Aidan
master brummie
On the outer rim of Birmingham (B93 in fact), Temple Balsall is named after, and dates from the time of, the Knights Templar.
The temple, and the surrounding manor of Balsall, were granted to the Templars by King Stephen in the 12th century. They farmed it and established a preceptory (HQ) where a number of the warrior monks/knights lived and ran the estate. The preceptory, or old hall, was where the knights handed out instruction and punishment to the local population.
On Friday, October 13, 1307, hundreds of Templars were arrested, tried by the Inquisition and burned at the stake as heretics. After the Order was suppressed, the estate was given to the Knights of St John. (the 'Hospitallers'), forerunners of the modern Order of St John, which maintains the St John Ambulance Brigade.
The Hospitallers were another fighting, crusading Order, who also nursed the sick. The Church of St Mary the Virgin was built on the site around 1320 by the Knights Hospitaller, who succeeded the Templars. They in turn were dissolved in 1540 during the Reformation when Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries and Queen Elizabeth I gave the estate to Robert Dudley.
The manor was given by Henry VIII to his last wife, Catherine Parr and then given by Elizabeth I to her alleged lover Sir Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. His grand-daughter, Lady Katharine Leveson died in 1674 and used her will to found a charity at the temple that survives to this day
The 13th century church and Old Hall (restored by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott in 1849), and 17th century almshouses survive see https://www.leveson.org.uk/templebalsall/history.htm
This is the only connection of Birmingham to the Knights Templar that I know of - would be interesting to know more detail and of any others.
The temple, and the surrounding manor of Balsall, were granted to the Templars by King Stephen in the 12th century. They farmed it and established a preceptory (HQ) where a number of the warrior monks/knights lived and ran the estate. The preceptory, or old hall, was where the knights handed out instruction and punishment to the local population.
On Friday, October 13, 1307, hundreds of Templars were arrested, tried by the Inquisition and burned at the stake as heretics. After the Order was suppressed, the estate was given to the Knights of St John. (the 'Hospitallers'), forerunners of the modern Order of St John, which maintains the St John Ambulance Brigade.
The Hospitallers were another fighting, crusading Order, who also nursed the sick. The Church of St Mary the Virgin was built on the site around 1320 by the Knights Hospitaller, who succeeded the Templars. They in turn were dissolved in 1540 during the Reformation when Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries and Queen Elizabeth I gave the estate to Robert Dudley.
The manor was given by Henry VIII to his last wife, Catherine Parr and then given by Elizabeth I to her alleged lover Sir Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. His grand-daughter, Lady Katharine Leveson died in 1674 and used her will to found a charity at the temple that survives to this day
The 13th century church and Old Hall (restored by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott in 1849), and 17th century almshouses survive see https://www.leveson.org.uk/templebalsall/history.htm
This is the only connection of Birmingham to the Knights Templar that I know of - would be interesting to know more detail and of any others.
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