THE TEMPLARS. 239 the same time organized the Poor Brethren of the Hospital of St. John, they opened a new career which was irresistibly attractive to the warlike ardor and religious enthusiasm of the age. The strange combination of monasticism and chivalry corresponded so exactly to the ideal of Christian knighthood that the Military Orders thus founded speedily were reckoned among the leading institutions of Europe. At the Council of Troyes, in 1128, a Rule, drawn up it is said by St. Bernard, was assigned to Hugues and his associates, who were known as the Poor Soldiers of the Tem- ple. They were assigned a white habit, as a symbol of innocence, to which Eugenius III. added a red cross, and their standard, Bau- seant, half black and half white, with its legend, " Non nobis D onl- ine" soon became the rallying-point of the Christian chivalry. The Rule, based upon that of the strict Cistercian Order, was exceedingly severe. The members were bound by the three mo- nastic vows of obedience, poverty, and chastity, and these were enforced in the statutes of the Order with the utmost rigor. The applicant for admission was required to ask permission to become the serf and slave of the " House " forever, and was warned that he henceforth surrendered his own will irrevocably. He was promised bread and water and the poor vestments of the House ; and if after death gold or silver were found among his effects his body was thrust into unconsecrated ground, or, if buried, it was exhumed. Chastity was prescribed in the same unsparing fashion, and even the kiss of a mother was forbidden.* The fame of the Order quickly filled all Europe ; knights of the noblest blood, dukes and princes, renounced the world to serve Christ in its ranks, and soon in its general chapter three hundred knights were gathered, in addition to serving brethren. Their possessions spread immensely. Towns and villages and churches and manors were bestowed upon them, from which the revenues
- Jac. de Vitriaco Hist. Hierosol. cap. 65 (Bongars, II. 1083-4).— Rolewinck
Fascic. Tempor. (Pistorii R. Germ. Scriptt. II. 546).— Regula Pauperum Com- Hiilitonum Templi c. 72 (Harduin. VI. n. 1146).— Regie et Statuts secrets des Templiers, §§ 125, 128 (Maillard de Chambure, Paris, 1840, pp. 455, 488-90, 494-5). Since this chapter was written the Societe de l'Histoire de France has issued a more correct and complete edition of the Rule and Statutes of the Templars, under the care of M. Henri de Curzon.
