Knights Templar in Brittany, also known locally as the red monks.
| Part of a series on the |
| Knights Templar |
|---|
 |
| Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon |
| Overview |
| Councils |
| Papal bulls |
|
| Locations |
| Successors |
| Cultural references |
| See also |
 Catholic Churchportal |
In 1127, the Order of the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ started fund-raising efforts throughout Western Europe so as to fund their crusading ambitions in the Holy Land. [1]
By 1129, these efforts enabled the Order to receive significant donations and political backing and secured the Church's official approval at the Council of Troyes.
It was during this time that the Order received donations from the Sovereign Duchy of Brittany, mainly related to lands around Retz. Duke Conan III, ceded property on the outskirts of the commercial city of Nantes and the capital, Rennes awarding market rights in Nantes. [2]
By 1139, Pope Innocent II had also granted the Order special privileges such as:
The subsequent Duke, Conan IV further donated property. This enabled the Order to construct castles, farms and even whole villages like Vildé-Guingalan. They cleared expanses of land in northern Brittany for crops and animal husbandry, cultivated vineyards, producing wine [3] and operating ovens and mills. They also promoted, fairs and public markets at Pléboulle and Les Bias. [4]
The increased competition triggered by the Orders commercial activities caused friction with local Breton leaders, required continual intervention, for example:
With the fall of Acre, in 1291 and loss of the Holy Land, much of the Orders’ rationale for existence was lost. The Church therefore wanted the Order to merge with the Knights Hospitallers. This proposal was rejected by the Order increasing its perceived arrogance. [5]
On 13 October 1307, King Philip IV of France had every Templar in his realms arrested and their properties confiscated. News of the charges levied against the Order was greeted with incredulity outside France, particularly in Brittany, England, Portugal and Aragon. [6] [7]
A tradition from the 15th century states that the French sent men to Nantes on 10 August 1308 to take possession of the Orders properties there, but were driven out of the city by a mob who declared that these properties did not belong to the King of France but to the Duke of Brittany. [8]
By March 1312, the Pope finally suppressed the Order completely and its remaining properties was transferred to the Hospitallers or confiscated by local rulers.
Allegations were used against the Order in Brittany as a pretext to seize property such as:
By May 1313, the Breton assets of the Order were eventually transferred to the Hospitallers; another religious military order. [9]
Many local legends exist surrounding the Order in Brittany but it is unlikely that they date from 12th Century. The traditions from the 17th century seem to have been ambivalent but by the 18th and 19th centuries, the Order became portrayed in a more negative light. [10]
The Order had become known as the red monks; a title not connected with the colour of their tunic but more with the devil, traditions depicting them as ungodly, arrogant or debauched such as:
The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, mainly known as the Knights Templar, was a French military order of the Catholic faith, and one of the wealthiest and most popular military orders in Western Christianity. They were founded c. 1119 to defend pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem, with their headquarters located there on the Temple Mount, and existed for nearly two centuries during the Middle Ages.
A military order is a Christian religious society of knights. The original military orders were the Knights Templar, the Knights Hospitaller, the Order of Saint James, the Order of Calatrava, and the Teutonic Knights. They arose in the Middle Ages in association with the Crusades, in the Holy Land, the Baltics, and the Iberian peninsula; their members being dedicated to the protection of pilgrims and Christians, as well as the defence of the Crusader states. They are the predecessors of chivalric orders.
Nominoe or Nomenoe was the first Duke of Brittany from 846 to his death. He is the Breton pater patriae and to Breton nationalists he is known as Tad ar Vro.
The Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem, also known as the Leper Brothers of Jerusalem or simply as Lazarists, was a Catholic military order founded by Crusaders during the 1130s at a leper hospital in Jerusalem, Kingdom of Jerusalem, whose care became its original purpose, named after its patron saint, Lazarus.
Alain Demurger is a French historian, and a leading specialist of the history of the Knights Templar and the Crusades.
Sarraltroff is a commune in the Moselle department in Grand Est in north-eastern France.
Montricoux is a commune in the Tarn-et-Garonne department in the Occitanie region in southern France. It is located along the banks of the Aveyron, between Nègrepelisse and Bruniquel. The written history of the commune dates back to the eighth century. The Château de Montricoux, built by the Knights Templar, now houses the Marcel-Lenoir Museum, which preserves 130 drawings, pastels, watercolors, oils, and frescoes by this artist, a resident of the town.
Romestaing is a commune in the Lot-et-Garonne département in south-western France.
The Château de Helfenstein is a ruined castle in the commune of Philippsbourg in the Moselle département of France.
Hoël I of Brittany was an illegitimate son of Alan II and Judith. He was Count of Nantes and Duke of Brittany from 960 to 981.
Saint Edeyrn was a pre-congregational saint of Wales, related to Vortigern and the royal house of Powys and the brother of Saint Aerdeyrn and Elldeyrn. Edeyrn is the patron saint of Lannédern in France and Llanedeyrn in Wales, where he founded a monastery of over 300 people.
Jean de Malestroit was a French pseudo-cardinal who served as Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Nantes from 17 July 1419 until 1443 AD when he resigned.
Ernest de Bouteiller was a French historian and politician.
The Metz Citadel was a fort built at Metz, northeast France in the second half of the 16th century.
Villeneuve Abbey, dedicated to Our Lady, was a Cistercian monastery at the present-day Les Sorinières, near Nantes in Pays de la Loire, France, founded in 1201 and dissolved in 1790, during the French Revolution.
The Commandery of Libdeau is a former Knights Templar commandery, founded before 1190. It is at Toul, in Lorraine, in the present Grand Est region of France.
Château Cramirat is a 12th-century Templar castle in the village of Sergeac, Dordogne (Nouvelle-Aquitaine), southwest France. A French national historic monument, the château is situated in the heart of the Vézère river valley, a UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the Valley of Mankind.
The Monastère Saint-Benoît is an independent anglophone Catholic Benedictine monastery located in the commune of Brignoles, 46 kilometres (29 mi) from Toulon, France. The Bishop of Fréjus-Toulon established the monastery as a Public Association of the Faithful in 2011. The current location was purchased in 2020. The Association was suppressed in June 2022 after two members of the community were ordained priest and deacon without the bishop's knowledge. The suppression has been appealed and the monks have indicated they intend to continue their traditional life of prayer, study, and work regardless of the outcome.
The Abbey of St. Budoc, commonly called Beauport Abbey, was a 13th-century Premonstratensian abbey in the region of Brittany known as the Pays de Saint-Brieuc. It was a major institution in the economic life of the region, having sovereignty over both commercial and maritime trade, as well as its supervision of the spiritual life of the inhabitants of that province. Even after its devastation under the ravages of the French Revolution, its surviving structures soon came to recognized a generation later by the acclaimed writer and historian Prosper Mérimée as a major example of the architecture of its era. He began a call for its preservation, which continues to this day.