View source for Omne datum optimum

{{Short description|Bull issued by Pope Innocent II on 29 March 1139}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2024}}
{{Knights Templar}}
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{{Use shortened footnotes|date=September 2024}}
'''''Omne datum optimum''''' (Latin for "Every perfect gift", a quotation from the [[Epistle of James]] 1:17) was a [[papal bull]] issued by [[Pope Innocent II]] on 29 March 1139 that endorsed the Order of the Poor Knights of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon ([[Knights Templar]]), in which the Templar Rule was officially approved, and [[pope|papal]] protection given.{{sfn|Barber|1978|p=8}}{{sfn|Barber|Bate|2002|p=59}}

==Background==
By the end of the 1130s, the Templars had prospered as a complete military order with a stratified structure, due to the efforts of Grand Master [[Robert de Craon]].{{sfn|Upton-Ward|1997|p=5}} Already facing ecclesiastical criticism for receiving tithes and alms, Robert de Craon reasoned that the Order could only flourish with papal support.{{sfn|Upton-Ward|1997|p=5}} It was during one of Robert's visits to France and Italy that Innocent II issued the bull ''Omne datum optimum'' on 29 March 1139.{{sfn|Jones|2017|p=56}}

==Contents==
The contents of ''Omne datum optimum'':
* promised all spoils from [[Muslim]] conquest to the Order{{sfn|Barber|1994|p=56-57}}
* allowed the Order to build churches, cemeteries, and houses{{efn|Selwood states that clergy, parishes, and monastic houses prevented the Order from building cemeteries, which caused them financial loss.{{sfn|Selwood|2001|p=91}}}}{{sfn|Selwood|2001|p=90}}
* permitted a chaplain in every house{{efn|Templar church and houses were served by the Order's own priests.{{sfn|Barber|1994|p=195, 197}}}}{{sfn|Barber|1978|p=8}}
* leaders of the Order could expel unworthy members{{sfn|Barber|1978|p=8}}
* allowed chapels for members and burials{{sfn|Barber|1978|p=8}}
* forbid the election of an outsider as Master of the Order{{sfn|Barber|1978|p=8}}
* no homage or tithes were to be extracted from the Order{{sfn|Barber|1978|p=8}}

Included in the contents of the bull was the creation of a group of chaplain brothers for the Order.{{sfn|Upton-Ward|1997|p=5}} They were capable of hearing confessions and giving absolution, to all members of the Orders.{{sfn|Upton-Ward|1997|p=5}} The ''Omne datum optimum'' gave the Order the papal sanction it needed to operate independently of ecclesiastical and secular authorities.{{sfn|Upton-Ward|1997|p=5}}

==Aftermath==
''Omne datum optimum'' was followed by [[Pope Celestine II]]'s ''[[Milites Templi]]'' in 1144 and [[Pope Eugene III]]'s ''[[Militia Dei]]'' in 1145, which together gave the Templars an extraordinary range of rights and privileges.{{sfn|Rayborn|2013|p=43}}{{sfn|Barber|Bate|2002|p=8}}  

==See also==
* ''[[Pie postulatio voluntatis]]'', a similar bull that gave papal protection to the [[Knights Hospitaller]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{cite book |title=The Trial of the Templars |first=Malcolm |last=Barber |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1978 }}
* {{cite book |title=The New Knighthood |first=Malcolm |last=Barber |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1994 }}
* {{cite book |first1=Malcolm |last1=Barber|first2=A. K. |last2=Bate|title=The Templars: selected sources|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rhTT3M9uWe4C&pg=PA59|access-date=5 May 2011|year=2002|publisher=Manchester University Press|isbn=978-0-7190-5110-4|pages=59–}}
* {{cite book |title=The Templars: The Rise and Spectacular Fall of God's Holy Warriors |first=Dan |last=Jones |publisher=Penguin Books |year=2017 }}
* {{cite book |title=The Templars, the Hospitallers and the Crusades: Essays in Homage to Alan J Forey |editor-first1=Helen J. |editor-last1=Nicholson |editor-first2=Jochen |editor-last2=Burgtorf  |publisher=Routledge |year=2020 }}
* {{cite book |title=The Violent Pilgrimage: Christians, Muslims and Holy Conflicts, 850-1150 |first=Tim |last=Rayborn |publisher=McFarland, Inc. |year=2013 }}
* {{cite book |title=Knights of the Cloister: Templars and Hospitallers in Central-southern Occitania, C.1100-c.1300 |first=Dominic |last=Selwood |publisher=The Boydell Press |year=2001 }}
* {{cite book |chapter=Introduction |title=The Rule of the Templars: The French Text of the Rule of the Order of the Knights Templar |editor-first=Judith Mary |editor-last1=Upton-Ward |publisher=The Boydell Press |year=1997 }}

[[Category:Knights Templar]]
[[Category:1139 works]]
[[Category:12th-century papal bulls]]
[[Category:Documents of Pope Innocent II]]