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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The Templar headquarters at Jerusalem in Crusader times

“In 1118 or 1119 king Baldwin II gave the group of proto-Templars a temporary home in his residence in the al-Aqsa mosque on the Temple platform, believed by the Latins to have been the Temple of Solomon. The canons of the Temple of the Lord (the Dome of the Rock) gave them a square near the al-Aqsa to celebrate their offices.” What was this location like?

“At some point during the 1120s, when Baldwin II moved the royal residence next to the Tower of David on the west side of the city, the proto-Templars, were able to take over the Temple of Solomon entirely, although it is unlikely that its condition had greatly improved since the early years of the century when Baldwin I, desperate for money, had sold the lead from the al-Aqsa roof. (…)

The Templar headquarters at the southern end of the Haram al-Sharif (…) was entered by the Beautiful Gate on the western side, close to the Temple of the Lord (the present day Dome of the Rock, TN). The Templars had taken over the al-Aqsa mosque (…), after Baldwin II had moved to the other side of the city and had repaired the damage done by his predecessor. By the 1160s, they had built a new cloister to the west of the al-Aqsa, enclosed by vaulted buildings which included what Theoderic calls a new palace, and they were in the process of erecting a church that Theoderic says was ‘of magnificent size and workmanship’, although it was unfinished at the time of his visit. 

They  had also developed the area to the east with houses, halls and water supplies, perhaps in a manner not dissimilar to the compound of the Temple of the Lord. Below the south-east corner was a large vaulted area, (the “Stables of Solomon“, TN) the exact size of which is now difficult to determine, but which was used for stabling. (…) The whole quarter was well fortified, strengthened by the order’s construction of a barbican to the south which protected the two gates on that side.

Building on this scale seems to have persuaded the Templars to establish their own workshop, probably located in the south-east corner above the stables. The sculptural fragments that survive indicate that the order had recruited craftsmen of high skill, possibly from among the Italians who had worked on the Holy Sepulchre, where there was now less demand for their labour (the rebuilding of which having been completed in 1149, TN). The results fully justified Theoderic’s praise: the decoration of the buildings must have been characterised by foliate sculpture of great originality, at the centre of which were acanthus leaves carved in a manner suggestive of wet drapery. This does not seem to have been primarily a commercial atelier. Indeed, there seems to have been quite enough work to keep it fully occupied but, when the opportunity arose, it may also have produced pieces for other clients as well.”

This blog quotes sections, slightly edited, from The Crusader States by Malcom Barber, (2012, p 161, 251-252), Yale University Press. The illustration shows a map of Jerusalem in crusader times, source biblicalarchaeology.org

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Templar activities in the city of Jerusalem

“The life of the Templars in Jerusalem is known thanks to the rule of the order and a panel of chronicles depicting the actions of the brothers in the 12th century. According to Michael the Syrian (1126-1199), the brothers supplied the population of Jerusalem with grain and provisions in 1120. (…) The intervention of the Templars proves that the order did not wait until the 13th century to take care of the needy. (…) 

It is quite difficult to assess the size of the Temple convent in the first half of the 12th century. The pilgrims Dietrich and Benjamin of Tudèle claim that the convent was composed of 300 horsemen during the reign of King Amaury of Jerusalem (1163-1174). This number probably includes the sergeants and temporary knights (milites ad terminum) who facilitated the development of the order in the 1120s.(…)

According to the pilgrim John of Würzburg, the Templars overtook the hospital convent of Jerusalem in the middle of the 12th century. This account claims that the order’s underground stabels could accommodate 2,000 horses and 1,500 camels thanks to the various galleries dug into the Temple Mount.(…)

The Temple Mount was a small city comprising several dormitories, a cloister and a stonemason’s workshop, which produced several ornaments in Jerusalem and al-Latrÿn. The spiritual life of the Templars was rich with the observance of canonical hours and two periods of fasting before Christmas and Easter. It was common for groups of brothers to join the Holy Sepulchre, or another Hierosolymitan church, to pray during the night. In addition, every day, thanksgiving was celebrated after lunch and supper in the conventual church of the Temple. (…)

The Templars followed the Liturgy of the Holy Sepulchre, commemorating with a service the Liberation of Jerusalem on July 15 each year. During the festivities, a procession went from the Holy Sepulcher to the Templum Domini (Dome of the Rock) where the Patriarch of Jerusalem offered thanksgiving, while reading a sermon. Thirteen processions were organized during the year to honor a deceased saint on a Sunday. (…)

The Templars owned many houses in Jerusalem, the rents of which varied between 3 and 8 bezants. These buildings were marked with the capital letter T, the hospital workers using a Maltese cross to mark their possessions. An annuity register from 1170 mentions five tenants of the Hospital, installed near the Temple Mount. (…)

An important role was assigned to the Commander of Jerusalem, who conveyed Western pilgrims to the Jordan. The supposed location of Christ’s baptism was one of the most revered sites by Christians in the Middle Ages (Bethabara or Al-Maghtas southeast of Jericho). (…) Along the way, a network of Templar towers could protect pilgrims and transmit information to Jerusalem in the event of an invasion from the Jordan estuary. (…)

This blog quotes sections, translated from French by TN, slightly rearranged 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. Illustration shows the subterraneous halls below the southeastern tip of the Temple Mount platform, which were used as stables bij the Knights Templar. source, Keystone-Mast Collection, UCR/California Museum of Photography, University of California at Riverside. Fair use.

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