Certain noble men of the equestrian order, devoted to God, religious and God-fearing, putting themselves into the hand of the lord patriarch [of Jerusalem] for Christ's service, professed that they wished to live perpetually in chastity and obedience and without their own property, following the custom of regular canons. [That is, they would follow the Rule of St. Augustine, like the canons of the church of the Holy Sepulchre.] The first and foremost among them were the venerable men Hugh de Payns and Geoffrey [or Godfrey] de Saint-Omer. Since they had neither church nor fixed domicile, the king conceded to them for the time being a small habitation in his palace [the Aqsa mosque] that was situated near the Lord's Temple [the Dome of the Rock] to the south, while the canons of the Lord's Temple conceded to them on certain conditions the courtyard that they had around the aforesaid palace, for their divine services. The lord king and his nobles, and also the lord patriarch and the prelates of the churches, conferred on them from their own possessions certain benefices to provide food and clothing, some for a temporary period, some in perpetuity. Their original profession, which was enjoined on them by the lord patriarch and the rest of the bishops for the remission of their sins, was that so far as their forces allowed they should protect the roads and routes, especially for the safety of the pilgrims against the ambushes of brigands and raiders.