At time of its inception in the 12th century, nobody would have guessed that the Knights Templar became one of the most powerful instances in the Medieval Ages.

In those days Jerusalem was attracting pilgrims and adventurer from all over Europe. The seaway was safe since the first Crusade but the remaining distance from the coast to the heartland was a dangerous terrain for the pilgrims. The never ending flow of mostly unarmed travelers attracted bandits and highwaymen that attacked the pilgrims far away from civilisation.

The majority of the Crusades armyalready relocated back to Europe and so there was little or no hope for safe travels in this region.

This fact was a disgrace for a group of French knights that were stationed in the Holy Land around 1118. Their names are documented:

• - Hugo de Payns
• - Godfrey de Saint-Omer
• - André de Montbard
• - Gundomar
• - Gudfried
• - Roland
• - Payen de Montdidier
• - Gottfried Bisol
• - Archibald de Saint-Amand

To bring order and safety to the region and roads near Jerusalem this knights founded an Order that was named „Poor knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon“, later known as Knights Templar. The name as a result of the new king of Jerusalem Balduin II that gifted the Knights Templar a part of the palace on Temple Mount after their official foundation in 1119.

The Knights Templar incorporated the ideals of two different social stature: They were knights as well as monks at the same time. While being a knight was always attached to a noble descent, becoming a monk was completely missing a social dimension by design. The Knights Templar were not only taking vows to live in penury, chastity and obedience but also to protect the pilgrims in the Holy Land. This mixture between a knight and a monk was never seen before.

From the year 1125 on the Knights Templar was growing rapidly as Count Hugo I of Champagne joined the Order and used his popularity to advertize the cause of the organisation. In addition there was a growing number of bestowals of land from the year 1127 on that granted the Order properties in France, England, Spain, Portugal and Italy. The Knights Order was growing in numbers and assets.

In 1139 the Pope confirmed the Knights Templar which brought the order directly under his jurisdiction and made them basically untouchable. They were a state within a state. They were freed of paying taxes and furthermore were now allowed to collect taxes themselves. The Order used that circumstances and expanded its focus from protection of pilgrims to financial aspects by lending money to outside parties for interest. This was strictly forbidden at this time but nobody took action against the Knights Templar that power was growing rapidly.

All of this changed during the 12th century as mistrust and suspicion emerged regarding the goals of the Order. The political map of Europe was in a state of solidification and the Knights Templar that owned land in multiple countries was a thorn in the flesh of Europes elite. The regents of Europe felt threatened by an organisation that was not caring about national borders and also had the biggest army with the best training of that time.

In the year 1307 this fact was coming to light all the sudden. The Knights Templar were accused of herecy and sodomy. The man pulling the strings in the backround was the french king Philipp IV that was in big debt and was looking for the Orders richments to compensate his financial deficit. Pope Clemens V did not intervene at any point as Philipp was threatening him to separate the french church if he would do so. From one day to the next there was a warrancy for each and every member of the Knights Templar.

It was the year 1312 when Pope Clemens V officially terminated the Knights Templar. The last grandmasters of the Order Jacques de Molay and Geoffroy de Charnay were burned alive on a stake in Paris in 1314. Hundrets of knights died the same way before.

From todays perspective it is very clear that the accusations toward the Order were false and that the real reason for the quick descend of the Knights Templar were very wordly: The hunger of power.

Historical Reproductions offers a wide variety of equipment for every hobbyist that want to relive the time of the Knight Templars.

First of all there are the distinctive marks for the Orders members:

The Templar surcoat is available made of wool  as well as made of heavy linen .

On top of the surcoat the Knights Templar wore the Templar cloak  that was keeping them warm even in freezing temperatures during their journeys.

If you’re looking for the right medieval armor for your display of a Knight Templar take a look at our chainmail  section as well as on our categories for additional chainmail armor .

Non nobis Domine, non nobis, sed nomini tuo da gloriam

Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy Name give glory

The composition of the medieval army was ever-changing over the course of centuries.

Hollywood and Folklore portray stories of armies, consisting a hundred thousand soldiers that went to war in central Europe on a regular basis. When looking at the Early Middle Ages (ca. 500 - 1050) we find much smaller numbers documented. Larger battles had a size of 30,000 to 40,000 men and it often occurred that a battle was fought by a few hundred men on each side. The reason for that was quite simple. Even if a lord had more men than that it would have been difficult to sustain supplies and transportation at this early point in history.

In the Early Middle Ages an army’s composition heavily relied on untrained men. If a city was under a siege, a large chunk of soldiers were recruited from the people of the kingdom performing duties such as craftsmen, cooking and so on. In case like these, men were armed with what they found at home. In the Early Middle ages, it still occurred relatively often that a household still had a weapon. In the High Middle Ages it was forbidden for a normal resident to have a weapon at home that could not be used as a tool for every day work.

From time to time, a lord distributed medieval weapons to the troops. These weapons were chosen by two factors:

a) Whether or not these were cheap to manufacture so that these could be provided in large numbers,

b) How simple it was to use so as even untrained men could use these effectively.

This gave birth to the medieval weapon for infantry: The polearm  Specifically spears  were in heavy use as these were fitting the purpose perfectly. On one hand was a spear that had just a small tip made of metal that made it relatively cheap to manufacture compared to other medieval weapons. On the other hand it was also very easy to use a spear without any training and still be effective on the battlefield.

Of course medieval armour was way too expensive for these untrained troops. From time to time they used a simple helmet such as a kettle hat  or a skullcap  as time passed by. Since, the High Middle Ages, Medieval troops also started with the use of a body armour like a Gambeson.

Knights had a different situation with regards to equipment. In the Early Middle Ages, the term "knight" was not related to a social title which is why everybody could be a knight who had fitting knight armour. It was in the 12th century when the term "knight" changed its meaning and became the role that we know about nowadays.

From this time on, the well equipped, armoured horsemen were no longer a knight if they were not promoted to have this title. These men became men-at-arms and created a new category of Infantry in the Middle Ages. Compared to the untrained troops from that time the men-at-arms were the first professional soldiers of that time and their numbers grew large over the course of the Middle Ages.

With the greater budget of a man-at-arm, he could not only afford a Gambeson   but also a chainmail  and additional chainmail parts  .  In case the soldier was a horseman he often choose a lance  and on foot it was easy for these professional soldiers to fight with a sword  an axe  or a short pole axe

Towards the end of the Middle Ages, there was another change in the army composition in Europe. Infantry were recruited on a larger scale and the soldiers were equipped with spears and polearms to fight in formations which they were trained for before battle. During this time, the armour also changed once again. Breastplates that once were the symbol for knights, soon became available to the regular soldier during this time. Also, additional plated armor parts like gauntlets  became more and more popular. The reason for that was the technical progress in metal working and the fact that this army composition implied almost only mercenaries.

These mercenaries had to buy their equipment on their own and it was not very surprising to witness how much they invested to protect their lives. The Lords of the armies of that time were freed from the costs to equip their armies, so they could use the budget to increase the size of their forces. The budget that was once needed for medieval weapons and medieval armour was now directed to expenses for supplies and transportation. Armies grew larger and larger and the way wars were fought changed once again.