THE ORDER OF THE TEMPLE
par Dominique BOULANGER de CREQUY
The story I am about to tell you lasted two centuries and is absolutely extraordinary...
So this is the story of the Order of the Temple, as I discovered and understood it. One could almost give it the title: "A Family Story!"
The year is 1096 AD…
The first crusade (and we are not yet talking about the Order of the Temple) was a response to the Seljuk Turks.
It took place until 1099 to retake Jerusalem from the Turks, who since 1078 had massacred all the occupants, the Fatimids (Shiites), who left free access to Jerusalem to Christian pilgrims .
The Turks wanted to destroy all traces of Christianity.
It was Pope Urban II who decided on this first crusade, and in exchange for their participation in the crusade , to have people, he promised forgiveness of their sins to the knights who would go to help the Christians of the East .
Needless to say, all the ex-convicts have gone on a crusade.
Among the big names (and not necessarily convicted offenders of course) of this crusade, we can cite, among others, Peter the Hermit, the Count of Toulouse, Godfrey of Bouillon and his brother Baldwin of Boulogne.
Godfrey of Bouillon - son of Ide of Boulogne, herself the Pope's niece - would once again distinguish himself as the best leader of troops; "a brave man and a saint" it was said of him.
(Much earlier, around 910, an ancestor of Godfrey of Bouillon married a certain Mahaut de Créquy.)