Barber, M., ‘Supplying the Crusader States: The Role of the Templars', in Kedar (ed.

), The
Horns of Hattin 314–36

Richard of Mepham, dean of Lincoln, told Pope Gregory IX that the Military Order have the most
abundant possessions throughout the world.

If a greater part was properly directed, then they would be sufficient for the aid of the Holy Land.

Matthew Paris noted that the Military Orders ingested so much revenue from the Christendom.

Military Orders bore huge financial burdens, they were required to maintain and garrison castles,
ship supplies of foodstuffs, clothing, armaments, and horses, provide recruits to replace losses in
battle and from old age, defend, transport, finance, and ransom pilgrims and crusades, and hire
mercenaries.

Stream of letters from the Outremer testify to the increasing depth of the crisis, and it has been
shown that only Military Orders could hope to sustain the Latin as secular lordships of the east
faced financial ruin.

During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the Templar garrisoned at least 53 castles or fortified
places in the crusader states ranging from massive edifices like Atilt to small watchtowers in which
pilgrims could take refuge. They has charge of castles as early as c. 1137 in the Amanas and from
1149 in Palestine. They came to hold a substantial number of buildings in all the major cities,
including: Jerusalem, Caesarea, Acre, Tyre, Giblet, Tripoli, Tortosa, Jabala and Antioch.

Military orders were vulnerable to losses because of their exposed position at the front and rear of
crusading columns. 3 September 1191 was particularly gruelling says the author of Itinerarium that
on their day, the Templar lost so many horses as a consequence of the attacks of the Turks at the
rear, that thy nearly gave up hope.

By Molay’s time, the Grandmaster of the Templars was presiding over at least 970 houses,
including commanderies and castles in both east and west.

From the Council of Troyes on 1128 onwards, vigorous efforts were made to recruit men and to
establish commanderies in the west.

Templars supplied the crusader states with men, money, horses and goods. Manpower came through
local houses, which acted as centres for recruitment and as departure points for secular crusaders.

Templar houses provided facilities which eased the logistical problems of crusading and in this way
contributed further to the supply of men to Outremer. One Pons Lautier from Colonzelle who, in
June 1160, was about to set out for the Holy Land, left his lands in pledge to the Templars for
fifteen years after which, if he died or did not return from Jerusalem, the Order would acquire the
property rights.
The Order had from an early age acquired juridical immunities from the papacy. The bull Omne
Datum Optimum of 1139 was the most sweeping of its privileges.

Milicia Dei further strengthened the Order’s independence by allowing Templars to build their own
chapels and to bury their dead in the adjoining consecrated ground. This in turn meant that
commanderies could build up strong links with the local community.

They imported essential raw materials like iron during the twelfth century.

Templar ships were used for warfare and supply.

Professor Pryor had found that in 1277, the Templar transported horses, from Spain, through
Messina. They also transported wheat, vegetables, barley, arms, cloth and crossbows.

Giles Constable has argued that the need for goods, services and manpower generated by the
crusaders was one of the most significant contributions to the break up of old social and economic
orders. It started on an ad hoc basis, and developed into an institutionalised structure, with
Hospitallers and Templars at the centre.

La Monte, J.L., Feudal monarchy in the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem, 1100 to 1291 (Cambridge,
MA, 1932)

Religio-military Orders were semi-monastic, semi-chivalrous corporations. They were among the
most important factors in the life of the Outremer principalities. Played a role in the governance and
maintenance of the Frankish states.

Conceived for the purpose of ministering to the needs of pilgrims to Holy Places. The three great
Orders always retained some aspect of their initial purpose, the Hospitallers in particular never
ceased to maintain a hospital for the sick and needy.

Theodoric, in 1171 – 2, commented on the wealth, munificence, and charitable work of the
Hospital, estimating the number of beds maintained for pilgrims at about a thousand.

Felix Fabir who visited Jerusalem between 1480 and 1483 shows that charitable work of the
Hospitallers continued after the expulsion of the Franks from the Syrian mainland.

