A convincing Knights Templar costume comes down to five pieces: a long white mantle with a red cross at the left shoulder, a plain white tunic, something that reads as chainmail underneath, a simple sword belt — and, the detail almost everyone misses, no decoration at all. The Templars were warrior-monks sworn to poverty. Their own Rule banned gold trim, fur, and even pointed shoes. Nail those five things and your costume will beat 90% of what shows up on Halloween night — whether you build it from a bedsheet or from riveted mail. Here is every piece, the history behind it, and the budget substitute that still looks right.
Templar Costume at a Glance
| Piece | The historical original | Easy substitute |
|---|---|---|
| White mantle | Undyed wool cloak; red cross added in 1147 | White flat sheet + red felt cross, pinned at the shoulder |
| Tunic & surcoat | Plain white linen or wool, worn over mail | Long white T-shirt or plain robe, belted |
| Mail hauberk & coif | Riveted steel rings, head to knee | Gray knit hood + gray long-sleeve top |
| Sword belt | Plain leather, no gilded buckle | Brown belt + simple toy arming sword |
| Grooming | Full beard, short hair — required by the Rule | Grow it, fake it, or skip it — but never add a plume |
The Five Pieces of a Real Templar Costume
1. The white mantle. This is the piece that says “Templar” before anything else. The order received the white habit at the Council of Troyes in 1129 as a symbol of purity; Pope Eugenius III added the red cross in 1147, on the eve of the Second Crusade. It sat at the left breast — over the heart — not in the middle of the chest like a superhero logo. Only full knights wore white.
2. The tunic and surcoat. Under the mantle went a plain white tunic, and in the field a sleeveless surcoat over the armor, usually carrying the same red cross. Plain is the keyword: no borders, no embroidery.
3. Mail, or something that reads as mail. A knight’s hauberk covered him from head to knee, with a coif over the head. Real riveted mail weighs 10–15 kg; a gray knitted hood and a gray long-sleeve shirt photograph almost the same at a party.
4. The sword belt. A plain leather belt, worn snug, with an arming sword. The Rule forbade any gold or silver on belts, bridles, and spurs — Templar kit was deliberately austere.
A note on helmets: early Templars wore a conical helmet with a nasal bar over the mail coif; by the 13th century, the flat-topped great helm. Both were bare steel. If your costume budget only stretches to one headpiece, the knitted coif alone looks better than a cheap plastic helm — and a plumed or horned helmet is an instant giveaway that you got dressed in the fantasy aisle.
5. The beard. Templar brothers wore full beards with short-cropped hair at a time when fashionable laymen shaved. It is the cheapest authenticity upgrade there is.
Templar Shield — Knights Templar Shirt
Want the Templar look without the chainmail? The Templar Shield shirt puts the red cross on modern streetwear — costume-night approved, wearable all year.
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Get the Cross Right — or It Reads as the Wrong Order
The single fastest way to spot a lazy costume is the cross. The Templar cross is red on white, most often shown as the cross pattée — arms narrow at the center, flaring wide at the ends. What the red cross stood for, and how its form varied across the order’s two centuries, is a story of its own: see our guide to the Templar cross meaning.
What it is not:
- The eight-pointed Maltese cross — that belongs to the Knights Hospitaller, who wore a white cross on black.
- A black cross on white — that is the Teutonic Order.
- A straight red cross edge-to-edge — that reads as St George / a generic English crusader, not a Templar monk’s habit.
Knight or Sergeant: The Cheaper Costume Hiding in Plain Sight
Here is a trick reenactors know: not every Templar wore white. Sergeants — the order’s non-noble fighting men, who outnumbered the knights — wore black or dark brown mantles with the same red cross. That makes a “Templar sergeant” the easiest budget costume of all: dark robe or long dark coat, red felt cross, done — and it is more historically defensible, not less. The full breakdown of who wore what is in our knight vs. sergeant uniform guide.
Three Builds, Three Budgets
The bedsheet build (Halloween, under $30). White flat sheet folded into a mantle and pinned at the right shoulder so it drapes open on the left, red felt cross at the left breast, white tee, gray knit “mail,” brown belt, toy sword. For a clean pattée shape, fold a felt square into quarters, cut one flared arm through all four layers, and unfold — a perfectly symmetrical cross in one cut. One evening of work, total.
The cosplay build ($80–150). A bought white tunic and cloak, a knitted mail coif, faux-leather belt and scabbard. Check seams and fabric weight — thin polyester kills the silhouette. Our guide to recreating historically accurate Templar attire covers fabrics and cuts.
The reenactor build ($400+). Linen tunic, wool mantle, riveted mail, arming sword with period scabbard. If you are going this far, start with what knights actually wore into battle in our historically accurate Templar armor guide.
Five Mistakes That Ruin a Templar Costume
- The Maltese cross. Wrong order, wrong century. Red cross pattée on white — nothing else.
- Gold trim, jewels, or a plumed helmet. The Rule of the Temple explicitly banned ornament. A Templar in gold is a contradiction in terms.
- A white mantle with long hair and no beard. Backwards on both counts: short hair, full beard.
- Black “evil knight” armor with a red cross. If the whole kit is black armor, you have wandered into fantasy — or into Hospitaller territory.
- A center-chest cross. Move it to the left breast or shoulder. Small correction, huge gain in authenticity.
Knights Templar Costume FAQ
Is it OK to wear a Knights Templar costume? Yes. The historical order was dissolved in 1312; Templar dress appears constantly in reenactment, film, and Halloween wear. Just treat it as history, not as a statement — and note that the modern Masonic Knights Templar have their own distinct regalia, which is a different thing entirely.
What is the difference between a Templar and a crusader costume? Every Templar was a crusader, but not every crusader was a Templar. A generic crusader can wear any cross and colors; a Templar costume is specifically a white (or sergeant’s black) monastic mantle with a red cross.
What goes under the mantle? Historically: padded gambeson, mail, then the surcoat. For a costume: gray knitwear under a white tunic sells the layered look.
Did the Templars really wear beards? Yes — the beard was effectively part of the uniform, kept with deliberately short hair as a mark of humility.
Can women wear a Knights Templar costume? Of course. The medieval order admitted no female knights, but a costume is not a membership card — the white-mantle-and-red-cross look works exactly the same, and a sergeant’s black version makes a striking alternative. History sets the palette; who wears it is up to you.
Wear the Cross Beyond Costume Night
Get the five pieces right — white mantle, plain tunic, mail, belt, beard — and skip the ornament, and you will have the most accurate Templar in the room. If the look stays with you after the party, that is no accident: the order’s visual code has survived 900 years, and our modern Knights Templar uniform guide traces how it translates into what you can wear today.
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