The Knights Templars

The Society of the Middle Temple, with better taste, still preserves, in that part of the Temple over which its sway extends, the widely-renowned and time-honoured badge of the ancient order of the Temple.

On the dissolution of the order of the Hospital of Saint John, (32 Hen. 8,) the Temple once more reverted to the crown, and the lawyers again became the immediate lessees of the sovereign. In the reign of James I., however, some Scotchman attempted to obtain from his majesty a grant of the fee simple or inheritance of the Temple, which being brought to the knowledge of the two law societies, they forthwith made “humble suit” to the king, and obtained a grant of the property to themselves. By letters patent, bearing date at Westminster the 13th of August, in the sixth year of his reign, A. D. 1609, king James granted the Temple to the Benchers of the two societies, their heirs and assigns for ever, for the lodging, reception, and education of the professors and students of the laws of England, the said Benchers yielding and paying to the said king, his heirs and successors, ten pounds yearly for the mansion called the Inner Temple, and ten pounds yearly for the Middle Temple.187

There are but few remains of the ancient Knights Templars now existing in the Temple beyond the Church. The present Inner Temple Hall was the ancient Hall of the Knights, but it has at different periods been so altered and repaired as to have lost almost every trace and vestige of antiquity. In the year 1816 it was nearly rebuilt, and the following extract from “The Report and Observations of the Treasurer on the late Repairs of the Inner Temple Hall,” may prove interesting, as showing the state of the edifice previous to that period. “From the proportions, the state of decay, the materials of the eastern and southern walls, the buttresses of the southern front, the pointed form of the roof and arches, and the rude sculpture on the two doors of public entrance, the hall is evidently of very great antiquity… The northern wall appears to have been rebuilt, except at its two extremities, in modern times, but on the old foundations… The roof was found to be in a very decayed and precarious state. It appeared to have undergone reparation at three separate periods of time, at each of which timber had been unnecessarily added, so as finally to accumulate a weight which had protruded the northern and southern walls. It became, therefore, indispensable to remove all the timber of the roof, and to replace it in a lighter form. On removing the old wainscoting of the western wall, a perpendicular crack of considerable height and width was discovered, which threatened at any moment the fall of that extremity of the building with its superincumbent roof… The turret of the clock and the southern front of the hall are only cased with stone; this was done in the year 1741, and very ill executed. The structure of the turret, composed of chalk, ragstone, and rubble, (the same material as the walls of the church,) seems to be very ancient… The wooden cupola of the bell was so decayed as to let in the rain, and was obliged to be renewed in a form to agree with the other parts of the southern front.”

“Notwithstanding the Gothic character of the building, in the year 1680, during the treasurership of Sir Thomas Robinson, prothonotary of C. B., a Grecian screen of the Doric order was erected, surmounted by lions’ heads, cones, and other incongruous devices. In the year 1741, during the treasurership of John Blencowe, esq., low windows of Roman architecture were formed in the southern front. The dates of such innovations appear from inscriptions with the respective treasurers’ names.”

This ancient hall formed the far-famed refectory of the Knights Templars, and was the scene of their proud and sumptuous hospitality. Within its venerable walls they at different periods entertained king John, king Henry the Third, the haughty legates of the Roman pontiffs, and the ambassadors of foreign powers. The old custom, alluded to by Matthew Paris, (ante, p. 203,) of hanging around the walls the shields and armorial devices of the ancient knights, is still preserved, and each succeeding treasurer of the Temple still continues to hoist his coat of arms on the wall, as in the high and palmy days of the warlike monks of old. Here, in the time of the Knights Templars, the discipline was administered to disobedient brethren, who were scourged upon their bare backs with leathern thongs. Here also was kept, according to the depositions of the witnesses who brought such dark and terrible accusations against the Templars before the ecclesiastical tribunal assembled in London, the famous black idol with shining eyes, and the gilded head, which the Templars worshipped! and from hence was taken the refractory knight, who having refused to spit upon the cross, was plunged into the well which stood in the middle of the Temple court! The general chapters of the Templars were frequently held in the Temple Hall, and the vicar of the church of St. Clements at Sandwich, swore before the Papal inquisitors assembled at London, that he had heard that a boy had been murdered by the Templars in the Temple, because he had crept by stealth into the Hall to witness the proceedings of the assembled brethren.

