Omne datum optimum grants Templars autonomy

1139

Innocent II issued a bull exempting the Templars from every authority except the pope himself, allowing them to keep spoils of war, build chapels, and bury their own dead. Overnight the order became the most legally privileged institution in Christendom. The exemption infuriated local bishops who lost jurisdiction over Templar properties in their dioceses, and it planted the seeds of the resentment that would eventually help bring the order down.