The Monks of War

by Desmond Seward

  After Paul's murder in 1801, his son, Alexander I, told the Knights who had taken refuge in Sicily to elect a new Grand Master. When the Pope appointed the Bailiff Tommasi in 1803, the 'Sacred Council' at Petersburg recognized him at once and voted its own dissolution. In 1810–11 the Tsar confiscated the estates of the Russian Grand Priories, Catholic and Orthodox, formally confirming their complete dissolution in 1817. The commanderies' lands were given back to the families of the founders.

  Because of the dissolution's vagueness and lack of co-ordination, and from a mistaken belief that hereditary commanderies had been founded, attempts have been made to revive the Russian Grand Priories. At the beginning of this century an American citizen, Colonel William Lamb, announced that he was a descendant of a General Ivan Lamb, whom he alleged to have been a member of Tsar Paul's Russian Grand Priory. In 1908 he held a meeting in New York at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel which, so it is claimed, was attended by eight descendants of Russian ex-commanders, who supposedly formed a Grand Priory of America. In 1911 this organization registered itself as the 'Knights of Malta Inc.', later establishing a headquarters at Shickshinny, Pennsylvania. Little was heard of it for many years. However, since the late 1950s, at least 30 so-called 'Orders of St John' have appeared, most of them basing their claims to 'authenticity' on descent from the Shickshinny group, and each one with a Grand Master, Prior or Protector – in one or two cases, members of the former ruling houses of Russia or Yugoslavia. Some of these groups have attempted, not without success, to sell titles and even false passports.

  Not all these 'Orders' have based their claims on Russian descent. A Danish group has insisted that it is the Order of St John in Denmark, mainly on the grounds that the Danish Crown never abolished the Order in their country.

  In order to combat the activities of such organizations and to stop them using its name and insignia, the Sovereign Order has set up a False Orders of St John Commission. Besides those from the Sovereign Order, the commission includes representatives from the 'Alliance Orders of St John' (the Johanniterorden in Germany, together with its commanderies in Austria, Finland, France, Switzerland and Hungary, the Johanniter Orde in the Netherlands and the Johanniterorden in Sweden), and also from the Venerable Order of St John in Great Britain.

  The definitive study of the Order of Malta in Russia is Fra' Cyril Toumanoff's L'Ordre de Malte et I'Empire de Russie (Rome, 1979), while the best introduction to the labyrinthine world of the self-styled orders of St John is by A. Chaffanjon and B. Gallimard Flavigny, Ordres et Contre-Ordres de Chevalerie (Paris, 1982). The world expert on such orders is generally acknowledged to be Professor Jonathan Riley-Smith, Librarian of the Venerable Order of St John.

  NOTES

  CHAPTER 2: THE BIRTH OF A NEW VOCATION

  1. Fulcherius Carnotensis, 'Historia Hierosolymitana', R.H.C. oc., vol. III, p. 468.

  2. See F. Macler, 'Armenia', Cambridge Medieval History, vol. IV.

  3. See R. C. Smail, Crusading Warfare 1097–1193 (Cambridge University Press, 1957).

  4. 'The foot, on both the line of march and the battle-field, were usually placed between the enemy and the knights . . . a living barrier armed with spears and bows.' ibid., p. 130.

  5. Dr Smail believes that sergeants fought as foot soldiers. ibid., p. 91.

  6. ibid., p. 75, 'Turkish tactics'.

  7. Smail (op. cit., p. 87 n. 6) quotes William of Tyre on the Egyptians in one disastrous campaign. 'The vile and effeminate Egyptians ['Egyptiis vilibus et effeminatis'] who were more of a hindrance and a burden than a help . . .' See 'Historia rerum in partibus transmarini gestarum', R.H.C. oc.

  8. For the Frankish charge, see Smail, pp. 112–15, 200–201: 'on many occasions the divisions of the army charged in succession' (i.e. attacked in echelon).

