Templar Families
Landowning Families and the Order of the Temple in France, c.1120–1307

This study explores the relationship between the Order of the Temple and the network of landowning families that supported it.

Jochen Schenk (Author)

9781107530485, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 1 October 2015

356 pages, 12 b/w illus. 3 maps
23 x 15.3 x 2 cm, 0.53 kg

'Schenk has succeeded marvelously in giving flesh to the Templar map of France and populating it with a vast array of men and women, whose religious landscapes and 'mental maps' we now understand much more clearly.' Anne E. Lester, Speculum

Founded in c.1120, in the aftermath of the First Crusade in Jerusalem, the Order of the Temple was a Christian brotherhood dedicated to the military protection of pilgrims and the Holy Land, attracting followers and supporters throughout Christian Europe. This detailed study explores the close relationship between the Order of the Temple and the landowning families it relied upon for support. Focussing on the regions of Burgundy, Champagne and Languedoc, Jochen Schenk investigates the religious expectations that guided noble and knightly families to found and support Templar communities in the European provinces, and examines the social dynamics and mechanisms that tied these families to each other. The book illustrates the close connection between the presence of Cistercians and the incidence of crusading within Templar family networks, and offers new insights into how collective identities and memory were shaped through ritual and tradition among medieval French-speaking social elites.

Introduction
1. Templar families
2. The religious context of Templar support
3. Templars and families
4. Family networks
5. Crusading and its legacy in Templar families
Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Church history [HRCC2], Religion & beliefs [HR], Early history: c 500 to c 1450/1500 [HBLC], European history [HBJD]