Templar Knights Poem by Robert Sheridan

White habits, Red Cross
Four ranks of brethren
Nine Templar Knights
Impoverished status didn’t last long
Proved their worth –
Extraordinary fervor &growth.

Lay authorities
Heaped on them favors
Both spiritual & temporal
Moved swiftly – sharp singing
Exempted from all jurisprudence –
Okayed by the Pope.

Property assimilated
Exempted from taxation
(Without representation)
Not even ecclesiastical tithes
Soon gave way to speculation –
Conflict proceeded in the Holy Land.

Landed property of the Order Led
Revenue due the churches quite certain
Castles turned quickly into remarkable ruins
By first to attack, last to retreat
New factions, blind obedience –
Also, docile to the voice of the ‘leader’.

Now,400 Templar Knights strong in Jerusalem
As an army they were never very numerous
But were inspirited by a force quite Christian
The terror of the Mohammedans
90 met death & 80 were taken prisoner –
To the spoils belong the victors.

Hecatombs compelled the use of recruits
Excommunicated men now admitted
Jerusalem governmental orders brought
Intestine dissentions & fear
Papal (“by & for the”) inquiry –
Templar Knights found innocent? /quickly absorbed.

'2007'