fulfilling his word.'"

CHAPTER XIII.

THE TEMPLE.--GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

Origin of the Order of Templars--First Home of the Order--Removal to
the Banks of the Thames--Rules of the Order--The Templars at the
Crusades, and their Deeds of Valour--Decay and Corruption of the
Order--Charges brought against the Knights--Abolition of the Order.

The Order of Knights Templars, established by Baldwin, King of
Jerusalem, in 1118, to protect Christian pilgrims on their road to
Jerusalem, first found a home in England in 1128 (Henry I.), when Hugh
de Payens, the first Master of the Order, visited our shores to obtain
succours and subsidies against the Infidel.

The proud, and at first zealous, brotherhood originally settled on the
south side of Holborn, without the Bars. Indeed, about a century and a
half ago, part of a round chapel, built of Caen stone, was found under
the foundation of some old houses at the Holborn end of Southampton
Buildings. In time, however, the Order amassed riches, and, growing
ambitious, purchased a large space of ground extending from Fleet Street
to the river, and from Whitefriars to Essex House in the Strand. The new
Temple was a vast monastery, fitted for the residence of the prior, his
chaplain, serving brethren and knights; and it boasted a
council-chamber, a refectory, a barrack, a church, a range of cloisters,
and a river terrace for religious meditation, military exercise, and the
training of chargers. In 1185 Heraclius, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, who
had come to England with the Masters of the Temple and the Hospital to
procure help from Henry II. against the victorious Saladin, consecrated
the beautiful river-side church, which the proud Order had dedicated to
the Virgin Lady Mary. The late Master of the Temple had only recently
died in a dungeon at Damascus, and the new Master of the Hospital, after
the great defeat of the Christians at Jacob's Ford, on the Jordan, had
swam the river covered with wounds, and escaped to the Castle of
Beaufort.

The singular rules of the "Order of the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Jesus
Christ and of the Temple of Solomon," were revised by the first Abbot of
Clairvaux, St. Bernard himself. Extremely austere and earnest, they were
divided into seventy-two heads, and enjoined severe and constant
devotional exercises, self-mortification, fasting, prayer, and regular
attendance at matins, vespers, and all the services of the Church.
Dini