The Hospitallers’ and Templars’ involvement in warfare on the frontiers of the British Isles in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries

Abstract

The military religious orders’ vocation was to defend Christianity against non-Christians, not to fight other Christians. Alan Forey has shown that they played little role in papally-initiated holy wars against Christians in the thirteenth century. However, there were various occasions during the thirteenth century and later in which the military religious orders became involved in warfare between Catholic Christians. In particular, the Templars and Hospitallers became involved in warfare in Wales, Scotland and Ireland, working on behalf of the king of England. The evidence examined in this article suggests that this involvement did not represent the military orders’ involvement in holy wars against Christians but men who happened to be members of the military orders and who were members of families who gave military service to the English king, taking part in the English king’s wars.