Hugo von Payns

Hugo von Payens and Gottfried von Saint-Omer with King Baldwin II of Jerusalem (illustration from the 13th century)

Grandmaster coat of arms of Hugos von Payns

Hugo von Payns (or Hugo von Payens or Hugues de Payns ; * around 1070 in Payns ; † May 24, 1136 ) was Lord of Montigny-Lagesse and a founding member and first Grand Master of the Templar Order .

origin

There are only a few reliable facts about Hugo. He belonged to the middle French nobility, some sources refer to him as a relative of the Counts of Champagne , who were in any case the feudal lords of the family. According to documents from Molesmes Abbey, there were family ties to the noble families Touillon and Montbard (relatives of St. Bernard of Clairvaux ).

He came from the second marriage of his father, Hugues I von Payns, to a lady of unknown origin, had a half-brother from his father's first marriage to the heiress of the Montigny estate, Gautier de Payns, who inherited his mother's rule around 1070. But Hugo also had a full brother named Acheus.

Life

youth

Hugo von Payns was probably born around 1070 in Payns in the Champagne region on the left bank of the Seine - about ten kilometers from Troyes . He belonged to the middle French nobility, was lord of Montigny-Lagesse and owned properties in the Tonnerre area . He was a vassal of Count Hugo I of Champagne .

Crusaders

He took part in the First Crusade 1096-1099 to Jerusalem in the wake of his liege, Count Hugo I of Champagne , who moved to Jerusalem with Godfrey of Bouillon , and returned to France around 1100 . In 1108 he married Elisabeth de Chappes, who presumably died early. Between 1113 and 1114 he again accompanied Count Hugo I of Champagne as a pilgrim to Jerusalem and settled there.

Founder of the Knights Templar

In view of the deteriorating situation of pilgrims' security, he developed a plan there to set up a community of knights who lived according to the rules of a monastic order - such as the rule of the regular canons - and who should devote themselves to protecting the pilgrims from hostile attacks. The immediate cause could have been an incident at Easter 1119, when a crowd of 700 unarmed pilgrims were ambushed by the Saracens on their way from Jerusalem to the Jordan , with 300 pilgrims killed and 60 carried away as slaves and the Saracens to the walls of Jerusalem advanced.

Hugo von Payns therefore submitted his plan together with the knight Gottfried von Saint-Omer both to the Patriarch of Jerusalem Garmond von Picquigny and to King Baldwin II of Jerusalem. Since this project corresponded to their respective interests - improved safety of the pilgrims and strengthening of the spirituality of the knighthood - both agree, so that on Christmas Day of the year 1119 Hugo von Payns and eight other knights, including Gottfried von Saint-Omer, Andreas von Montbard , Archibald of Saint-Aignan and Payen de Montdidier took vows of poverty, chastity and obedience before the Patriarch Garmond. They called themselves "The Poor Knighthood of Christ and the Temple of Solomon" because King Baldwin had given them parts of the royal residence - the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount of Jerusalem - as accommodation.

First Grand Master of the Templars

Hugo later became the order's first Grand Master. In the prologue of the rule of the order , which was drawn up at the Council of Troyes in 1129 , it is stated that the council was convened “at the request of the master Hugo von Payns, under whose leadership the same knighthood arose by the decree of the Holy Spirit ”.

On a trip to Europe in 1129 he founded several Templar branches in France, England and Scotland .

When he died in 1136, Robert de Craon was elected to succeed him as Grand Master of the Templars.

Marriage and offspring

Hugo II von Payns married Elisabeth de Chappes in 1108 and had four children:

• Gibouin, who became Viscount (Vice Count) of Payns and Lords of Chappes before 1140, but died before 1150 without heirs.
• Thiebaud (Theobald) was a clergyman, became abbot of the Ste. Colombe de Saint-Denis-lès-Sens in Sens , took part in the Council of Sens in 1140 accompanied by Abbot Bernhard von Clairvaux , had the abbey church rebuilt in 1142, went to the Holy Land in 1146, where he fell in the Second Crusade .
• Isabelle was married to the knight Gui Bordel, Lords of Payns, who fell in the Second Crusade. Her son Gui Bordel II became a Templar and Commander in Bure-les-Templiers.
• Herbert left behind a descendant, whose trace is lost at the beginning of the 16th century.

literature

• Rudolf Hiestand: Hugo von Payens . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages (LexMA). Volume 5, Artemis & Winkler, Munich / Zurich 1991, ISBN 3-7608-8905-0 , Sp. 168.
• Alain Demurger: The Templars. Rise and Fall 1118–1314. CH Beck, Munich 1991, ISBN 3-406-35576-5 , pp. 17-26.
• Thierry Leroy: Hugues de Payns, chevalier champenois, fondateur de l'ordre des templiers. Maison du Boulanger, Troyes 2001, ISBN 2-913052-10-X .
• Thierry PF Leroy: Hugues de Payns, la naissance des Templiers. Thebookedition, Paris 2011, ISBN 978-2-7466-3049-9 .
• Piers Paul Read: The Templars. Translation from English. Nikol Verlag, 2009, ISBN 978-3-86820-042-3 , p. 102.

Web links

Commons : Hugo von Payns  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Hugues de Payns. in the French language Wikipedia
2. ↑ Piers Paul Read: The Templars. Translation from English. Nikol Verlag, 2009, ISBN 978-3-86820-042-3 , p. 101.
3. ↑ Piers Paul Read: The Templars. Translation from English. Nikol Verlag, 2009, ISBN 978-3-86820-042-3 , p. 102.
4. ^ Wilhelm of Tire : Historia rerum in partibus transmarinis gestarum. Book XII, Section VII.

predecessor	Office	successor
-	Grand Master of the Knights Templar 1118–1136	Robert de Craon