  9. Sir Ernest Barker, The Crusades (Oxford University Press, 1949), p. 48.

  10. For the earliest account of the Templars' origin see William of Tyre, op. cit., bk. 12, ch. VII, pp. 520–21, 'Ordo militiae templi instituitur'. Jacques de Vitry, Historia orientalis seu Hierosolymitana, adds details, such as those about the gift of the Temple, which he must have had from the brethren themselves.

  11. For the Hospitallers' origins see William of Tyre, op. cit., bk. 18, ch. 4, pp. 822–3, 'Describitur, unde habuit ortum et initium domus Hospitalis' (in the 'Estoire d'Eracles', a thirteenth-century French translation, this is charmingly rendered 'Comment li Hospitalier orent petit commencement'). Also Riley-Smith, The Knights of St John in Jerusalem and Cyprus, p. 32 et seq., where all traditions and sources concerning the order's origins are fully examined.

  12. Delaville le Roulx, Cartulaire Général des Hospitaliers de Saint Jean de Jérusalem 1100-1310, vol. I, cart. no. 30.

  13. 'The Papal bull of 1113, Pie postulatio voluntatis, was the foundation charter for the new order.' Riley-Smith, op. cit., p. 43.

  14. 'Un document sur les débuts des Templiers', ed. J. Leclercq in Revue de l'histoire ecclésiastique, LII (1957).

  15. See H. de Curzon, La Règle du Temple (Paris, 1887). For a résumé of its principal statutes see Melville, La Vie des Templiers, pp. 42–7. (Marion Melville does not consider the rule to be St Bernard's despite its Cistercian form – p. 20.) For the Templar translation of the Book of Judges see Melville, pp. 81–3, who comments that it transforms scripture into 'une sorte de roman de Chevalerie'.

  16. The best easily available description of the brethren's daily life is in Melville, op. cit., ch. XVII.

  17. 'De Laude Novae Militiae' in S. Bernardi Opera, vol. III (Editiones Cistercienses), ed. Dom J. Leclerq and Dom H. M. Rochais (Rome, 1963).

  18. See Lees, Records of the Templars in England in the Twelfth Century.

  19. Other great officers were the Gonfanonier (Standard Bearer), the Vice-Marshal and the Turcopolier. For a more detailed account of the Templar hierarchy see Melville, op. cit., pp. 84–101.

  20. Until recently this bull was ascribed to 1139, but Dr Riley-Smith has shown that it cannot be earlier than 1152 – and also that in that year the Templars were still not yet exempt from the partriarch's jurisdiction. See English Historical Review (April 1969).

  21. Ekkehard of Aura in 'Hierosolymitana', R.H.C. oc., vol. V.

  22. Trans. G. Webb and A. Walker, quoted in L. Bouyer, The Cistercian Heritage (Mowbray, 1958).

  23. Professor Riley-Smith considers that fighting was an auxiliary activity –'an extension of its charitable duties' (op. cit., p. 55) – which did not become as important as the latter until the thirteenth century.

  24. See King, The Rule, Statutes and Customs of the Hospitallers, 1099–1310.

  25. See Riley-Smith, op. cit., p. 257. Vainer brethren seem to have spent their regulation pocket money on clothes of better cloth, embroidered with gold thread, or on silk turbans etc.

  26. See ibid., pt. II.

  27. Grand Commander in the West was an office occasionally bestowed on a great bailiff like the Prior of St Gilles (southern France), ibid., p. 366.

  28. ibid., pp. 334–5.

  29. H. de Curzon, op. cit.

  30. See J. Nichols, History of the County and Antiquities of Leicestershire, vol. II, pt. I (London, 1759); also 'The Hospital of Burton Lazars', V.C.H. Leicestershire, vol. 2, pp. 36–9; the founder's charter is in Dugdale, Monasticon Anglicanum, vol. VI (2), p. 632.

