[2] Multiple authors have stated that this claim is also supported by a letter Hugo supposedly wrote from Palestine in 1103, in which he talked of writing to "my father in Nocera" to tell him of the death of his cousin Alessandro.

[20][21][3][4][22] The earliest source that details a geographical origin for the later Grand Master is the Old French translation of William of Tyre's History of Events Beyond the Sea, dated to c. 1200.

The Latin text actually calls him simply Hugo de Paganis,[6] but the French translation by Paulin Paris, dated to 1879, describes him as Hues de Paiens delez Troies ("Hugh of Payens near Troyes"),[23] a reference to the village of Payns, about 10 km from Troyes, in Champagne (eastern France).

It is probable that he was accompanied by Hugh of Payens, who remained there after the Count returned to France as there is a charter with "Hugonis de Peans" in the witness list from Jerusalem in 1120 and again in 1123.

In 1125 his name appears again as a witness to a donation, this time accompanied by the title "magister militum Templi" ("Master of the Knights of the Temple").

On the advice of the princes of God's army, they vowed themselves to God's Temple under this rule: they would renounce the world, give up personal goods, free themselves to pursue purity, and lead a communal life wearing a poor habit, only using arms to defend the land against the attacks of the insurgent pagans when necessity demanded.

In the late 1120s, Hugh of Payens, along with several other Templars, went on a diplomatic mission to western Europe on behalf of Baldwin II.

They met with nobles and kings in an attempt to encourage warriors to come to the Kingdom of Jerusalem and join an attack on Damascus Baldwin was planning.

On his visit to England and Scotland in 1128, he raised men and money for the Order, and also founded their first House in London and another near Edinburgh at Balantrodoch, now known as Temple, Midlothian.

The Latin Rule laying down the way of life of the Order, attributed to Hugh of Payens and Bernard of Clairvaux, was confirmed in 1129 at the Council of Troyes[30][31] over which a papal legate, sent by Pope Honorius II, presided.