Theoretic described the services offered by the Orders in protecting pilgrims who wished to bathe in
the Jordan, where the Templars and Hospitallers both kept patrols constantly on guard to protect the
pilgrims during their pious ablutions.

Orders soon ceased to be primarily concerned with the services rendered to pilgrims, and the duty
of fighting for and protecting the Holy Land became their true raison d’etre. Throughout the period
of Frankish control, they were the most important single source of strength in the military
establishment of the kingdom of Jerusalem.
The Templars particularly were noted for their great prowess. One anonymous pilgrim wrote: in
going to battle they are the first, in returning the last’.

Jacques de Vitry noted that: “they became such terrible enemies of Christ’s faith. They were lions at
war, and gentle as lambs at home; in the field they were fierce soldiers, in church they were like
hermits or monks; they were harsh and savage to the enemies of Christ, but kindly and gracious to
Christians”.

The execution of the Templars by Saladin after Hattin is a testimonial to their reputation as the most
dangerous enemies of Islam.

When Baldwin IV assembled his host at Ascalon in 1184, the only troops he had beyond some of
his own vassals were the members of the Temple and Hospital.

Great castles of the Orders defended the inland frontier and the coast, protecting the cities and
keeping open the means of communication.

Krak-des-Chevaliers and Safita guarded the approaches from Homs protecting Tripoli and Tortosa.
Teutonic knights guarded Tyre, Acre and Sidon. Along the coast were the castles of Margat and
Zibel (held by the Hospitallers) and Archas and Atilt (held by the Templars).

Orders had fortified positions of cities, Tortosa, Acre, Gaza, Asclaon, Arsur. Here, members of the
Orders kept their treasure, imprisoned captives, sheltered pilgrims and fugitives and maintained
garrisons ready for defence of attack.

They were entrusted with the guard of royal castles.

Orders took over secular fiefs on a number of occasions, purchasing them from the lords who were
no longer able to maintain their defence. Hospital acquired the fiefs of Galilee in 1182 and Arsur in
1261. Teutonic knights the signory of Count Jocelyn between 1220 and 1229. Templars the fiefs of
Belfort and Sidon in 1260. In 1156, Humphrey de Torun, was unable to defend his fief, so he
surrendered half to the Hospitallers on the condition they would assume half the expenses of
defending the entire fief.

The Orders were the largest landowners in the entire crusading states. Lands were acquired by
conquest, purchase and gift.

They were no more than ecclesiastical allies who consented to assist the crown in its struggle with
the enemies of Christ. When Fredrick II demanded aid and service from the Templars and
Hospitallers, he was met by refusal on the grounds that he was under the ban of Church.

They always reserved the right to decide upon the justice of the war, and on several occasions
refused to lend support, as in 1168 when the Temple refused to participate in Amauray’s invasion of
Egypt.
They were independent in their treaty arrangements, in 1240 the Templars allied with Damascus,
and the Hospital with Egypt.

Order waged private wars upon the secular lords and upon each other. The Temple was at feud with
Leo of Armenia over the possession of Gastin, the Hospital carried on a long struggle against
Bohemond IV and Bohemond V of Antioch-Tripoli, and quarrelled with John d’Ibelin of Jaffa over
the custody of Ascalon.

In 1233, the Temple and Hospitallers allied in a mutual struggle with the commune of Marseilles. In
1179, 1258 and 1262 they were bitterly quarrelling with each other.

They were influential in precipitating wars which were not successful. Hospital urged Amauray I on
his dream conquest of Egypt, the Templars precipitated the war with Saladin in 1187. In 1209, the
Master of the Temple was instrumental in rejecting offers for a renewal of the truce with Melek-el-
Adel and in reopening hostilities. In 1219, at Damietta, the Orders supported Pelagius in his refusal
of the peace proposals.

In advising the refusal of peace offers and the continuance of war the Orders acted entirely in
keeping with their raison d’etre, which was war against the Infidel; but their insistence on the
continuance of hostilities resulted in losses to the Christian cause.

