Hugo de Payns o Payens (castillo de Payns, cerca de Troyes, Francia 9 de febrero de 1070-Reino de Jerusalén, 24 de mayo de 1136) fue el fundador y primer maestro de los Caballeros templarios y uno de los primeros nueve caballeros. En asociación con Bernardo de Claraval, creó la Regla latina, el código de conducta de la Orden.

Hijo de Gautier de Montigny y nieto de Hugo I, Señor de Payns, su infancia y su juventud se ven influidas por el ambiente de reforma religiosa que se desarrolla en la Champaña y que dará figuras de la talla de san Roberto de Molesmes, fundador de las abadías de Molesmes y Cîteaux, o la de san Bernardo de Claraval, impulsor de la reforma del cister y mentor eclesiástico de la misma Orden del Temple.

De la ferviente pasión religiosa de Hugo II de Payns es muestra su breve paso como monje por la abadía de Molesmes, tras la muerte de su primera esposa Emelina de Touillon, con la que se había desposado hacia el 1090. Fruto de este matrimonio nació su hija Odelina, futura señora de Ervy.

Vasallo fiel del conde Hugo I de Champaña,¹​ Hugo II de Payns abandona los hábitos y a partir del año 1100 se integra plenamente como uno de los principales miembros de la Corte champañesa, uniendo en su persona el señorío de Montigny y el de Payns.

Es muy probable que Hugo II de Payns realizara su primer viaje a Tierra Santa junto al conde de Champaña en 1104-1107. Tras regresar de este, y para ayudar a consolidar las pretensiones políticas de su señor, casó en segundas nupcias con Isabel de Chappes (entre 1107 y 1111), perteneciente a una de las familias más importantes del sur de la Champaña. Del matrimonio nacieron cuatro hijos: Teobaldo, futuro Abad de Santa Colombe de Sens; Guido Bordel de Payns, heredero del señorío; Guibuin, vizconde de Payns, y Herberto, llamado el ermitaño. Sin embargo, la pasión religiosa que sentía le llevó a tomar votos de castidad en 1119 y a partir nuevamente a Tierra Santa, donde creó, un año más tarde, la que llegaría a ser la Orden Militar más importante de la Cristiandad: La Orden del Temple.

Se afirma^{[cita requerida]} que los otros caballeros eran Godofredo de Saint-Omer, Payen de Montdidier, Archambaudo de Saint Agnan, Andrés de Montbard (tío materno de San Bernardo de Claraval), Godofredo Bison, y otros dos de los que solo se conoce su nombre, Rolando y Gondamero. Se desconoce el nombre del noveno caballero, aunque hay quien piensa que pudo ser Hugo, conde de Champaña.

En 1127 Hugo II de Payns regresa a Europa acompañado por Godofredo de Saint-Omer, Payen de Montdidier, y dos hermanos más, de nombre Raúl y Juan, con el fin de reclutar nuevos miembros para la Orden, tomar posesión de las numerosas donaciones que habían sido otorgadas a esta y para organizar las primeras encomiendas de la Orden en Occidente (casi todas ellas en la región de la Champaña). Así pues, Hugo inicia un periplo que le lleva por Roma - a fin de solicitar del papa Honorio II un reconocimiento oficial de la Orden y la convocatoria de un concilio que debatiera el asunto - la Champaña (otoño de 1127); Anjou y Poitou (abril y mayo de 1128), Normandia, Inglaterra y Escocia (verano de 1128) y Flandes (otoño de 1128).

Hugo y sus compañeros regresan en enero de 1129 a la Champaña para tomar parte en el Concilio de Troyes, un concilio de la Iglesia católica, que se convocó en la ciudad francesa el 13 de enero de 1129, con el principal objeto de reconocer oficialmente a la Orden del Temple. En dicho concilio estuvieron presentes: el cardenal Mateo de Albano (representante del Papa); el arzobispo de Reims y el de Sens; diez obispos; ocho abades cistercienses de las abadías de Vézelay, Cîteaux, Clairvaux (que en este caso no era otro sino San Bernardo), Pontigny, Troisfontaines y Molesmes; y algunos laicos entre los que destacan Teobaldo II de Champaña, el conde de Campaña, André de Baudemont, el senescal de Champaña, el conde de Nevers y un cruzado de la campaña de 1095.

