The military religious orders of the Middle Ages : the Hospitallers, the Templars, the Teutonic knights, and others

The Larmenius Charter is easily the most controversial artifact of the modern Templar movement. As the only purported line of documented continuation from the historical Order of the Knights Templar, it was supposedly written or commissioned by Jean Marc Larmenius in 1324 as a transfer of his Grandmastership due to age. Interest in its origins and potential authenticity has never been lacking. This paper challenges the accepted narratives of the Charter.

The dissertation, titled La committenza artistica dei Templari e degli Ospitalieri in Emilia Romagna, tries, through a multidisciplinary approach, to reconstruct the artistic heritage of two monastic and chivalrous Orders in the region. The dissertation was conceived in order to reflect, also in the structural level, the survey methodology: the first chapter was dedicated to an historical analysis of the two Orders, with particular attention to the relation between them and the art-world; the second chapter, instead, was focused on the relating artistic historiography and on a challenging archive investigations, that, above all through the use of an extensive and unpublished documentation, permitted to reveal new elements for a better understanding of the settlements’ net and their decoration. The research continued with the specific historic and artistic reconstruction of the commanderies: through a survey about the specific settlements, I tried to point out the artistic and historic events of its protagonists. Subsequently, without claiming to draw conclusions in a work that necessarily is in becoming, I developed some reflections on the nature, the limits, the characteristics and developments of the artistic patronage. Finally, the card’s stylistic analysis completed my investigation, giving meaning to the historic and documentary surveys. In this way I rediscovered an extensive and articulated artistic heritage that combines masterpieces and more modest works, but in any case capable of delineating the history of their authors (some of them, like Aristotele Fioravanti, Girolamo da Treviso, Pietro Bembo and Ranuccio Farnese, real protagonists of the time), in a continue and substantial dialogue with the artistic cultures that crossed the region, and not only the region, between Middle Age and Early Modernity.

Nicholas of Hohenstein (1350-1420) - he studied in Vienna. From around 1370, he was in Gdańsk. Here, as the first chaplain, he founded Elendenhof (refuge for the poor). In 1390 he made a pilgrimage with Dorothea of Montau to Rome. After the transformation of Elendenhof in Elisabethhospital (St. Elizabeth's Hospital), Nicholas joined the Teutonic Order and became the first hospitalist. This is confirmed by the sources from 1416.

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7373-2227

... der Entwicklung des Deutschen Ordens im Mittelalter', in: ZH Nowak, ed., Ritterorden und Region ... Würzburg, 1958) 255-271; idem, 'Die inneren Wandlungen des Deutschen Ritterordens', in: Geschichte ... 11 Verder heeft Sonja Neitmann, die voor de catalogus het voor Lijfland zo ...

n the period of the Middle Ages the special role in the religious life both of eastern and western Christians played the relics. Their cult was one of the characteristic attributes of the cult of saints. The relics were strictly connected with the pilgrimage places (centers), they were also the objects of the reciprocal exchange, which was connected with the particular alliance between the both sides participating in this procedure. The cult of relics came to Prussia together with the, invited here, Teutonic Order. They were placed in the majority of the castle chapels. The Teutonic knights not seldom brought them from their home land, some of them could come from Holy places in Palestine, part of them were undoubtedly the gifts of the sovereigns of the neighboring countries. The his- tory proved that the relics often were found among the war captures. In the present article the relics from the castle in Ostróda (formerly Oster- ode) are described. According to the registers of the appointment of the castle chapel from the period between 1411 and 1516 we can draw a conclusion that there were here the relics of the following saints: saint Sigismund, saint Helen, saint Martin, saint Catherine, saint Hubert and Eleven thousand of Virgins. The Reformation and the acceptance of the Luther belief by the last Master of the Teutonic Order in 1525 brought the end to the cult of relics. After this peri- od some of them were taken away some other were dispersed and forgotten