Though they excelled in personal valour, no glory in arms could compensate for their rashness in
council.

The kings in Jerusalem profited from the Knights and the Orders were among the main sources of
strength to the kingdom. If they precipitated war, they were always ready to take their share of the
burdens. If they amassed huge treasures in land and goods, their wealth was always at the service of
Christianity. If they fought among themselves, they fought first against the Muslims.

Marshall, C.J., Warfare in the Latin East, 1192–1291 (Cambridge, 1992)

The feudal host on its own would have been incapable of mounting an effective defence of the Latin
East. The Military Orders had taken over increasing responsibility for the Latin East’s protection
since the first half of the twelfth century. They were able to provide the manpower and the other
resources (grain, horses, mules and fodder) which was needed to maintain their armies. They
received assistance from the papacy.

From the end of the twelfth century, the Templars and Hospitallers were joined by the Teutonic
knights.

Some soldiers volunteered for temporary membership of the Military Orders. The idea of voluntary
service in the Latin East, without joining the ranks of a crusade, was one which appealed to many
men in the thirteenth century. Temporary service with one of these Military Orders, particularly in
view of the prestige which they enjoyed would probably have been especially popular.
Military Orders were prominent in every aspect of their military life in the Latin East during the
thirteenth century. Their reputation was generally very good.

The leaders of the Orders enjoyed an influential position in the Christian hierarchy. They were to
the fore in discussions of strategy, whether these concerned the policy of the Latin states or the
progress of a crusade.

Their interests clashed occasionally. Their differences sometimes became long term political ones
which affected the unity which the Latin settlement required for its survival. Hospitallers favoured
Raymond Roupen during a conflict in northern Syria, and the Templars supported Bohemond of
Antioch.

During the crusade of Frederic II, the Teutonic Knights were alone amongst the Orders in their
support for the emperor, but later the Hospitallers supported Frederic’s marshal, Richard Filangieri
in his conflict with the Commune of Acre.

In the War of St Sabas, the Hospitallers supported the Genoese and their allies, the Templars
favoured the Venetians.

The Orders were at odds with one another. But they were prepared to co-operate in actions directed
against the kingdom’s external enemies. Templars and Hospitallers provided troops for raiding
expeditions.

The quality of their troops was largely a result of their ability to carry out in practice what they had
learnt in theory. They applied common sense and collective discipline to their fighting methods,
attributed which were often absent from the rest of the Christian army.

In July 1219, during the Fifth Crusade, a concerted Muslim assault against the crusader camp routed
the foot-soldiers, and French secular troops were unable to repulse the attack. Muslim mounted and
foot-soldiers had entered the camp and the crusaders’ position was seriously threatened until the
Templars were given permission to charge. Supported by the Teutonic Knights and other nobles and
knights, they faced the Muslims to withdraw, inflicting on them heavy loses although Christian
causalities were also numerous.

On Christian raiding expeditions, Military Orders played a crucial role. They were suited to such a
position because of the discipline that was imposed by their statutes.

Military Orders were not immune from rash behaviour themselves. In 1260, Stephen of Saisi,
Marshal of the Templars, was dismissed from the Order because his conduct on a raid had led to a
steady defeat for the Christian troops. Om 1266, the indiscipline of the advance guards of a
Christian raiding party had led to a heavy defeat for the Christian troops.

1266, the indiscipline of the advance guard of a Christian raiding party, which included Hospitals
and Teutonic Knights allowed it to fall into an ambush organised by Muslim troops from Saphet.
The Orders did not hesitate to provide troops to help defend a Christian strongpoint. The
Hospitallers lost 40 brothers in Tripoli in 1289. An eye-witness to the fall of Acre praised their
willingness to ‘shed blood for the name of Christ and the defence of Christian faith…’

Many of the sites taken over by the Military Order in the thirteenth century reflected the nobles’
instability, or unwillingness to deal with the problems of defending their properties.

