The Monks of War

by Desmond Seward

  Finally Saphadin's son and successor, al-Kamil, offered the Franks all Moslem Palestine including Jerusalem if they would abandon the siege. King John and the Teutonic Order wished to accept, but Pelagius and the other brethren refused. On 5 November Damietta fell and the Franks held the town for two years. Kamil, alarmed by the news that Genghis Khan's hordes were making a bloody entrance into the Islamic world, again offered peace: Damietta for Palestine. This time all three Masters agreed with the king, but the greedy, overbearing cardinal refused. He wanted Cairo. John retired to Acre in disgust, but in 1221 Pelagius summoned him back. Once more Kamil offered generous terms, but in July the crusaders marched on Cairo.

  Incredibly, they became bogged down in the network of canals in front of the great city and were surrounded by the Turks; starving and without hope of rescue, King John was lucky enough to save himself and his army in return for Damietta. Kamil, who lacked none of his uncle's charm, invited the crusader magnates to a banquet and sent provisions to their troops. When news came to Damietta that it must be surrendered, Italian merchants who hoped to use the town as a trading base rioted, one Templar being killed and a Teutonic Knight wounded during the uproar. Four years of crusade had been wasted through the arrogant folly of a prince of the Church.

  St Francis of Assisi came to Outremer at this time and even obtained an interview with Sultan Kamil, who was intrigued by the Christian dervish. Francis was a testimony to the dynamism of Western Christianity. The triumph of the Church, however arrogant, took its force from this vitality, as did the fighting brethren themselves, who indeed had their own saints. The Hospitaller, St Hugh of Genoa, was a mystic noted for asceticism; he always slept in the hospital near the sick, performing the humblest duties such as washing patients or laying out corpses, yet to have attained the rank of commander of Genoa Fra' Hugh must have seen plenty of fighting. Nor were the brothers' good qualities confined to nursing. The diplomat St Gerland de Pologne, commander of Calatagirona, who had the unenviable task of representing the Master of St John at Emperor Frederick's court, was a legendary father to the Sicilian poor and was famed for his gift of mending broken friendships. There was another saint among the Hospitallers: a serving brother called Fra' Gerard Mercati, later a Franciscan, who died a hermit in 1241 still wearing the white cross on his grey habit. Even nursing sisters produced a saint – the much loved Ubaldesca. One must never underestimate the spiritual force of the brethren's vocation, to be, as the Hospitaller rite of profession put it: 'A servant of the gentlemen that are poor and sick and a person devoted to the defence of the Catholic faith'. The brethren were emulators of the Good Samaritan, including the Poor Knights.15 The minnesinger Wolfram von Eschenbach visited Outremer during this period and was so overcome by admiration that in 'Parsifal' he compared the Templars to Knights of the Holy Grail.16

  In Europe nursing sisters were at first attached to the Hospitaller commanderies, but were later grouped together in separate houses where they led a contemplative life, praying for their brethren who fought the infidel. Their habit was red with a white-crossed black cloak. The first convent was at Sigena in Aragon, which was occupied in 1188. The famous English convent of Buckland in Somerset, a former house of Augustinian canonesses, was founded by assembling all nursing sisters in England and was served by chaplain brethren. Such houses sent revenues to the Master like any commandery.

  The papal monarchy had attained its zenith with Innocent III but was now over-reaching itself. Ultimately the struggle between empire and papacy destroyed both and was reflected in the next crusade, that of the Emperor Frederick II. He had inherited Sicily from his Hauteville mother and was more of a Norman than a Hohenstaufen, a 'baptized sultan' with Arab soldiers and a harem. The papacy was to call him 'Anti-Christ', yet he was loyally supported by the German Hochmeister, Hermann von Salza. For many years the latter was Frederick's most trusted agent, playing a key role in his master's policies, but never forgetting to exact privileges for his brethren. Against bitter Templar opposition, it was Frederick who secured from the pope the Order's right to wear a white mantle, and the Golden Bull of Rimini gave heathen Prussia to the German Knights. Probably it was Hermann who persuaded the emperor to acquire the crown of Jerusalem by marrying its heiress Yolande, John de Brienne's daughter. As soon as the marriage took place she was relegated to the harem while, after a surprisingly ineffective campaign in Italy against his unnatural son-in-law, John became Emperor of Constantinople, a splendid climax to his career as professional monarch.