At the west end of the hall are considerable remains of the ancient convent of the Knights. A groined Gothic arch of the same style of architecture as the oldest part of the Temple Church forms the roof of the present buttery, and in the apartment beyond is a groined vaulted ceiling of great beauty. The ribs of the arches in both rooms are elegantly moulded, but are sadly disfigured with a thick coating of plaster and barbarous whitewash. In the cellars underneath these rooms are some old walls of immense thickness, the remains of an ancient window, a curious fireplace, and some elegant pointed Gothic arches corresponding with the ceilings above; but they are now, alas! shrouded in darkness, choked with modern brick partitions and staircases, and soiled with the damp and dust of many centuries. These interesting remains form an upper and an under story, the floor of the upper story being on a level with the floor of the hall, and the floor of the under story on a level with the terrace on the south side thereof. They were formerly connected with the church by means of a covered way or cloister, which ran at right angles with them over the site of the present cloister-chambers, and communicated with the upper and under story of the chapel of St. Anne, which formerly stood on the south side of the church. By means of this corridor and chapel the brethren of the Temple had private access to the church for the performance of their strict religious duties, and of their secret ceremonies of admitting novices to the vows of the order. In 9 Jac. I., A. D. 1612, some brick buildings three stories high were erected over this ancient cloister by Francis Tate, esq., and being burnt down a few years afterwards, the interesting covered way which connected the church with the ancient convent was involved in the general destruction, as appears from the following inscription upon the present buildings: – Vetustissima Templariorum porticu igne consumpta, anno 1678, Nova hæc, sumptibus Medii Templi extructa, anno 1681, Gulielmo Whitelocke armigero, thesaurario. “The very ancient portico of the Templars being consumed by fire in the year 1678, these new buildings were erected at the expense of the Middle Temple in the year 1681, during the treasurership of William Whitelocke, esq.”

The cloisters of the Templars formed the medium of communication between the halls, of the church, and the cells of the serving brethren of the order. During the formation of the present new entrance into the Temple, by the church, at the bottom of the Inner Temple lane, a considerable portion of the brickwork of the old houses was pulled down, and an ancient wall of great thickness was disclosed. It was composed of chalk, ragstone, and rubble, exactly resembling the walls of the church. It ran in a direction east and west, and appeared to have formed the extreme northern boundary of the old convent. The exact site of the remaining buildings of the ancient Temple cannot now be determined with certainty.

Among the many interesting objects to be seen in the ancient church of the Knights Templars which still exists in a wonderful state of preservation, is the Penitential Cell, a dreary place of solitary confinement formed within the thick wall of the building, only four feet six inches long and two feet six inches wide, so narrow and small that a grown person cannot lie down within it.188 In this narrow prison the disobedient brethren of the ancient Templars were temporarily confined in chains and fetters, “in order that their souls might be saved from the eternal prison of hell.” The hinges and catch of a door firmly attached to the doorway of this dreary chamber still remain, and at the bottom of the staircase is a stone recess or cupboard, where bread and water were placed for the prisoner. In this cell Brother Walter le Bachelor, Knight, Grand Preceptor of Ireland, is said to have been starved to death.

THE END

1

Will. Tyr. lib. i. cap. 2, lib. viii. cap. 3. Jac. de Vitr. Hist. Hierosol. cap. lxii. p. 1080. D’Herbelot Bib. Orient. p. 270, 687, ed. 1697.

2

Procopius de ædificiis Justiniani, lib. 5.

3

Will. Tyr. lib. xii. cap. 7, lib. viii. cap. 3. Hist. Orient. Jac. de Vitr. apud Thesaur. Nov. Anecd. Martene, tom. iii. col. 277. Phocæ descript. Terr. Sanct. cap. 14, col. 1653.

4

Chrysost. Henriq. de Priv. Cist. p. 477.

5

See also Hoveden apud X script. page 479. Hen. Hunting. ib. page 384.

6

Will. Tyr. lib. xiii. cap. 26; Anselmus, lib. iii. epistolarum, epist. 43, 63, 66, 67.

7

Reg. Cart. S. Joh. Jerus. in Bib. Cotton. Nero E. b. No. xx. fo. 118.

8

Odo de Diogilo de Ludov. vii. profectione in Orientem, p. 67.

9

Duchesne hist. franc. scrip. tom. iv. p. 512; epist. 58, 59.

10

Dugd. Monast. vol. vii. p. 838; vol. ii. p. 820, 843, ed. 1830. Baronage, tom. i. p. 122.

11

Will. Tyr. lib. xvii. cap. 21, cap. 9.

12

Registr. epist. apud Martene, tom. ii. col. 647.

13

Will. Tyr. lib. xvii. cap. 27; lib. xviii. cap. 14; lib. xix. cap. 8.