Hugo de Payns relató en este concilio los humildes comienzos de su obra, que en ese momento solo contaba con nueve caballeros, y puso de manifiesto la urgente necesidad de crear una milicia capaz de proteger a los cruzados y, sobre todo, a los peregrinos a Tierra Santa, y solicitó que el concilio deliberara sobre la constitución que habría que dar a dicha Orden.

Se encargó a San Bernardo, abad de Claraval, y a un clérigo llamado Jean Michel la redacción de una regla durante la sesión, que fue leída y aprobada por los miembros del concilio.

Tras el concilio de Troyes, Hugo II de Payns nombró a Payen de Montdidier Maestre Provincial de las encomiendas sitas en territorio francés y en flandes, y a Hugo de Rigaud Maestre Provincial para los territorios del Languedoc, la Provenza y los reinos cristianos hispánicos y tras ello, regresó a Jerusalén dirigiendo la Orden que el mismo había creado durante casi veinte años hasta su muerte en el año 1136 (el 24 de mayo según el obituario del templo de Reims), haciendo de ella una influyente institución militar y financiera internacional.

Un cronista del siglo XVI escribió que fue enterrado en la Iglesia de San Jaime de Ferrara.²​

No hay un retrato contemporáneo de él.

Troyes (French pronunciation: [tʁwa] ^ⓘ) is a commune and the capital of the department of Aube in the Grand Est region of north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about 140 km (87 mi) south-east of Paris. Troyes is situated within the Champagne wine region and is near the Orient Forest Regional Natural Park.

Troyes had a population of 61,996 inhabitants in 2018. It is the center of the Communauté d'agglomération Troyes Champagne Métropole, which was home to 170,145 inhabitants.

Troyes developed as early as the Roman era, when it was known as Augustobona Tricassium. It stood at the hub of numerous highways, primarily the Via Agrippa. The city has a rich historical past, from the Tricasses tribe to the liberation of the city on 25 August 1944 during the Second World War, including the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains, the Council of Troyes, the marriage of Henry V and Catherine of France, and the Champagne fairs to which merchants came from all over Christendom. The city has a rich architectural and urban heritage: many buildings are protected as historical monuments, including the half-timbered houses (mainly of the 16th century) that survived in the old town. They have contributed to Troyes being designated as a City of Art and History.

Manufacturing of textiles, developed from the 18th century onwards, was a chief part of Troyes' economy until the 1960s. Today, Troyes is the European capital of factory outlets and trading, and has three brand centers.

Prehistoric evidence found in the Troyes area suggests that the settlement may have developed as early as 600 BC. Celtic grave-mounds have been found near the city, and Celtic artifacts have been excavated within the city grounds.^[3]

In the Roman era, Troyes was known as Augustobona Tricassium. Numerous highways intersected here, primarily the Via Agrippa, which led north to Reims and south to Langres, and eventually to Milan.^[4] Other Roman routes from Troyes led to Poitiers, Autun and Orléans.^[5]

It was the civitas of the Tricasses people,^[6] whom Augustus separated from the Senones. Of the Gallo-Roman city of the early Roman Empire, some scattered remains have been found, but no public monuments, other than traces of an aqueduct. By the late Empire the settlement had reduced in extent. It was referred to as Tricassium or Tricassae, the origin of French Troyes.

From the fourth century AD, the people had become Christian and the Church made the city the seat of a bishop. The legend of its bishop Lupus (Loup), who allegedly saved the city from Attila in 451 by offering himself as hostage, is hagiographic rather than historical.^[7] A disciple of Saint Lupus, Aventinus (Saint Aventin of Troyes, died 537) founded a monastery at Troyes.^[8] It was several centuries before Troyes gained importance as a medieval centre of commerce.

