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Detail: Battle Hymns of the Templars.

If you were to ask the average Sir Knight to provide you with the Templars? battle hymn and battle cry undoubtedly they will respond with Psalm 115 Non Nobis Domini and In Hoc Signes Vinct&. and possibly add a?beauseant for good luck. These are the currently recognised items, Psalm 115 ` not to us, o Lord, not to us, but unto thy name give glory` taken from the old testament where the Hebrews are responding to their enemies taunts of ? where is your God???. The Psalm mocks the heathen`s lifeless Idols and claims no glory on earth for the followers of God of the Jews who reigns in heaven Made ?famous? by William Shakespeare in his play Henry iv it has been adapted many time over the years from William Whittingham 1635 through to Brother Rudyard Kipling in the 1920`s and without a doubt this is a stirring hymn suitable for the Templars ethos.

In Hoc singes Vinct,?in this sign conquer? dates back to Emperor Constantine who saw a vision 
before the battle of The Malvin Bridge In which a cross appeared in the sky and a voice boomed 
those words to him. The following morning his army appeared with a red cross painted on their 
shields and the battle was won. So ? in this sign Conquer became the motto of the Templars later on in history. Their battle cry a? Beauseant is harder to fix as the word seems to be made up of the following: A? = to the, Beau in mediaeval terms meant: noble fair or beautiful. Seant means posterior or fitting. To sit up from a lying position so adding them all together we have ? to the noble bottom? or ? To the noble, sit up from the lying position?! Taken from The knights Templar by Paul Ivison pages 67/68. A strange mix if you ask me.

So after researching further at some of the 50,000 plus websites on the net I discovered that academically accepted Battle hymn of the Knight Templar was in fact ? Vexilla Regis Prodeunt?, Royal Banners go forwards. This was written by Venantius Honorius Clemantus Fortunatus born circa 530 Ceneda Italy Died circa 609 Potiers France. Fortunatus was a Roman citizen who was studying at Ravenne France, he became almost totally blind but recovered from this in what he thought was a miracle when some oil from the lamp that burned in front of the alter of St Martin of Tours was brought to him and rubbed into his afflicted eyes. He converted to Christianity and decided to make a pilgrimage to the St Martins shrine in 565 when the hymn was written based on the tune of a roman army marching song, after travelling ontoTurs he formed a platonic relationship with Queen Rhageduda, a daughter of Bertharius the King of Neustria. As a result of her patronage he eventually made Bishop of Potiers. Legend states that in 569 St. Radegund presented the town 
of Potiers with what was believed to be a fragment of the true cross and as this was being brought into the town a great host of the faithful came forwards carrying banners, crosses and relics singing the hymn Vexilla Regis Prodeunt.

The Royal Banners forward go.

The Cross Shines forth in mystic glow

Where he in flesh, our flesh who made

Our sentence bore our ransom paid.

For a midi sound version of this hymn go to www.cyberhymnal.org

So it would appear that the French Templars were well acquainted with this hymn and took it as 
their own battle hymn with them on the crusades. Desmond Seward in his book ? the monks of 
war? states: When in 1095 Pope Urban 11 called on a crusade to recover Jerusalem, DEUS Lo 
Volt! (God wills it) became the battle cry and a host of warlike pilgrims from all classes converged on the holy land singing the ancient and triumphant hymn Vexilla Regis Prodeunt. I for one cannot confirm who is correct in this matter but it does seem that the Templars require even more investigation, and I am glad that I have over 44 thousand sources to check so far to discover more about these Warrior knights who inspire us in our preceptarys Some 700 hundred years on.