In 1228, the Teutonic Knights purchased 17 villages from Jacob of Mandelee.

A good example of an Order taking over the defensive duties from a lord no longer able to bear the
burden was the Hospitallers’ acquisition of Arsuf from Balian of Ibelin in the early 1260s. They
agreed to pay a rent of 4,000 Saracen bezants a year.

In August 1243, the emperor granted Ascalon to the Hospitallers and promised to pay the expenses
which were necessary for the defence of the castle.

1255, Pope Alexander IV presented Mt Tabor to the Hospitallers, following recognition of the
threat it faced from the Muslims.

The Military Orders had a leading role in all Christian efforts to maintain their territories in
Palestine and Syria. Without the, there is likely to have been no Christian presence in the area in the
thirteenth century. (p. 67)

Jonathan Phillips, The Crusades

Role of the Templars and Hospitallers was to care for western pilgrims visiting the Holy Land. This,
coupled with the settlers’ need to increase their limited military resources, when combined with the
idea of religiously divided violence evolved orders of warrior-monks.

They played a prominent role in the defence and extension of the borders of Christianity in both the
West and the Levant; and had numerous land holdings.

Bernard of Clairvaux wrote that they were monks and knights, for they lacked neither monastic
weakness nor military fortitude.

They were trained fighters sworn to defend the Holy Land against the infidel, they were members of
a religious order too. They took monastic vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.

Templars were founded in Jerusalem between 1119 – 20, by Hugh of Paynes. According to William
of Tyre, their purpose was defend the Holy Land from robbers and lions.

They were formally approved by the Church at the Council of Troyes in January 1129, and there
numbers increased rapidly.
Bernard of Clairvaux wrote In The Praise of the New Knighthood, where he argued the Templars
were a new sort of knight who fought evil in the world and, by their faith and efforts, the Holy Land
would be preserved in the Christian hands.

The Templars lived a communal life of discipline and obedience to their superior; they were
focussed on their duties to God and not on the shallow distractions of the secular world – their inner
faith and trust in God gave them bravery and commitment in battle.

Bernard suggested that their constant proximity to the holy sites would allow them to reflect on the
spiritual aspect of their surroundings. Barber has suggested, a detailed knowledge of the holy places
would allow them to better explain their significance to pilgrims.

Hugh of Paynes travelled around Europe seeking support for the Templars and this produced
numerous donations of land and money, as well as new recruits.

Privileges issued between 1139 – 1145 reinforced papal endorsement of the Templars: secured the
right to elect its own master, the exemption from tithes payable to the local church; allowed to
collect these revenues from their own lands and keep the profits for themselves.

As their military and financial strength grew they were given custody of a number of castles and
landholdings in the Holy Land: Baghras, Gaza, Safed, Toron. In some areas, they ruled large areas
of land independently: areas around Baghras, Chastel Blanc, Tartus.

Local churchmen resented the Templars’ intrusion on their diocesan authority, but because they had
the support of Rome, nothing could be done. They clashed with secular rulers too. They
disapproved of dealings with Muslims.

John of Salisbury felt that knightly and clerical functions were incompatible and that the Templars’
privileges encouraged pride and avarice. William of Tyre saw their actions as self-interested.

Isaac of L’Etoile expressed concern as to what those of another faith might think of the church
encouraging violence rather than gentleness. There was a substantial amount of support that the
order enjoyed, the idea of warrior-monks defending Christ’s patrimony was a positive step.

Like the Templars, the Hospitallers were warrior-monks sworn to defend the Holy Land. The main
difference was the Hospitaller's medical function. They cared for sick pilgrims.

Geoffrey of Bouillon was an early supporter and with the increased flow of western pilgrims
coming to the holy city, many responded to the Hospital’s charitable role by giving donations of
property in the Levant and the West.