  31. See Delaville le Roulx, 'L'Ordre de Montjoie', Revue de l'Orient Latin, vol. I (Paris 1893); this article is still the definitive study.

  CHAPTER 3: THE BULWARK OF JERUSALEM

  1. For the death of Bernard de Tremelay see the 'Estoire d'Eracles', R.C.H. oc., vol. I, bk. 17, ch. XXVII, p. 805.

  2. 'Marseilles, indeed, as the centre of transport from France to the Holy Land, had in 1253 and 1255 to pass statutes to regulate the traffic. Not more than fifteen hundred pilgrims were to be taken in any one ship. First-class passengers, with deck cabins, were to pay 60 sous; second-class, between decks, 40; third-class, on the lowest deck, 35; and fourth-class, in the hold, 25.
Each pilgrim received a numbered ticket . . .'Joan Evans, Life in Mediaeval France (Phaidon, 1969), p. 98.

  3. See William of Tyre, op. cit., bk. 20, ch. XXVI, p. 990 – 'Milo Armenus, frater domini Toros' – 'De la grant desloiauté Meslier le frere Toros'.

  4. See Delaville le Roulx, Les Hospitaliers, pp. 65–76 and Cart. Gen. no. 402 – the charter which confirmed this great gamble.

  5. On Gautier de Mesnil, Etudes de St Amand and King Amalric, see Melville, op. cit., pp. 103–4, and William of Tyre, op. cit., bk. 20, ch. XXX, pp. 997–9.

  6. See Gibbon, The Decline and Fall, ch. LIX.

  7. William of Tyre says that the Master literally breathed fury – 'spiritum furoris habens in naribus' – op. cit., bk. 21, ch. XXIX, p. 1057.

  8. A famous description of the splendid establishment at the Temple of Jerusalem was written by an enthralled Franciscan priest, Johann von Würzburg, who visited it in the 1170s. See 'Johannis Wirburgensis Presbyterii Descriptio Terrae Sanctae', M.P.L., ch. CLV.

  9. See 'L'Estoire de Eracles Empereur et la conqueste de la terre d'outremer'. R.H.C. oc., bk. 28, ch. XXVI, p. 40.

  10. R.H.C. oc., II, bk. 23, ch. XXXV, p. 52.

  11. R.H.C. oc., II, bk. 23, ch. XLIII, p. 65 – 'En cele bataille fu la Sainte Crois perdue'. Marion Melville makes much of a story that a Templar escaped with the True Cross, which he buried in the sand; later he returned but could not find it. Yet Arabic sources definitely state that the Cross was captured.

  12. The main source for these details is Ralph de Diceto's Ymagines Historiarum. See 'The Historical Works of Master Ralph de Diceto, Dean of London', ed. Stubbs, Rolls Series, vol. II (London, 1876), p. 80.

  13. See Legge, Anglo-Norman Literature and its Background, p. 191.

  14. See Riley-Smith, op. cit., pp. 272–3.

  15. For contemporary writers who admired the Templars, see Melville, ch. XVI, 'Un archevêque et deux trouvères' (Jacques de Vitry, Guiot de Provins, and Christien de Troyes).

  16. For Wolfram von Eschenbach's admiration for the Templars, see Melville, p. 182.

  17. See Masson, The Emperor Frederick II of Hohenstaufen, p. 147.

  18. Until very recently it was supposed that Frederick crowned himself king but it has now been shown that this was not the case – he merely wore the imperial crown. See H. E. Mayer, 'Das Pontifikale von Tyrus and die Krönung der Lateinischer Koenige von Jerusalem', Dumbarton Oaks Papers, no. 21 (1967).