The Battle of the Catalaunian Plains, also called the Battle of Troyes, took place nearby in 451 AD: the Roman general Flavius Aetius and the Visigothic king Theodoric I fought against Attila.

The early cathedral occupied the site of the current one. Here Louis the Stammerer in 878 received the crown of West Francia from Pope John VIII. At the end of the ninth century, following depredations of the city by Normans, the counts of Champagne chose Troyes as their capital. It remained the capital of the Province of Champagne until the Revolution of the late eighteenth century. The Abbey of Saint-Loup developed a renowned library and scriptorium.

During the Middle Ages, Troyes functioned as an important international trading town. It was the namesake of troy weight for gold - a standard of measurement developed here.^[9] The Champagne cloth fairs and the revival of long-distance trade, together with new extension of coinage and credit, were the drivers of the medieval economy of Troyes.

In 1040, Shlomo Yitzchaki, better known as Rashi, was born in Troyes. The rabbi and philosopher, a prominent commentator on the Bible and the Talmud, established an influential school of Jewish thought in the city.

In 1285, when King Philip the Fair united Champagne to the French royal domain, the town kept a number of its traditional privileges. John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy and ally of the English during the Hundred Years War, in 1417 worked to have Troyes designated as the capital of France. He came to an understanding with Isabeau of Bavaria, wife of King Charles VI of France, for the establishment at Troyes of a court, council, and parlement with comptroller's offices.

On 21 May 1420, the Treaty of Troyes was signed in this city, still under control of the Burgundians, by which King Henry V of England was betrothed to Catherine, daughter of Charles VI. Under the terms of the treaty, Henry V, rather than the Dauphin, was to succeed Charles as King of France. The high-water mark of Plantagenet hegemony in France was reversed in 1429 when the Dauphin (afterwards King Charles VII) and Joan of Arc re-established French control of the town of Troyes by armed conflict (Siege of Troyes).

The great fire of 1524 destroyed much of the medieval city, although the city had numerous canals separating sections.

During the repression of January and February 1894, the police conducted raids targeting the anarchists living there, without much success.^[10][11][12]

• Many half-timbered houses (mainly of the 16th century) survive in the old town.
• Hôtels particuliers (mansions) of the old town
• The Hôtel de Ville on Place Alexandre Israël, is an urbane example of the style Louis XIII. On the central corps de logis, which contains the main reception rooms, its cornice is rhythmically broken forward over paired Corinthian columns; these are supported below by strong clustered pilasters. Above the entrance door the statue of Louis XIV was pulled out of its niche and smashed in 1793, during the Reign of Terror at the height of the French Revolution; it was replaced in the nineteenth century with the present Helmeted Minerva and the device in its original form. It is now rare to see "Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité, ou la Mort". In the Salle du Conseil (Council Chamber) a marble medallion of Louis XIV (1690) by François Girardon, born at Troyes, survived the destruction unscathed.^[13]

• Museum of Modern Art (Musée d'Art Moderne)
• Maison de l'outil et de la pensée ouvrière
• Vauluisant Museum :
  • Historical museum of Troyes and Champagne-Ardenne
  • Museum of hosiery
• Hôtel-Dieu-Lecomte apothecary
• Saint-Loup Museum (museum of fine arts)
• Di Marco Museum (Open from 1 April to 1 October, each year)

Not having suffered from the last wars, Troyes has a high density of old religious buildings grouped close to the city centre. They include:

• Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul Cathedral
• Saint-Nizier Church, in Gothic and Renaissance style, with remarkable sculptures. Classified as a Monument Historique (French equivalence) in 1840.
• The Gothic Saint-Urbain Basilica (thirteenth century), with a roofing covered by polished tiles. It was built by Jacques Pantaléon, who was elected pope in 1261, under the name of Urbain IV, on grounds where his father had a workshop. Classified Monument Historique in 1840. It was proclaimed a basilica in 1964.
• Sainte-Madeleine Church. Very early Gothic, with east end rebuilt around 1500. Remarkably elaborate stone rood screen of 1508–17 in Flamboyant Gothic style, sculpted by Jean Gailde, with a statue of Saint Martha. Fine Renaissance stained glass. Saint Jean district. Classified Monument historique in 1840.
• Saint-Jean Church, with a Renaissance chancel, tabernacle of the high altar by Giraudon. On the portal, coat of arms of Charles IX. Classified Monument Historique in 1840.
• Gothic Saint-Nicolas Church, dating to the beginning of the sixteenth century, with a calvary chapel -shaped rostrum reached by a monumental staircase. On the south portal, two sculptures by François Gentil of David and Isaiah.
• Saint-Pantaléon Church, with extensive statuary from the sixteenth century.
• Saint Remy Church, with a 14th-century spire rising to a height of 60 m (196.85 ft). A 17th-century sundial on its south side bears the Latin inscription sicut umbra dies nostri super terram ("our days on earth pass like a shadow").
• Church of Saint-Martin-ès-Vignes. It has stained glass windows of the seventeenth century by the local master verrier Linard Gonthier.

Several Troyes churches have sculpture by The Maître de Chaource.

Jewish worship is conducted in the Rashi Synagogue of Troyes, named in honor of Rabbi Salomon Ben Isaac, known as Rashi, the famous commentator of the Talmud. The current building was constructed on the site of an old abbey from the 16th century and replaced the synagogue destroyed during World War II^[14] · .^[15] The building is in Renaissance style and was restored in the 20th century. It consists of a half-timbered house from the 16th century and another house dating from the 18th century (Louis XV style).^[16] A cultural center has also been established.^[17]

Recent renovations were undertaken to restore the synagogue to reflect the spirit of Rashi of Troyes' time. The inauguration took place on 4 September 2016, in the presence of Haim Korsia, the Chief Rabbi of France.^[18]

While the original sculpture at Troyes has largely disappeared, the cathedral still has a large number of its original stained glass windows, installed from the 13th to 16th century, along with some windows incorporating sections of medieval glass, for a total of 1,600 square meters of stained glass. The windows illustrate vividly the evolution of stained glass in France, from the 13th-century windows, with their deeply-colored, thicker pieces of glass assembled like mosaics, to the 15th- and 16th-century windows, using silver stain and enamel painting to create the effects of shading and perspective similar to those of Renaissance painting.^[22]

• 
  The Apostles - Lower windows of the nave, (south side Bay 51) (14th century)
 
• 
  Saint Peter (south side-Bay 47) (14th century)
 
• 
  The Annunciation (south side Bay 47) (14th century)
 
• 
  Apostles - Upper windows of nave (Bay 51)
 
• 
  Sainte Catherine of Alexandria and Saint Maurice of Agaune (16th c.)
 
• 
  The Mystical Wine Press - Bay 49 (1625)

The nave has glass from a wide variety of periods and styles – sometimes in the same bay. Some of the oldest windows, from the end of the 13th and beginning of the 14th century, are in the lateral chapels. Most of these underwent considerable restoration in the 19th century.

Other bays were given new windows in the 16th and 17th centuries. Of these, some were designed by Linard Gontier, a prominent Troyes artist of the Renaissance. His most famous window in the cathedral is the "Mystical Wine Press", inspired by the prominence of the champagne from the region. It depicts Christ with grapevines sprouting from this chest, and a variety of scenes associating grapes and wine with the apostles.

• 
  Windows of the axis chapel of the apse, dedicated to the Virgin Mary (13th–19th c.)
 