European estates paid a portion of their revenue – usually one-third – to sustain the Hospital in the
Holy Land. The scale of endowments, donations and exemptions from ecclesiastical taxation meant
that the Hospitallers held substantial resources across the West.
Primary function of the Hospitallers was the care of poor and sick pilgrims. Theodoric who visited
in 1169, noted there were about 1,000 beds available. All sick were admitted, except lepers,
regardless of origin, sex or status.

The patient – physician ration was lower than in contemporary Islamic and Byzantine institutions,
yet far greater than anything in the West.

Main method of treatment was through the diet, although blood-letting and herbal remedies were
common.

Primary task of the hospital was to provide a caring environment for weary and undernourished
pilgrims, and to give them the opportunity to recover their strength and continue their journeys.

Hospitallers became increasingly involved in military affairs. Some have seen this as a natural
extension of the Hospitallers care for the poor and pilgrims.

In the 1160s, they agreed to assist in the defence of Siddon, acquired control over 11 or 12 castles
and gained theoretical rights over a further 6.

Late 1168, Gilbert encouraged King Amalric to break a treaty with the Muslims and to invade
Egypt. Gilbert promised the king 500 knights and 500 Turcopoles, while in return, if Egypt was
conquered, he would gain the town of Bilbais, a share of the campaign spoils and the promise of
considerable financial advantages. The attack failed, and the Hospitallers faced widespread
criticism for their greed and accrued a debt of 100,000 bezants. William of Tyre wrote that Gilbert
had exhausted all the treasured of the Hospital, borrowed more money and spent that too.

Pope Alexander III became involved between 1168 – 80 and issued a series of instructions
reminding the brothers that their first duty was to care for the poor and that arms-bearing should
only take place in certain prescribed situations.

1170 – 1187 saw the order involved in numerous battles, skirmishes and sieges and they acquired
even more fortifications, including a series of castles in northern Tripoli. They took over the
powerful castle of Marqab in 1186.

Hospitallers growing involvement in the secular world was their developing political influence. The
master of the Hospital became an increasingly powerful figure at royal councils and in decisions
over matters of regency and diplomacy.

The Orders’ landholdings in the West were sources of income, supplies and manpower for the Holy
Land. The scale of these holdings required proper structure and hierarchy and the Templars and
Hospitallers cam claim to be the first international cooperation. They organised eight provinces:
Provence, Auvergne, France, Italy, Aragon, Castile, Germany and England.

Close relationship with Europe meant that brothers were often used by the settlers as official envoys
to convey requests for military help and money.
Concept of military orders was popular that it was soon adopted in the other main area of Christian-
Muslim conflict, the Iberian peninsula.

Military orders evolved to play a leading part in the military and political life of Levant and they
held large areas of territory – 35% of land in the Latin East.

Templars became a powerful financial institution, who numbered King Louis VII of France among
their debtors as early as 1147.

It was custom of Muslims to kill the Templars and Hospitallers captured in battle. Saladin saw it as
essential to cull the military orders became he viewed them as a serious threat to Islam – a judgment
that reveals how successful the idea of warrior-monk had become and how important the military
orders were to the Latin settlement of the Holy Land.

Nikolas Jaspert,The Hospitallers, The Mediterranean and Europe

In February 1217, Pope Honorius III granted crusade indulgences to Hospitallers brothers and their
servants who devoted their lives to defend and serve the Holy Land. Order made a request to have
their service considered equal to taking of the Cross.

Hospital of St. John was established some time before 1071 as a hospice for pilgrims coming to
Jerusalem. Members adopted an almost religious life as Benedictine lay brothers.

The aim of the Order, as stated by Pope Paschal II, was the support of pilgrims and the care for the
poor. Those who wished to fulfil these aims joined a community bound together by a religious way
of life. This combination of service to the poor and religious life was the key to their salvation.
The spiritual benefits of serving the poor were reiterated in the statutes of the master, Roger des
Moulins. The statutes call upon the commanders of the Order’s houses to serve the sick, saying that
‘by these good deeds they may deserve to have their rewards in the glories of heaven’.

