Templars who do not yet have the Cross, the knights wear the official dress “”...

Templars who do not yet have the Cross, the knights wear the official dress “” no longer than the Cross””. The Order of the Knights of the Temple was founded in 1118 by Hugues de Payns (died 1136), Knight of Champagne and eight other knights to protect the pelerins in the Holy Land. After a humble beginning as Poor Knights of the Temple, the order developed to become a powerful and rich army of fighting monks, with monasteres throughout Europe, and numerous castles in Palestine (Safed, 1140; Karak, 1143; and the castle of the Pelerins 1217). The order ended tragically in 1312 when the Templars were judges, tortures and executes. Hand-coloured copper engraving, in “Images historiques des costumes des principaux peuples de l'Antiquite et du Middle Ages” by Robert Von Spalart, published in 1796.