Templars

A religious order of knighthood, instituted about the year 1119, and so called because the members dwelt in a part of the temple of Jerusalem, and not far from the sepulchre of our Lord. They entertained Christian strangers and pilgrims charitably, and their profession was at first to defend travellers from highwaymen and robbers. The order was suppressed A. D. 1307, and their substance given partly to the knights of St. John of Jerusalem, and partly to other religious orders. Brown. place of the Knights Templar. On the suppression of the order, they were purchased by some professors of the common law, and converted into hospitia, or inns of court. They are called the "Inner" and "Middle Temple," in relation to Essex House, which was also a part of the house of the Templars, and called the "Outer Temple," because situated without Temple Bar. Enc. Lond.