Download “Deus le vault!” – “God wills it!” The First Crusade (1096

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE MILITARY MONASTIC
ORDERS IN OUTREMER
Benjamin F. Hill, KTCH/KYCH
Grand Junior Warden, Grand Commandery Knights Templar of Virginia
July 26, 2014
“Deus le vault!” – “God wills it!”
During 400 AD to 800 AD the Roman Empire was in decline, Christianity gained in strength and
numbers, and various European barbarian tribes migrated into the weakened areas of the Roman
Empire. As the barbarians converted to Christianity they insisted on invisible manifestations to
replace their pagan gods. They found them in the Christian Churches and the relics of Christian
martyrs and apostles. Eventually, these new Christians journeyed to the Holy Lands as pilgrims.
Fierce desert raiders began to harass and kill the pilgrims and their sufferings became of
immediate concern of the Church. At the same time the Byzantium Empire had been losing
territories to the invading Seljuk Turks. After years of civil war, General Alexius Comenius
seized the Byzantium throne in 1081 and consolidated control over the empire as Emperor
Alexius I.
In 1095, Emperor Alexius I sent envoys to Pope Urban II requesting military assistance against
the Seljuk Turks so the Pope convoked a Church Council in Clermont, France to discuss the
matter further. The Council lasted 10 days, from November 19 to November 28. On November
27, the Pope spoke for the first time about the problems in the East and made perhaps the most
influential speech of the Middle Ages, giving rise to the Crusades by calling all Christians in
Europe to war against Muslims in order to reclaim the Holy Land, ending his oration with the cry
of "Deus le vault!" or "God wills it!"
The First Crusade (1096-1099)
Pope Urban’s war cry caught fire, mobilizing Christendom throughout Europe for the crusade
against the Muslims to reclaim Jerusalem and the Holy Land. Incited by church clerics,
thousands from Europe’s military elite and from the military responded to the call to arms.
Several months prior to the official launch of the First Crusade, a rag-tag army of peasants, led
by a French monk, Peter the Hermit, set out for the Holy Lands. This “People’s Crusade”
wandered throughout the Byzantine Empire, leaving destruction in their wake. They crossed the
Bosporus in early August and in their first major clash with the Muslims, the Turkish forces
crushed the invading Europeans at Cibotus, Turkey. Most of the crusaders were slaughtered;
only young boys and girls sold into slavery were spared. Old men and women, priests, knights
and infantry were killed by the thousands. Three thousand were lucky enough to hold up in an
old abandoned castle and eventually returned to Constantinople.
In August 1096, the four great armies organized for the First Crusade assembled for the long
march to the Holy Lands and Jerusalem. Each of the armies was led by able leaders who had
proved themselves in past wars in Europe:
Godfrey of Bouillon (Lord of Bouillon, first ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem
Hugh I of Vermandois (younger son of King Henry I of France); Robert II, Duke of
Normandy; Stephen II, Count of Blois; and Robert II , Count of Flanders
Bohemond I of Taranto (eldest son of Robert Guiscard, Duke of Apulia and Calabria)
Raymond of Saint-Gilles (Raymond IV Count of Toulouse and Duke of Narbonne)
The First Crusade did not have an outright military leader, but instead it was ruled by a
committee of nobles while the Pope named Adhemar de Puy apostolic legate in the Holy Lands.
While the military leaders often quarreled over leadership of the Crusade, Adhemar was always
recognized as the Crusade’s spiritual leader.
In 1097, a 43,000-strong Crusader army attacked Nicea (capital of the Seljuk Turk sultan, Arslan
Shah), and it ultimately surrendered to the control of the Byzantine emperor. In July 1099, the
City of Jerusalem fell to the Crusader armies, massacring the city’s Muslin and Jewish
inhabitants and pillaged everything of value in the city. Godfrey of Bouillon was elected ruler of
Jerusalem; he ruled for a year until his death. Pope Urban II died in July 1099; he never heard
about the Crusader victories.
The Military Monastic Orders
With the fall of Jerusalem, the Holy Lands were essentially in Christian hands. The Holy Lands
were organized into the states of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the Counties of Tripoli and Edessa,
and the Principality of Antioch. Having achieved their goal in an unexpectedly short period of
time, many of the Crusaders departed for home leaving formable castles to guard the large
settlements.
