The Bell and the Silence

Seventy-six clauses of the Latin Rule of 1129 governed every rhythm of a Templar’s life. These orders turned a random collection of knights into a regulated group of religious professionals. The document was largely written by Bernard of Clairvaux. It commanded bravery against the Saracen and dictated how often a brother bathed, how much meat he ate, and how long he wore his hair. At the small rural preceptory of Slebech, these rules created a hybrid world. The agricultural needs of a Pembrokeshire estate had to fit inside the rigid liturgical requirements of the chapel choir every single day.

The main mechanism of the day was the cycle of eight canonical hours, starting well before the sun rose. When the bell rang for Matins, the brothers climbed out of their communal beds. The Rule forced them to sleep in their shirts and breeches to ensure they were always ready for action, whether that meant prayer or a fight. In the damp cold of the chapel by the Cleddau, they recited the offices. This repetitive process of prayer and psalmody linked the Welsh brothers to men in London, Paris, and Jerusalem. Many knight-brothers and sergeants could not read. They marked these hours by saying the Paternoster dozens of times. This replaced the monastic psalms that they were unable to decipher for themselves.

Silence was the main atmosphere of the house, especially when moving between the chapel and the refectory. The Retrais were later French statutes that added detail to the original Rule and were very clear on this point. Once the brothers left the chapel, they had to walk to their meals without any idle chatter. At Slebech, the midday and evening meals followed the customs of Cistercian or Benedictine houses. A clerk or a brother read holy texts aloud while the others ate. This reading was the only voice that rang through the hall. It ensured that while the brothers ate food from the local granges, their minds stayed on the religious purpose of the Order.

The diet followed a path of disciplined moderation. The Rule allowed the brothers to eat meat three times a week, on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays. The writers knew a warrior needed more protein than a common monk, but they warned that too much meat would corrupt the body. On all other days, the brothers ate pottage or pulses grown on their Pembrokeshire acres. They added fish caught in the Cleddau or from tidal traps. If a brother stayed hungry or found the silence difficult, he could not complain. The Rule banned him from asking for food out loud. He had to signal the server and ask for what he needed with humility and submissive reverence.

A brother owed his preceptor absolute and immediate obedience. The Rule called this the highest virtue. It was a military requirement for the field and a spiritual tool to break the individual will. At Slebech, the preceptor was the commander of the garrison and the abbot of the house. Every task required his specific permission or the approval of another officer. A brother needed permission even to sharpen a sword or shoe a horse. The price of joining the Order was the total surrender of his own choices. This discipline turned the work of a Welsh sheep farm into a form of religious service for the brothers living there.

The appearance of the brothers showed their internal discipline to the world. They could not wear pointed shoes or laces. The Rule regulated all clothing to prevent the sin of pride. The famous white mantle belonged only to the knights. The sergeants and servants at Slebech wore tunics of black or brown cloth. The Rule even dictated how they groomed their faces. Hair had to be short and neat so a brother could see clearly in front and behind. Beards were mandatory for everyone. This was a visual sign that they were monk-knights. It distinguished them from the clean-shaven secular priests and the tonsured monks living in Cistercian houses.

The Retrais show a compassionate side regarding the stresses of this life despite the usual rigour. There were specific provisions for the weak and the elderly. The preceptor had the power to relax the rules for any brother who was ill. Slebech was a small community with only a few full brothers living alongside many secular tenants and servants. In such a place, the intensity of communal life was very heavy. The boundaries of their existence were narrow. The vast political goals of the Crusades were squeezed into a few hundred yards of stone and timber where quiet discipline was the only way of life.

It is impossible to know if the brothers at Slebech hated the weight of the bell or if the daily rhythm gave them comfort in a frontier land. The success of the Order relied on this monastic foundation. It took the raw personality of a Marcher knight and made him a tool for the Church. This internal life was the motor for the external estate. It was a machine of prayer and farming that worked the same way across the whole Latin world. The brothers lived by the clock and the command until the end.

The strictures of the Rule did more than govern the brothers’ conduct; they defined the very spaces in which they lived and worked.