Bernard de Clairvaux’s contemporary, Hughes de Payn (1070-1136) was a knight from France’s Champagne region. He took part in the Middle Eastern Crusades against Islam ordered by Pope Urbain in 1095. He also accompanied Hughes de Champagne on the Second Crusade.
He was the first to organise militias of the Poor Knights of Christ to protect the canons at the Holy Sepulchre
in Jerusalem in 1118, and this “Militia Christi” became the basis for the founding of the Order of the Knights Templar in 1129 – a product of the Christian tradition of chivalry in the Middle Ages. He also became the first Grand Master of the Templars and remained so until his death.
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