Baldwin II of Jerusalem

Baldwin II ceding Al-Aqsa Mosque to Hugues de Payens

Baldwin II of Jerusalem (c. 1060 – 21 August 1131), formerly Baldwin II of Edessa, born Baldwin of Rethel, was the Count of Edessa from 1100 to 1118 and King of Jerusalem from 1118 to his death.

By 1119, Hugues de Payens, the leader of the secret Order of the Ancients, decided to make the organization public and rebrand it as a Holy Knightly Order called the Templar Order. He proposed to Baldwin that the Order be founded to protect pilgrims traveling to the Holy Land. Approving this, Baldwin gave Al-Aqsa Mosque to the Templars as a headquarters.

Reference

• Assassin's Creed: Revelations – Abstergo Files