Seal of the grand master of the Knights Templar

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Part of a series on the
Knights Templar
Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon
Overview
History Latin Rule Seal Grand Masters Members Trials and dissolution
Councils
Council of Troyes (1129) Council of Pisa (1135) Council of Vienne
Papal bulls
Omne datum optimum (1139) Milites Templi (1144) Militia Dei (1145) Pastoralis praeeminentiae (1307) Faciens misericordiam (1308) Vox in excelso (1312) Ad providam (1312)
Locations
Brittany England Portugal Scotland
Successors
Order of Christ Order of Montesa
Cultural references
In the IOGT In self-styled orders In Freemasonry In popular culture
See also
Military order (religious society) Catholic orders of chivalry Militia Templi
Catholic Church portal
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The Grand Masters of the Knights Templar during the later 12th and the 13th century used a double-sided seal which showed a representation of The Dome of the Rock (or a circular dome of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre) on one side, and the Order's symbol of two knights on one horse on the other side. This design is first attested as in use by Bertrand de Blanquefort, the order's sixth Grand Master, in 1158, forty years after its foundation, and it remained in use until the dissolution of the order in 1312.

There was also a smaller, single-sided seal, which showed the Dome of the Rock (or the Holy Sepulchre), only.^{[citation needed]}

Different seals were used by provincial masters of the order. According to a papal bull issued by Innocent IV in 1251, it was customary for successive provincial masters to use the same seal. The master of Provence continued to use an Agnus Dei seal, while the seal of the Aragonese master William of Cardona and his successors depicted a knight on horseback, carrying a lance and shield, on which was a cross bearing the legend: S. MINISTRI TEMPLI 1 ARAGON 7 CATALON ("Seal of the minister of the Temple in Aragon and Catalonia").