Orders Of Medieval Knights
Powerful
Orders Of Medieval Knights And What Made Each One Distinct
Combining
knightly warfare and a monastic lifestyle, the knightly crusading orders were
one of the strongest institutions of medieval Europe.
Through them, men sought a blood-stained salvation by
fighting for God.
The Knights Templar
The first order founded in the Holy Land, the Knights of
the Temple were created in 1115 by Hugue de Payens and Godfrey de Saint
Adhemar, who recruited seven other French knights to help them escort pilgrims
safely between Jerusalem, Jericho and the traditional site of Jesus’ baptism in
the Jordan.
Growing
in size and prominence, the group took up quarters at the Temple of Solomon –
hence their name – and set the precedent for such groups as warrior monks.
The Hospitallers of St. John
The Hospital of St. John was founded in Jerusalem around
1070 as a place of rest for pilgrims.
Following
the First Crusade and the example of the Templars, the Hospitallers took up
arms in the 1120s, becoming another order of warrior monks.
Their order was divided between those who fought and those
who retained a more traditional, non-violent religious role.
The Knights of St. Lazarus
Founded shortly after the Hospitallers, the Knights of St.
Lazarus were also based in Jerusalem, possibly arising around a pre-crusade
leper hospital.
Most
of the knights of this order were lepers, and Hospitallers who caught the
disease had to transfer to the Knights of Lazarus.
Even
their lay sergeants were lepers, commoners recruited to fight alongside knights
who suffered the same disease.
The Hospitallers of St. Thomas of Canterbury
Founded during the 1189-90 siege of Acre, the Hospitallers
of St Thomas were an English order named after Thomas Becket, the recently
martyred Archbishop of Canterbury.
It was never a large order, as it was limited to English
knights, and many of its potential members preferred to join larger orders,
especially the Hospitallers of St. John.
The Teutonic Knights
Also founded during the Siege of Acre, the Teutonic
Knights were another order with a distinct regional identity, made up mostly of
Germans.
Formally
acknowledged by the Pope in 1199, they became a common home for crusaders from
central Europe in the Holy Land.
Despite
the order’s popularity, the power of the Hospitallers and the Templars limited
the ability of the Teutonic Knights to gain castles and positions of influence
in the Holy Land.
Shifting their focus to Eastern Europe, the Teutonic
Knights crusaded against pagans in the region, becoming the leading crusading
order on that front.
Their
wars in Prussia, Poland, and Lithuania contributed to the eastern expansion of
European society and of Christendom, and they became a powerful political force
and major landowners in the process.
The Sword Brethren
Founded in Livonia in 1201, the city of Riga was a colony
intended to support the eastward expansion of Christian Europe.
Around
1202, the Fratres Militiae Christi, generally known as the Brethren of the
Sword, were established there for the defence of the colony.
A
Cistercian order of monastic warriors, they were the second most significant
knightly order in Eastern Europe.
Initially successful in conquering Livonian lands, the
Sword Brethren suffered a huge defeat at Siauliai in 1236, losing half their
members.
Never
having gained the power and influence of the Teutonic Knights, they were
largely absorbed into that order following the disaster.
The Knights of Calatrava
The Iberian Peninsula was a battleground between
Christendom and Islam before the crusades to the Holy Land began.
The
Reconquista, the series of wars that re-Christianised the region, lasted from
the early 11th to the
late 15th centuries.
Yet
while the Templars and Hospitallers took part in fighting there, there were no
Spanish orders on the same scale.
One of those that did emerge was the Knights of Calatrava.
When the Templars abandoned the royal castle of Calatrava
in 1157, a group of Cistercian monks and Navarrese soldiers took over its
defence, forming a new military-religious brotherhood.
Within
a year, they cleared the surrounding region of bandits.
From
there, they expanded to fight elsewhere in Spain, temporarily changing their
base and name while Calatrava was briefly occupied by Moors.
The Knights of Santiago
In the late 1150s, a band of 13 Castillian knights offered
their services to protect pilgrims travelling to the famous Spanish shrine of
St James at Compostella.
Expanding
to become a significant force in the Reconquista, the Knights of Santiago
gained fame and lands across Europe but did not have the numbers to play a
significant part in all the campaigns they were invited on.
The Knights of Santiago were distinct from other orders in
not being monastic.
Though
their rules were based on those of the Augustinian monks and the Templars, they
were significantly different in being allowed to marry and own personal
possessions.
The Order of St James of Altopascio
Also known as the Order of the Tau because of their
symbol, the Order of St James of Altopascio was an Italian warrior brotherhood,
and arguably the first knightly order.
A
hospital was founded by Augustinian monks at Altopascio sometime before 952,
and by 1056 they had become militarized, protecting pilgrims along the
dangerous roads between Lucca and Genoa.
An
institution ahead of their time, the Order of the Tau did not gain papal
recognition as a military order until 1239, and though the order built
hospitals elsewhere its numbers were never large.
The Knights of San Stefano of Tuscany
While most knightly orders were founded at the height of
the Middle Ages, the Knights of San Stefano were not founded until 1561.
Created
by Grand Duke Cosimo de Medici, their Masters were drawn from the Grand Dukes
and they followed the Benedictine rule.
Their
role was to fight corsairs in the Mediterranean, and they took part in the
Battle of Lepanto in 1571, the action that ended Turkish strength at sea.
http://www.warhistoryonline.com/medieval/10-medieval-knightly-orders-mm.html
How One Man Seized
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Fairest Lord Jesus, Ruler of
all nature,
O Thou of God and man the Son,
Thee will I cherish, Thee will I honor,
Thou, my soul’s glory, joy and crown.
Fair is the sunshine,
Fairer still the moonlight,
And all the twinkling starry host;
Jesus shines brighter, Jesus shines purer
Than all the angels heaven can boast.
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Fairest
Lord
Jesus
Jesus
(Crusader’s Hymn)
Diane
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lyrics
Fairest Lord Jesus, Ruler of
all nature,O Thou of God and man the Son,
Thee will I cherish, Thee will I honor,
Thou, my soul’s glory, joy and crown.
Fair are the meadows, fairer
still the woodlands,
Robed in the blooming garb of spring;
Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer,
Who makes the woeful heart to sing.
Robed in the blooming garb of spring;
Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer,
Who makes the woeful heart to sing.
Fair is the sunshine,Fairer still the moonlight,
And all the twinkling starry host;
Jesus shines brighter, Jesus shines purer
Than all the angels heaven can boast.
All fairest beauty, heavenly
and earthly,
Wondrously, Jesus, is found in Thee;
None can be nearer, fairer or dearer,
Than Thou, my Savior, art to me.
Wondrously, Jesus, is found in Thee;
None can be nearer, fairer or dearer,
Than Thou, my Savior, art to me.
Beautiful Savior! Lord of all
the nations!
Son of God and Son of Man!
Glory and honor, praise, adoration,
Now and forever more be Thine..
Son of God and Son of Man!
Glory and honor, praise, adoration,
Now and forever more be Thine..
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