  The Sixth Crusade was launched under inauspicious circumstances. The Holy Roman Emperor had just been excommunicated, while during a brief stay in Cyprus his arrogance and treachery alienated the Syrian baronage before his arrival in Palestine in 1228. There the clergy were ranged against him, with the exception of the Teutonic Order. Even so, he brought off a diplomatic tour de force. The emperor, who had Saracen subjects in Sicily and who spoke Arabic fluently, understood and liked Moslems, admiring Islamic culture. His adversary, Kamil, was a civilized, tolerant ruler who disliked war. The sultan was intrigued by news of this strange emperor who dressed like an emir, with the Koran embroidered on his silk robes. As a result Frederick obtained a treaty which gave him Nazareth, the castles of Montfort and Toron, and Jerusalem with a corridor from Jaffa, though the Moslems retained the Dome of the Rock and the 'Temple of Solomon'. No doubt Hermann had advised the emperor to save the sultan's face by yielding a little. The former had once written to a cardinal at Rome: 'Do not forget that before the loss of the Holy Land, in nearly all cities which belonged to the Christians the Saracens were free to practise their religion just as today the Christians in Damascus and in other Moslem lands still freely practise their religion.'17

  The Masters of both the Temple and the Hospital, Pierre de Montaigu and Bertrand de Thessy, were infuriated by the treaty, ratified without their seals. Hospitallers and Poor Knights marched beside the emperor-king to take possession of the Holy City, not under his command but under orders given in the name of Christ, a typical piece of medieval chicanery. Frederick installed himself in the Hospital at Jerusalem and gave the old royal palace, Manoir-le-Roi, to the Teutonic Order. When 'Anti-Christ' wore the imperial crown at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, he was alone save for the indispensable Hermann and his German brethren.18

  Master Pierre de Montaigu of the Temple then wrote to the sultan, suggesting that he assassinate Frederick on his way back to Acre. Kamil immediately forwarded this interesting letter to the emperor, who surrounded the Temple at Acre, but Fra' Pierre was safe inside and very wisely refused to emerge.19 Frederick returned soon afterwards to Italy, where he confiscated all Templar preceptories. Their Syrian brethren retaliated by chasing the Teutonic Knights out of Acre. Frederick always believed that Pope Gregory was behind Pierre's plot, but, thanks to Hermann's inspired diplomacy, he made his peace with the papacy, which in 1231 recognized both the emperor and his son, Conrad, as kings of Jerusalem. The next decade in Syria was a struggle between their supporters and the barons, a condition best described as legalized anarchy. Yet it was also a period of territorial expansion, for the Franks recovered strongholds which they had not occupied since 1187. Al-Kamil, frightened by news of Moslem disasters in Persia and the terrible Mongols, was too preoccupied to care about infidels in Jerusalem.

  The brethren's headquarters were in Acre, but their strongholds were outside the capital. The Germans had Montfort, which they called Starkenberg, near Acre; the Hospitallers had Marqab in Tripoli by the sea, and the Templars Chastel Pelerin. The latter, at Athlit, a fortified peninsula rather than a castle, was protected by sea on three sides with an immense wall of dressed stone on the landward end, and it had freshwater wells, woods, orchards, herds and even salt mines. All three of the chief Orders possessed many fortresses with names that still evoke Outremer's romantic quality: Chastel Rouge, Roche de Roissel and Belvoir, the last described by an Arab writer as 'among the stars like a falcon's nest'. At Starkenberg, one enormousl
y tall watch-tower, separated from the main enceinte, dominated the landscape from its hill, while the conventual apartments were in a keep surrounded by a single curtain-wall. Perhaps the most famous of the castles was Krak-des-Chevaliers of the Hospitallers, 'the supreme achievement of medieval military architecture', ringed by massive curtain-walls and bastions. It contains a cloister, a chapter house, and a magnificent chamber – possibly the castellan's apartment – whose delicate rib-vaulting and stone roses recall the monasteries of France.20

  Medieval strategy was based on the capture and defence of strongpoints, the sole means of holding territory.21 Throughout the history of Latin Syria large areas were controlled by strategically sited strongholds from which razzias or chevauchées could be launched: swift, hard-riding commando raids whose aim was to hit and run with any available loot – gold, slaves or livestock. The castellan was a senior commander with special military duties. Such fortresses were centres of administration and trade, halting places for caravans where taxes were paid.22 The brethren spent much time garrisoning them; at Marqab the walls were always patrolled by four knights and twenty-eight sergeant-brethren. Sometimes they were magnificent, with mosaic floors and wall-paintings, especially the refectory and the castellan's apartments where visiting lords were entertained. As in nonmilitary monasteries, guests sat at meals in silence, listening to devotional reading, but the food and table équipage before them were as splendid as any in Outremer.23 The chapels were superb, and the Little Office was said punctiliously. Life in these frontier strongholds really was a military and monastic existence.