Alan Forey believes that men joined the military orders due to motives such as family pressure for
economic reasons. The main spiritual reason for entering military orders is the salvation of the soul;
fear of the torments of hell and the wish to enjoy the pleasures of paradise.

Charters of affiliation to the Hospital show the link between care for the poor and the redemption of
the soul. Count Peter of Asturias expressed his hope that by entering the Order, which was
established for the service of Christ’s poor, and granting a generous entry fee, he would save his
soul and would come to heavenly Jerusalem.

The militarization of the Order did not break this link between service to the poor and spiritual
reward.

Peter of Mirmanda expected career in the Order would have been military – defence of the
Christians in the East.
This ideal of salvation due to service in a religious community seems to have encompassed other
activities in which the Order was involved, mainly military activity for the defence of the
Christendom.

In the order of the Temple, which had been established from the outset as a military order, the
spiritual reward was clearly linked with fighting for the Cross.

In recognition of the Order’s great efforts in preserving the Holy Land and its charitable work, he
granted the Hospitallers and their families a general indulgence similar to the one given to the
faithful who came to assist the Holy Land.

By the 1180s the dual role of caring for the sick and defending the Holy Land was recognised and
supported by the papacy. Lucius II of 1182 – 3, exempts the Hospitallers from the taxation raised to
help subsidize the fortification of castles and villages, in recognition of the Order’s devotion to the
defence of the Holy Land and well as to charitable activity.

In August 1185, he pope recognised the Hospital as an Augustinian order dedicated to the care of
the sick, for the sake of which it should maintain four physicians and four surgeons, as well and
provide the sick with food and all other necessities.

The Hospitallers made an important contribution to the Fifth Crusade, supplying men, money and
war machines and suffering grave losses, while at the same time playing an important role in the
defence of the Latin Kingdom.

Granting of crusade indulgences to those who assisted the orders in their military activities as
probably a common way to attract men to the service. Crusade indulgences were granted to those
who would help defend the castles of the Spanish military orders.

In 1221, an indulgence was granted by Honorius III to those who would help defend the castles of
Calatrava.

In 1248, Innocent IV promised crusade indulgence to those associated with the Hospital in Hungary
and who would assist in the defence of the kingdom against the Mongols.

Granting crusade indulgences to members of the Hospital is surprising, considering, that the
brothers were committed to the Order for life and their salvation was assured by theft fulfilment of
their monastic vows and the performance of their duties: care for sick and the poor.

Those who risked their lives in the defence of the Holy Land and Christendom may have identified
more with crusading ideology and its benefits that with a doctrine of salvation through monastic
service and care for the poor.

The Mendicants as well as the Teutonic Knights were also granted indulgences during the course of
the thirteenth century.

A.J Forey, Military Orders of St Thomas Acre

Ralph of Diceto tells us that the St Thomas of Acre concerned themselves with the care of the poor
and the burial of the dead.

1213, institution did not flourish though – might receive a few benefactions from those who visited
the Holy Land, but all that the members of the Order could do was send envoys to the West (as is
what happened in 1207).

Early thirteenth century, the foundation did obtain some grants in the west, for it is known to have
acquired land and other property in France and England, as well as gaining three churches of St
Mary, St Peter and St Nicholas de Campo Anglorum.

Gains made in England brought little help to the holy land.

Peter de Roche transformed the Order into a military establishment – whose members were to
follow the role of the Teutonic Order. While in the main it adopted Templar observances with
regards to the poor and sick, it followed the customs of the Hospitallers.

The Order came to hold lands in various parts of western Europe, but only evidence of its
possessions in the British Isles remain.

Not all the gains were a result of gifts: some were purchased and transactions recorded as donations
often provided for a payment by the Order of the donor.

Money to pay the acquisition was obtained from the revenues of property given to St Thomas, but
he Order was also able to use this for the purpose gifts of cash: 1209, Henry III gave 200 marks for
the purchase of land.