But, it soon became clear that the requirements of state were vastly different to any protection of
the holy sites and pilgrims. The Military and Monastic orders were established to feed
manpower into local regional needs, provide better security to the Crusader States and Christian
organizations, enhance the temporal power (Papal) over political, military and financial matters.
All of the Monastic Orders were represented in the Holy Land and each formed a substantial
power block, political and financial, within the regions. Whereas the more militant knights dealt
with the physical aspects of life in the Holy Land, the more traditional Monastic Orders were
more spiritually based.
Each of the Military Monastic Orders in Outremer stood distinct from the others and each
functioned under a separate Papal Order which formerly recognizes the rules of the specific order
in question, which meant they were both entwined with, yet significantly independent of the
Church, they were:
Order of the Hospital of St. John or The Hospitallers
Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon or Knights Templar
Knights of St Lazarus
Order of Montjoie
Teutonic Knights of the Hospital of St Mary of Jerusalem or The Teutonic Knights
Hospitallers of St Thomas of Canterbury at Acre or Knights of St Thomas Acon
Order of the Hospital of St. John or the Hospitallers
The Hospitallers arose as a group of individuals associated with a hospital in the Muristan
district of Jerusalem, which was dedicated to St John the Baptist and was founded around 1023
to provide care for poor, sick or injured pilgrims to the Holy Land. After the Christian conquest
of Jerusalem in 1099 during the First Crusade, the Hospitallers became a Military Monastic
Orders under its own charter, by Papal Order of Pope Paschal II in 1113. Following the conquest
of the Holy Land by Islamic forces, the Order operated from Rhodes and later from Malta where
it administered a vassal state under the Spanish viceroy of Sicily.
The Order was weakened by Napoleon's capture of Malta in 1798 and dispersed throughout
Europe. It refocused itself toward humanitarian and religious causes and began to regain its
strength during the early 19th century. In 1834 the Order, by this time known as the Sovereign
Military Order of Malta (SMOM), acquired new headquarters in Rome where it has remained
since. As of 2013, the Order has about 98,000 members, and operates in approximately 120
countries across the world, including Muslim nations. Until recently the Order has focused
mainly on developing countries, but they have increasingly turned their attention to Europe,
establishing shelters and soup kitchens to help the homeless and those suffering from hunger.
Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon or Knights Templar
The Knights Templar were created in 1118 as a Monastic Order for the protection of pilgrims
alone; but they soon gained favor with the Kings of Jerusalem, who gave the Knights Templar a
headquarters on Temple Mount. What started out being only nine knights, who had to rely on
donations to survive, the Order, was officially endorsed by the Roman Catholic Church at the
Council of Troyes by Papal Order in 1129. That allowed them to become a favored charity
throughout Europe. In 1139 Pope Innocent II issued the Papal Order, Omne Datum Optimum,
which exempted the Order from being subject to local laws and taxes, allowing them free
passage and were only under the authority of the Pope.
Templar knights, in their distinctive white mantles with a red cross, were among the most skilled
fighting units of the Crusades. The Order grew at an astounding pace and became a key part of
the Crusader Kingdoms. Its non-combatant members managed a large economic infrastructure
throughout Christendom; received land, money, and businesses from the noble families across
Europe; developed financial techniques that were an early form of banking; and built
fortifications across Europe and the Holy Land.
In Bernard de Clairvaux’s De Laude Novae Militae—In Praise of the New Knighthood he says
the Knight Templar “is truly a fearless knight, and secure on every side, for his soul is protected
by the armor of faith, just as his body is protected by the armor of steel. He is thus doublyarmed, and need fear neither demons nor men.”
The Order’s existence was tied closely to the Crusades; when the Holy Land was lost, support
for the Order faded. Rumors about secret initiation ceremonies created mistrust and King Philip
IV of France, deeply in debt to the Order, took advantage of the situation. In 1307, many of the
Order's members in France were arrested, tortured into giving false confessions, and then burned
at the stake. Under pressure from King Philip, Pope Clement V disbanded the Order in 1312.
The abrupt disappearance of a major part of the European infrastructure gave rise to speculation
and legends, which have kept the "Templar" name alive into the modern day.
Knights of St Lazarus
The Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem was an Order of Chivalry
originally founded at a leper hospital in 1098 in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. The Knights of
St Lazarus are known to have fought beside the Knights Templar and Hospitallers in a number of
battles across the Holy Land. After the fall of Acre in 1291, the Order abandon its military
activities and focused on its work on behalf of lepers, establishing Lazar Houses across Europe.