  Whenever a serious crisis loomed, garrisons were reduced to a bare minimum, the brethren riding forth to join their Order's main army. If they failed to return, the isolated fortresses, though seldom more than ten miles from the coast, had little chance of discovering whether another 'Hattin' had taken place. Technically their defences were impregnable, but, although there was food, water and provisions for a thousand men, there were never enough troops to man the walls. The besieging army would give no quarter unless the garrison surrendered, while there was little likelihood of relief as the kingdom's forces were too small. Day by day the atmosphere in the great silent castles grew tenser. Assaults were constantly launched, accompanied by the cacophony of a Mameluke military band, the howling of enraged fanatics and the crash of missiles from the siege artillery. These 'bombs' included blazing barrels of Greek fire, a brew of sulphur and naphtha, the medieval version of napalm. Great tunnels were burrowed under the foundations, shored up with pit props and then set alight to bring the walls tumbling down. Sometimes engineers were attacked from underground by counter-mines, picks and knives, or were smoked out with stinkpots or even flooded out with water. Native troops, Armenians and Christian Arabs, were unreliable and prone to panic. Sieges quickly turned into wars of nerves so that fortresses rarely fell by storm but usually surrendered on terms; in 1187 Sahyun, reputedly the most impregnable of all the Frankish strongholds, yielded to Saladin after only three days.

  None of the lesser orders possessed fortresses, with the possible exception of the Tower of St Ladre, next to the Lazar House between Athlit and Caesarea. Even so, the little brotherhood of St Thomas was making steady if modest progress. In 1231 the Bishop of Winchester, Peter des Roches, gave English brethren a new church at Acre and bequeathed them a large sum of money.24

  In 1239 King Tibald of Navarre landed in Outremer with many French lords and over 1,000 knights, but that November some were surrounded and killed on a raid near Ascalon. Fortunately Tibald and the three great Orders had not accompanied them. Jerusalem was sacked by Moslem troops, who then withdrew. However, Tibald recovered Beaufort, Safed and Ascalon. He was followed by Richard, Earl of Cornwall, who through skilful negotiation recovered much land in the south-west. During this period of Moslem weakness when a real advance was possible, Templars and Hospitallers squabbled ceaselessly, intriguing with imperial agents and fighting each other in the narrow streets of Acre. When the Templars and the Syrian barons seized Tyre, the last imperial stronghold, Frederick was still supported by Hospitaller and German brethren. As long ago as the 1170s there had been bad blood between the Temple and the Hospital. It flared up with particular violence in 1197 over a trifling dispute for a small estate in Tripoli; for years afterwards younger brethren drew their swords when they met members of the rival order in the streets, despite papal rebukes. Harmony was secured briefly when Pierre de Montaigu, elected Master of the Templars in 1218, co-operated with his brother, Fra' Garin de Montaigu, Master of St John from 1208 to 1228, though relations deteriorated once more after their deaths.

  The Poor Knights captured Nablus in 1242, massacring its inhabitants, including Christian Arabs, and in 1243 reoccupied the Temple of Jerusalem. They began to re-fortify the Holy City. However, Sultan Ayub had new allies in the Kwarismian Turks who were fleeing from the Mongols. In July of that year 10,000 savage tribesmen stormed Jerusalem, which was lost to the Franks for ever. In the meantime Outremer and the Moslem princes of northern Syria were mustering. The barons brought 600 knights and the Templar Master, Armand de Périgord, 300, as did the Hospitaller Master, Guillaume de Châteauneuf. There was a detachment of Teutonic Knights, even a few brethren of St Lazarus, together with knights from Antioch and Tripoli and several thousand Turcopoles and foot-soldiers. The Saracen princes brought a large force of Mameluke and Bedouin cavalry.

