Continued From Part 1

Bernard's championing of the Templars was not without opposition. Cardinal Harmeric, a man close to the Pope Honarius II, wrote to Bernard saying "It is not fitting that noisy and troublesome frogs should come out of their marshes to trouble the Holy See and the cardinals." With customary humor, Bernard defused the critics by a show of humility, virtually demanding that the cardinal 'order' him to stay out of papal affairs. By so doing he made the cardinal look rather stupid and, on the way, gained the attention of the pope. Beneath the humility, there was a barbed threat. Bernard was close kin to the ruling house of Champagne - a powerful elite with which the pope would not wish to provoke an argument.

As in all matters to do with the creation of the Templars, there are more questions than answers, but it is a fact that the pope convened a council in Troyes, the capital city of Champagne, in the year 1128. The purpose of this Council was to settle disputes regarding the Bishops of Paris and to deal with other Church matters relevant at the time. Bernard high jacked the Council, using it for his own purposes. How was he able to do this? Almost certainly it was quite easy, since the Council was being held in the heartland of Champagne, only a few miles from Bernard's own flourishing abbey of Clairvaux. The pope simply could not avoid listening to what Bernard had to say without directly insulting the Count of Champagne.

Bernard had been busy converting the rule of St. Benedict, already adapted for the Cistercians themselves, to a form that would fit the Templar Order. By the time the Pope sat down to convene the Council of Troyes, he was faced with a fête accompli. He simply could not risk offending the rulers of Champagne, who were also blood tied to the kings of Jerusalem. In addition, the apparent intention of the Templar Order probably impressed the Pope, since this armed group of knights, which would certainly grow exponentially, as the Cistercians had done, would be responsible 'only' to the pope. With an eye for the future and living in dangerous times, Honorius II might have considered the formation of what amounted to his own private army no bad thing.

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As Bernard of Clairvaux was to do on many occasions during his life, he had 'stitched up' the papacy, ensuring that the Templars would not simply exist, but that they would be headed by factions drawn directly from Champagne and from his own family. The rest, as they say, is history. When Honorius II died in 1130, against all the odds, Bernard managed to have Gregorio Papereschi, a man with a dubious claim at best, elected as Pope Innocent II. This Pope, and his successors, was deep in debt to Bernard, who left no stone unturned to have more and more papal declarations made to consolidate and promote the Templar Order.

However, the Council of Troyes of 1128 was the turning point of early Templar fortunes and could be considered amongst St. Bernard of Clairvaux's greatest victories.

Alan Butler is a writer living in Yorkshire, England. He is a former editor of Templar History Magazine and has written numerous books on the knights Templar and megalithic mysteries. His latest book is entitled, The Virgin and the Pentacle.