• 
  The Flight to Egypt and Adoration of the Magi (13th century)
 
• 
  Musician in the Tree of Jesse window, 13th c. Chapel of Joan of Arc, (Bay 31)
 
• 
  Detail of 15th-century window (Bay 38)
 
• 
  King Philip II of France (Choir, Bay 52)
 
• 
  Powers of the Ecclesiastical hierarchy (Bishops and Kings) (Bay 52)
 
• 
  Upper windows of the choir (Bay 208); Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins

The choir and the ambulatory, to the east of the cathedral, still have much of their original stained glass. The oldest windows are in the radiating chapels on the east, some dating to 1200–1230. The higher windows and those of the triforium date to about 1235–40. Some of these windows are more recent, but include portions of the older original glass, which had not yet been installed at the time of the hurricane of 1228. While many of the lower windows were considerably modified, the upper windows of the choir are mostly in their original state.^[21]

• 
  Grisaille windows in the transept

The transept windows have a mixture of styles. The windows on the west are from the 14th century, while those on the east were replaced in the 16th century with windows with tracery of the Flamboyant Gothic style. The triforium windows on the west were made in the 19th century, while the triforium windows on the east include vestiges of restored 13th-century glass.^[23]

• 
  The west rose window (partly hidden by organ)
 
• 
  Rose window of the north transept
 
• 
  Detail of the north rose window

The rose window at the west end of the nave, from 1239, was made by the artist Jean Soudain on the theme of the celestial court. The view of this window from the ground floor is largely obscured by the organ.

The rose window in the north transept, ten meters in diameter, was installed in the 15th century to replace the earlier window, which fell in 1340. It is in the Rayonnant Gothic style, with its tracery radiating outward from the center. The rose window on the south transept is a copy of the north window.

• 
  The grand organ, made in 1730 for Clairvaux Abbey
 
• 
  The choir organ

The grand organ is located on a tribune over the portal on the reverse side of the west front. It was originally built in 1730 for Clairvaux Abbey in Burgundy. When the abbey was closed in 1793 during the Revolution, the organ was nationalised and sold at auction. It was purchased by the overseers of Troyes Cathedral, but was not put into place until 1808. It replaced the original Troyes organ, built in the 15th century and placed next to the choir. That organ had been destroyed in 1792. The installation of the new organ was controversial because it largely blocked the view of the west rose window from the nave and choir.^[24]

The organ has fifty-five jeux or sounds, played with four keyboards and a set of pedals. The instrument was classified as an historical monument in 1963, and the case in 1974.^[25] The organ is decorated with statues of angels and atlantes.

The cathedral has a second, smaller organ, which is located in the choir. This instrument was built in 1865 and was restored in 1987. It has thirteen jeux, played with two keyboards and a set of pedals.

Troyes Cathedral has four bourdons, heavy bells which made a deep note, for tolling on solemn occasions. Each has a name, and all were made in the early 19th century, replacing the early bells taken out and melted down during the French Revolution.

• Petrus Carolus - (4500 kilos, made in 1827)
• Paulus Ana - (3,269 kilos, made in 1813)
• Savinianus - (2,437 kilos, made in 1813)
• Marie - (2000 kilos, made in 1827)

• 
  The Coffret of Troyes (Ivory, 11th century)
 
• 
  The Stuart Cross, made of crystal
 
• 
  Reliquary of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, with silver, copper and enamel (12th century)

The treasury of the cathedral was constructed at the beginning of the 13th century within the choir, next to the apse. It was particularly designed to display the collection of sacred relics which the Bishop Garnier de Traînel had brought back to France from the Fourth Crusade. Some of the relics and other valuable objects were used as ransom for the captive King Francois I in 1525, and others were lost during the Revolution, but the collection was gradually rebuilt. It has a particularly large collection of medieval enamel art, made by local craftsmen in the 12th century, as well as vestments, reliquaries and other medieval liturgical objects. Notable objects include the coffret of Troyes, an ivory chest of Byzantine craftsmanship from the 11th century.^[26]

Among the stained-glass windows is one which appears to have a representation of the famous Indo-Parthian king Gondophares who was ruling in ancient Taxila from 20 to 41 CE, in what is now north-western Pakistan.^[27]

According to the legends and traditions contained in the Acts of Thomas, and preserved by the Indian Christians of St. Thomas, the Apostle Thomas fled to the East after the crucifixion. He stayed for some time at Gondophares' court where Thomas is said to have built a palace for him before heading on to southern India where he was, according to the legend, martyred near modern Chennai (Madras) ^[28]