Today, the Order of Saint Lazarus is divided into three main bodies in Malta, Orléans and Paris,
each with their own Grand Masters, and participates in worldwide humanitarian efforts. The
Order is to uphold and defend the Christian faith, assist the sick and vulnerable, promote and
uphold the Christian principles of chivalry, and to work for Christian unity.
Order of Montjoie
The Order of Montjoie was founded by Portuguese Count Rodrigo Álvarez in 1180 for the
purpose of protecting Christian pilgrims in the Iberian Peninsula. In 1221, the Order, whose
members were entirely from Spain, was reestablished in the Kingdom of Jerusalem to help in
protecting pilgrims.
A number of knights from the Order fought at the Battle of Hattin in 1187, but none of them
survived. After the suppression of the Knights Templar in 1312, King James II of Aragon
persuaded Pope John XXII to permit him to regroup the Templar properties in Aragon and
Valencia, and to create a new military order, the Order of Montese, charged with the defense of
the frontier against the Moors and pirates. In the 19th century, the Spanish State expropriated the
Order’s possessions, the result of which is that the Order is merely ceremonial today.
Teutonic Knights of the Hospital of St Mary of Jerusalem
or the Teutonic Knights
The Teutonic Order was founded in 1190 during the siege of Acre, when a hospital brotherhood
was established to care for the many sick German Crusaders. In 1198 the Order was turned into
a Military-Monastic Order by Papal Order on the model of the Hospitallers of Saint John and the
Knights Templar. The Order played an important role in controlling the port tolls in Acre.
After the fall of Acre in 1291, the Grand Master focused the Order’s affairs in Prussia and by
1309 its members came exclusively from the nobility. Its fortunes began to fade in 1410; wars
further diminished the Order when Prussia became a vassal of Poland.
In 1530 the Grand Master transferred the seat of Order to Mergenteim, Germany, where the
Order adapted to local politics under the protection of the Habsburg dynasty. In 1809 the Order
was expelled from most German states, and survived only in Austria. Reduced to four knights in
1839, it was reorganized by the Austrian emperor as a Catholic charitable institution. Nuns were
introduced (they had existed in the medieval Teutonic Order). Knights of Honor (1866) and
Knights Cross or the Marianer (1871) were created to attract financial support, while the knights
themselves were essentially noble Austrian officers.
The Order suffered during World War II when it was abolished by the Nazis in Austria and
Czechoslovakia, but survived in Italy and started again after 1945 in Austria and Germany. In its
current form, the Order has 87 brethren, 294 sisters, 12 honorary knights and 613 Marianer or
associates. The Hochmeister (literally "High Master" which refers to the Grand Master of the
Teutonic Knights) resides in Vienna.
Hospitallers of St Thomas of Canterbury at Acre or Knights of St Thomas Acon
The Knights of St Thomas was a Christian Military Order of the Catholic Church founded in
1191, at Acre, after the capture of that city by Richard I (the Lionheart) of England and Philip II
of France. Membership was restricted to Englishmen. The emblem of the Order was a red cross
with a white scallop in the centre and the Knights wore a white habit.
Taking vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, the Order focused on tending to the sick and
wounded, and burying the Christian knights who fell in battle in the Holy Land. The success of
the Order enabled it to establish a church and hospital which was dedicated to St Thomas Becket
of Canterbury, who was martyred in 1170 and canonized in 1173.
The Order became a Military Order during the Fifth Crusade. By Papal Order of Pope Gregory
IX in 1236 the Order became known as the Knights of St Thomas Acon (Acre being Anglicized
to Acon). At the fall of Acre, May 12, 1291, the Grand Master and nine knights of the Order
were killed. Following the battle, the Order, along with the Order of Knights Templar, moved
their Priory to the island of Cyprus where they erected the St. Nicholas Church at Nicosia.
