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1119. TEMPLE MOUNT. A TUNNEL, EIGHTY FEET BENEATH . . .
Even for a knight it was hard work picking away at the limestone and debris of a thousand years of accumulated civilizations beneath es Sakhra, the sacred rock over which so much blood had been spilled, all in the name of a formless deity. Twice did Hugues de Payns journey to Jerusalem to assess the probability of locating an object relating to this cause, but now the Knights Templar were more than convinced they were on the right course of action.
Even common sense dictates that the story of nine knights patrolling 33 miles of road between Jaffa and Jerusalem to protect thousands of pilgrims from brigands, thieves, Saracens, and mountain lions is a preposterous idea. One giant medieval smoke screen. Even Fulk de Chartres, the king of Jerusalem’s chronicler, never portrayed the Knights Templar acting as policemen for pilgrims, probably because security was already performed by the Knights Hospitaller.1
The Hospitaller’s initial duty was to defend and care for visiting pilgrims. Upon being granted official status in 1113 by papal bull, their name also expanded to the Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem—named not for John the Baptist, as one would assume, but in memory of Jean l’Aumônier,*17 a Cypriot noble who, after his wife’s death, gave away all his worldly goods to the poor, rose to the rank of bishop of Alexandria, and became a model of exemplary charity.2 Thus, the Knights Hospitaller adopted as their patron saint a man who devoted his life to helping others.3
The landscape around es Sakhra on Temple Mount.
Their association with John the Baptist stems from their hostelry having been built on the ruins of his former church.
A Rule of conduct was drawn up by their Grand Master, the knight Raymond De Puy, which did not include military aims, but by the mid-twelfth century, by order of the pope, the military spirit superseded their original charitable function, much to the chagrin of the members.†34
Rather than ministering to the pilgrims of the Holy Land, the core members of the Knights Templar spent their first seven years sequestered away in Solomon’s stables armed with picks and shovels, stubbornly refusing admission to the site to anyone outside their inner brotherhood.5 But in 1121, something changed that led one of the founding Templars, Godefroi de Saint-Omer, to return to Flanders armed with scrolls.