and Turcopoles, or light horse of the order, who remained to defend BMTUÌND Ο» the country, and sixty of the knights who commanded them were B^7l""* left dead on the plain.* The zeal and devotion of the Templars in tie service of Christ continued to be the theme of praise and of admiration both in the east and in the west. Pope Alexander III., in his letters, characterizes them as the stout champions of Jesus Christ, who warred a divine warfare, and daily laid down their lives for their brethren, *' We implore and we admonish your fraternity," says he, addressing the archbishops and bishops, " that out of love to God, and of reverence to the blessed Peter and ourselves, and also out of regard for the ealvation of your own souls, ye do favour, and support, and honour them, and preserve all their rights entire and intact, and afford them the benefit of your patronage and ])rotection."t Amalric, king of Jerusalem, the successor of Baldwin the Third, in a letter " to his dear friend and father," Louis the Seventh, king of France, beseeches the good offices of that monarch in behalf of all the devout Christians of the Holy Land ; " but above all," says he, " we earnestly entreat your Majesty constantly to extend to the utmost your favour and regard to the Brothers of the Temple, who continually render np their lives for God and the faith, and through whom we do the little that we are able to effect, for in them indeed, after God, is placed the entire reliance of all those in the eastern regions who tread in the right path." J * De ftatribus uostris ceciderunt LX. milites fortissimi, pister Entres clientes et Torcopulos, nec nisi septem tantum evasero periculum. Epist. Gattf Fuluherii procuratoris Templi Ludovico regi Francorum. Oala Dei, torn. ί. p. 1182, 3, 4. + llegistr. epist. apud Mariette, Tel script, torn. ii. col. 846, 847, 88S. ί **. . . . proaùpue pro fratribug Templi, veatram exorauius Majeetatem ... . qui u.uotidîe moriuatur pro Domiuo et ben-itlo, et per quo» possumua. si quid nossumus. Τη