THE FIRE KINDLERS - CHAPTER 3

THE KNIGHTS TEMPLARS

It was in the midst of a stormy age that Rufus fell. All men of substance dwelt in fortified castles and the yeomen built their cottages close to the castles so that they could run to them in time of danger. Even the churches were built with battlemented towers so that they could be fortresses against the enemy in a literal as well as a spiritual sense. Even though Christian kings ruled the Holy Land yet the pilgrims to the holy places were frequently molested by infidel brigands and shamefully and cruelly maltreated.

So it was that nine knights, veterans of the First Crusade, led by Hugh de Payens and Geoffrey de-Saint Omer banded themselves together for the purpose of Protecting the pilgrims to the sacred places and keeping the Holy Land free from the invasions of the infidels. In 1118 they were granted a residence by Baldwin II, King of Jerusalem, on Mount Moriah, practically on the spot where the Temple-of Solomon had stood. On account of their residence in this p l ace they were called Knights Templars. But that was not the name by which they chose to call themselves, They said they were "The Poor Soldiers of Jesus Christ". They took the three vows of religion, poverty, chastity, and obedience, and became at once a religious order and a military regiment. Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, who was a cousin of Hugh de Payens, compiled their Rules of Life which were modelled after the Cistercians, the most austere of monastic orders. He also obtained for the order the formal recognition of the Church at the Council of Troyes in 1128.

Their first task was to set out on a recruiting mission in order to build up a regiment Powerful enough to prove formidable to th e foes of the Christian pilgrims. They crossed France and came to England where they were particularly successful in obtaining recruits and established several preceptories. It is said that a member of the Purkis family was among their first recruits and that the family were almost continuously represented in the order throughout its entire existence. They established a preceptory in Hampshire at South Badesley and doubtless it was to this preceptory that the first Knight Templar of our family went to receive his training.

Since our close association with the order of Knights Templars is bound to have a profound influence upon the character of the family it may be well to consider what manner of men these were.

The picture of the Knights Templars so well drawn by Sir Walter Scott in "Ivanhoe" is too familiar to require repetition here. That, however, represents the Templars in their decline. Many wealthy men endowed the order with houses and lands and it soon became rich and powerful. It was inevitable then that ambitious, self-seeking men should flock to the order and bring their vices and corruption with them. But even to the end, side by side with all this corruption were pure and noble, if sometimes misguided souls who sought only the glory of God. Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert may have been a true type, but Beaumanoir was none the less than so than he.

The Knights Templars wore their beards long and a long white tunic over their armour. After they had been established a few years a red cross was placed upon the white tunic and for this reason they were often called "Red Cross Knights". They resembled the Quakers of our day in their way of living - not hunting, nor playing cards nor dice, nor looking at shows, nor dancing, nor indulging in lewd or unnecessary conversation. The earnest pursuit of religion, the sincere endeavour to keep the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, not in the cloister but in the camp, in contact with the roughest and most sordid aspects of life taught them many lessons which tended to change their views. While they kept these things secret amongst themselves, yet, symbolic figures in their churches as well as writings found among their relics clearly indicate that they held very advanced theories reg a rding man's relation to God. Their contacts in the Orient with Jews, Moslems and Saracens doubtless also caused them to be influenced by Oriental mysticism and gnosticism. They denied the necessity of sacerdotal and ritualistic meditation and approached God directly as a universal Father. They were somewhat akin to the Unitarians and New Psychologists of today. They were Protestants ahead of their time. It was unfortunate that their wealth and power attracted to their ranks men so opposite in principle and in such numbers as to cause their demoralization and downfall.

As far as their military objectives were concerned they were a complete failure. Time and again they were conquered by the infidels, taken captive and most cruelly treated. They were fanatics and lived in a fanatical age, yet, out of their sad experiences in seeking after and suffering for a lofty spiritual ideal, was born the inspiration which has given us the Reformation, freedom of thought and of conscience, light and liberty in religion.

Their great historic Temple in London was founded in 1184 and consecrated by the Patriarch of Jerusalem. The devotion of our family to the Knights Templars was so great that we find a branch of the family living in the vicinity of the Temple from t he thirteenth century onward until the present day. There are still many descendants of those who gave their sons as Knights and Companions of the Temple to be found in that part of London. When the Templars disbanded there was a secular knighthood of our name, and our armorial bearings witness to the desire to carry on the best traditions of the "Poor Soldiers of Jesus Christ".

