(1128), and later three ranks were recognised—­the knights, who alone wore the mantle of white linen and red cross, men-at-arms, and lower retainers, while a grand-master, seneschal, and other officers were created.  During the first 150 years of their existence the Templars increased enormously in power; under papal authority they enjoyed many privileges, such as exemption from taxes, tithes, and interdict.  After the capture of Jerusalem by the infidels Cyprus became in 1291 their head-quarters, and subsequently France.  But their usefulness was at an end, and their arrogance, luxury, and quarrels with the Hospitallers had alienated the sympathies of Christendom.  Measures of the cruellest and most barbarous kind were taken for their suppression by Philip the Fair of France, supported by Pope Clement IV.  Between 1306 and 1314 hundreds were burned at the stake, the order scattered, and their possessions confiscated.

TEMPLE, FREDERICK, archbishop of Canterbury, born at Santa Maura, in Leukas, one of the Ionian Islands; was highly distinguished at Balliol College, Oxford, as graduate, fellow, and tutor; in 1846 became Principal of Kneller Hall Training College, was one of H.M.  Inspectors of Schools, and during 1858 and 1869 was head-master of Rugby; a Liberal in politics, he supported the disestablishment of the Irish Church, and as a Broad-Churchman was elected to the bishopric of Exeter (1869), of London (1885), and in 1896 was consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury; contributed to the celebrated “Essays and Reviews”; published “Sermons Preached in Rugby Chapel,” and in 1884 was Bampton Lecturer; b. 1821.

TEMPLE, SIR WILLIAM, diplomatist and essayist, born in London, and educated at Cambridge; travel on the Continent, courtship, and marriage, and some years of quiet and studious retirement in Ireland, occupied him during the Protectorate; in 1660 was returned to the Convention Parliament at Dublin, and five years later, having resettled in England, began his diplomatic career, the most notable success in which was his arrangement in 1668 of the Triple Alliance between England, Holland, and Sweden to hold in check the growing power of France; as ambassador at The Hague became friendly with the Prince of Orange, whose marriage with the Princess Mary (daughter of James II.) he negotiated; was recalled in 1671, but after the Dutch War returned to his labours at The Hague, and in 1679 carried through the Peace of Nimeguen; although offered a State Secretaryship more than once, shrank from the responsibilities of office under Charles II., a diffidence he again showed in the reign of William III.; the later years of his life were spent in Epicurean ease, in the enjoyment of his garden, and in the pursuit of letters at his villa at Sheen, and, after 1686, at Moor Park, in Surrey, where he had Swift for secretary; is remembered in constitutional history for his scheme (a failure ultimately) to put the king more completely under the check of the Privy Council by remodelling its constitution; was a writer of considerable distinction, his miscellaneous essays and memoirs being notable for grace and perspicuity of style (1628-1699).