Military Religious Orders Research Articles

The Modern Memory of the Military-Religious Orders ed. by Rory MacLellan (review)

The Modern Memory of the Military-Religious Orders ed. by Rory MacLellan (review)

Philibert de Naillac, Master of Rhodes: 1396‒1421

Philibert de Naillac belonged to the nobility of Berri. He entered the military-religious order of the Hospital and by 1374 held the Commandery of Lureil in the Priory of Auvergne; in 1390 he became Prior of Aquitaine and was due to travel to Rhodes. Apparently in 1395 he again left for Rhodes where, probably on 6 May 1396, he was elected Master. Soon after he led a Hospitaller contingent into the Black Sea and up the Danube to Nikopolis to join a crusade which on 25 September 1396 was defeated by the Turks; Naillac escaped, rescuing Sigismund of Hungary from captivity or death. Subsequently the Hospitallers defended Constantinople and the Morea against the Turks, built the large “Naillac” tower in Rhodes harbour, and in 1406/1407 constructed a castle at Bodrum on the Anatolian mainland opposite Kos. Meanwhile the Hospital’s holy warfare at sea included the semi-piratical corso. Naillac’s administrative tasks and visitations were extensive in both East and West. The Hospital's manpower and money reaching Rhodes were seriously reduced by defections provoked by the papal schism, and in 1409 the Master travelled to Pisa where a council elected a new pope with Naillac guarding the conclave. He continued to work for a settlement and in 1417 he again guarded the conclave at Constance where the schism was largely ended. The schism within the Hospital itself was also slowly eliminated. In 1420 Naillac returned to Rhodes where he held a chapter general which passed important legislation. He died in 1421 after a lengthy rule which, not without some dubious aspects, did much to preserve the Hospitaller order.

Notizen zu Johanniterschwestern in Mitteleuropa (außerhalb von Friesland) während des Spätmittelalters

Notes an Hospitaller Sisters in Central Europe (outside Frisia) during the later Middle Ages The military-religious orders were supposed to fight and shed blood for the faith. Nevertheless, the Hospitallers included women, similar to the Teutonic Order. This should not be a surprize because both military-religious orders upheld caring for the needy and sick as important tasks. In Upper Germany, however, there were no convents of Hospitaller sisters. This was different from Frisia, where special socio-political conditions produced Hospitaller nunneries, and it was also different from other European countries where there had been enough female Hospitallers to concentrate them in special houses. Yet according to a list of 1367 the southern part of the Priory of Alamania had four commanderies where, in each case, seven sisters were supposed to live alongside with knights and priests: Heimbach, Dorlisheim, Freiburg im Breisgau and Villingen. From documents it is known that in many other commanderies married couples, widows or single women bought for themselves life-rents from and maintenance in Hospitaller houses. The legal status of such females was not always clear. Some of them may have hoped to be recognized as fully-professed sorores, in order to enjoy the privileged status of religious persons, whereas others may only have been consorores or donate. Others may have been female servants or just members of ecclesiastical fraternities.

The Templars: The Rise, Fall, and Legacy of a Military Religious Order

"The Templars: The Rise, Fall, and Legacy of a Military Religious Order." Crusades, ahead-of-print(ahead-of-print), pp. 1–2

Dominus Jhesus novum genus militie constituit et elegit: “the Lord Jesus has set up and chosen a new sort of knighthood”. The military orders’ relations with women from the twelfth to the sixteenth century ‒ a survey

The normative texts of the Military Religious Orders generally sought to limit or even prevent all interaction between the professed Brothers and women, and the primitive rule of the Order of the Temple indicated that women should no longer be admitted to the Order. The reason for this restriction was to prevent the Brothers being distracted from their spiritual vocation through the physical presence of women. In practice, however, the evidence of charters, estate inventories, and narrative accounts reveal that all the Military Religious Orders admitted women in some capacity – as sorores, donatae, consorores and corrodians – and interacted with women on a daily basis. Fully professed sisters of the Military Orders followed a lifestyle like that of nuns, focused on prayer rather than action. However, lay women appear in the primary sources as patrons, tenants, and employees of the Military Orders and even occasionally took up arms to support their military activities. The Military Orders also patronised female saints, both saints in heaven (such as the Blessed Virgin Mary) and holy women on Earth (such as Dorothea of Montau). This article sets out to survey the various ways in which the Military Orders interacted with women and involved them in their work.