14

Keightley’s Crusaders. The virtues of Noureddin are celebrated by the Arabic Historian Ben-Schunah, by Azzeddin Ebn-al-athir, by Khondemir, and in the work entitled, “The flowers of the two gardens,” by Omaddeddin Kateb. See also Will. Tyr. lib. xx. cap. 33.

15

Alwakidi, translated by Ockley, Hist. Saracen. Cinnamus, lib. iv. num. 22.

16

His. de Saladin, per M. Marin, tome i. p. 120, 1. Gibbon, cap. 59.

17

Hist. Franc. Script. tom. iv. p. 692, 693. Gesta Dei, epist. xiv. p. 1178, 9.

18

Martene, vet. Script., tom. ii. col. 846, 847, 883. Gesta Dei, tom. i. p. 1181-1184. Duchesne. Hist. Franc. script. p. 698.

19

Will. Tyr. lib. xxii. cap. 5.

20

Will. Tyr. lib. xviii. cap. 4, 5. lib. xx. cap. 5. Hoveden in Hen. 2, p. 622. De Vertot, Hist. des Chevaliers de Malte, liv. ii. p. 150 to 161, ed. 1726.

21

Will. Tyr. lib. xxi. cap. 29.

22

Académie des Inscriptions, tom. xvii. p. 127, 170.

23

Adjecit etiam et alia a spiritu superbiæ, quo ipse plurimum abundabat, dictata, quæ præsenti narrationi non multum necessarium est interserere. —Will. Tyr. lib. xx. cap. 32.

24

Will. Tyr. lib. xx. xxi. xxii.

25

Will. Tyr. lib. xx-xxii. Abulpharadge Chron. Syr. p. 379-381.

26

Hemingford, cap. 33. Hoveden, ad ann. 1185; Radulph de Diceto, p. 622-626. Concil. Mag. Brit. tom. iv, p. 788. Matt. West. ad ann. 185; Guill. Neubr. tom. i. lib. iii. cap. 12, 13.

27

Speed. Hist. Britain, p. 506. A. D. 1185.

28

Stowe’s Survey. Tanner, Notit. Monast. Dugd. Orig. Jurid. Herbert, Antiq. Inns of Court.

29

Dugd. Monast. Angl. vol vi. part ii. p. 820.

30

Will. Tyr. lib. xii. cap. 7.

31

Will. Tyr. lib. xx. cap. 21. Rob. de Monte, appen. ad chron. Sig. p. 631. Marin, Sanut. p. 221. Bernard, Thesaur. p. 768. Matt. Par. p. 142.

32

Roccus Pyrrhus, Sicil. Antiq. tom. iii. col. 1000, 1093, 4, 5, 6, 7, &c.

33

Mariana, de. reb. Hist. lib. ii. cap. 23.

34

Script. rer. Germ. tom. ii. col. 584.

35

Constantinop. Christ. lib. iv. p. 157.

36

Hist. Gen. de Languedoc. Hist. de la ville de Paris, tom. i. p. 174. Gall. christ. nov. tom. vi., tom. vii. col. 853.

37

Dugd. Monast. Angl. vol. vi. part 2, p. 800 to 817. Concil. Magnæ Britanniæ, tom. iii. p. 333 to 382. Acta Rymeri, tom iii. p. 279, 288, 291, 295, &c.

38

Nichol’s Hist. of Leicestershire.

39

Clutterbuck’s Hist. of Hertfordshire. Acta Rymeri, tom. iii. p. 133, 134. Dodsworth, MS. vol. xxxv.

40

Morant’s Hist. Essex. Rymer, tom. iii. p. 290 to 294.

41

Inquis. terrar. ut sup. Peck’s MS. in Musseo Britannico, vol. iv. fol. 95. Dodsworth, MS. vol. xx. p. 65, 67. Dugd. Baron, tom. i. p. 70.

42

Monast. Angl. Hasted. Hist. Kent. Manning’s Surrey. Atkyn’s Gloucestershire; and see the references in Tanner. Nash’s Worcestershire. Bridge’s Northamptonshire, vol. ii. p. 100.

43

Thoroton’s Nottinghamshire. Burn and Nicholson’s Westmoreland. Worsley’s Isle of Wight. Mat. Par. p. 615, ed. Lond. 1640.

44

Dugd. Monast. Angl. p. 838.

45

Dugd. Monast. p. 844.

46

Acta Rymeri, tom. i. p. 30-32, 54, 298, 574, 575.

47

2 Inst. p. 432, 465.

48

Stat. Westr. 2, cap. 43, 13 Ed. I.