Les notions de « territoires » et de « réseaux » offrent quelque pertinence pour décrire l’implantation des établissements hospitaliers. Il s’agit donc de réfléchir aux territoires tels qu’ils furent appropriés, aménagés et « représentés » par diverses institutions à vocation charitable et cela, à différentes échelles. Existe-t-il ainsi une spécificité hospitalière au regard d’autres institutions ecclésiastiques ? Il ne s’agit pas tant, ici, d’étudier des réseaux humains, mais la manière dont des établissements d’assistance pouvaient fonctionner en réseau sur des bases à la fois matérielles et immatérielles. On tâchera donc de mieux comprendre comment se sont constitués un certain nombre de regroupements hospitaliers. On pense d’abord à l’Hôpital de Saint-Jean dont l’implantation en France centrale a fait l’objet de recherches récentes. Mais on voudrait dépasser le cloisonnement qui sépare trop souvent l’historiographie des ordres militaires et celle des institutions caritatives. Les éléments de convergence entre ordres militaires et hospitaliers sont nombreux et l’objectif de cette rencontre serait notamment de mieux les mettre en évidence. D’autre part, si les institutions hospitalières qui ont connu un essor certain au Moyen Âge – Saint-Esprit, Trinitaires, Antonins… – ont bénéficié de renouvellements récents de la recherche, il n’en va pas de même des groupements plus modestes. En ce sens, l’occasion est offerte de contribuer à la réflexion sur la notion d’ordre appliquée aux institutions régulières. Quelles relations établir entre « réseau » et « ordre » dans la mesure où, par exemple, certaines maisons charitables pouvaient fonctionner en réseau sans être institutionnalisées en ordo ? Travailler sur une chronologie longue permettra de cerner au mieux la dynamique des différents réseaux. En amont, il est fondamental de remonter à l’origine des réseaux, à la chronologie et aux modalités de leur formation. Mais en aval, il n’est pas moins pertinent de réfléchir à l’impact des « mutations » de la fin du Moyen Âge sur ces réseaux hospitaliers : ont-ils connu des difficultés économiques et si oui, quelles en furent les conséquences matérielles et institutionnelles ? À partir du XIVe siècle, la plupart des petits ordres militaires et/ou hospitaliers furent touchés par des logiques centrifuges. Si le phénomène est connu à l’échelle des principales congrégations, il reste à savoir s’il eut une traduction régionale.

The article presents two stages of secularization of the Teutonic order’s holdings in the Baltic
States. The first stage was carried out in 1525 by the Grand Master of Prussia, Albrecht of Brandenburg-
Ansbach, and the second — in 1561 in Livonia by landmaster Gotthard Kettler. The disappearance of
Ordensstaat was the result of these processes. They also changed the political landscape of this region. As a
result, the Duchies were established in the ex-order’s lands. The heads of spiritual order of knightly corporation
became secular leaders of these territorial units which practiced Lutheranism on the daily basis. This article
discusses the domestic political position of Grand Master and landmaster. It also deals with a matter of personal
attitude of Albreht Brandenburg-Ansbach and Gotthard Kettler to the evangelical faith. In the first case the
attention is paid to the existence of private correspondence with Martin Luther, who sent his messages to
Prussia and Livonia. Apparently Livonian landmaster was in close contacts with the Protestant preachers. This is
confirmed by the fact of his visits to Melanchthon’s lectures, as well as support for the opening of Protestant
schools in Livonia. Author studies the assembly of order‘s gebitigers of April 5, 1560 that reflected the mood
inside the military order before the secularization (associated with both the military and political situation caused
by the Livonian War, and with the religious issue). Article presents the factors that contributed the later secularization of the Order of Livonia in comparison with the Prussian lands. These examples indicate the
beginning of the time of konfessionalisation since the middle 1520s and assume the existence of a special
variant of the «order’s» Reformation in the Baltic lands. Faith-based processes started on this site a little earlier
than in the rest of the Holy Roman Empire. The spreading of Lutheranism in the order’s territories of the Baltic
lands is included in general picture of confessionalisation of the XVIth century.

