The Templars’ primary function was to protect Christians: either Christian pilgrims, as stated by Archbishop William of Tyre, or Christian territory, as recorded by Ernoul–Bernard. Writers of epic, romance, and satire referred to the Templars’ military deeds as famous across Christendom. The author of the so-called Itinerarium peregrinorum 1, w ritten by an English crusader or crusaders early in the third crusade (1189–92), declared of the Templars that none were more illustrious than they. Yet contemporary commentators recorded remarkably little detail of the Templars’ military engagements with the non-Christian enemy, either in the Latin East or in the Iberian Peninsula.

This was partly due to the nature of conflict in these regions. Rather than constant battle, the Franks of Outremer and the neighbouring Muslims kept up raids against each other, plundering each other's territory and carrying off goods and slaves, but seldom engaging in major battles. Likewise, in the Iberian Peninsula the Templars were generally involved in raids on Muslim territory rather than full-scale battle, which occurred only rarely. In major conflicts, as they provided only a small part of the royal army their deeds could pass unnoticed. That said, because they depicted themselves as defenders of Christendom in their alms-collecting campaigns and newsletters to their supporters in Europe, when defeat came they were most likely to be blamed.

Warfare in the Middle East

In the late eleventh century, when the first crusade arrived in the Middle East, the region was not predominantly Muslim. The population was divided between Greek and other eastern Christians, Jews, Muslims, and minority religious groups which did not fit precisely into any of the three great religions. The Muslims were not united against other religions and were not necessarily anti-Frankish. The conflicts in this region were not fundamentally over religion; the key factor at stake was the need for land. What those who farmed this land and traded across it wanted from government were not so much rulers who followed their own religion as rulers who would keep the peace, so that they could carry on their agriculture and trade.