The Templars. The Rise, Fall, and Legacy of a Military Religious Order. Edited by Jochen Burgtorf, Shlomo Lotan, and Enric Mallorquí-Ruscalleda. The Military Religious Orders: History, Sources, and Memory.

The Templars. The Rise, Fall, and Legacy of a Military Religious Order. Edited by Jochen Burgtorf, Shlomo Lotan, and Enric Mallorquí-Ruscalleda. The Military Religious Orders: History, Sources, and Memory.

Papal–Hungarian relations in the late twelfth century

The one the most important accelerators of the development of the military-religious orders was the series of privileges they got hold of from the 1130s onwards. The privileges exempted the orders from the novalia and labores-tithe as well as these provided burial rights and alike. Similar to the Western European situation, these privileges led to a tension with the local clergy which manifested by the Third Lateran Council in 1179. The papal privileges given to the Templars and Hospitallers settled in the Kingdom of Hungary clearly reflect on this situation.

Documents Concerning Central Europe from the Hospital's Rhodian Archives, 1314–1428. Karl Borchardt, ed. The Military Religious Orders: History, Sources, and Memory. Abingdon: Routledge, 2021. xxxii + 456 pp. $160.

Documents Concerning Central Europe from the Hospital's Rhodian Archives, 1314–1428. Karl Borchardt, ed. The Military Religious Orders: History, Sources, and Memory. Abingdon: Routledge, 2021. xxxii + 456 pp. $160. - Volume 75 Issue 3

Ad Subsidium Terrae Sanctae: Military Religious Orders and the Cismarine Expansion of the Borders of Christianitas

Abstract This article aims to discuss the presence of the military religious orders at the frontiers of Christianitas during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, a period when the hierocratic auctoritas ecclesiae materialized itself through vigorous expansionism. The military religious orders acted in consensus with the Holy See and at the request of the political European entities (also subjected to the authority of the Pope) in regions where they could not withstand the threats which endangered parts of their kingdoms or possessions. Ultimately this article integrates the presence of the Teutonic Knights in Transylvania during the first half of the thirteenth century in this broad mission of expansionism and highlights how the Roman Pontiş established relationships with the kingdoms positioned at the edge of Christianitas.

Vom officium zum beneficium: Lokale Verwaltungsstrukturen im Johanniter-Priorat Alamania während des 13. und frühen 14. Jahrhunderts

From officium to beneficium: Local government structures in the Hospitaller Priory of Alamania during the 13th and early 14th century The paper is about the appointment of commanders for Hospitaller houses in southern Germany during the second half of the thirteenth and the first half of the fourteenth century (until c. 1330). No written documents about such appointments are extant from the time and region. The names of the commanders are only known from local charters. Some commanders were changed almost annually. Others stayed on more or less for life. The Hospitaller rule, statutes and consuetudines concerning such appointments are not clear. In the fourteenth century commanders were entrusted their houses either for ten years or for life. Earlier on shorter periods are probable, five years or even only one year, until the next regional chapter. Further research should be devoted to the question whether military-religious orders started with an office whose officers was ad nutum amovibilis, and then changed to procedures known from ecclesiastical benefices held by non-religious, secular clergy for life and from fiefs held by secular knights that were also held for life.

From the East to the West

Following an intense, emotional, and extremely challenging year, it is with great pleasure that we introduce this thematic dossier of Medievalista on the history of the military religious orders. The inspiration for this volume comes from previous talks between Luis Filipe Oliveira and Helen Nicholson, in the summer of 2019, when a series of papers were delivered at the International Medieval Congress in Leeds, England, on the history of the military orders. The four sessions there organized,...

National Rivalry among Hospitallers?

The medieval Hospitaller priory of Bohemia was riven by ethnic divisions and mutually unintelligible languages. The prior’s lieutenant for Austria, Styria, Carinthia and Carniola, who often resided at the important commandery of Mailberg, could have been a nucleus for Austrian independence from Bohemia. The paper edits and discusses a document from 1392 where the prioral chapter deals with a quarrel between Hospitallers in Austria and Styria; their fellow-Hospitallers from the lands of the Bohemian crown (Bohemia proper, Moravia, Silesia) carefully avoided to be offend Duke Albert III of Austria. In the following decades tensions between two rival Habsburg lines in Austria and Styria weakened the position of the Hospitaller lieutenants for the Habsburg lands, especially during the Hussite wars. After the reunification of the Habsburg lands in the early 1460s the commandery of Mailberg was given by Emperor Frederick III and his son Maximilian to their courtiers and creditors, some of whom were not even Hospitallers. With papal support Frederick III tried to transfer Mailberg to his newly-founded military-religious order of St. George at Millstatt in Carinthia. But when the Habsburg rulers became kings of Bohemia and Hungary in 1526, they ceased to be interested in splitting up the Hospitaller priory of Bohemia. In the early modern period this proved to be more important for the future of the priory than “proto-national” identities.

