"Volo.
"Vis assumere tibi conversationem (the monastic mode and change of life) fratrum nostrorum?
"Volo."[1]
And so forth.
The substance of these and other questions was retained in the far longer French formula, which exacted specific promises of compliance with all the Order's ordinances. But far removed from the original are such questions as the following: "Biau dous amis" (the ordinary phrase of the chivalric romance) have you, or has any one for you, made any promise to any one in return for his aid in procuring your admission, which would be simony? "Estes vos chevalier et fis de chevalier?"
Is the candidate a knight, and son of knight and lady, and are his "peres … de lignage de chevaliers"? This means chivalry and gentle blood; and if the candidate answers in the negative, he cannot be admitted as a knight of the Temple, although he may be as "sergent," or in some other character. Most noble and courtly is the phrasing of these statutes. Their frequent "Beaus seignors freres" is the address proper for knights rather than monks.[2]
Usually wherever the translation of the Latin regula ends, the Regle dou Temple passes on to provisions meeting the requirements of a military, rather than a monastic order. We enter upon such in the chapters governing the powers and privileges of the (Grand) Master, of the Seneschal, of the Marshal, of the "Comandeor de la terre de Jerusalem." Many sections have to do with military discipline, with the ordering of the knights and their followers on the march and in the battle; they forbid the knights to joust or leave the squadron without orders.[3] Horses, armour, and accoutrements are regulated, and, in short, full provision is made for everything conducing to make the army efficient in war. There is also a long list of faults and crimes for which a knight may be disciplined or expelled; the latter shall be