49

Concil. Mag. Brit. tom. ii. p. 335, 339, 340, 355, 356. Monast. Angl. p. 818.

50

Peck’s MS. in Museo Brittannico, vol. iv. p. 65.

51

Nicholl’s Hist. Leicestershire, vol. iii. pl. cxxvii. fig. 947, p. 943; vol. ii. pl. v. fig. 13.

52

Rot. claus. 49. H. III. m. xi. d. Acta Rymeri, tom. iii. p. 802.

53

L’Histoire des Cisteaux, Chrisost Henriques, p. 479.

54

Lord Littleton’s Life of Henry II. tom. ii. p. 356. Hoveden, 453. Chron. Gervasii, p. 1386, apud X. script.

55

Lansdowne MS. 207 E. fol. 467. Ibid. fol. 201.

56

Acta Rymeri, tom. i. p. 442, 4, 5. Wilkins. Concilia, tom. ii. p. 230.

57

Matt. Par. p. 381.

58

Matt. Par. p. 253, 645.

59

Wilkins. Concilia Magnæ Britanniæ, tom. ii. p. 19, 26, 93, 239, 253, 272, 292.

60

Muratori script. rer. Ital. p. 792. Cotton MS. Nero E. vi. p. 60, fol. 466.

61

Radulph de Diceto, p. 626. Matt. Par. ad ann. 1185. Hoveden, p. 636, 637.

62

The above passage is almost literally translated from the Chron. Joan. Bromton, abbatis Jornalensis, script. X. p. 1144, ad ann. 1185.

63

Contin. hist. apud Martene, tom. v. col. 606.

64

Contin. Hist. Will. Tyr. apud Martene, tom. v. col. 585, 593-596. This valuable old chronicle appears to have been written by a resident in Palestine. It was translated into Latin by Francis Piper and published by Muratori inter rer Italicar. script. tom. vii. as the chronicle of Bernard the treasurer. Assizes de Jerusalem, cap. 287, 288.

65

Rad. Cogg. apud Martene, tom. v. col. 550-552. Contin. Hist., ib. col. 599, 600.

66

Bohadin ib’n Sjeddadi, apud Schultens, ex. MS. Arab. Pref.

67

Rad. Cogg. col. 552, 553. Abulfed. Chron. Hejir. 582.

68

Muhammed, F. Muhammed, N. Koreisg. Ispahan, apud Schultens, p. 18.

69

Omad’eddin Kateb, in the book called Fatah. Extraits Arabes, Michaud. Radulph Coggleshale. Chron. Terr. Sanct. apud Martene, tom. v. col. 552 to 559. Contin. Hist. ib. col. 602 – 608. Bohadin, p. 70. Jac. de Vitr. cap. xciv. Abulfeda, cap. 27. Abulpharag. Chron. Syr. p. 399, 401, 402. Gesta Dei, tom. i. p. 1150, 1. Vinisauf. apud Gale, p. 15.

70

Hoveden, rer. Angl. script. post Bedam, p. 636, 637. Chron. Gervas. ib. col. 1562.

71

Contin. Hist. col. 611. Jac. de Vitr. cap. xc. Vinisauf, p. 257. Michaud, Extr.

72

Rad. Cogg. col. 567, 568.

73

Ibn-Alatsyr. Extraits par M. Michaud. Bib. des Croisaides, p. 464.

74

Rad. Cogg. col. 570-573. Contin. Hist. Bell. Sacr. col. 614, 615, 621. Bohadin, cap. xxxvi. and the Arab Extracts, apud Schultens, cap. xxvii. p. 42, 43.

75

Hoveden, Rer. Angl. script. post Bedam, p. 645, 646.

76

Bohadin apud Schultens, cap. 36. Abulfeda, ib. cap. xxvii. p. 43. Wilken Comment. p. 148.

77

Khotbeh, or sermon of Mohammed Ben Zeky. —Michaud, Extraits Arabes.

78

Michaud, Pieces justificatives, No. ix. 485.

79

Hoveden, p. 646. Contin. Hist. col. 623. Ibn-Alatsyr, p. 474-477.

80

Ipse meis vidi oculis, uno eorum cadente, alter mox eundem locum occuparet, immotique, perstarent ad instar muri. Bohadin apud Schultens, p. 85. Michaud, Extraits, p. 487, 488.

81

Ibn Alatsyr, ut sup. p. 479-484, 492. Bohadin, cap. 41-44, 48, 49.

82

Radulph de Diceto, apud X. script. p. 642.