  On 17 October 1244 at La Forbie near Gaza the allied army left a strong position to attack the Egyptian forces. Instantly they were charged by the ferocious Kwarismians, carrying lances with red streamers. On the right the Franks held out, but on the left and in the centre the wild onslaught proved too much for the Saracen troops who turned and fled. Together Kwarismian and Egyptian Turks surrounded the Franks and cut them to pieces. No fewer than 5,000 Christians fell, including Fra' Armand, his Marshal, Hugues de Montaigu, and 312 brethren; 325 Hospitallers perished, while their Master was taken prisoner and all the St Lazarus brethren were killed.25 Only twenty-six Hospitallers, thirty-three Templars and three Teutonic Knights escaped.26 Even if the Egyptian Sultan was too busy to complete Outremer's destruction, the little kingdom could never replace the loss of manpower. The Hospitaller Master spent the next six years in captivity at Cairo. Fortunately his Order had evolved machinery to deal with such cases and elected his Lieutenant, the Grand Preceptor of Jerusalem, Fra' Jean de Ronay as Vice-Master.

  There was little central authority in the kingdom itself, though the regent, Henry of Cyprus, appointed various members of the Ibelin family as baillis. However, the Holy Land received a new God-sent leader who landed at Damietta in June 1249, Louis IX of France, the hero-king of the Christian West who once said that the only way to argue with an infidel was to thrust one's sword into his belly. His foreign policy, almost totally dependent on divine guidance, was noticeably inept. This forbidding character was relieved by magnanimity, kindness and a sense of humour, which explains some of his magnetic attraction for his contemporaries, Moslems included. He was never known to break his pledged word, even to Saracens.

  Louis occupied Damietta with over 2,000 knights, including 400 from Frankish Romania, and a full complement of Templars, Hospitallers and Teutonic Knights. The king waited till the Nile floods had receded before advancing on Cairo. His progress was hampered by the network of canals, so in December he halted before the largest of the Nile's branches, the Bahr as-Saghir, near the town of Mansourah. On 8 February 1250, Shrove Tuesday, the army, led by the king's brother, Robert d' Artois, forded the river at dawn under strict instructions not to attack. Count Robert, arrogant and impetuous, charged as soon as he had crossed. The Egyptian army was taken by surprise and the Mamelukes fled in terror while their commander, the aged Vizier Fakr ad-Din, caught dyeing his beard, was cut down. Robert ordered a pursuit; the Templar Master Guillaume de Sonnac, 'bon chevalier preux et hardi', while trying to restrain him was called poulain and coward for his pains. The grim old man replied that neither he n
or his brethren were frightened, that they would ride with him but that none of them would come back alive. The Turks rallied under a brilliant Kipchak captain, Baibars Rukd ad-Din 'Bundukdari' (the Crossbowman), ambushing the Franks in the streets of Mansourah. Robert was unhorsed and killed, while Fra' Guillaume, who lost an eye, brought back five out of his 200 brethren.

  Baibars then attacked Louis, and a terrible battle lasted until sunset, charge following charge. Eventually the Mamelukes were driven from the field; but the crusaders were exhausted, with little stomach left for an equally ghastly struggle three days later. Every time Turkish horsemen galloped forward the air was black with arrows and barrels of Greek fire from Mameluke catapults. Old Fra' Guillaume was caught defending a barricade that had been set ablaze by naphtha, but he fought on amidst the flames till he lost his remaining eye and fell, mortally wounded. However, inspired by Louis' almost supernatural heroism, the Franks held their ground and eventually beat off the dreadful Baibars.

  In the next eight weeks the Christian army was stricken with dysentery and typhoid while its ships were captured by the Egyptian fleet. Louis decided to retreat in April, but his enfeebled troops were easily surrounded. After a hopeless resistance, the king, who was dangerously ill with typhus, surrendered. The poorer crusaders were slaughtered or herded off to the slave-market, but, after every sort of indignity, in May Louis and his knights were allowed to ransom themselves in exchange for Damietta and on payment of the huge sum of one million bezants. The king asked the Templars to lend him 60,000 bezants but the Commander, Etienne d'Otricourt, and the Marshal, Renaud de Vichiers, refused. For once Louis lost his temper and sent the faithful Joinville to collect the money from a Templar galley. Since the Templar Treasurer refused to deliver the keys, Joinville smashed the chests open with a hatchet.