The

Grand Masters of the Knights Templar The Grand master (order), grand master of the Knights Templar was the supreme commander of the holy order, starting with founder Hugues de Payens in 1118. Some held the office for life while others resigned life in monasteries or diplomacy. Gra ...

during the later 12th and the 13th century used a double-sided

seal Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, or "true seal" ** Fur seal * Seal (emblem), a device to impr ...

which showed a representation of The Dome of the Rock (or a circular dome of the

Church of the Holy Sepulchre The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, hy, Սուրբ Հարության տաճար, la, Ecclesia Sancti Sepulchri, am, የቅዱስ መቃብር ቤተክርስቲያን, he, כנסיית הקבר, ar, كنيسة القيامة is a church i ...

) on one side, and the Order's symbol of two knights on one horse on the other side. This design is first attested as in use by

Bertrand de Blanquefort Bertrand de Blanchefort (or Blanquefort), (c. 1109 – 13 January 1169) was the sixth Grand Master of the Knights Templar, from 1156 until his death in 1169. He is known as a great reformer of the order. Personal life He was born around 1109, ...

, the order's sixth Grand Master, in 1158, forty years after its foundation, and it remained in use until the dissolution of the order in 1312. There was also a smaller, single-sided seal, which showed the Dome of the Rock (or the Holy Sepulchre), only. Different seals were used by provincial masters of the order. According to a papal bull issued by

Innocent IV Pope Innocent IV ( la, Innocentius IV; – 7 December 1254), born Sinibaldo Fieschi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 25 June 1243 to his death in 1254. Fieschi was born in Genoa and studied at the universitie ...

in 1251, it was customary for successive provincial masters to use the same seal. The master of Provence continued to use an

Agnus Dei is the Latin name under which the " Lamb of God" is honoured within the Catholic Mass and other Christian liturgies descending from the Latin liturgical tradition. It is the name given to a specific prayer that occurs in these liturgies, and ...

seal, while the seal of the Aragonese master William of Cardona and his successors depicted a knight on horseback, carrying a lance and shield, on which was a cross bearing the legend: ''S. MINISTRI TEMPLI 1 ARAGON 7 CATALON'' ("Seal of the minister of the Temple in

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to sou ...

and

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

").

Templars Seal Themes

Dome of the Rock The Dome of the Rock ( ar, قبة الصخرة, Qubbat aṣ-Ṣakhra) is an Islamic shrine located on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem, a site also known to Muslims as the ''al-Haram al-Sharif'' or the Al-Aqsa Compound. Its initial ...
and Al Aqsa Mosque

File:SEAL Templars Artistic Militium Templi Salo.png, MILITIE TEMPLI SALMO Artistic representation The reverse of Bertrand de Blancafort's seal, Master of the Temple 1168 in Staatsarchiv

Amberg Amberg () is a town in Bavaria, Germany. It is located in the Upper Palatinate, roughly halfway between Regensburg and Bayreuth. In 2020, over 42,000 people lived in the town. History The town was first mentioned in 1034, at that time under t ...

The reverse of Grand Master William of Chartres seal from 1214 also depicts the Dome of the Rock.

''
Agnus Dei is the Latin name under which the " Lamb of God" is honoured within the Catholic Mass and other Christian liturgies descending from the Latin liturgical tradition. It is the name given to a specific prayer that occurs in these liturgies, and ...
''

In heraldry, a

Lamb of God Lamb of God ( el, Ἀμνὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ, Amnòs toû Theoû; la, Agnus Dei, ) is a title for Jesus that appears in the Gospel of John. It appears at John 1:29, where John the Baptist sees Jesus and exclaims, "Behold the Lamb of God wh ...

(or paschal lamb, or agnus Dei) is a lamb passant proper, with a

halo Halo, halos or haloes usually refer to: * Halo (optical phenomenon) * Halo (religious iconography), a ring of light around the image of a head HALO, halo, halos or haloes may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Video games * ''Halo'' (franch ...

or charged with a cross

gules In heraldry, gules () is the tincture with the colour red. It is one of the class of five dark tinctures called "colours", the others being azure (blue), sable (black), vert (green) and purpure (purple). In engraving, it is sometimes depict ...

