The Knights Templar in English towns

John S Lee

doi:10.1017/s0963926821000870

Abstract

AbstractThe Military Order of the Knights Templar acquired property within English towns, established residences and chapels for its brethren there and developed new urban settlements and markets. This article argues that the role that the Templars played as urban landlords in England has been seriously understated, and that the Order made an impact through their urban property holdings, their privileges and their urban chapels, and in establishing new towns, which were integral to the wider exploitation of their rural resources.

Highlights

This article argues that the role that the Templars played as urban landlords in England has been seriously understated, and that the Order made an impact through their urban property holdings, their privileges and their urban chapels, and in establishing new towns, which were integral to the wider exploitation of their rural resources
Myth and legend has long obscured historical research on the Knights Templar, recent studies have started to highlight the effectiveness of these warrior monks as rural landowners in England
While the wider role of religious houses in medieval towns arguably still lacks the attention it deserves in relation to its importance within medieval English society, the particular role of the Order of the Knights Templar has been seriously understudied in relation to its impact

Summary

Town and market promoters

During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, many monasteries and bishops founded new towns on their lordships, with such foundations peaking in the period 1180–1220. The Knights Hospitaller’s abortive town plantation at New Eagle (Lincs.) lay in a isolated location on the Foss Way between Lincoln and Newark, and failed to develop despite the grant of a market and two fairs in 1345 and the proximity of a Hospitaller commandery.38 Despite their road links, both Temple Bruer and Eagle were in isolated locations, and the respective preceptories were too small to generate significant demand to sustain these urban foundations. As the physical bases for the spiritual services that they offered, the Templars invested significantly in many of their urban chapels, the level of expenditure made in the New Temple Church in London, consecrated in 1185, which included the use of Purbeck marble, was not paralleled in other contemporary Templar houses in western Europe. By the late fifteenth century, the mayor, sheriff and other members of the city council joined the company of weavers at the feast of St Katherine, attending services in their chapel, processing around the city and returning to the church for mass. Temple Church continued to serve its parish until it suffered severe bomb damage in 1940

Property holders

Urban lordship

Findings

Conclusion