In 2016, during the repairing of a wall in the churchyard of San Fermo Maggiore in Verona, an imposing sarcophagus was discovered. Made of sandstone quarried in the nearby hills, the badly flaked tomb bears illegible inscriptions but also a well-preserved cross pattée with point inserted in the bottom arm at both ends, an image closely associated with Templar tombs. As we will see, there are powerful reasons to link this burial to Arnau of Torroja, Master of the Knights Templar, who died in the city in September 1184. This article will give a brief outline of Arnau’s career and explain why he came to be in Verona, together with an analysis of the important presence of the order in the twelfth century with all its properties in the same area of the city, later acquired by the Hospitallers. The article will then follow the scientific trail linking Arnau of Torroja to the bones found in the tomb, which could be the first tomb ever discovered of a Master of the Knights Templar.

The article is devoted to the commandery of the Knights Hospitaller in Łagów, from its establishment in the 1350s to the end of the 1530s. By means of detailed analysis of sources, utilisation of a wide range of research methods and drawing on the achievement of Polish and German researchers, enabled the author to reveal the circumstances surrounding creation of the commandery, present its furnishings and equipment as well as introduce individual commanders and their seat.

Rafał Kubicki (University of Gdańsk)
Water mills and rural settlement in the Dominion of the Teutonic Order in Prussia
The study is devoted to the closer discussion of the issue of location, economic function and the legal status of water mills in the Dominion of the Teutonic Order in Prussia. The aim of it was also to indicate factors having the largest impact on the shape of the water mills network existing here in the Medieval period. The situation in Prussia was determined by the policy of the Teutonic Order. The Order not only did it control the right for building water mills in knight’s estates but also, except in several cases, constituted the sole owner of water mills situated in towns. It was indeed possible only due to the fact that the Teutonic Order, as the biggest land owner in the state, had water regale at its own disposal. It would give it the opportunity to plan a network of mills relevant to the needs of the settlement network in foundation.
The location of a watermill resulted above all from the real occurring economic needs and adequate water conditions. Authorities tried to keep the largest possible influence on the decisions on locating new buildings. Owing to that, on one hand, in the content of documents detailed provisions banning constructions of new mills in a given distance from the already existing ones would be included, and on the other, a system of incentives was applied in the form of milling coercion enforcing specific settlements to use only the designated mill. Town and villages location laws are abundant with references to the existence of mills or, even more often, just the plans of building them. The Order, bishops and chapters, while issuing the documents, often reserved for themselves the right to construct such a machinery, excluding parts of the terrain needed for that purpose from general location laws. Issuing a permit to build and utilise water mills in exchange for rent and the system of reservation, had a considerable impact on the way mill networks were created and the rules of their functioning. Planning the economy of rural area in terms of water mills allocation was also manifested by establishing separate mill hamlets, which enjoyed the status of independent settlement units.
Water mills constituted an important element of the economic infrastructure of rural areas, and that their functions were closely related to the organisation of villages as well as the farms production profile, thus with the scale of grain cultivation in juxtaposition to animal husbandry. It also meant that millers had to cooperate closely with the village community, sometimes by means of regulations included in mill laws and location documents of individual settlements. Within the framework of colonisation campaign conducted by the Teutonic Order in Prussia, based on locating towns and villages, also a development of a whole economic infrastructure commenced, of which an important part, the water mill was. Attempts to control that process occurred already at the stage of town or village location, which is indicated in the mentioned clauses of reserving the places for anticipated milling facilities. Later, analogical control was exercised over newly built or redeveloped mills. The economic crisis of the state observed in the middle of the 15th century, indicated by the phenomenon of desolation of villages, would also result in water mill network regression.

