André de Montbard (5 November c. 1097 – 17 January 1156) was the fifth Grand Master of the

Knights Templar The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, mainly known as the Knights Templar, was a Military order (religious society), military order of the Catholic Church, Catholic faith, and one of the most important military ord ...

and also one of the founders of the Order. The Montbard family came from the

high nobility Traditional rank amongst European imperiality, royalty, peers, and nobility is rooted in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Although they vary over time and among geographic regions (for example, one region's prince might be equal to anothe ...

Burgundy Burgundy ( ; ; Burgundian: ''Bregogne'') is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. ...

, and André was an uncle of St.

Bernard of Clairvaux Bernard of Clairvaux, Cistercians, O.Cist. (; 109020 August 1153), venerated as Saint Bernard, was an abbot, Mysticism, mystic, co-founder of the Knights Templar, and a major leader in the reform of the Benedictines through the nascent Cistercia ...

, being a half-brother of Bernard's mother Aleth de Montbard. She had married Tescelin Sorus, a knight, the father of Bernard. He entered the Order in 1129 and went to

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

, where he quickly rose to the rank of

seneschal The word ''seneschal'' () can have several different meanings, all of which reflect certain types of supervising or administering in a historic context. Most commonly, a seneschal was a senior position filled by a court appointment within a royal, ...

, deputy and second-in-command to the Grand Master. After the

Siege of Ascalon The siege of Ascalon took place from 25 January to 22 August 1153, in the time period between the Second Crusade, Second and Third Crusades, and resulted in the capture of the Fatimid Egyptian fortress by the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Ascalon was an i ...

on 22 August 1153, André was elected Grand Master to replace Bernard de Tremelay, who had been killed during an assault on the city on 16 August. He died on 17 January 1156, in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

and was succeeded by Bertrand de Blanchefort.

Notes

1090s births 1156 deaths Grand masters of the Knights Templar 12th-century French nobility Medieval Knights Templar members {{Europe-mil-bio-stub