The True Crusaders

Many men and women volunteered to fight in the Crusades but they came and went; no one ever really believed that the Holy Land was their home because no one actually lived there, they all just fought there. There were many orders of knights during the Crusades but none that watched the Crusaders backs as long as the Templars and the Hospitallers.

Both of the orders were founded in the first Crusade because the war leaders of Britain believed they could manage a regular army in the Holy Land, without any knowledge of what the Turks were capable of. Unfortunetely the First Crusade wasn't the final crusade and after all the 'Crusaders' were scattered or killed or sent back to Europe only the Knights Templar and the Hospitallers of St. John were left to defend the Holy Land in Christianity's honour.

Their fight in the Holy Land wasn't long but they managed to hold some main, strategic castles that would give them an advantage for when the common folk came back to fight for their Holy Land in the Second Crusade. TOP

How they were found

To trace back to when these two orders were found you'd have to have known a very hard working monk in Jerusalem, during the First Crusade, who was called 'Gerald'. He was one of the very few Christians in Jerusalem during that time, and while most Christians that lived in Jerusalem decided to stand clear of the Crusades in hope that nothing would happen, Gerard helped the Crusaders on the outside. While the Crusaders set up their seige on Jerusalem he always found ways to send supplies to the warriors that were starving or dying outside of Jerusalem's walls. After Jerusalem was taken he recruited more and more Christians to help him heal the Crusaders and fight in some of the internal battles of Jerusalem...they were then known as the soldier-monks. Eventually they grew to a huge size and the military finally recognized them...they gave them the cathedral of St. Louis and that's how they got their name; 'the Knights Hospitaller of St. Louis'.

The Templar were formed by a Knight Hospitaller called Sir Hugh of Payens. He was displeased how the Hospitallers weren't being more involved in the fighting so he made his own order. He very quickly found supporters and the Knights Templar were formed. They didn't have a home base but they swore that they would fight anywhere where the Holy Land needed them.

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The later crusades

The Templar were known as the 'Poor Knights of Christ' in their first 100 years of existance; very little went their way and they didn't get as much support from the kings as the Hospitallers got. Eventually though, they managed to keep a steady stream of recruits coming and they trained them fiercily until very few of them were actually still priests. The Templar finally became as recognized as the Hospitallers and they started helping the Crusaders in battle a lot more than the Hospitallers ever did. They became feared by the Turks and more and more barons and regents gave them land so they would protect their holdings. At one point as many as 18 fortresses were owned by the Templar and the military often needed their help in more and more minor battles. They were always given lots of money but they could never distribute it amongst the knights because they had to take the same vows as the priests and that meant they could have no possessions.

The Hospitallers lived a much more subtle life, defending their dignity and not the Crusaders backs. They were usually seen as political figures and whichever lord of Europe had the Hospitallers vote behind him usually held the upper hand in the elections. They were seen as the pinnacle of higher class and as the pinnacle for knights. Unlike the Templar they always displayed their priestly background and never hid it when they went into battle. They weren't seen as the strong knights like the Templar but more as the political force behind the Crusades. They were also given lots of fortresses and lots of land but they weren't as feared as the Templar by the enemy. When the Templar were starting to be relied on for most the battles by the Crusaders the Hospitallers decided to build the Krak of Chivaleras. The Krak of Chivaleras was the mightiest stronghold of that time and it still stands today in Palastine. The Krak of Chivelaras was considered the new base of the Hospitallers and was always full of either princes that came to survey the Holy Land or by military who needed a place to rally their troops. It was often used a strategical hold point and was never taken by the Turks until the very last 100 years of the Crusades.

Around the 1230's the Templar and the Hospitallers had both grown so powerful that they were no longer considered regular knights. To fight alongside a Templar or Hospitaller was considered a great honour and they were often used as morale boosters in great battles where the Crusaders were outnumbered. Towards the 1260's they were both so wealthy that barons and regents were starting to borrow money from them and it is believed that the first banking system was developed by them. They were so wealthy that they often refused to fight with the Crusaders because they thought the casualties weren't worth it. At this point they faught each other a lot (Hospitaller vs. Templar, Order of Templar vs. Order of Templar etc.). They were rarely seen as the true knights they once were but they redeemed their honour in the last battle in Acre where both the Orders faught till almost all of them were dead. The Moslem King that took over the Holy Land ordered almost all of the Hospitallers and Templar to be hanged or tortured to death and those who were too revered to be killed had stories made up about them...the Moslem King often attacked their sexuality and their loyalty to their God. It is reported that over 300 templar and hospitallers were hanged in a single day.

