Member of a religious military order of knighthood established during the Crusades. At its beginning (&circa; 1119), the group consisted of eight or nine French knights who devoted themselves to protecting from Muslim warriors those on pilgrimage to Jerusalem. They were given quarters near the site of the former Temple of Jerusalem, from which they derived their name.
Taking vows of poverty and chastity, they performed courageous service, and their numbers increased rapidly, partly because of the propagandistic writing of St. Bernard de Clairvaux, who also wrote their rule of life. They flourished for two centuries, expanding to other countries, growing in number to 20,000, and acquiring vast wealth and property. By 1304 rumours, probably false, of irreligious practices and blasphemies had made them the target of persecution. In 1307 Philip IV of France and Pope Clement V initiated the offensive that culminated in the Templars' final suppression in 1312, including the confiscation of all their property and the imprisonment or execution of many members; their last leader, Jacques de Molay (1243–1314), was burned at the stake.
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