ABSTRACT
As the Templars acquired property outside the Holy Land, an organisation was needed to manage this, and to make sure that profits and resources from western estates were sent east. Other monastic foundations provided a model for the way in which this could be organised. The Cistercians had outlying granges managed by lay brethren who would send produce to the motherhouse. But the outlying estates of each Cistercian abbey were responsible only to that abbey and so had a limited sphere of action. Each Templar estate was the overall responsibility of the Grand Master and the chapter in Jerusalem, and was held in trust for the support of the knights of the Temple in Jerusalem. 1
