André de Montbard was the fifth Grand Master of the Knights Templar

Knights Templar

The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...

 and also one of the founders of the Order.

The Montbard family came from Hochadel in Burgundy, and André was an uncle of St. Bernard of Clairvaux

Bernard of Clairvaux

Bernard of Clairvaux, O.Cist was a French abbot and the primary builder of the reforming Cistercian order.After the death of his mother, Bernard sought admission into the Cistercian order. Three years later, he was sent to found a new abbey at an isolated clearing in a glen known as the Val...

, being a half-brother of Bernard's mother Aleth de Montbard. He entered the Order in 1129 and went to Palestine

Palestine

Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....

, where he quickly rose to the rank of seneschal

Seneschal

A seneschal was an officer in the houses of important nobles in the Middle Ages. In the French administrative system of the Middle Ages, the sénéchal was also a royal officer in charge of justice and control of the administration in southern provinces, equivalent to the northern French bailli...

, deputy and second-in-command to the Grand Master. After the Siege of Ascalon on 22 August 1153, André was elected Grand Master to replace Bernard de Tremelay

Bernard de Tremelay

Bernard de Tramelay was the fourth Grand Master of the Knights Templar.He was born in the castle of Tramelay near Saint-Claude in the Jura. According to Du Cange, he succeeded a certain Hugues as Master of the Temple, although this Hugues is otherwise unknown...

, who had been killed during an assault on the city on 16 August.

He died on 17 January 1156, in Jerusalem and was succeeded by Bertrand de Blanchefort

Bertrand de Blanchefort

Bertrand de Blanchefort was the sixth Grand Master of the Knights Templar, from 1156 until his death in 1169. He is known as a great reformer of the order.- Personal life :...

.