that such a massacre would never occur again. Those wanting to see the birthplace of Jesus and the site of his crucifixion and resurrection would not have to fear for their lives.