83

Vinisauf apud Gale XV. script, vol. 2. p. 270. Rad. Cogg. col. 574. Gesta Dei, tom. 1, part 2, p. 1165. Radulph de Diceto col. 649.

84

Ducange, Gloss, tom. vi. p. 1036. Cotton MS. Nero E. vi. p. 60, fol. 466.

85

Bohadin, cap. 55-58, 75-84. Ibn Alat. ut sup. p. 499, 500, 510-514. Vinisauf, apud Gale XV. script. cap. 58-60. D’Herbelot, Bib. Orient, p. 743.

86

Rad. Cogg. col. 557. Vinisauf, cap. 64, 74. L’Art de Verif. tom. 4, p. 59, ed. 1818.

87

Hist. de la maison de Sablè, liv. vi. chap. 5. p. 174, 175. Cotton MS. Nero, E. vi. p. 60. folio 466, where he is called Robert de Sambell. L’Art de Verif. tom. v. p. 347.

88

Jac. de Vitr. Gesta Dei, cap. 65.

89

Michaud, Hist. des Croisades, tom. ii. p. 383, 384.

90

Bohadin, cap. 95-110, 112. I’Bn Alat. p. 520. Bohadin, cap. 115. Contin. Hist. col. 634, 635.

91

Contin. Hist. col. 633. Trivet ad ann. 1191. Chron. de S. Denis, lib. ii. cap. 7.

92

Itinerarium regis Anglorum Ricardi et aliorum in terram Hierosolymorum auctore Gaufrido de Vinisauf. Gale’s scriptores Historiæ Anglicanæ, tom. ii. p. 247-429.

93

Erat autem perelegans ea et per sane venusta, validissimis mœnibus, celsissimis ædificiis, ita ut terrorem quendam gravitate et firmitate incuteret. Bohadin, apud Schultens, pp. 100-201. Ibn Alat. p. 523-525. Vinisauf, lib. iv.

94

Bohadin, apud Schultens, cap. 156, p. 235, 236.

95

Vinisauf, lib. vi. Bohadin, p. 238. Abulfeda, p. 51. Contin. Hist. col. 638, 641.

96

Cotton MS. Nero E. VI. 23, i.

97

Jac. de Vitry, Gest. Dei, tom i. pars. 9, p. 1113.

98

Michaud, Hist. des Croisades, tom. iii. p. 39.

99

Othonis de S. Blazio, apud Martene, tom. vi. p. 886. Contin. Hist. ib. tom. v.

100

Lib. i. ii. epistolarum. Inn. III., epist. 138, 567.

101

Cotton MS. Nero E. VI., p. 60, fol. 466. Ducange, Gloss. tom. vi. p. 1036.

102

Bernardus Thesaurarius, Script, rer. Italicar. tom. vii. cap. 187. p. 823.

103

Cotton, MS. Nero E. VI. fol. 23 i. – p. 60, fol. 466. Ducange, Gloss. tom. vi. col. 1036.

104

Bern Thesaur. cap. 190-200, Script. Ital. tom. viii. Jac. de Vitr. p. 1135-1143. Martene. Thesaur. anec. tom. iii. col. 294, &c. Ibn Ferat p. 770. Ibn Alat. p. 538. Oliverii, Hist. Damiatana, tom. ii. cap. 31.

105

Epist. apud Matt. Par. p. 312, 313. Martene, tom. v. col. 1480.

106

Matt. Par. p. 314. See also another letter, p. 313.

107

Ibn Schunah, ad ann. Hejir 626. Tyr. Contin. Hist. col. 695-699. Marin Sanut. p. 213.

108

Od Rainald, ad ann. 1229.

109

Cotton MS. Nero E. VI. 23 i. p. 60, fol. 466. L’Art de Verif. tom. v. p. 351.

110

Matt. Par. p. 615. Tyr. Contin. Hist. col. 722-725. Marin Sanut. cap. 15. Michaud, Extr. p. 549. Ibn Schunah, Hejir. 638.

111

Acta Rymeri, tom. i. p. 134, 165, 170, 194, 195, 208, 209. Matt. Par. p. 234-237, 253. Matt. West. p. 271.

112

Acta Rymeri, tom. i. p. 234, 258, 270, 275, 311, 373, 380.

113

Addison’s Temple Church.

114

Cart. 11, Hen. 3, m. 33. Dugd. Monast. Angl. vol. vi. part 2. p. 844.

115

Plac. de Quo Warranto temp. Edw. 1, rot. 4, d. p. 191. Spelman, Gloss p. 251.