Hugues de Payens

Origin and early life

The Latin text of William of Tyre's History of Deeds Done Beyond the Sea, dated c. 1185, simply calls him Hugo de Paganis,^[1] without any geographical reference, but in the early 13th century an anonymous French translator added that Hugh was from delez Troies (French for 'near Troyes').^[7] The 12th-century author Walter Map also reported that Hugh was named "Payns, from a village of that name in Burgundy."^[8] Hugh is therefore assumed to have come from the village of Payns, about 10 km from Troyes, in Champagne (eastern France).^[9]

Hugo de Pedano, Montiniaci dominus is mentioned as a witness to a donation by Count Hugh of Champagne in a document of 1085–90, indicating that the man was at least sixteen by this date—a legal adult and thus able to bear witness to legal documents—and so born no later than 1070. The same name appears on a number of other charters up to 1113 also relating to Count Hugh of Champagne, suggesting that Hugo de Pedano or Hugo dominus de Peanz was a member of the Count's court. By the year 1113, he was married to Elisabeth de Chappes, who bore him at least one child, Thibaud, later abbot of the Abbaye de la Colombe at Sens. The documents span Hugh's lifetime and the disposition of his property after his death.^[10]

Bernard of Clairvaux, who favoured the Order and helped to compose its Latin Rule, also had the support of Hugh of Champagne. The Latin Rule of the Order was confirmed at the Council of Troyes.^[11] A Templar commandery was eventually built at Payns. This is considered to be additional circumstantial evidence that Hugh was from the area.^[12]

Other claims

There is long-dated claim that Hugo de Paganis came from Nocera de' Pagani in Campania, Southern Italy.^[c] One of the earliest sources that detail an Italian origin for the later Grand Master are the commentaries on the life of Gelasius II (pontiff between 1118 and 1119), published by Costantino Gaetani in 1638, where he is described as "[...] the Italian brother Ugo dei Pagani, from the city of Nocera, near Salerno."^[13] Remarkably supported by French historians like Blaise François de Pagan^[16] and Pierre Dupuy,^[17][18] mentions of Nocera as his birthplace also appear in Baedeker's Italy: handbook for travellers. Part 3 (1869)^[6] and in the Old Catholic Encyclopedia (Volume 11) published by Robert Appleton Company in 1911.^[5] Multiple authors have stated that this claim is also supported by a letter Hugo supposedly wrote from Palestine in 1103, in which he talked of writing to "my father in Nocera" to tell him of the death of his cousin Alessandro.^{[20][21][3][4][22]} In addition, the Templar cross is said to have been inspired by Paleochristian art found in the Early Christian Baptistery of Nocera [it].^[4][23] Circumstantial confirmations also came from authors like Marco Antonio Guarini (1621), who reported that "Ugo Pagani" was buried in the Church of San Giacomo [it] in Ferrara, Italy,^[24] which belonged to the Pagano family [it] from Nocera.^[25]

Some scholars have however looked for Hugh's origins elsewhere. There was an early claim that he came from the Vivarais (the district of Viviers in the modern département of Ardèche).^[26] Hugh has also been identified with Hug de Pinós, third son of Galceran I, lord of Pinós in Catalonia;^[27] however, Galceran married only in 1090, far too late a date for him to be the father of the founder of the Knights Templars. According to Malcolm Barber, the suggestions that Hugh came from Viviers in the modern département of Ardèche or from Nocera dei Pagani in Campania can "reasonably be dismissed."^[28]

The foundation of the Order

Hugh, Count of Champagne made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1104–07 and visited Jerusalem for a second time in 1114–16.^[29] He was probably accompanied by Hugh of Payens, who remained there after the Count returned to France, as "Hugo de Peans" witnessed a charter in Jerusalem in 1120-1121. He was called magister militum Templi ("Master of the Knights of the Temple") for the first time in a document dated 1125.^[30] He most likely obtained approval for the Order from King Baldwin II of Jerusalem and Warmund of Picquigny, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, at the Council of Nablus in 1120.^[31][32]

One early chronicler, Simon de St. Bertin, implies that the Knights Templar originated earlier, before the death of Godfrey of Bouillon in 1100: "While he [Godfrey] was reigning magnificently, some had decided not to return to the shadows of the world after suffering such dangers for God's sake. On the advice of the princes of God's army, they vowed themselves to God's Temple under this rule: they would renounce the world, give up personal goods, free themselves to pursue purity, and lead a communal life wearing a poor habit, only using arms to defend the land against the attacks of the insurgent pagans when necessity demanded."^[33]

Later chroniclers write that Hugo de Paganis approached King Baldwin II (whose reign began in 1118) with eight knights, two of which were brothers, and all of whom were his relatives by either blood or marriage, to form the Order of the Knights Templar. The other knights were Godfrey de Saint-Omer, Payen de Montdidier, Archambaud de Saint-Amand-les-Eaux, André de Montbard, Geoffrey Bison, and two men recorded only by the names of Rossal and Gondamer. Baldwin approved the foundation of the Order and entrusted the Temple of Jerusalem to its care.

In the late 1120s, Hugo de Paganis and several other Templars went on a diplomatic mission to western Europe on behalf of Baldwin II. They met with nobles and kings in an attempt to encourage warriors to come to the Kingdom of Jerusalem and join an attack on Damascus that Baldwin was planning.^[34]

As Grand Master, Hugo de Paganis led the Order for almost twenty years until his death, helping to establish the Order's foundations as an important and influential military and financial institution. On his visit to England and Scotland in 1128, he raised men and money for the Order, and also founded their first House in London and another near Edinburgh at Balantrodoch, now known as Temple, Midlothian. The Latin Rule laying down the way of life of the Order, attributed to Hugo de Paganis and Bernard of Clairvaux, was confirmed in 1129 at the Council of Troyes^[35][36] over which a papal legate, sent by Pope Honorius II, presided.

Death

Hugo de Paganis reportedly died in 1136, but the circumstances and date of his death are not recorded in any chronicle, though the Templars commemorated him every year on 24 May, and it is presumed that he died of old age. The 16th-century historian Marco Antonio Guarini claimed that he was buried in the Church of San Giacomo [it] in Ferrara.^[24][25] He was succeeded as Grand Master by Robert de Craon.