Hughes de Payens
Hughes or
Huges de Payens or
de Pains or
de Payns (c.
1070 -
1136), a
French nobleman from the
Champagne region, was the first Grand Master of the
Knights Templar. He organized the original nine monk-knights to defend pilgrims to the Holy Land in response to the call to action of Pope
Urban II.
De Payens approached King
Baldwin II of Jerusalem with eight knights, two of whom were brothers and all of whom were his relatives by either blood or marriage, in order to form the first of the Knights Templar.
The other knights were
Geoffrey de St. Omer,
Payen de Montdidier,
Archambaud de St. Agnan,
Andre de Montbard,
Geoffrey Bison, and two men recorded only by the names of
Rossal and
Gondamer. The ninth knight remains unknown, although some have speculated that it was
Hugh Comte de Champagne.
De Payens was born at Château
Payns, about 10 km from
Troyes, in
Champagne,
France. He was a veteran of the
First Crusade (in 1099) and had spent twenty-two years of his life east of Europe.
It is likely that Hughes de Payens served in the army of
Godfroi de Boullion during the
First Crusade. As Grand Master, he led the Order for almost twenty years until his death, helping to establish the Order's foundations as an important and influential international military and financial institution.
On his visit to
London in
1128, he raised men and money for the Order, and also founded their first House there, initiating the history of the
Templars in England.
He died in
Palestine in 1136 and was succeeded as Grand Master by
Robert de Craon.
*
Jacques de Molay*
Bernard of Clairvaux*
Cistercians*
Knights TemplarExternal link
*
The Crusades and the Knights Templar
