The Knights Templar

1228–29 Crusade of Frederick II

1239–40 Crusade of Theobald of Champagne

1240–41 Crusade of Richard of Cornwall

1240 Rebuilding of Safad begins

1241–42 Siege of the Hospital compound at Acre

1243 Eviction of Imperial forces from Tyre

1244 (16 March) Fall of Cathar stronghold at Montsegur; (23 August) Loss of Jerusalem; (17 October) Battle of La Forbie

1248–54 Crusade of St Louis

1250 (8 February) Battle of Mansurah

1257–67 Additional clauses on penances added to the Rule

1266 Fall of Safad to the Mamluks

After 1268 Catalan Rule of the Templars

1271–72 Crusade of Edward of England – truce negotiated with Mamluks

1274 Council of Lyon

1277 Maria of Antioch sells her rights to the throne of Jerusalem to Charles of Anjou

1277–82 Civil War in Tripoli

1291 (May) Fall of Acre to the Mamluks; (August) Templars evacuate Tortosa and ’Atlit

1299 Fall of La Roche Guillame

1300 Templars attack Egyptian coastal towns

1300–01 Abortive attempt to retake the Holy Land

1302 Loss of Ruad and massacre of the Templar garrison

1305 First allegations made against the Order by Esquin de Floyran

1306 Templars support Amaury in coup in Cyprus; Jacques de Molay returns to the West

1307 (13 October) Arrest of the Templars in France; (19 October) Parisian hearings begin; (24 October) Jacques de Molay’s first confession; (22 November) Pastoralis praeeminentiae calls for Templars everywhere to be arrested; (24 December) De Molay retracts his confession before Papal committee

1308 (February) Clement suspends proceedings; (27 June) 72 Templars confess before Clement; (August) Papal Commissions launched; De Molay interviewed at Chinon

1309 (22 November) Papal commission begins its proceedings; (26 & 28 November) De Molay appears before commission

1310 (April) Templar defence begins; (10 May) Burning of 54 Templars as relapsed heretics near Paris

1311 (5 June) Papal hearings finally end; (16 October) Council of Vienne begins

1312 (22 March) Vox in excelso abolishes the Temple; (2 May) Ad providam transfers Temple property to the Hospital; (6 May) Considerantes dudum allows provincial councils to judge cases

1314 (18 March) Burning of Jacques de Molay and Geoffroi de Charney; (20 April) Pope Clement V dies; (24 June) Battle of Bannockburn; (29 November) Philip the Fair dies

1319 Ad ea exquibis recognises the Knights of Christ

1571 Presumed destruction of the Templar archive on Cyprus by the Ottomans

Appendix II: Grand Masters of the Temple

There is no definitive list of Templar Grand Masters. If one ever existed, then it is possible that it was amongst the documents destroyed by Jacques de Molay shortly before the arrests of 1307. The earliest known list dates from 1342.

c.1136–c.1149 • Robert de Craon

c.1149–c.1152 • Everard des Barres*

c.1152–1153 • Bernard de Tremelay

1153–1156 • Andre de Montbard*

1156–1169 • Bertrand de Blancfort

1169–1171 • Philip de Nablus*

c.1171–1179 • Odo de St Amand

1181–1184 • Arnold of Torroja

1185–1189 • Gerard de Ridefort

1191–1192/3 • Robert de Sable

1194–1200 • Gilbert Erail

1201–1209 • Philip de Plessis

1210–1218/19 • Guillame de Chartres

1219–1230/32 • Peter de Montaigu

c.1232–1244 • Armand de Perigord

c.1244–c.1247 • Richard de Bures*

c.1247–1250 • Guillame de Sonnac

1250–1256 • Reginald de Vichiers

1256–1273 • Thomas Berard

1273–1291 • Guillame de Beaujeu

1291–1292/93 • Theobald Gaudin

c.1293–1314 • Jacques de Molay

_*Disputed.

Many Grand Master lists omit Richard de Bures (see Note 23, above).

The Masterships of Everard des Barres and Andre de Montbard have been called into question by Baigent, Leigh and Lincoln in The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail.⁵³ As regional masters and Grand Masters often signed themselves as ‘magister templi’, it has often led to confusion about precisely who was Grand Master and who was merely a regional master.

All the Masters died in office, with the exception of Everard des Barres, who resigned to become a monk at Clairvaux, where he was still living in 1176, and Philip de Nablus, who apparently also resigned. While Hugues de Payen died in his bed, other Masters were not so lucky: Bernard de Tremelay died during the siege of Ascalon; Gerard de Ridefort at Acre; Guillame de Sonnac at Mansurah; Guillame de Beaujeu during the Fall of Acre; Jacques de Molay was executed as a relapsed heretic. Odo de St Amand and Armand de Perigord both died in Muslim jails.

Gilbert Erail was the only Grand Master to be excommunicated (later rescinded by Pope Innocent III).

In the nineteenth century, a Masonic document surfaced claiming to list all the Grand Masters of the now- underground Templar movement, starting with Jean-Marc Larmenius, who is alleged to have taken over from Jacques de Molay in 1314. It is generally regarded as extremely spurious, and is not quoted here.