The Teutonic Order was founded in 1190 to provide medical care for crusaders in the kingdom of Jerusalem. In time, it assumed a military role and played an important part in the defence of the Christian territories in the Eastern Mediterranean and in the Baltic regions of Prussia and Livonia; in the Levant, it fought against the neighbouring Islamic powers, whilst managing their turbulent relations with their patrons in the papacy and the German Empire. As the Order grew, it colonised territories in Prussia and Livonia, forcing it to address how it distributed its resources between its geographically-spread communities. Similarly, the brethren also needed to develop an organisational framework that could support the conduct of war on frontiers that were divided by hundreds of miles. This book-the first comprehensive analysis of the Order in the Holy Land-explores the formative years of this powerful international institution and places its deeds in the Levant within the context of the wider Christian, pagan and Islamic world. It examines the challenges that shaped its identity and the masters who planned its policies.

Favreau Robert. Rafaël Hyacinthe. —
L'ordre de Saint-Lazare de Jérusalem au Moyen Âge.
Millau, Conservatoire Larzac
templier et hospitalier, 2003 (Milites Christi, 1). In: Cahiers de civilisation médiévale, 48e année (n°190), Avril-juin 2005. p. 177.

The first military order in Livonia, founded in 1202 in order to supply the Christian mission with a stable and local military force in addition to the coming and going of seasonal crusaders. In its short history, it was defeated in Lithuania in 1236 and forced to merge with the Teutonic Order, the Sword Brethren played a major role in Livonia often in opposition to other Christian powers in Livonia, the Bishop of Riga, the city of Riga and the Danish king.

This article will analyze the context offered by Peter of Dusburg, a brethren of the Teutonic Order, who wrote in 1326 in Prussia one of the most important descriptions of the history of the Teutonic Order - 'Chronicon Terrae Prussiae'. This Chronicle described the activities of the Teutonic Order first in the Holy Land, while also examining a number of events and persons who were active while the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem still existed. This article will deal with the establishment of the German institution in Acre in 1190 and until the fall of Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem in 1291, when the kingdom was conquered by the Muslim (Saracens) warriors after the fall of all the Crusader strongholds in the Latin  East, particularly Acre, to which Peter of Dusburg’s chronicles, dedicated a special chapter. These topics will allow an insight into the world of Peter of Dusburg, who had been active long time after the fall of the Latin Kingdom and who did not know what exactly happened there. He had presented, in his chronicle, the history of the Teutonic Order in a unique way, linking its activities in the Baltic region with its historical role in the Holy Land. That was far away from the military and political scene of Prussia and the Baltic region, long before the Teutonic Order had began its activities in the northern part of Europe.

The rule of the order of the Temple took a traditional monastic attitude towards women, being strongly antifeminine in tone, and seeing women as contaminating the brothers. However, the evidence discussed in this article suggests that the brothers had a more secular attitude to women. They were prepared to give way to pressure from their lay patrons and to admit women to full membership of the order, even, in one case, to accept responsibility for a nunnery. The evidence also indicates that, like knights of the world, they were inclined to romanticize women, and they seem to have preferred the cults of female saints to male. They were, however, as was normal in their society and class, too ready sexually to exploit ordinary women. This was apparently accepted by outsiders, for whereas the Templars were criticized for pride and greed, they were not accused of lack of chastity. Until the accusations brought against the order in 1307, the brothers also escaped the accusations of homosexuality hinted against more traditional monastic orders by secular clergy such as John of Salisbury and Walter Map.

Parmi les rares épisodes légendaires liés à la présence des Hospitaliers de l'ordre de Saint-Jean de Jérusalem dans l'île de Rhodes, le récit du combat entre Dorde de Gozon et le dragon est de loin le plus célèbre. Popularisée au XVIIIe siècle par le poète allemand Friedrich von Schiller, la légende fit l'objet au XIXe siècle de débats animés quant à la réalité du récit. L'examen détaillé des sources et des éléments tangibles présentés comme autant de « pièces à conviction » montre pourtant qu'il s'agit d'un récit tardif, apparu durant les dernières années de présence des Hospitaliers dans l'île. Reposant probablement sur des éléments importés de France et propres à la famille rouergate de Gozon, ce récit apparaît au moment le plus opportun pour revendiquer et louer un passé glorieux. Symbole de la chrétienté victorieuse, l'acte héroïque du futur grand maître délivrant l'île du joug néfaste du dragon trouve un écho favorable alors que l'Ordre se trouve menacé sur son propre territoire par les armées ottomanes.

