The Templars in Acre, c.1150-1291

The order of Knights Templar was established in Jerusalem in the former Aqsa Mosque around 1120 and received its rule after the Council of Troyes in 1129. It is likely that the Templars would have established a house in Acre at an early date, since that was the kingdom of Jerusalem’s principal port and the point of entry for pilgrims, soldiers and supplies arriving from the West. The existence of a house is implied when Philip of Milly was received into the order in Acre on 17 January 1166. The earliest specific references, however, appear in the order’s Hierarchical Statutes of c. 1165. These mention the order’s commander of Acre and the commander of its shipyard there. The latter was a sergeant; and he and the Templars’ ships at Acre were under the authority of the ‘commander of the Land’, to whom all goods arriving by sea normally had to be delivered. The shipyard was probably located on the strand in the eastern part of the old city, where the Hospitallers also later had an arsenal adjacent to the larger one belonging to the king. Goods and supplies, however, would more likely have been landed in the inner harbour under the eyes of the royal customs officials and transported thence to the order’s house.