he Order was initially just a band
of nine knights who had the plight of the pilgrims on their heart. They are
named as follows (please note that orthography varies in sources):
| Hugues de Payns |
| Godefroi de Saint Omer |
| Andrè de Montbard |
| Gundomar |
| Godfroy |
| Roral |
| Geoffrey Bisol |
| Payen de Montdesir |
| Archambaud de Saint Aignan |
ugues de Payns and André de
Montbard were both vassals of Hugh, Count of Champagne, who was a very major
player in 12th century France. The Count may have been with the First Crusade,
and the connection with him was an important thing to the fledgling Order.
he first 20 years into the life of
the Order can be seen as a continuous battle against oblivion, constant financial
hardships, and an ideological war within the Order itself. The two purposes,
the military and monastic callings were not very easy to combine. For instance,
monks were required to spend considerably more time in contemplation than
what the warrior monks could afford, and the killing business too was a bit
confusing. Therefore, when St Bernard lauded the
Order at the Council at Troyes in 1128, it was a very welcome boost to
the morale too.
he severity of the Order's trouble
can be seen in a letter Hugues de Payns wrote to his companions who remained
in Jerusalem when he and André de Montbard went to Europe on a recruiting
and fundraising trip in 1126. In it he outlines (in poor but powerful Latin)
seven paragraphs of pep talk:
s can be seen from the letter, the
early years were not easy for the Order. Wide recognition was not yet theirs,
money was a problem, and even the ideological foundation rocked as the knights
contemplated their reason for existence. Fortunately St Bernard was able
to set the record straight and launch the Order into the path to glory.