In October 1307, by order of Philip IV of France, all the Knights Templar within the French domains were arrested. In November, Pope Clement V sent out orders for the arrest of the Templars throughout Europe. The brothers were accused of a variety of crimes, which were said to be long-established in the order. There were, it was claimed, serious abuses in the admission ceremony, where the brothers denied their faith in Christ. The order encouraged homosexual activity between brothers. The brothers worshipped idols. Chapter meetings were held in secret. The brothers did not believe in the mass or other sacraments of the church and did not carry these out properly, defrauding patrons of the order who had given money for masses to be said for their families' souls.

What was more, it was alleged that the Templars did not make charitable gifts or give hospitality as a religious order should. The order encouraged brothers to acquire property fraudulently, and to win profit for the order by any means possible.

During the trial of the Templars witnesses claimed that the order's abuses had been notorious far many years and under interrogation, including torture, many brothers confessed to at least some of these crimes. In March 1312, Pope Clement dissolved the Order of' the Temple, giving its property of the Order of the Hospital, and assigning the surviving brothers to other religious orders. Despite this, the question of the order's guilt has never been settled. Just what were the accusations made against the Templars before 1300, and were these related to the trial? What did contemporaries think about the other military orders, such as the Knights Hospitaller and the Teutonic Knights?
This article argues that, from the evidence, the famous, shocking charges brought against the Templars in 1307 were unknown before 1300. The order was certainly guilty of Fraud and unscrupulous greed, but so too were other religious orders. The brothers' real crime was their failure to protect the Holy Land after claiming to be solely responsible for its defence.

Matthew Paris is one of the best known and most controversial of medieval historians. A Benedictine monk, he was chronicler of St. Alban‘s Abbey from around 1236 until his death in 1259. The aim of this article is to examine Matthew’s value as an historian in one important area: events in the Holy Land from 1229 to 1259, of which he was a contemporary. Matthew is an important source for the history of the Holy Land during this period. His writings reveal him to have been very much in favour of Latin Christian control of the holy places in Palestine. But he was hotly critical of the failure of those whose duty it was to protect them: the crusaders and the military orders. The problems of interpretation that his works present are common to monastic chronicles. His reporting of events was distorted; partly because his informants were not always reliable, but mainly by his own prejudices. Because of his hatred of the pope, the king, foreigners, the friars and others, he sometimes misinterpreted his information. He has been accused of forging some of the documents he inserted into his chronicle. He passed off his own personal view as general opinion. At the same time, however, Matthew’s prejudice is interesting in itself. It offers us a window into the thoughts of one well-informed thirteenth-century English monk, and casts some light on the prejudices of his immediate audience. For this reason, Matthew Paris’ treatment of the Templars and Hospitallers is particularly revealing and significant for historians of the crusades and of the military orders.
This article was written in 1992 for a journal aimed at high school children. Suggesting that Matthew Paris was the medieval equivalent of a modern gutter press leader-writer, it opens with a mock tabloid-press headline. The reference to the ‘evil emperor’ was intended to echo the then recent fall of the USSR, which the British tabloid press had labelled an ‘evil empire’.

Recommended to read "Re-Examining the Larmenius Charter" in addition to this.
The Charter of Larmenius has not been considered a reliable historical document regarding a legitimate line of descent of the Knights Templar for nearly 200 years. However, renewed analysis of the Charter's contents, language, and historical correlations have reinvigorated the study of its claims in a new generation. As a result, new historical connections are now being made which may further bolster the
credibility of the Charter's narrative. One potential association with the Charter is a document known as the Avignon Decree of 1326. This Papal Bull was produced by a council of bishops assembled at the abbey of Saint Ruf in what is now Avignon, France and was adopted and enforced by Pope John XXII just two years after the reported writing of the Larmenius Charter in 1324. If a legitimate connection between the two is found to be likely, it would establish an additional primary document that corresponds directly to the narrative of the Charter.

