THE TEMPLE IN EUROPE 139
illusions. More than three Moslems were regarded as too
much for a brother.
Matters which affected only the province of Jerusalem
were decided at chapters attended by the Preceptors and
other leading officers of that province under the presidency
of the Grand Master j matters which affected the Order
throughout the East, however, were settled at chapters
composed of the Grand Preceptors of Antioch and Tripoli
and other leading officers of these provinces as well as the
Grand Master and the leading officers of the province of
Jerusalem. The supreme authority of the Order was the
general chapter consisting of the Grand Preceptors and other
principal officers from all the provinces under the direction
of the Grand Master. As, however, Grand Preceptors from
the West could rarely travel to the East to attend such a
general chapter, the control of the Order was to a very
considerable extent in the hands of the Grand Master and
the Grand Preceptors of Antioch and Tripoli. The nearest
approach to a complete assembly of the officers of the Temple
took place when the Grand Master visited Europe. At such
times—and they were very rare indeed—he summoned the
Grand Preceptors of the provinces of the West to a chapter
at Paris and the decisions then reached were binding on the
Order.
The brotherhood had been founded by French knights,
and, among the countries of the West, the Temple had
become most influential in France. Paris controlled Holland
and the Netherlands as well £$ all the brethren of the
Order in France. The Grand Preceptor had his head-
quarters at the Temple in Paris and was the first officer of
the Order in the West. At intervals he called all the other
Grand Preceptors in Europe to Paris for the discussion of
the affairs of the brotherhood, and this chapter of the West
corresponded to the council of the East held under the Grand
Master.