The Knights Templar: Rules for Prayer, Meals and Communal Discipline

From their formation in Jerusalem around 1119 to the papal dissolution of the order in 1312, the Knights Templar combined religious life with military service. Their brothers lived in different circumstances: some served in the eastern Mediterranean, while others worked in European houses that supported the order. A rule approved at the Council of Troyes in 1129 set out common expectations for worship and conduct, while later statutes expanded and adjusted those instructions.

The regulations had to work across both communal life in European houses and the more demanding conditions of military service in the East. Their practical aim was to structure religious observance without undermining the health and readiness of brothers who might be called to fight.

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How the Rule shaped daily life

The Templar Rule drew chiefly on the Rule of Saint Benedict, with some influence from the Rule of Saint Augustine. The first version, approved in 1129, contained 72 articles. It was translated into French and revised around 1135–1139. Later additions, known as retraits, set out further statutes on subjects including the order’s hierarchy, communal life and penalties. The rules therefore developed over time rather than remaining a single, unchanging text.

The Rule prescribed routines for the brotherhood as a whole, but membership included different roles. Knight brothers served as fighters; sergeants held a range of supporting and military duties; and chaplain brothers were priests. From 1139, papal privileges allowed the order to have its own priests, who could conduct religious services for its communities. The regulations applied across the order, although daily life in a house and life on campaign were not identical.

Prayer at appointed times

Prayer followed a regular pattern through the day. The Rule directed the knight brothers to follow the liturgy of the canons regular of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. This was a structured cycle of communal services, related to the canonical hours observed in monastic life. Chaplain brothers served the community’s religious needs, while the other brothers were expected to take part in the prescribed worship.

The rules also allowed for brothers who could not attend a service: they were to say the Lord’s Prayer at the corresponding times. Matins was the night office; vespers marked evening worship and compline closed the day. This provision made the obligation workable when a brother’s duties or circumstances prevented him from joining the community. It did not remove prayer from the daily schedule, but supplied an alternative form of observance.

Meals, meat and fasting

Meals were part of communal life and were regulated rather than treated as private occasions. Scripture was read during common meals, and brothers were expected to listen in silence. Meat was normally assigned three times a week, with feast-day exceptions; other days brought vegetables and dishes eaten with bread. Such restrictions marked the brothers’ religious discipline in an everyday setting.

Fasting was also moderated in comparison with stricter Benedictine practice. The order’s rules were designed for men who might have to undertake military duties, and severe fasting could weaken them. The balance was practical as well as religious: brothers were expected to observe restraint, but their diet had to support physical readiness.

Clothing and control of possessions

Dress made distinctions within the order visible. Knight brothers of noble origin were entitled to white mantles, while sergeants wore darker clothing, described as brown or black. The red cross marked the Templars’ religious and institutional identity. Clothing was issued and controlled by the order, not treated simply as a matter of personal taste. A brother who sought finer clothing could instead be given a less fine garment, and the order could take away the habit as a penalty for serious misconduct.

The brothers’ vow of poverty did not mean that the Templar institution owned no resources. The order held property and maintained houses, while individual brothers were expected to submit to its common discipline. Regulations extended to practical possessions: for example, the Rule prohibited gold and silver fittings on bridles, stirrups and spurs. It also prescribed the horses available to knight brothers, normally three, with their care assigned to a squire. Such rules limited personal display and put important resources under institutional control.

Physical fitness, age and infirmity

The order’s approach to food and fasting reflects an expectation that brothers remain capable of service. Fitness also mattered at entry: the admission rules set physical and mental health among the qualifications for becoming a brother. At the same time, the order’s roles were not confined to combat. Its serving brothers included men unable to fight because of age or infirmity, as well as men with useful skills for other work.

The infirmarer, the officer caring for ill members, was directed to provide suitable foods according to the house’s resources, while sick and weak brothers were excused from the usual fast. Illness therefore changed a brother’s obligations and the provision made for him.

Correction and communal discipline

Discipline was administered within the order. A chapter was a formal meeting of the community, associated with the reading of religious texts and the Rule. Templar statutes refer to weekly and general chapters, and later additions gave increasing attention to internal justice and penalties. These meetings provided a setting in which the community could address breaches of its standards.

For grave offences, chapter justice could impose the loss of a brother’s habit. Because the order owned and issued its clothing, taking it away was more than a change of dress: it could mark temporary exclusion or, in the most serious cases, expulsion. The rules thus linked discipline to a brother’s place in the community, using formal procedures to uphold obligations shared by men living under the same religious and military institution.