  19. Only Matthew Paris mentions this plot. See Riley-Smith, op. cit., p. 168.

  20. An oddly haunting inscription was found in the Great Gallery of Krak:

  SIT TIBI COPIA

  SOT SAPIE(N)CIA

  FORMAQ(UE) DET(UR)

  INQ(UI)NAT O(MN)IA SOLA

  SUP(ER)BIA SI COMI(TETUR)

  – wealth may be yours, wisdom too, and you may have beauty, but if pride touch them, all will turn to dross. See Deschamps, Le Crac des Chevaliers, p. 218.

  21. 'The acquisition or successful defence of strong places was the highest prize of warfare, besides which success in battle was of secondary importance.' Smail, op. cit., p. 139.

  22. ibid., pp. 60, 61 – castles 'served as residences, as administrative centres, as barracks and as police posts'. Dr Smail also believes that they were centres of colonization and economic development.

  23. Behaviour in the refectory was not always decorous – brethren would sometimes beat or throw bread and wine at the paid servants who waited on them. See Riley-Smith, op. cit., p. 254.

  24. 'Quingentas marcas' (50 marks), a very large sum for the period. See Matthew Paris, Chrónica Majora, ed. Luard, vol. III, p. 490.

  25. A Templar, Fra' Roger l'Aleman, taken prisoner, apostatized but then escaped; he was expelled from the Order. Melville, p. 206.

  26. See Matthew Paris, op. cit., vol. IV, p. 342.

  27. Writing in 1250 of the last fifty years' main events, Matthew Paris noted: 'The houses of the Temple, of the Hospital, of St Mary of the Germans, and of St Lazarus have twice been taken prisoner, killed and scattered.' He was referring to La Forbie and the disasters of St Louis. Paris, op. cit., vol. V, p. 192.

  28. See Joinville, Histoire de Saint Louis, p. 300.

  CHAPTER.4: ARMAGEDDON

  1. See Matthew Paris, Chrónica Majora, vol. V, p. 745.

  2. 'In the magistracy of Bertrand de Comps between 1236 and 1239, brother knights were given precedence over the priests and it was later said that Bertrand had done more for them than any other Master.' Riley-Smith, op. cit., p. 238. See Chrónica Magistrum Defunctorum, XVII.

  3. It was laid down by the Hospitallers' Chapter-General of 1262 'that no Prior nor bailiff nor other brother knight receive a brother unless he who is to be knighted should be the son of a knight or of knightly family'. Delaville le Roulx, Cartulaire Générate, vol. 3, p. 42 (trans. from 'The Thirteenth-Century Statutes of the Knights Hospitallers', ed. King).

  4. '. . . ces Césars mamelûks, bêtes de proie traitresses et féroces, mais soldats de génie, connaisseurs et manieurs d'hommes . . .' Grousset, vol. III, p. 615.

  5. Fra' Guillaume de Beaujeu was '. . . a great nobleman ("mout gentilhome"), a cousin of the King of France, so generous, openhanded and charitable that he was famous for it'. This, at any rate, was the opinion of his secretary, the Templar of Tyre. R.H.C. arm., II, p. 779.

  6. See 'Les Gestes des Chyprois', R.H.C. arm., II, p. 793.

  7. loc. cit.

  8. ibid., p. 808, '. . . le Mensour ce est a dire le Victorious'.

  9. ibid., p. 812, '. . . une grant nacare . . . quy avoit mout oryble vois'.

  10. ibid., p. 816, '. . . frere Mahé de Clermont . . . come chevaliers preus et hardis, bon crestiens. Et Dieus ait l'arme de yaus!' It is worth remembering that this account of the Marshal's last stand was written by the Templar of Tyre who spoke to eye-witnesses. The Hospitaller Master wrote later of the Marshal '. . . estoit nobles et preus et sage as armes. Diex li soit deboinaires!' See Delaville le Roulx, vol. III, cart. no. 4157.

  11. ibid., p. 813, 'Et il lor respondy hautement que chascun l'oy: Seignors, je ne peu plus, car je suy mort – vées le cop.'

