149 TBH KKIOBTS TEMPLARS. of the ports of the Adriatic. The plan was carried into effect on EODKRT OK the night ' of fhe 26th of October, and King Richard set sail, ^"1192. accompanied by some attendants, and four trusty Templars,* The habit he had assumed, however, protected him not, as is well known, from the cowardly vengeance of the base duke of- Austria. The lion-hearted monarch was one of the many benefactors to the order of the Temple. He granted to the fraternity his manor of Calow, with various powers and privileges, f Shortly after his departure from Palestine, the Grand Master, GU.B«RT Hohert de Sablé, was succeeded by Brother Gilbert Horal or A. D . USS. Erail, who had previously filled the high office of Grand Preceptor of France.^ The Templars, to retain and strengthen their dominion in Palestine, commenced the erection of various strong fortresses, the stupendous ruins of many of which remain to this day. The most famous of these was the Pilgrim's Castle,§ which commanded the coast-road from Acre to Jerusalem. It derived its name from a solitary tower erected by the early Templars to protect the passage of the pilgrims through a dangerous pass in the mountains bordering the sea-coast, and was commenced shortly after the removal of the chief house of the order from Jerusalem to Acre. A small promontory which juts out into the sea a few miles below Mount Carmel, was converted into a fortified camp. Two gigantic towers, a hundred feet in height and seventy-four feet in width, were erected, together with enormous * Contin. Hist. Bell. Saor. apud Alartene, tata. v. eoi. 641. + Conceaûmua orane jus, omne dominium quad ad nos pertmet et pertineat, omnem poteatatera, omnes libcrtates et libéras consuetudine* quas régla potcetas conferre potest. Cart. Rie. 1. ann. 5, regni sui. î Hispania Illustrata, torn, iîî, p. 59. Hist. pen. de Languedoc, torn. u'i. p. 409. Cotton, MS. Nero E. VI. 23. i. § Castnun nostrum quod Peregrinormn dicitur, ice the letter of the Grand Maetex Mali. Par. p. 312, and Jac. de Vitr. lib. ili. apad Gcst. Dei, p. 1131,