THE   KNIGHTS   TEMPLARS
After Paris, the most important centre of the Order was
in London.    Henry I and Henry II had given generously
to the brethren 5 Richard I, though he later quarrelled with
the Templars, endowed them with various properties j and
John heaped land and privileges upon the Order to such an
extent that it became a scandal.    The first English house of
the brethren had been opened in Chancery Lane, London, by
Hugh de Payens in 1128.    This house, the original Temple
of London, proved insufficient for the needs of the Order
when it grew in wealth and numbers, and the Order there-
fore acquired a site on the Thames Embankment.    Here
was built the New Temple 5 the church, round in form like
the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem, was dedi-
cated on February loth, 1185, by the Patriarch of Jerusalem,
Heraclius, when he was on his unsuccessful visit to Henry II
to beseech that king's aid for the Franks.    The Temple in
London was the residence of the  Grand  Preceptor of
Englandj the king frequently lived in it; the papal legates
usually made it their headquarters while in England 5 and
the ecclesiastics often held their deliberations upon the affairs
of the Church in England within its walls.
Scotland and Ireland each had its own Grand Preceptor,
but these officers were subsidiary to the Grand Preceptor of
England, though the latter apparently did not attempt to
exercise much control over them. Every province was to a
large extent self-governing and each Grand Preceptor had
his own organisation modelled upon that of Jerusalem, and
was a leader and administrator with wide powers of
discretion. Appointments within his own province were
usually filled as he decided, but the Temple at Jerusalem
retained the right to cancel such appointments and sometimes
exercised its veto.
, While the Grand Preceptor was in practice almost a
dictator within his own territory, in theory the Order waa
i^dcratic. Once a year a chapter of the leading officers ofi