While doing research for a medieval paper, I came across a museum website dealing with chain mail and I found a very interesting piece of information titled the "Rule of Temple." I've done extensive searching and simply cannot find what it is, or any primary source on it.
" In fact, a knight’s advantage fighting alongside his more poorly armored sergeants and infantry was acknowledged in the Rule of Temple, which allowed those without mail to withdraw from battle if injured while not permitting those with mail to do the same. "
-https://medievallondon.ace.fordham.edu/exhibits/show/medieval-london-objects/chainmail
I was wondering if this was an actual thing, and if so, where could I find a primary source dealing with this "Rule of Temple."
The 'Rules of the Temple' are simply the the rule of the The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, more commonly known as the Templars. The passage in the mentioned article most likely refers to the section 172 belonging to the second part of the rule titled The Hierarchical Statutes (the complete rule consists of 686 sections divided between seven parts, of which the first one, called 'Primitive Rule' and consisting first 76 sections covering the most basic aspects of monastic organisation can be easily found on the internet). Hierarchical Statutes are dated to around 1165 and though the exact dating is uncertain, it is assumed that they had to be completed before 1187, as they still mention the Commander of the Jerusalem and the defence of the True Cross that was lost in the battle of Hattin.
The sections 172 goes as follows (Translation of the French text compiled by Henri de Curzon made by Judith Mary Upton-Ward).
The sergeant brothers who are armed in mail should conduct themselves under arms as is given for the knight brothers; and other sergeant brothers who are not armed, if they act well, will receive thanks from God and the brothers. And if they see that they cannot resist or that they are wounded, they go to the back, if they wish, without permission, and without harm coming to the house.
Should you wanted to familiarize yourself with the complete Templar rule, them you can start with the book 'The Rule of the Templars' by aforementioned J.M. Upton Ward (The Boydell Press, 1992). The book itself contains the historical introduction and the text of the rule translated from several medieval French and Latin documents. The basis for the book content was primarily the Dijon manuscript dated to early 13th century (containing the first two parts) and two other manuscripts from the late 13th century found in Paris and Rome (their similarity suggests they were copies of a single document), as there were no original document containing Templar rules known to have survived, at least as of 1992.