Following the establishment of the London house, many acquisitions were made in and around the
city, particularly in the parish of St Mary Colechurch, where the hospital of St Thomas was situated.

Shops, houses, and parcels of lands were also granted in other parts of the city, while near London
by the end of the century, the Orders property included lands of Wapping, Stepney and Stratford.

Acquisitions in and around London were expected after the London house was established.

Order possessed property in Doncaster before it became militarized and its holdings there were
greatly increased in the 1230s.

Papal protection had been promised to the canons of St Tomas by Innocent III and Honorius III.
Orders were exempt from the payment of tithes on its animals and food.

Revenues in the West, derived from many small acquisition were not large. In 1291, the income of
the London house from its properties in the city and neighbouring countries was assessed at less
than £50 – much smaller than the revenues collected by Hospitallers and Templars.
Once military orders had dependencies in the west, patrons expected them to perform the same
functions as other religious houses, establishments in Western Europe were not viewed merely as
administrative centres for the collection of revenues.

The Order was still able to attract patronage in the mid fourteenth century, but many of the gifts
made at this time were more for the establishment of chantries of for the factions of the London
cause.

There is little evidence to show that the London house devoted itself to the care of the poor and
sick. It was only when an individual made a specific bequest for the maintenance of the poor that
reference was made to charitable activities of this kind.

The brothers in London did provide hospitality for noble patrons when they stayed in the city and
on a number of occasions they undertook the warship of minors.

A grammar school was established at St Thomas of Acre in London.

The London house was becoming responsible for an ever increasing number of chantries and obits,
as many leading citizens made gifts for the remembrance of their souls.

It had never achieved any great distinction: its emergence as a military order had probably occurred
too late in time.

Riley-Smith, J., ‘Templars and Teutonic knights in Cilician Armenia', in T. S. R. Boase (ed.),
The Cilician Kingdom of Armenia (Edinburgh, 1978)

King Fulk of Jerusalem in 1133 gave the Hospital their first fortress in Beit Jibrin.

Authority was slipping out o of Raymond of Poitiers hands as a result of an alliance between
Princess Alice and the new patriarch Ralph of Domfront.

Raymond had been in Europe in the years the military orders had caught the imagination of the
western nobility and he was to make grants to the Hospitallers, giving them freedom from custom
duties and a general confirmation of their rights.

The acquisition of the castles in the Amanas was probably the consequence of the first really
important gift in the Latin East to the Order.

It is possible that the grant of the march to the Amanas is the first example of what was to be the
standard kind of gift from the rulers of northern Christian states to the Military Orders.

In the various charters to the Hospitallers and also those in the Templars concerning the lands round
Tortosa and Chastel Blanc there were clauses giving favourable conditions for the sharing of spoil
gained on expeditions in which the ruler also took part and a free hand for the Order in the decisions
it would make on its relations with neighbouring Muslim prince. The ruler would surrender all his
rights over the inhabitants of the territory granted.

In the later 1188 Saladin’s march of conquest reached the Principality of Antioch. He seems to have
spent the first half of September besieging Darbsak. The Templars sent to Prince Bohemond III of
Antioch for aid, but when none arrived they surrendered on condition that they could depart freely,
although they had to pay Saladin 5,000 dinars and leave behind their goods.

J. Richard, Latin Kingdoms of Jerusalem

Hospital of St John’s main function for a long time was the lodging and care for pilgrims. After the
First Crusade, there was an increase in the size.

Order of St. Lazarus founded to care for lepers.

Hospitallers enjoyed great success, pilgrims expressed their gratitude by giving generous gifts. The
Order became a military one.

Narratives left by early pilgrims show that the roads to the Holy Land were dangerous. Saewulf
(1103) and Ekkehard (1110 – 5) speak of devastations, raids, ambushes, invasions and daily
martyrdoms.

William of Tyre speaks of Moslem peasants as masters of the open country, blockading the towns
which they tried to starve, killing isolated Christians or taking them captive to the sold as slaves.
Thieves would go inside towns and would like Franks in their bed.

