The Templar compound on Temple Mount Jerusalem

“Shortly after the conquest of Jerusalem in 1099, the Al-Aqsa Mosque became the residence of the Frankish kings of Jerusalem. But the kings were not able to maintain the building in the condition in which they had found it.” Perhaps that is what inspired king Baldwin II to lend the site to the young Templar Order. A reconstruction.

“Foucher of Chartres (1059- after 1128), the chaplain of King Baldwin I of Jerusalem, writes (in his Chronicle Gesta Francorum Iherusalem Peregrinantium, started about 1101 and finished around 1128, TN) that because of lack of money the king was unable to repair the building’s roof, and when lead fell from it, he would sell it to merchants. Indeed he would even order the lead to be stripped, and then sell it. Later, in the second redaction of his chronicle, Foucher describes the building (probably mainly the building’s eastern part, TN) as already largely ruined.

In about 1120 King Baldwin II assented to lend for some time the Temple or Palace of Solomon to the young Templar Order. Its Primitive Rule (after 1129, TN) implies that the palace, after having come into Templar hands, would have comprised a refectory, a church, a chapter house, and an infirmary. Usāma ibn Munqidh (1095-1188) relates that beside the Aqsa Mosque stood a small mosque that the Franks turned into a church. Al-Idrīsī (1100-1166), the Muslim geographer who worked at the Norman court in Palermo, wrote around 1154 that the Templars converted the Aqsa Mosque into chambers in which their companies were lodged.

Yet, even as the Templars adjusted the building to their needs, the kings of Jerusalem continued to regard it as their property. To demonstrate that the Templars were holding it merely on loan, they would host there a festive dinner immediately upon their coronation. (…) Nevertheless the Templars engaged in extensive building activities near the erstwhile
mosque. Johann of Würzburg, whose pilgrimage has been dated to 1160-1170, relates that the Templars have near the Palace of Solomon many large and spacious edifices and that they are erecting there a large new church that has not yet been completed.

Theoderich, who visited Jerusalem probably in 1169, describes the Templar buildings in
greater detail.” His description is the subject of a another blog.

This blog quotes extensively, with minor edits from the paper “Vestiges of Templar presence in the Aqsa Mosque” by Benjamin Z. Kedar, from: The Templars and their Sources, Edited By Karl Borchardt, Karoline Döring, Philippe Josserand, Helen Nicholson (2017, Routledge). The illustration shows Temple Mount or Haram al-Sharif today, with the Al-Aqsa mosque situated at the Southern end (the square building with the small dome). picture Andrew Shiva / Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

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Jerusalem – Templar purpose and alibi in Bernard's "De laude novae militiae"

 “De laude novae militiae, the famous eulogy written by Bernard of Clairvaux during the stay of Hugues de Payns in Europe in 1127 or 1128, contains several thoughts about the functions of the new Templar chivalry and the battles that the Templars are waging in the East. What details about the headquarters of the order exist and what the conception of Jerusalem prevailed in the clerical consciousness of the first half of the 12th century? (…)

Bernard’s demonstration is quite simple. As Jerusalem is the City of the King of Kings, a contingent of Christian knights must defend its walls without hesitation. The city being sacred, a religious order rather than a secular community is called to fulfill this role. According to Bernard, a Templar is a minister of God dedicated to punishing the evildoers and praising the good. If he kills an evil Saracen, he is in no way a murderer but a hero of Christianity. Thanks to this metaphor, Bernard created the concept of malicidium which would be used to justify strings of massacres in the Late Middle Ages. (…)

From the Templars, he gathered several pieces of information on the organization of their headquarters in Jerusalem. His description of the building is as realistic as it is idealized when he states: “In the exact Temple in Jerusalem they have their base. It is not as splendid and grandiose as the revered Temple of Solomon, but no less glorious. (…) All the beauty and the magnificent and charming decoration of the current Temple embody the fervor of their occupants, as well as their attitude marked by discipline. Bernard of Clairvaux defends the simplicity of the Templars who want to decorate the House of God only with holiness according to a Solomonic Psalm (Ps XCII;5). The Templars replaced the liturgical objects of the ancient Temple with saddles, bits and spears because of their membership in chivalry. (…)

One of the goals of De laude novae militiae was to overcome objections against the brothers, emphasizing their participation in the defense of Jerusalem. The end of the treaty invites the population of Jerusalem to celebrate this military involvement. (…) To convince his audience, Bernard of  Clairvaux describes the sanctuaries controlled by the Latins on the outskirts of Jerusalem. It highlights the primacy of the Holy Sepulcher and the fact that pilgrims feel safe and comfortable when entering Jerusalem, after having faced a plethora of dangers on sea and land. Their exultation is linked to the military activity of the Templars who are the natural defenders of the City.  “

This blog quotes sections, translated from French by TN and with minor adaptions, of La place de Jérusalem dans la pensée templière by Claverie, P-V,  (2023) in Cadernos Culturais Nabantinos, III (2023), pp. 37-50, published on academia.edu. The illustration shows the fresco of a Templar in Cressac chappel, source,

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Administration in the early Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem

By the end of 1110, the administrative shape of the crusader states in Syria and Palestine can be discerned. How were secular and religous rule established?

“King Baldwin I was the head of a feudal hierarchy in the kingdom of Jerusalem, including the lands held by Tancred, and overlord of the rulers of Tripoli and Edessa. His kingdom extended as far north as Beirut, while his expedition beyond the Dead Sea in 1100 and his persistent attempts to overcome Ascalon suggest plans for southern expansion once circumstances allowed. In this year, too, is found the first mention of the existence of burgesses (burgenses), whose activities came under the control of a royal official, the viscount. Burgesses were key subjects of the king, covering a great range of non-noble occupations, including administrators, professions, traders and farmers, and were clearly numerous enough by this date to form a definable group. They are listed as the third of the Crown’s lay orders, after the magnates (optimates) and knights (milites). By the 1140s, they were encompassed within a more formal legal structure in the shape of a Court of Burgesses, found not only in Jerusalem but also in other royal cities, most notably Acre and Tyre, (…)

The patriarch of Jerusalem was the ruler of the Church, perceived as key both as spiritual leader and as a source of supply for defence, as well as presiding over an embryonic diocesan structure that included the archbishop of Caesarea and the bishops of Lydda-Ramla, Bethlehem and Nazareth, and a developing network of monastic houses, endowed by seculars prompted both  by piety and economic necessity. In turn, the monks and canons were the driving forces behind the creation of agricultural settlements, essential underpinning for the military establishment upon which survival depended.
However, quite contrary to the vision of a previous generation of ecclesiastical reformers the Church remained subordinate to the king, for whom military needs overrode all other considerations.”

This blog quotes sections, with minor alterations, from The Crusader States by Malcom Barber, (2012, p 94), Yale University Press. The illustration shows the View of Jerusalem by Conrad Grünenberg, 1487. source Wikipedia

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