The Templars and the Parisian Builders 107of donations or purchases. On the left bank this would have included
the area of Garlande, donated to the Templars by Monsignor
Guillaume de Garlande in 1216 and 1224, and the fief of the "Franc
Rosier," consisting mainly of the rue Parcheminerie.^4 On Ile de la Cite
the Templars owned the lands of Saint Eloi,* which they had acquired
in 1175 as the result of an accord they concluded with the prior of the
Benedictines of Saint Eloi. On the right bank they had properties in the
Saint Merri, Saint Opportune, and Saint Honore encloisteres.
The Temple was not the sole sovereign jurisdiction in Paris to exist
before the fall of the Ancien Regime; other abbeys and religious orders
in the city enjoyed the same prerogatives,+ but the Templars' jurisdiction
was by far the largest. Because of this sovereignty, the Temple was inde-
pendent of the king and he had no power over the inhabitants in this
high justice area—which we could easily call a state. There the laws of
the police were enforced and justice was exercised by a civil officer
named by the Templar commander. This officer originally held the title
of procurator, then mayor, then later, at the time of the Hospitallers, the
title of bailiff.++ His powers corresponded to those held by the king's
provost in the rest of the city. For a long time this mayor or bailiff would
pronounce his verdicts at the foot of the famous elm of Saint Gervais.
This tree, located in front of the church, is known to have been there
since the thirteenth century. It had long been the site of the rendering of
justice as well as the fulfillment of certain civic duties, such as the pay-
ment of rents or tenant farm dues. The tree was cut down in 1811. The
Paris municipality was well inspired when it elected to plant a new elm
on the Place Saint Gervais to recall the tradition of this historic site.^5
* It should be noted that the Saint Eloi Monastery first followed the rule of Saint
Columban, then later that of the Benedictines of Saint Maur (cf. Abbe Lebeuf, Histoire
de la Ville et de tout le Diocese de Paris, vol. 3 + (Paris: Editions Cocheries, 1887), 376.
In 1674, when, in an effort to suppress them, Louis XIV gathered together at Chatelet
the city's different legal authorities that were allowed to administer justice, Paris still
counted sixteen feudal ecclesiastical justices: the archbishop of Paris in Fort l'Eveque; the
officiality at the archbishopric; the chapter of Notre Dame, the chapter of the Temple;
the abbeys of Sainte Genevieve, Saint Germain des Presm, Saint Victor, Saint Magloire,
and Saint Antoine des Champs; the priories of Saint-Martin des Champs, Saint Denis de
la Charte, Saint Eloi, and Saint Lazare; and the chapters of Saint Marcel, Saint Benoit,
++and Saint Merri.^
H. de Curzon, Lemaison du Temple de Paris (Paris: Editions Renouard, 1886), 51-52.
In 1595 the famous jurisconsult Antoine Loysel was given this office as Temple bailiff.