Food matters, and this holds true for military personnel throughout history. The well-worn saying that "an army runs on its stomach" remains relevant, even for medieval armies. A restored medieval kitchen inside Verrucole Castle, Tuscany, serves as a reminder of the importance of sustenance. The Knights Templar, a religious order of knights, were also a nonprofit bank, living off donations and safeguarding money for religious pilgrims. For two centuries, they were the premier monk knights of Europe. Their longevity was once attributed to their holiness, but modern research reveals that their dietary habits and lifestyle played a significant role.
The Primitive Rule: A Guide to Templar Life
In exchange for their nonprofit status, the knights took vows of chastity and followed a strict set of guidelines known as the Primitive Rule of the Templars. This rulebook, assembled with the help of the French abbot Bérnard de Clairvaux, governed various aspects of their lives, including who they should protect, who to avoid, what colors to wear, and how to behave during church services. The Primitive Rule also extended to their dietary practices, dictating how they ate, what they ate, and with whom they ate.
Communal Dining and Portion Control
The Primitive Order declared that knights should eat in pairs so they could monitor each other’s portions. Their meals were not raucous affairs; knights were obliged to eat together silently. If they needed something, they had to ask for it to be passed "quietly and privately … with all humility and submission.” A sort of buddy system existed, partly due to a mystifying “shortage of bowls.” This may have been more a show of abstinence than anything else, like the knights’ emblem, which was of two men sharing a horse. Knights ate in pairs, and were told to “study the other more closely,” to ensure neither was taking more than his share or entertaining any kind of "secret abstinence." After eating, everyone sat in silence and gave thanks. Whatever food was left was given to the poor and destitute, and scraps of bread were collected and given to the poor, with whole loaves set aside for future meals.
A Balanced Diet: Moderation and Variety
The knights' diets seem to have been a balancing act between the ordinary fasting demands on monks and the fact that these knights lived active, military lives. The Church understood that the human body needed a well-balanced diet to function optimally. This is in keeping with the belief that all Christians’ bodies are a Temple to the Holy Spirit and should be well maintained.
Knights Templar ate meat only three days a week, sometimes twice a day on Sundays. This meat was usually roasted beef, ham, or bacon, with only salt for seasoning. Rule 26 of the Primitive Rule stated that eating meat should be sufficient three times a week, except at Christmas, All Saints, the Assumption, and the feast of the twelve apostles, as it was understood that the custom of eating flesh corrupts the body. However, if a fast fell on a Tuesday, the next day, the brothers would be given meat in plenty. On Sundays, all the brothers of the Temple, chaplains, and clerks were given two meat meals in honor of the holy resurrection of Jesus Christ.
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On other days, they ate smaller portions, usually two to three meals filled with large amounts of vegetables and bread. Milk, eggs, and cheese were also common on those days. Soups were common, made with oats and other fiber-rich foods. Rule 27 stated that on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays, the brothers should have two or three meals of vegetables or other dishes eaten with bread, which was intended to be sufficient.
Fridays, as per the custom of Catholics at the time, they abstained from all animal products, getting their proteins from fish and almonds. Rule 28 dictated that on Fridays, Lenten meat should be given communally to the whole congregation out of reverence for the passion of Jesus Christ, and they would fast from All Saints until Easter, except for Christmas Day, the Assumption, and the feast of the twelve apostles. Weak and sick brothers were exempt from this. The Templars considered seafood an excellent meat substitute, benefiting from the positive effects of omega-3 fatty acids on blood levels of cholesterol and triglycerides, in addition to the antioxidant and anti-depressant effects.
If they were sick or injured, they didn’t fast and instead ate foods that would restore their health. They received “meat, flesh, birds, and all other foods which bring good health,” to return them to fighting shape as quickly as possible.
In their gardens, they grew fruits and vegetables, especially Mediterranean produce such as figs, almonds, pomegranates, olives, and corn (grain). These healthy foodstuffs likely also made their way into their meals.