, and the dexter forelimb reflexed over a cross staff from which a pennon of St. George (Argent a cross gules) is flotant. The seals of the Masters of the Temple in England: of Aimery de St Maur, 1200, Robert of Sandford, 1241,

Richard of Hastings Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'strong ...

, 1160–85, and

William de la More William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

, 1304, showed the agnus Dei. SIGILLVM TEMPLI The obverse of a seal used by

, master, 1304, resembles the above text . The reverse, a small oval counter-seal, with beaded borders, shows on the right a couped bust of a bearded man wearing a cap. and have the legend:— TESTIS SUM AGNI ("I am a witness to the Lamb") William de la More, styled ''frater Willelmus de la More miliciae''. The seal is called ''commune sigillum capituli''. The seal symbolic of their vow of poverty, showing two knights riding on one horse appears only to have been used by the order in France; there is no example of its use in England. Some of the seals of the English Templars were a semi-typical Pascal lamb bearing sometimes, not the flag of St George (or the cross), but the

Beauseant ''Baucent'' (''bauceant, baussant'', etc.) was the name of the war flag (''vexillum belli'') used by the Knights Templar in the 12th and 13th centuries. 13th-century sources show it as a white gonfanon with a black chief (''argent a chief sable ...

, the battle banner of the order. File:Agnus dei seal Artistic representationi.jpg, Seal of Robert of Sandford, the Master of the Temple in 1241 in the British Library File:Roncelin de Foz agnusdei.jpg, L'Agnus Dei, seal used by Roncelin de Foz. Second part of the 13th century. Departmental Archives of Marseilles - Bouches du Rhône. Other seals: Durham Cathedral Muniments, Medieval Seal G&B reference number: 3388 Knights of the Temple 1304 Description: Round. The Holy Lamb with banner.

The Two Riders

The symbol

The Templar Seal showing two knights (perhaps

Hugues de Payens Hugues de Payens or Payns (9 February 1070 – 24 May 1136) was the co-founder and first Grand Master of the Knights Templar. In association with Bernard of Clairvaux, he created the ''Latin Rule'', the code of behavior for the Order. Name T ...

and

Godfrey de Saint-Omer Godfrey of Saint-Omer (also known as Gaufred, Godefroi, or Geoffrey de St Omer, Saint Omer) was a Flemish knight and one of the founding members of the Knights Templar in 1119. He is said to have come from the family of the Lords of Saint-Omer (in ...

) on one horse. There are many interpretations of the symbolism of this seal. * Contemporary legend held that the symbol represented the initial poverty of the order; that they could afford only a single horse for every two men. Still, the Rule of the Order from the outset permitted three horses and no more for each knight, as well as no Templars sharing the same horse. * Several masters adopted this seal from the beginning of the order until at least 1298. It is known to have been in use since 1167. The Rule forbids two riders on the same beast. * According to legend, Hugues de Payens (the first Grand-Master of the Templars) and Godfrey were so poor that between the two of them they had only one horse, and this gave rise to the famous image on the seal of the Templars, of two men riding a single horse. The image of two knights on the horse was widely used: *

Matthew Paris Matthew Paris, also known as Matthew of Paris ( la, Matthæus Parisiensis, lit=Matthew the Parisian; c. 1200 – 1259), was an English Benedictine monk, chronicler, artist in illuminated manuscripts and cartographer, based at St Albans Abbey ...

Chronica Majora The ''Chronica Majora'' is the seminal work of Matthew Paris, a member of the English Benedictine community of St Albans and long-celebrated historian. The work begins with Creation and contains annals down to the year of Paris' death of 1259. ...

ca 1250 * An English monk and chronicler from St. Albans in Historia Anglorum * At least as early as 1158 as the seal of the Grand Master of the Temple,

Bertrand de Blanchefort Bertrand de Blanchefort (or Blanquefort), (c. 1109 – 13 January 1169) was the sixth Grand Master of the Knights Templar, from 1156 until his death in 1169. He is known as a great reformer of the order. Personal life He was born around 1109, ...

