Who was the first recorded Grand Master of the Knights Templar?

Hugues de Payens was the first recorded Grand Master of the Knights Templar.

A knight from Champagne, Hugues helped establish the early Templar community in Jerusalem around 1119 with a small group of companions. The group initially committed itself to protecting pilgrims traveling through the Holy Land. King Baldwin II of Jerusalem granted the knights quarters near the Temple Mount, which helped inspire their name.

Hugues traveled to Europe in the 1120s to seek recognition, recruits, and donations. At the Council of Troyes in 1129, church leaders formally recognized the order and approved its religious rule. The Templars later developed into an exceptionally wealthy international military order. Jacques de Molay, who appears in many popular questions about the order, was its final Grand Master, not its first. Bernard de Tremelay succeeded Hugues after his death in 1136.