Was the Knights Templar an all boys club or could women get a look in?
The Middle Ages is often characterised as an era when women were held in low esteem or operated in the shadows. But the reality is more nuanced and complex than that. Some women wielded significant power and a surprising amount of influence. Look at some of the powerful queens of the time like Eleanor of Aquitaine - a woman you crossed at your peril.
But there was undoubtedly a huge amount of misogyny. And the fortunes of women waxed and waned over the centuries. So, what about the Knights Templar? It’s often assumed that women were unable to get involved and of course, the knights were accused of being more interested in each other at their trial than the opposite sex. If you get my drift.
The Templars did live by the monastic rule of the Cistercians and the included a vow of chastity. However, they were not quite as exclusively male as some monastic orders.
Unlike the monastic orders, the Templars did bow to pressure and allow women to join
There was a Templar convent led by a woman
They preferred venerating female saints to male saints
Women might have started out as lay associate members and through circumstance become leading local Templar figures
It seems that money has always opened doors and the Middle Ages were no exception. There are a few examples of wealthy ladies who gave themselves to the Order as 'donatas'. In return for a portion of their fortune, they gained access to the order.
READ MORE: Secrets of the Knights Templar
There were also women handed over to the Order by benefactors as bondswomen. And there was even a Templar convent at Muhlen. This was, however, the only example of a nunnery in the order.
What was definitely a men only area was the battlefield. But away from the clash of sword against scimitar, there seems to have been a surprisingly ability for women to ingratiate themselves in to the Order's company. All that in spite of the misogynist ravings of Bernard of Clairvaux, the saintly abbot who was the religious mentor to the knights.
Templar historian Helen Nicholson notes that the Templars held female saints in special reverence that contrasted with the all-male atmosphere of daily life in the Templars and their vows of celibacy.
And during the trial of the Templars when medieval accountants started looking at Templar assets to dispose of them to interested parties - women Templars are noted. They did exist. But their role remains shrouded in mystery.
In our Civil War women fought on both sides. Since there was no physical to join the Union or Confederate army, they lived as men and fought in several battles. Some discovered while serving, many when they died. So, in a closed society like the Templars, women may have even experienced battle.