. This is the earliest known seal for the Grand Master of the Temple forty years after the Order was formed. * Use of this symbol continued under subsequent Grand Masters for as long as the Order survived, however the seal went through more than one incarnation. The Reynaut de Vichiers, who was Master of the Temple from 1255-1259 depict same images, but it is obviously not the same seal.

The Legend

The seals of the Grand Masters have textual differences: * Blanchefort's seal: SIGILLUM MILITUM (Latin, ''Seal of the Soldiers'') obverse; CHRISTI DE TEMPLO (Latin, ''of Christ of the Temple'') reverse. * Vichiers' seal: SIGILLUM MILITUM XPISTI (Latin, ''Seal of the Soldiers of Christ''). While Vichiers' motto is written in Latin, the word 'Christ' begins with Greek letters (

Chi Rho The Chi Rho (☧, English pronunciation ; also known as ''chrismon'') is one of the earliest forms of Christogram, formed by superimposing the first two (capital) letters— chi and rho (ΧΡ)—of the Greek word ( Christos) in such a way t ...

) (Latin symbol, ''XP'') rather than the Latin CHR. The XP symbol arose early in Christianity and entered popular usage after the legendary pre-battle vision of Chi Rho and Christian conversion of the 4th century Roman Emperor

Constantine Constantine most often refers to: * Constantine the Great, Roman emperor from 306 to 337, also known as Constantine I *Constantine, Algeria, a city in Algeria Constantine may also refer to: People * Constantine (name), a masculine given name ...

. From the time of Constantine, XP was a significant symbol of Christianity, surpassed only by the cross itself. Early military associations make Chi Rho an apt symbol for the Templars. On de Vichiers' seal, Chi Rho is visible on the shields of the knights.

The Eagle The eagle is a large bird of prey. Eagle or The Eagle may also refer to: Places England * Eagle, Lincolnshire, a village United States * Eagle, Alaska, a city * Eagle Village, Alaska, a census-designated place * Eagle, Colorado, a statuto ...

The Double-Headed Eagle is more commonly associated with Coat of Arms of the Byzantine Empire. Bertram von Esbeck, Master of the Temple in Germany, 1296 depicts an eagle with two

six-pointed star Star polygons and polygonal compounds are the basis for numerous figures of significance in arts and culture. The figure may be the border or interior of the polygon, or one or more closed polygonal paths that include all of the border and also ...

Paris Temple

Cross

Aragon;

Tortosa Tortosa (; ) is the capital of the ''Catalonia/Comarques, comarca'' of Baix Ebre, in Catalonia, Spain. Tortosa is located at above sea level, by the Ebro river, protected on its northern side by the mountains of the Cardó Massif, of which Buin ...

; Late 13th century. Depicting a cross. Legend: SIGILLUM MILICIE TEMPLI IN DERTOSA Aragon;

Alfambra Alfambra is a municipality located in the province of Teruel, Aragon, Spain. , the municipality has a population of 676 inhabitants. This locality is famous for the Battle of Alfambra fought in 1938 during the Spanish Civil War Historical Ori ...

; 1248. Brown wax, round, 30 mm. in diameter, depicting a cross. Legend:......LUM CASTRI....

Cross pattée A cross pattée, cross patty or cross paty, also known as a cross formy or cross formée (french: croix pattée, german: Tatzenkreuz), is a type of Christian cross with arms that are narrow at the centre, and often flared in a curve or straight ...

A cross having arms narrow at the inner center, and very broad at the other end. File:Seal Brother Arnaude de Banyuls Artistic.jpg, Fra Arnaude de Banyuls seal; Aragon; Gardeny; Yellow wax, round, 27 mm. in diameter, depicting a cross, with stars in two angles and shields with crosses in the other two. Legend: S. AR..........GARDENNI. File:Seal Brother Bernard de Montlor 1248small.jpg, Fra Bernard de Montlor 1248 seal File:SIGILLUM MILITUM TEMPLI.png, The Masters of

Poitou Poitou (, , ; ; Poitevin: ''Poetou'') was a province of west-central France whose capital city was Poitiers. Both Poitou and Poitiers are named after the Pictones Gallic tribe. Geography The main historical cities are Poitiers (historical c ...

used this seal. It has been used from the middle of the 12th century to the end of the Order.