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Similarities and Differences

The obvious difference between the Templar and the Hospitallers was that the Templar were much more military oriented. They were in a lot more battles and they were in all the bedtime stories that the kids were being told then. A lot of untrue tales were made up about their leaders and they seemed like true heroes. The Templar followed extreme knightly vows such as the following: "We follow the code until our death", "We live in the Holy Land, we work in the Holy Land we defend the Holy Land and we will die in the Holy Land", "My honour is my life". They somtimes seemed barbaric in their ways but their honour could never be doubted. They vowed to defend the Holy Land but they also vowed to follow the Crusaders and help them wherever they may be needed. They wore the white robe with the red cross to battle and their shields were recquired to have crosses on them, their horses were also recquired to wear a cross somewhere along their body.

This was the templar symbol, they all usually carried a coin like that with them to prove their identity. What it represents is still unknown.

The Hospitallers were more like the soldier-monks that they were in the beginning; they faught mightly but they also preached and healed like the priests. They swore to many extreme vows like the Templar but no nearly to ones such as "My honour is my life". They believed in much the same things that normal priests did. They only vowed to protect the Holy Land and only the highest of their order were allowed out of the Holy Land. They were given a lot more land than the Templar but instead of building as many strongholds on that land they farmed it. They weren't ashamed to be weavers, smithes, miners or farmers. They would do these jobs as their order recquired of them and it was not very unusual to see a Hospitaller completely quit the knighthood and become a farmer with his own property. They wore the black robes with the red cross but that was all they were recquired to wear, they weren't forced to wear these robes all the time like the Templar, only to battle and to formal affairs.

They both only answered to the highest kings of Europe and very rarely even obeyed their orders without payment. They often were stuck up and black mailed lots of lords of Europe, they were a political figure as much as a military one throughout the crusades. They both had 3 orders within themselves; the Knights (most common), the Sargeants and the Clergy. They also both had a Grand Master that was sort of their leader but he was replaced almost every 5-10 years so it was by no means a tyranic rule. They both accepted money from the Teutonic Knights, who often funded them because they sort of believed in the same things.

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Downfall

The Hospitallers and the Templar felt like they were on top of the world for many hundreds of years. Nobody could've seen their end coming except for King Phillip IV, he despised they way the Templar and the Hospitallers could control society so much so he decided to put an end to them. The Hospitallers were highly favoured by lords in Europe so he had little support in destroying them but the Templar were seen as secretive and sometimes strange about their rituals, so King Phillip had no trouble finding enough people to band together against the Templar. They had made up a lot of bad things about the templar, the most important of them was blasphemy for which they were ordered to be killed by the Pope. On a Friday the 13th (that's where it got it's reputation) King Phillip just walked into Templar headquarters and held them all under arrest. They were all found guilty but some were aloud out of the Holy Land with their lives. The Templar Grand Master, Sir Demolay, sacrificed his life when they set him to burn on the stake. His final words had said that he had the choice to leave with his life but chose rather to stick to his beliefs instead of living in shame. The Templar disbanded shortly after that and very little trace of them has been found since. The Pope awarded all their land to the Hospitallers but the Templar treasure was never found. The Templar were said to have a huge fleet of warships, the Holy Grail and The Crown of Thorns (that Jesus had on the day he was crusified). It is believed that in Scotland they joined the local military and throughout Europe it is thought that they went underground to develop the Freemasons. As for the Hospitallers, they never really were destroyed because they were in the English kings favour. They are still with us today as the Knights of Malta. There is very little details that the Templar wrote about themselves today because they burned their records so they would not be used against them but it is believed that they were the first to find America. As to where they are now, many scientists have wondered but none have found the true answer. Many clues came about when people claimed that they were Templar were questioned. Amongst those people is Sir Isaac Newton, Vasco da Gama (famous Spanish explorer) and Christopher Columbus. Mr. Columbus and Vasco da Gama both had the Templar cross on their sails and it is believed that their ancestors were in pocession of the Templar fleet.

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Summary

No matter what the Muslem King said about them and no matter what the children's tails said a lot of people believe that the Hospitallers and the Templar were the most important part of the Crusades regardless of everything others have claimed about them. They were both true to their order until the very end and without them the Crusaders would've fell apart. Even though it was their fault that in the Third Crusade the crusaders didn't capture all the Turks (by rushing a charge too early that would've killed ALL the Turks) they were still a lot more useful than a lot of people have said. It is a lot easier to respect the Templar a lot more than the Hospitallers because the Templar weren't as stuck up as the Hospitallers. They understood what their situation was a lot better than the Hospitallers and they faught according to their vows a lot better, they were true knights an yet they didn't abandon their priestly heritage. The Hospitallers didn't have any true leaders and they were mostly faking everythhing. They didn't fight in as many battles and they didn't help the Crusaders as much but nevertheless they were just as useful as the Templar, which was a lot more than the common Crusader.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY Knights of the Crusades, Jay Wilson, 1914, American Heritage
Europe in the Middle Ages, Antoine Sabbagh, 1986, Silver Bardett
Knights of the Crusades, Michael Gibson, 1975, Toppers Mistery.
-http://www.sai.msu.su/cjackson/crusades/index.htm
-http://www.britania.com/history/bb1312.html
-http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/8008/templar.htm

By: MILOS!!!