1099. Era una sera di giugno quando, all’inizio di un’estate inevitabilmente torrida e alla fine di un percorso intrapreso tre anni prima, i crociati cominciarono a prendere d’assalto Gerusalemme. Gerardo stava in città. Da ospedaliere, svolgeva le sue mansioni nel monastero amalfitano di Santa Maria dei Latini, e faceva quel che poteva, con le poche risorse a disposizione per i molti ospiti, poveri, malati e pellegrini. All’indomani della conquista, divenne fondatore e rettore di un’istituzione, figlia del monachesimo benedettino, resasi indipendente per andare incontro alle esigenze nuove della mobilità devozionale. L’Ospedale accumulò privilegi e da subito numerose donazioni, sia in Oriente che in Occidente. Gerardo fu, di fatto, il primo gran maestro dell’Ordine di San Giovanni di Gerusalemme, detto poi di Rodi, infine di Malta, nel tempo coerentemente votato a una duplice missione, da un lato la difesa della cristianità, dall’altro la finalità assistenziale che è la vera cifra identitaria degli Ospedalieri. «Il libro contestualizza in modo eccellente il cambiamento e i caratteri di questa nuova istituzione e così facendo getta nuova luce su un Ordine del quale molto sapevamo per i secoli successivi, ma poco circa le origini» (dalla Prefazione di F. Cardini).

The Practical and Symbolic Dimensions of Edged Weapons for the Hospitallers
1530-1798


Whether as weapons, status symbols, or metaphoric representations; swords capture the imagination today as much as they did in the past. For the Hospitaller Order of St John,  the sword played a valuable role in all its dimensions, be they martial, civilian, or symbolic. Through historical research and physical practice, these aspects have been sifted out from the Order’s archives, manuscripts and contemporary treatises to uncover the true meaning of the edged weapons of ‘the Religion’.

The obstacles to the interpretation of the Ukrainian folk painting “Cossack Mamay” are caused by the researchers’ views of the Cossacks phenomenon, inherited from Soviet historiography. To my mind the main reason for a rather poetic than theoretic explanation of the painting’s essential matter is the fact that post-Soviet historians still do not regard the Ukrainian Cossacks to be a monastic military order with its special religious practice.

The Green Knight was a character featured in the classic poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (fourteenth century) and its derivative The Green Knight (c. 1500). This knight came into Arthur’s hall and asked any one of his knights to trade blows.

Sir Gawain accepted this challenge and he was allowed to strike first. He cut off the Green Knight’s head. The latter calmly picked it up and told Gawain to meet him on New Year’s Morning for his turn.

On his way to this meeting, Gawain lodged with a lord and each agreed to give the other what he had obtained during each day of Gawain’s stay. On the first day, when the lord was out hunting, Gawain received a kiss from his wife which was duly passed on. On the second day, he received a brace of kisses which were also passed on. On the third day he was given three kisses and some green lace which would magically protect him, but only the three kisses were passed on.

The Green Knight is most often and closely associated with Sir Gawain and the Green Knight ("green", "associated with trees", "a ruler of trees").
Later on, the Nazi's took over this title to name Dr.Green, aka 'Dr.Jozef Mengele')

Having left the lord’s residence, Gawain arrived at the Green Chapel where he was to meet the Green Knight. He knelt for the blow. The Green Knight aimed three blows at Gawain, but the first two did not make contact and the third but lightly cut his neck.

The Green Knight turned out to be the lord with whom he had been staying and he said he would not have cut Gawain at all had the latter told him about the lace. The Green Knight was called Bertilak and he lived at Castle Hutton. The tale bears a striking resemblance to an Irish narrative in which Cu Roi takes the part of the Green Knight and Cuchullain that of Gawain. The Green Knight may have been the Green Man, a wild man featured on inn signboards whose effigy was carried in civic processions.

*Sir Pertolepe was also called the Green Knight, and he was defeated by Sir Gareth.