Cross pattée and
fleur-de-lis The fleur-de-lis, also spelled fleur-de-lys (plural ''fleurs-de-lis'' or ''fleurs-de-lys''), is a lily (in French, and mean 'flower' and 'lily' respectively) that is used as a decorative design or symbol. The fleur-de-lis has been used in the ...

A seal from Provence: the Templars from

Roaix Roaix (; oc, Roais) is a Communes of France, commune in the Vaucluse Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region in southeastern France. Alice Colonieu lived at Roaix. See also *Communes of the ...

Sérignan Sérignan (; oc, Serinhan) is a commune in the Hérault department in the Occitanie region in southern France. Population See also *Communes of the Hérault department The following is a list of the 342 Communes of France, communes of the ...

... This knight, Giraud de Chamaret, hoists the templar cross and the "fleur-de-lis". 1234. File:Brother Hugues de Rochefort 1204 seal.png, Brother Hugues de Rochefort (Hughs from "ROCAFORTI") 1204 seal. With a star and a "fleur-de-lis", this cross, hart bounded, was the Preceptor's Temple seal. File:S PRECEPTORIS TEMPLI VALECE.png, The seal of the preceptor of Poitou Legend = S PRECEPTORIS TEMPLI VALECE. Year: 1287. Appears on a charter from Saint Victor lès Valence. Seal can be found at the Archives of the City of Marseille and a moulding at the National Archives of Paris. File:Brother Giraud deChamaret 1234.png, Brother Giraud de Chamaret 1234

Knight on the Horse

The seal of Brother Roustan de Comps, commander of the Order of the Temple at

Richerenches Richerenches (; oc, Richarenchas) is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. Truffles The village is famous for its truffle market as well as for its ''messe aux truffes'' in the ch ...

, 1232, shows a single knight on horseback, bearing a shield with a cross: probably

St. George Saint George (Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin: Georgius, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christian who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to tradition he was a soldier ...

. File:Brother Roustan de Comps 1232 seal.png, Brother Roustan de Comps 1232 seal

Head

Seals of Brother Widekind, Master of the Temple in Germany, 1271, and Brother Frederick Wildergrave, 1289, showed Christ's head (or

John the Baptist John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...

's head by other opinions)

Tower or Castle

The seal of Templar officials in Yorkshire c.1300 shows a tower with a pointed roof. File:Brother Arnau Despug 1308 seal.jpg, Brother Arnau Despug 1308 seal Aragon;

Monzón Monzón is a small city and municipality in the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. Its population was 17,176 as of 2014. It is in the northeast (specifically the Cinca Medio district of the province of Huesca) and adjoins the rivers Cinca and ...

; Early 14th century. Round, depicting a castle with three towers, with a

griffin The griffin, griffon, or gryphon (Ancient Greek: , ''gryps''; Classical Latin: ''grȳps'' or ''grȳpus''; Late Latin, Late and Medieval Latin: ''gryphes'', ''grypho'' etc.; Old French: ''griffon'') is a legendary creature with the body, tail ...

on each side. Legend: S. CASTELL........ONI. Aragon;

Huesca Huesca (; an, Uesca) is a city in north-eastern Spain, within the autonomous community of Aragon. It is also the capital of the Spanish province of the same name and of the comarca of Hoya de Huesca. In 2009 it had a population of 52,059, almo ...