  12. In the letter quoted above which the Master of the Hospital afterwards wrote to the Prior of St Gilles, '. . . en larmians souspirs et en très grande tristece, vous anonchons le maleuret trebucement d'Acre, le boine cité, hec! con grande doleur . . .', he says that 'nous meymes fume en cel jour feru à mort d'une lance entre les garites . . .'

  13. Grousset tells the story particularly well, vol. III, pp. 760 et seq.

  CHAPTER.5: THE CRUSADE ON THE BALTIC

  1. Dusburg, 'Chrónica Terre Prussie', I, 1.

  2. 'This man was eloquent, affable, wise, careful and far seeing, and glorious in all his actions.' Dusburg, op. cit., I, 5.

  3. See Herder, Der Orden Schwertbrüder (Cologne, 1965), who identifies the origins of a surprisingly large number of Sword Brethren.

  4. 'Among the Knighthood's brethren at that time there was a certain Wigbert whose heart was far more inclined to love the world rather than religious discipline and who had caused much discord among his brothers . . . he was a real Judas . . . like a wolf among sheep . . . in the upper room where he had gone on the pretext of communicating some secret, suddenly, with the axe ['bipenne'] which he always carried, he struck off the Master's head . . .' Heinrich von Lettland, p. 132, 'Chronicon Livonicum vetus' in S.R.L., vol. I. (Balthasar Rüssow, 'Chrónica der Provintz Lyfflandt', S.R.L., vol. II, p. 13, mistakenly dates the murder to 1223.)

  5. '. . . there arrived unexpectedly from Livonia Gerlac the Red announcing that Master Wolquin with many brethren, pilgrims and people of God had been killed – slain in battle'. Dusburg, op. cit., III, 28.

  6. '. . . terram horroris et vaste solitudinis.' Dusburg, op. cit., II, 10.

  7. They mistook every created thing for God, says Petrus, '. . . the sun, the moon and the stars, thunder and lightning, and even four-legged beasts, down to the toad', ibid., III, 5. The Order never forgot this grue
some paganism: An eighteenth-century knight historian wrote 'La Prusse, vaste pays encore plongé alors dans les ténèbres de l'idolatrie' – Wal, vol. I, p. 194.

  8. '. . . castrum dictum Vogelsanck quod dicitur latine cantus avium . . .' seems to be a ponderous joke on Petrus's part. Dusburg, op. cit., II, 10.

  9. Treitschke, op. cit., p. 40. At least one great victory was won over the Prussians 'tempore hyemali, cum omnia essent gelu intensissimo indurate'. Dusburg, op. cit., III, 11.

  10. In fact Master Wolquin had been negotiating for the incorporation of his brotherhood into the Teutonic Order for the last six years. See Dusburg, op. cit., III, 28.

  11. However, in Pomerellen the brethren left the native Slav nobility in possession of its lands since it was firmly Christian.

  12. 'in errores pristinos sunt relapsi', Dusburg, III, 89.

  13. On one occasion Martin von Gollin (probably a halbbruder) seized a Lithuanian ship and sailed back down the rivers to Thorun, 250 miles away. Petrus tells us that Martin always attacked Prussian villages at dusk, to catch the warriors in their saunas. Dusburg, op. cit., III, 199.

  14.'. . . and all the tribes in the said land had been conquered or driven out [expugnate essent et exterminate'] so that not one was left who would not humbly bow his neck to the Most Holy Roman Church'. Dusburg, op. cit., III, 221.

  15. The Engelsburg commandery took its name from the 'angelic life' led by its brethren – no doubt the Prussians had another name for it.

  16. The rite of profession contains a sword blessing, 'Benedicio ensis ad faciendum militum'. See Perlbach, p. 129, who gives French, Low German and Dutch versions as well as Latin and German – in the early days admission was not restricted to Germans.

  17. The Landmeister's banner depicted the Blessed Virgin in Glory, according to Banderia Prutenorum in S.R.P., vol. IV.