THE TEMPLE IN EUROPE 143
in any one country was comparatively small. While the
Order was fighting a losing struggle in the East, its influence
in the West was growing steadily, and many of the knights
saw no reason why the energies of the organisation should
be dissipated in a hopeless contest against the Moslem when
Europe offered safer and more profitable fields for their
services.
That an organisation of thousands of soldiers scattered
throughout Christendom and the East could maintain the
ideals of the few dozen enthusiasts under Hugh de Payens
was too much to expect, and it was impossible for the Temple
to escape the general tendency of the century to minimise
the importance of the fight with Islam. The opportunities
offered for advancement by membership of the red cross
knights were obvious, and the greedy and the ambitious took
the vows of the Temple with the object of using the power
of the Order for purposes other that the protection of the
Holy Land. Such brethren naturally tended to attain posi-
tions of authority by their thrustfulness, and the control of
the Order passed into their keeping.
Some of the Grand Preceptors and other officers of the
Order, with wealth flowing to them from the wide territories
of the Temple, fell to the temptation to use it for their own
aggrandisement. They maintained luxurious establishments
which rivalled those of the princes, they were attended by a
magnificent bodyguard, and they withheld for their own
expenses a large part of the money that should have been sent
to the Holy Land. The Visitors General protested against
such extravagant expenditure, but while they might suppress
isolated offenders, they were powerless to stamp out an abuse
which showed itself in most of the preceptories of Europe.
An increase in the amount of money sent to Jerusalem might
be forthcoming for a short time as a result of complaints by
a Visitor, but the share retained by the Grand Preceptors and
other officers was soon as great as formerly.