Hydration and Moderation in Drink
Brothers drank wine, but this too was restricted. Everyone had an identical ration, which was diluted, and they were advised that alcohol should “not be taken to excess, but in moderation. For Solomon said … wine corrupts the wise.” In the Holy Lands, they allegedly mixed a potent cocktail of antiseptic aloe vera, hemp, and palm wine, known as the Elixir of Jerusalem, which may have helped accelerate healing from injuries.
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Hygiene and Health Practices
In addition to the written rules, the Knights Templar also had principles of behavior to be respected to avoid the spread of infections: it was mandatory to wash your hands before eating, and the refectory had to be always well kept and the tablecloths always clean. The Order also prohibited hunting for food purposes, while the Templars dedicated themselves to fish farming, a food very present in their diet together with cheeses, fresh fruit and olive oil.
Franceschi describes other regulations beyond the Primitive Rules that were “specifically designed to avoid the spreading of infections.” These included mandatory handwashing before eating or praying, and exempting brothers in charge of manual tasks outdoors from food preparation or serving. Some of these innovations, picked up without any awareness of germs, may have resulted from interactions with Arab doctors, renowned during the period for their superior medical knowledge. By medieval medical standards, Templar Knights were at its apex, able to treat many illnesses and to take care of their weak.
Longevity: A Result of Diet and Lifestyle
In the mid-1300s, the average human life expectancy was around 24 years. Even wealthy landholding males had an average life expectancy of about 31 years, rising to 48 years for those who made it to their twenties. However, the Knights Templar seemed to defy these odds. Many members of this Catholic military order lived long past 60, and even then, they often died at the hands of their enemies rather than from illness.
Jacques de Molay, the order’s final Grand Master, was burned alive at the age of 70 in 1314. Geoffrei de Charney, executed in the same year, was around 63. Fellow Grand Masters Thibaud Gaudin, Hugues de Payens, and Armand de Périgord all lived into their sixties.
Francesco Franceschi, a Catholic scholar, notes that "The exceptional longevity of Templar Knights was generally attributed to a special divine gift." However, modern research suggests that the order’s compulsory dietary rules may have contributed to their long lives and good health.
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According to a research conducted by four doctors on ancient documents, the extraordinary longevity of the monk-soldiers was due to the hygiene and food rules codified by Bernardo di Chiaravalle: little meat and many legumes and then fish, cheese, olive oil and fresh fruit. A modern regime, unusual for the time and forerunner of the Mediterranean Diet. They lived 40 years longer than their average peers.
Francesco Franceschi, director of emergency medicine at the Gemelli polyclinic in Rome and author, with colleagues Roberto Bernabei, Giovanni Gasbarrini and Peter Malfertheiner, of the research “The diet of Knights Templar: their longevity secret? “ explained to the Adnkronos health agency that the study, published in ‘Digestive and Liver Disease’, was conducted through an investigation of the documents of the time and process and highlighted how precisely the diet may have helped these monks-soldiers to live much longer than the average, at a time when life expectancy is between 25 and 40 years old.
Franceschi further elaborated that the diet of the Templars, very modern and a forerunner of the Mediterranean diet, fights diseases. They ate little meat (2 times a week), many legumes (three dishes a week), which are powerful probiotics. Fish was very frequent, and they added orange juice to the drinking water to enrich the antibacterial charge and Aloe pulp to the wine (very rationed), a plant with antiseptic and fungicide actions very useful in countries with hot desert climates.
Franceschi underlined that longevity was a peculiar characteristic of the Templars, according to the historical documents analyzed: Hugues de Payens died at 66; the last Grand Master Jacques de Molay when he was killed, after 7 years in prison, was 67 years old. At the time, this exceptional dowry was attributed to a special divine ‘gift,’ but in reality behind it there were food and hygiene habits codified in rules by Bernard of Clairvaux.
Physical Fitness: Complementing the Diet
To go along with the dietary practices of the Templar Knights as laid out by the Church, there were also a suitable level of physical activities or exercises to accompany this diet just as one maintaining physical fitness today would balance diet with exercise. The knights engaged in various activities that assisted them in their fitness level. Some of these activities of course were martial in nature, such as training and drilling, not to mention combat actions themselves and the physical nature of such activities.