Miniature Chronicles
Much has been written about the figure of Hugues de Payens, the founder of the Order of the Temple along with Godfrey of Saint-Omer and other noble knights. But what is known about Hughes before he embraced the life of a warrior monk? Although his actions as a Templar knight have been highlighted, Hugues was already known in the outskirts of Jerusalem for his audacity and determination long before. With just a small group of newcomers—recruited among European knights who came to the Holy Land eager to prove themselves in combat—Hugues organized patrols to protect pilgrims from the Bedouin bands that ravaged the surrounding areas of the city.
Apparently, he recruited his troop in the vicinity of the Holy Sepulchre, which was said to be a gathering point for soldiers, knights, and also for ambitious young men seeking fortune in the new Christian kingdom. At dawn, together with his squad, he would station himself near the few springs on the outskirts of the city, where bandits often ambushed travelers and their thirsty horses and dromedaries. His bravery and boldness were such that he often ventured alone into Saracen-infested lands, determined to eliminate the leaders of the bandits responsible for the deaths of pilgrims. Perhaps this reputation explains why the Patriarch of Jerusalem and King Baldwin so fervently supported the organization of that party, recognizing them as a combat support group for the defense of those arriving at the Christian ports of the Levant. Let's not forget that the conquest of the Holy Land by the Franks was barely in its second decade since the fall of Jerusalem in 1099. This rugged knight, born in the castle of Payens near Troyes, driven by a mixture of faith and ferocity, not only became an implacable defender of Christians in Outremer, but his experience leading these incursions was the seed of what would later become the Order of the Temple, an organization that would revolutionize both the military and religious history of the time.
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