28 THE KNIGHTS TEMPLARS
Bernard's influence, he was apparently only the editor of a
draft drawn up by other hands.
The new constitution produced after the Council of Troyes
was not to be brought into force until it had been sanctioned
by the Pope and by the Patriarch of Jerusalem, who, say the
authors, "is well acquainted with the affairs of the Eest and
of the circumstances of the poor soldiers of Christ " and ought
therefore to be consulted. The Templars were enjoined to
follow the practice of the Church in Jerusalem in religious
matters, and it was apparently the intention that the Patriarch
should have considerable control over the Order, The
Patriarch had no hesitation in giving his approval to a Rule
which seemed to secure him so much authority in the Temple,
Nor did the Pope raise any objection to u constitution which
was in most ways traditional. He approved the appointment
of Hugh de Payens as the first Master of the Order and
granted to the Knights of the Temple the right to wear the
white mantle—white representing the purity of life for which
they should strive.
After these things had been arranged, I lugh started on a
tour through France, It proved to i>e u triumphal progress,
for the people who had heard so much about the great deeds
performed by the brethren were anxious to see the Master of
the Order. The King of France and a number of his nobles,
after learning of the work of the Order from Hugh de
Payens, endowed the Temple with lands, and so began the
acquisition of those vast properties in Europe which in later
years were to be the cause of so many dissensions. In all its
history, the Temple preferred to buy land rather than sell it*
and in this policy it was following the example set by Hugh
de Payens. He put the estates given to the Temple under
the control of brethren, who were established in preceptories
and charged to remit the excess revenue from the lands to the
Temple in Jerusalem, The first preceptory to be founded
was at Troyes, and it was on an estate that one of the members