By 1320 the Order had a Grand Master in London and a Deputy Master in Cyprus. The Order’s
financial situation deteriorated until the Order was in ruins by 1330 and it ceased to be a viable
military organization by 1360. The Order was dissolved in 1538, along with other Monastic
Orders in England, by Henry VIII
The Military Monastic Orders and the Crusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars mainly against the Muslims between 1095 and
1291. They were comprised of military units of Roman Catholics from all over Western Europe;
but there was no unified command in any of the Crusades. The traditional numbering scheme
used for the Crusades totaled nine during the 11th to 13th Centuries:
First Crusade (1095-1099)
Children’s Crusade (1212-1213)
Second Crusade (1145-1148)
Fifth Crusade (1217-1221)
Third Crusade (1187–1192)
Sixth Crusade (1228-1229)
Fourth Crusade (1202-1204)
Seventh Crusade (1248-1254)
Albigensian Crusade (1209-1229)
Eighth Crusade (1267-1270)
Ninth Crusade (1271-1272)
This division is arbitrary and excludes many important expeditions, among them those of the
14th, 15th, and 16th Centuries. The Knights Hospitaller continued to Crusade in the
Mediterranean Sea around Malta until their defeat by Napoleon in 1798. There were frequent
"minor" Crusades throughout this period, not only in Outremer but also in the Iberian Peninsula
and Central Europe, against Muslims, Christian heretics, and personal enemies of the Papacy or
other powerful monarchs.
The Knights of the Military Monastic Orders were in most of the battles in Outremer. Their
major engagements were:
The Siege of Ascalon (1153) was fought outside the city in 1099 in the aftermath of the
First Crusade and the fall of Jerusalem to the Crusaders.
In the Battle of Montgisard (1177), the 16-year-old King Baldwin IV, led an outnumbered Christian force defeating the Arab army of Saladin.
In the Battle of Marj Ayyun (1179), Saladin defeated a Crusader army led by King
Baldwin IV of Jerusalem on June 10, 1179.
The Battle of Hattin (1187), also known as "The Horns of Hattin," took place on July 4,
1187, between the Crusader force from the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Muslim forces
of Saladin. The vast majority of the Crusader force was captured or killed, removing
their capability to wage war. As a direct result of the battle, Islamic forces once again
became the eminent military power in the Holy Land, re-conquering Jerusalem and the
Crusader-held cities of Acre, Nablus, Jaffa, Toron, Sidon, Beirut, and Ascalon.
The Siege of Acre (1190–1191) was one of the first confrontations of the Third Crusade,
lasting from August 28, 1189 until July 12, 1191.
In the Battle of Arsuf (1191), a battle of the Third Crusade , Richard I of England
defeated Saladin, and the Sultan of Egypt and Syria, at Arsuf in Palestine.
The Siege of Acre (1291) resulted in the loss of the Crusader-controlled city of Acre to
the Muslims. Although the crusading movement continued for several more centuries,
the capture of the city marked the end of further Crusades to Outremer.
The Knights Templar were occasionally at odds with the two other Christian Military Orders, the
Knights Hospitaller and the Teutonic Knights and these internecine feuds weakened Christian
positions, politically and militarily. But the Knights Templar were the greatest professional
soldiers of their day. Their arrogance was due, not from their wealth, but from their pride in
their professional ability as military knights. Their main strength lay in their ability to identify
with the feudal class; by and large, they came from warrior families and they immersed
themselves in an intense course of training: professional use of arms (e.g., sword, battleaxe, bow,
and knife), offensive and defensive tactics, equine skills, and physical conditioning. They
maintained a Spartan lifestyle, strictly adhered to the Statutes of the Order, wore distinguishing
uniforms, and were expected to sacrifice their lives in battle without hesitation when required.
The Knight Templar "esprit de corps," in its pure physical form, may be characterized by the
knights, chaplains, sergeants, and support personnel; their dress and equipment; the Order's
writings, principles, rules, rituals, and beliefs; and behavior of the Knights Templar themselves.
In its pure spiritual form their "esprit de corps” aligned with spiritual orientations related to God.
Their spirit was more within their oneness regardless of personal, political, religious or social
preferences.
The effects of the Crusades on Europe were an important factor in the history of the progress of
civilization. The Crusades slowed the advance of Islamic power and gave the Europe kingdoms
time to prepare for the Muslims armies advancing through Spain and Portugal. The entire
structure of European society changed during the 12th and 13th centuries thanks largely to the
Crusades. They influenced the wealth and power of the Catholic Church, the development of
transportation systems, were significant in the development of shipbuilding techniques, world
trade and commerce, intellectual development, and feudalism.
Of the six major Military Monastic Orders, only the Knights Templar was synonymous with the
Crusades. They built banking systems across the Holy Land and Europe, built castles both in
Outremer and Europe, they owned some nine thousand manors used for farming and raising
livestock and their fleet of ships was involved in trade in Europe and Mediterranean ports.
-- So Mote It Be --
_____________
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