Templar Feast 2022 – Walking with the Knights Templar at night.

The Order of the Templars was a medieval religious and military Order (12th/14th centuries) and in 1160 its Portuguese headquarters was established in Tomar, thirty-four years aftet arriving in Portugal. The Order was created to defend the HoIy Sites in Palestine and was designated “Order of the Temple or Templars” due to the fact that, in 1119, the first Christian king in Jerusalem, Balduina of Bologna, had agreed to allow one wing of his palace, installed in the AI Aqsa Mosque (which had been built on top of what had been the Temple of Solomon), to be used to set up the Order. The Templars motto guided the life of the Knights who had to take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, fast and eat from the some wooden bowl. Their motto (“Non nobis domine non nobis sed nomine tuo da gloriam’, – Not for us Lord, not foi us but for the glory of Thy name.) is written on the Orderis quadrangular standard encircling the black and white background to the “Pátea” cross.The standard is called Baucent, also the Knights war cry.templario

The Knights wore coats of mail, helmets, and iron footwear, beneath a white cloak on which there was a large red cross and carried a shield, a lance, a club, a dagger anda sword. The Cross adopted in 1146 by lhe Knights of the Templars was of oriental origin and had already been in use for many centuries. It became common due to the expansion of Christianity in lhe Near East, namely the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium). It is called a ‘pátea” cross because it has curvilinear arms, which become wider from the centre to the ends.The circular Templar seal bears lhe inscription ‘Siglium Militum Xpisti’ around the edge with two knighls mounted on one horse in the centre.Right after it had been established, the Order spread throughout Europe, reaching the County of Portucale in 1126. The first documented reference to the Order was in 1128.It was D. Teresa, the mother of D. Afonso Henriques, who understood the importance of the Templars for the County, granting them Soure and all the territory between Coimbra and Leiria. With Portugal established as an independent kingdom, the expansion of the country southwards was assured by the conquest of Santarém in 1147. The military defence of the territory was reinforced further south in Tomar when D. Afonso Henriques granted this area to the Templars. Medieval Tomar was thus founded with the building of the Castle being started on March 1st 1160 (until the Gregorian calendar came into effect, this date had marked the start of the civil year, which was in fact linked to the Spring equinox and the Templars initiation ceremonies and could well have had a considerable influence on the choice of the symbolic moment at which to set up the Order).From that time on, the Order had its Seal, Pantheon (Santa Maria do Olival Church) and convent (mi the same church) until it was dissolved in 1312.The fall of S. João de Acre ( 291), the last bastion oftlhe Near East, caused the flight of the surviving Templars, one of whom was Jacques de Molay who was to become the last elected Templar Grand Master of Jerusalém and France.The return opf the Templars from the Holy Land and their enormous wealth gave the French King, Phillip the Fair, reasons to accuse them of heresy. He succededpersuading the Pope to suspend their privileges, weakeningtheir position in the Church, confiscated their property, arrested the Knights and had the Grand Master burnt alive along with his closest companions. The Pope dissolved the Order and donated their wealth to the Order of the Hospital. The consequences were immediate and the Order broke up in all areas. In Portugal, however, D. Dinis opposed the process and succeeded in preventing Templar property being handed over to the Order of the Hospital, creating forthwith Order of Christ (1319), which inherited the legacy of the Temple. Come with me on this fantastic walk through the city by night, with the Knight Templars.
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