ABSTRACT
The institutionalist approach developed for reformist monasticism by G. Schreiber and J.B. Mahn was extended to the military-religious foundations. The basic trait of the military orders was thus a submission to Rome that meant freedom from any other ecclesiastical power and consequently suppression of any secular or diocesan intervention. This maior libertas has traditionally been called 'exemption'. The documentary sources of the Teutonic Order point in the same direction. E. Strehlke's compilation contains a bull of 15 December 1220, traditionally considered as the grant of exemption. Exemption was thus the greatest liberty accorded to the highest connection any human could achieve: papal protection. It could be presented with considerable detail, as in the bull Omne datum optimum, granted by Innocent II to the Templars in 1139. The prolific description of the Order's rights in this bull meant considerable weakening of diocesan jurisdiction over the Temple.