; Round, depicting a castle. Legend: S. DOM. TEMPLI DE OSCA Aragon; Barbará; Early 14th century. Yellow wax, round, 29 mm. in diameter, depicting a castle between two fishes. Legend: S. COMMAND.....BARBERA

Chateau de Guilleragues

Here is a Templar cross found in the oldest tower of Château de Guilleragues in the Aquitaine region of France. File:cross-on-step.jpg, Templar Cross in oldest tower of Guilleragues Castle

Abraxas Abraxas ( grc-x-biblical, ἀβραξάς, abraxas, variant form romanized: ) is a word of mystic meaning in the system of the Gnostic Basilides, being there applied to the "Great Archon" (), the princeps of the 365 spheres (). The word is found ...

The word Abraxas (or Abrasax or Abracax) was engraved on certain antique stones, called Abraxas stones, which were used as amulets or charms by

Gnostic Gnosticism (from grc, γνωστικός, gnōstikós, , 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems which coalesced in the late 1st century AD among Jewish and early Christian sects. These various groups emphasized pe ...

sects. The image most associated with Abraxas is that of a composite creature with the head of a rooster, the body of a man, and legs made of serpents or scorpions; carrying a whip and shield. The Gnostics identified Abraxas with

Yahweh Yahweh *''Yahwe'', was the national god of ancient Israel and Judah. The origins of his worship reach at least to the early Iron Age, and likely to the Late Bronze Age if not somewhat earlier, and in the oldest biblical literature he posse ...

(under the Greek form "IAO"). Amulets and seals bearing the figure of Abraxas were popular in the 2nd century, and these stones survived in the treasuries of the middle ages. Abraxas appears on the seal of a Templar Grand Master in a French charter dated 1214. The Templars' use of Abraxas as a seal was most likely a result of their expansive treasuries containing a number of ancient gemstones.

The Dove

File:DOVE Templars seal France.png, Used on the Seal of Etienne de Til-Chatel, lord of

Pichanges Pichanges () is a commune in the Côte-d'Or department in eastern France. Population See also *Communes of the Côte-d'Or department The following is a list of the 698 communes of the Côte-d'Or department of France. The communes cooper ...

, Preceptor of La Fontenotte. Representation of a dove, facing backwards and grasping an olive branch within its beak.

Star and Crescent Moon

File:Frater Robert seal templar.png, Frater Robert from the land of Retz. Seal from English 13th century. This seal was discovered in the 19th century, in the city of St Père en Retz, at Biais,

Loire Atlantique Loire-Atlantique (; br, Liger-Atlantel; before 1957: ''Loire-Inférieure'', br, Liger-Izelañ, link=no) is a department in Pays de la Loire on the west coast of France, named after the river Loire and the Atlantic Ocean. It had a population of ...

, on the site of a templar Commandery.

Lion

Seals of Brother Otto of Brunswich, commander of Supplingenburg, shows a lion; A seal of one Knight Templar, England, 1303 is showing the Lion of England and the cross pattée and the

crescent A crescent shape (, ) is a symbol or emblem used to represent the lunar phase in the first quarter (the "sickle moon"), or by extension a symbol representing the Moon itself. In Hinduism, Lord Shiva is often shown wearing a crescent moon on his ...

moon of the Mother Goddess with stars. Aragon;

Miravet Miravet is a municipality in the comarca of Ribera d'Ebre in the Province of Tarragona, Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''national ...

; 1278, 1287. Depicting a lion

Griffon

William, Master of the Temple in Hungary and

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

, 1297, depicts a winged griffon

Unusual uncertified early Templar insignia

File:OLD Hand Made SEAL HP.jpg, From

period. Hand carved Grand Seal. Alike wax imprints were found on official documents addressed to Hugues de Payens.

References

{{Commons category, Templars Seal # Hopkins, M, Simmans, G. & Wallace-Murphy, T., Rex Deus, Element, Shaftesbury, Dorset, 2000, 177 # F. de Sagarra, Sigillografía catalana, iii (Barcelona, 1932), 473 # R. de Huesca, Teatro histórico de las iglesias del reino de Aragón, vii (Pamplona, 1797), 121 # The Templars in the Corona de Aragón, Alan John Fore

Knights Templar, Seal Gnosticism Seals (insignia) Seals of organizations