The Lion debruised, on our coat of arms exemplifies the watchword of the Templars-"Ut Leo semper feriatur", and symbolizes the conquest of the animal passions, striven for by the Templars in their religious life. The three Bezants on the debruising fesse indicate service in three crusades. These arms have been borne by members of our family at least since the Templars disbanded , and possibly before. For, though the wearing of arms and crests was forbidden to the order, save the octagonal cross which became the badge of the order, yet some of the knights were bold enough to do so, during the period of decadence.

The arms of the London Knights were, a lion rampant sable on a field or, debruised by a fesse sable bearing three bezants or, and the crest was a demi lion sable holding in the paws a crescent or, horns upwards.

The Yeomen of Hampshire, however, have essentially the same armorial bearings with some difference. Their lion rampant is proper (red) and is debruised by a fesse azure, and in the crest a demi lion proper holds in its paws a bezant or.

Which of these is the original or most ancient form I am not certain. The former, (with the black lion) were recorded by the College of Heraldry in the sixteenth century, the latter, I have been informed appears in an ancient roll of arms, but the date was not given. It was the custom of knights and nobles, to grant to their retainers or tenants the right to use their armorial bearings provided that they were "differenced" in some minor details. It is highly probable that a knight of our name allowed his esquire, who was a relative, to bear his arms, differenced by a lion rampant proper in place of a lion rampant sable; debruised by a fesse azure in place of a fesse sable, and in the crest of a demi lion proper in place of a demi lion sable; holding in its paws a bezant in place of a crescent with the horns upwards. Younger sons of a family also sometimes differenced the family arms in order to distinguish their progeny from the direct succession of oldest sons.

The name in the roll of arms is spelled "Purches". This seems to have been the general spelling of the name from the fourteenth to the seventeenth centuries, with occasional variations such as "Purchas" or "Purcas". This shows Italian influence. In the fourteenth century there was a great amount of trade with the Italian peninsula. Ships sailed regularly between Southampton and Venice. Merchants from Lombardy opened shop in Winchester just as the Greeks had done sixteen hundred years before. Surrounded by this influence, it was quite natural that the Italian "ch" should be substituted for the English "k" very frequently. The name has had many spellings in the course of history, but it is probable that the sound of the name has hardly varied at all since the days of Greece's glory. In Norman times the general spelling seems to have been Purquis, though occasionally it is Pourquis. This was followed by Purches and Purchas. As the Renaissance revived the study of Greek the ancient form Purkis, as it is written in King Alfred's chronicle, returned to use. There are variations of this also, Purkiss, Purkess, and Purchase, which still exist. But any bearing the latter form that I have met, now pronounce the "ch" soft. There is little doubt that they belong to the Fire Kindler's progeny, however, they have all the peculiar family characteristics, the same Christian names, and, in some cases, the same traditions.

I am inclined to the opinion, though I am by no means certain, that "Purvis" is also a variation of our name. In this case we find the continued use of the same Christian names, just as in the Purchase family, and as far as I have been able to observe, there is a similarity of appearance and character. This name originated in Hampshire and is still represented there. Another branch is to be found in Fifeshire, Scotland, and the name is also found in the north of England, whither a great many Hampshire families subsequently migrated.

The military tradition begun by the Templars has been carried on down to the present day. The knighthood has disappeared. But yeomen of the Purkis family were with Henry IV at Agi ncourt. Many of them were seafaring men and sailed with Drake and Raleigh. Some were Royalists and fought for the Stuarts. Others, of a Puritan strain, fought for King William at the Battle of the Boyne. Succeeding generations served under Marlborough a nd Wellington, and in the Crimean and South African Wars. At Andover, Hants, there is a monument erected in memory of members of the Purkis family all descended from a common ancestor who served in the Great War. I doubt if there has been a war of conse quence in which Britain has been involved in which the Purkis family were not represented.

In a more spiritual sense also, has the tradition of the Knights Templars been nobly carried on. There have been many clergymen and missionaries making the path clear for pilgrims to the New Jerusalem, the true City of Peace, holding on high the standard of the Lion of the tribe of Judah, "bruised for our transgressions". Centuries after the last Purkis made his vows in the great Temple in London, we see an Evangeli s t riding on horseback over the Cotswold Hills in Gloucestershire and Somerset organizing little groups of Dissenters, bringing tidings of the Gospel, waging war against all forms of evil,-"Ut Leo semper feriatur". He bears as his arms the Lion debruised, and his name is Isaac Purkis,-a "Poor Soldier of Jesus Christ".