Templars guarded the roads that pilgrims use from robbers and thieves who used to do much harm
there. They were still laymen, volunteers, united by their desire to guard roads and lead a holy life.

Hospitallers continued to combine the care of pilgrims with military tasks. John of Wurzburg
describes the very generous donations rations issued each day to the poor.

First donations given to the Orders were casals and tithes, and were intended to give them a regular
income, not long before they were given castles.

Both were given considerable forts – Templars in Tripoli, and north of Antioch. Hospitallers on the
eastern frontier of Tripoli and Marat district.

Hospitallers possessed fortlets along the pilgrims way (Spring of Emmaus, near Jerusalem and an
important fortress of Conquet belonged to the Hospital.

Templars possessed small forts too: Jericho, Quarantine and Maldoun.

The Orders owned barracks in most towns, from which Knights were ready to set off on campaigns
or escort pilgrims.
Gregory IX reminded the Templars that it was their duty to guard the road from Jaffa to Caesarea
from being harassed by Moslem raiders.

Orders were international – they had a network of commanderies extending all over Christian
countries, as well as donations given by eastern Princes.

The Hospital received 10,000 bezants from the Duke of Hungary to buy Casals, and land for him to
stay in on his visit to the Holy Land.

On the pretext that they were not subject to local hierarchy, the Orders claimed to have the right to
build churches to the prejudice of the parishes, without asking permission from bishops, and to
celebrate their office in a town under indirect, with great noise and publicity.

The Hospitallers crowded new and tall buildings, closely around the Holy Sepulchre.

The Templars had foolhardy arrogance, and were greedy. They were accused of preventing other
Franks from entering Ascalon so they could keep all the plunder for themselves.

During the twelfth century, the military orders played an important part in the defence of the
kingdom. Their huge wealth and unfailing supply of men led them to take the first rank in the
kingdom, above the church and barons.

Ibn al-Athir: “the knights were devout men who upheld fidelity to a pledged word”. They were
faithful to their rule and the survival of the Latin Kingdoms depended on them.

The New Knighthood. A History of the Order of the Temple by Malcolm Barber
• Loss of the Order’s central archive means that information about its estates and privilidges are
fragmentary.
• The demise of the Order was not so much because of the failings of the Templar’s, but the
financial needs of the French crown.
• Treats the Order as the champions of the faith against Islam.
• It generated donations because of it’s dual nature as a monastic order of ‘knights of Christ’
defending against the forces of Islam.
• By the middle of the thirteenth century, they were part of the European banking and financial
system.
• They were ‘an integral part of the body politic of the Latin Christendom, indespensible in the
fight against the infidel, in serving of the crusades, and financing popes and monarchs’.
• That they lost Acre in 1291, serves to reinforce the argument that they had become self-enriching.
• They became wealth and influential. They emerges as a highly effecivent and widespread
international banking organisation, closely involved in politics and financial affairs of many
states. Their power aroused hostility and greed.

A. J. Forey, The Military Orders from the Twelfth to the Early Fourteenth Centuries
• Further study may include an analysis of the Orders of Calatrava and Santiago in the
Iberian Peninsula. Or, the Order of Blessed Virgin Mary.
• Only a third of the Order’s income was reserved for their workk on the frontier. This lack of
funds was an important factor in the loss of crusader states. Therefore, they became
scapegoats for crusading failures. 
• They were imitated by national military orders in Spain, Germany and England.
• Their failure was that of Western Christendom as a whole, not they were not able to defend the
Holy Land, but, they were incapable of achieving alone.

The Knights of St John in Jerusalem and Cyprus, 1050-1310

• They asserted themselves as political, military, social and economic factor in the life of the Latin
Kingdom in the near east. 
• They influenced the strategy of the Crusadrs, as evidenced by their effective pressure in favour of
the Egyptian invasion in 1168.
• Middle of the twelfth century, they were entrusted with fortes which only served to confirm their
role as professional warriors fighting against the Muslim enemy