Original Knights Templar

Hugh, Count of Champagne made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1104–07 and visited Jerusalem for a second time in 1114–16. It is probable that he was accompanied by Hugues de Payens, who remained there after the Count returned to France as there is a charter with "Hugonis de Peans" in the witness list from Jerusalem in 1120 and again in 1123. In 1125 his name appears again as a witness to a donation, this time accompanied by the title "magister militum Templi" ("Master of the Knights of the Temple"). He most likely obtained approval for the Order from King Baldwin II of Jerusalem and Warmund, Patriarch of Jerusalem at the Council of Nablus in 1120. One early chronicler, Simon de St. Bertin, implies that the Knights Templar originated earlier, before the death of Godfrey of Bouillon in 1100: "While he [Godfrey] was reigning magnificently, some had decided not to return to the shadows of the world after suffering such dangers for God's sak...

Origin and early life of Hugues de Payens No early biography of Hugues de Payens exists, nor do later writers cite such a biography. None of the sources on his later career give details of his early life. Information is therefore scanty and uncertain; embellishments depend partly on documents that may not refer to the same individual, partly on histories written decades or even centuries after his death. The earliest source that pins down a geographical origin for the later Grand Master is the Old French translation of William of Tyre 's History of Events Beyond the Sea . The Latin text calls him simply Hugo de Paganis , but the French translation, dated to c. 1200, describes him as Hues de Paiens delez Troies ("Hugh of Payens near Troyes"), a reference to the village of Payns , about 10 km from Troyes , in Champagne (eastern France ). In early documents of that region Hugo de Pedano, Montiniaci dominus is mentioned as a witness to a donation by Count Hugh of Ch...

Hugues de Payens or Payns ( c. 1070 – 24 May 1136) was the co-founder and first Grand Master of the Knights Templar . With Saint Bernard of Clairvaux , he created the Latin Rule , the code of behavior for the Order. (Visit Us On Facebook)