Broth

Hugues de Payens, a nobleman from Champagne, was the founder of the Templars, or the "Order of the Poor Knights of the Temple of Solomon." He traveled with 7 fellow Templars to Jerusalem, to Baldwin I, patriarch of Jerusalem. Baldwin I was the younger brother of Godfrey of Bouillon who had conquered Jerusalem from the Saracens. The Templars offered their services to protect the pilgrims in Jerusalem. Baldwin I offered them a wing of his castle, which, according to legend, was built on the Temple of Solomon. Hence their name.

There was a strong link between the Cathars and the Templars. One of the co-founders of the Templars was a Cathar. The 4th Grand Master of the Templars, Bertrand de Blanchefort, was also from a Cathar family. Nevertheless, the Templars remained officially "neutral" or passive during the crusade against the Cathars, although there are indications that they provided shelter to numerous Cathars and that they did unofficially fight alongside the Cathars.

Dromos