Contents
Biography. According to the Templar chronology, Hugo de Payens was born in 1070 at Chateau de las Payens. Not much is known about his real family or his childhood, only a consanguinity with the Counts of Champagne or the Carlovingian dynasty is speculated, but different files discovered over the years mention other places and other dates related to Hugo de Payens.
What can be assured is that his childhood and youth were influenced by religion and in this way, between 1104-1107 he traveled to the Holy Land with the Count of Champagne and in 1118/1119 he became Grand Master of the Knights Templar. The same year, Hugo de Payens pronounces the three vows (poverty, chastity and obedience) before King Badouin II and undertakes to monitor the pilgrimage routes and the drinking water wells. The King gives up a wing of his palace in the ancient Temple of Solomon where the order founds its headquarters.
In 1128, Hugo and his companions returned to France to celebrate the Council of Troyes of the Catholic Church with the main objective of officially recognizing The Order of the Temple. The need to create a militia capable of protecting pilgrims to the Holy Land was also explained. Once the request was officially approved, the Pontiff gave the Templars a relic, the Lignum Crucis, which became the emblem of the Order.
The Sword. In its origins it was a simple sword from an aesthetic point of view, but loaded with symbolism and was only used for the defense of Christian pilgrims. When, after being legally recognized, the Order began to grow, the sword became increasingly used due to the participation of the Templars in the Crusades. By fighting actively they became part of the best prepared military units.
Hugo de Payens Sword
But not because they were good at handling their swords did the Templars nearly disappear, but because of their financial and negotiation skills. At that time, King Philip of France, obsessed by the money and riches that the Templars supposedly possessed and driven by greed, began to spread slander that reached the ears of Edward II, king of England, Pope Clement V and several other sovereigns.
Actually, the real reason, according to most historians, the king of France was indebted to "the poor knights of Christ." The accusations were divided into 18 blocks with a total of 127 items and on October 13, 1307, the Templars were arrested at their residences in a raid organized by Philip.
Damascene Templar Sword
Philip's ally was the Pope himself who wanted to obtain part of the loot if everything went according to plan. After reading the accusations, the inquisition began to apply punishment, that is, torture and later death for almost all the Templars.
TEMPLAR SWORDSAS