Who Owned Florence?: Religious Institutions and Property Ownership in the Early Modern City

Abstract This study employs a 1561 tax census to survey estimated property incomes in Florence with particular attention to lay and ecclesiastical religious institutions. Its key findings are five. First, religious institutions were collectively the wealthiest corporate entities in the city, holding one fifth of all residential properties and one third of all workshops, and drawing 20.2 percent of all property income generated within city walls. Second, many were civic- and lay-religious institutions such as confraternities and hospitals. Third, the property income of religious houses was distributed across multiple organizations while that held by the Florentine diocese was concentrated in a few. Fourth, among religious orders, Mendicant houses had a larger urban presence than the older contemplative houses. Fifth, the property holdings of the formally defunct military-religious order of the Knights of S. Jacopo signal the deftness with which some institutions adapted to new circumstances. Overall, this survey of property incomes helps quantify the shape of power in the Florentine religious universe.

Hospitaller Aesthetics: The Self-Fashioning of a Supranational Military Religious Order

The Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem was founded in the late eleventh century to assist sick and indigent pilgrims in the Holy Land. Its mission expanded in the twelfth century to include fighting alongside crusaders in the Levant. Hospitaller activities became bifurcated, exhibiting both warlike functions and daily prayers. This paper details the deliberate self-fashioning by the Order’s hierarchy for its own geopolitical survival by means of notable books and artworks produced in several hundred Hospitaller commanderies flourishing across Europe. The decor and activities in these domiciles reinforced Hospitaller piety and helped finance forays into the Mediterranean battle zone. From the first siege of Rhodes in 1480 to the Great Siege of Malta in 1565, a carefully crafted image of the knights as defenders of Christendom showcased core Hospitaller values. Guillaume Caoursin’s Description of the Siege of Rhodes (1480), Geertgen tot Sint Jans’ altarpiece in the Low Countries (ca. 1485), Pinturicchio’s fresco cycle in the Piccolomini Library of the Duomo in Siena (1502-1507), Jacques de Bourbon’s Oppugnation de Rhodes (1525), and Sabba da Castiglione’s Ricordi (1546) are but some of the vehicles for expressing the stability of the Order through literary descriptions and visual renderings. Robust imagery was broadcast throughout the commanderies, where the knights tended to the needs of the Order while maintaining independence from secular lords and episcopal authorities.

The «Livonian Rhymed Chronicle» as a Transitional Text: Formulaic Language in Middle High German Verse History

This essay investigates the transitional character of the Livonian Rhymed Chronicle (German: Livländische Reimchronik), a Middle High German verse history composed around 1290, which describes the conquest of the eastern Baltic lands by German crusaders and military-religious orders during the thirteenth century. Although it was first composed as a written text, the chronicle shows numerous features characteristic of oral-formulaic poetry: stock epithets, fixed nominal pairs, repeated discourse markers, and syntactic formulas used to introduce persons and places. The analysis is followed by an investigation of the probable audience and performance situation of the work. It is argued that the highly formulaic features of the work were designed to aid comprehension by listeners who were not necessarily familiar with the language variety in which the chronicle was composed.

The Templars at the Roman Curia in the thirteenth century: a network?

The Templars at the Roman Curia in the thirteenth century: a network? Based primarily on select papal registers of the thirteenth century, it is possible to collect some evidence about Templars at the papal curia. There were permanent representatives and ad hoc envoys of the Templar order in the Holy Land. There were also Templars who conducted administrative or financial business on behalf of the popes. They informed the pope about events in the Holy Land and were helpful in collecting monies and alms for the defence of the Levant against the Muslims. In this respect the Templars were similar to the Hospitallers and the other military-religious orders. But one should be careful not to assume one single network of Templar brothers at the papal curia. On the contrary, many Templars came to the papal curia in order to serve their local rulers, their own families and friends. Broadly speaking the extant documents concern five issues: licences to transfer adherence from one religious order to another, appointments to serve as prelates, justice or mercy against punishments imposed by Templar officers, graces for relatives, and finally commissions from rulers and others outside the Templar order. So each Templar belonged to a great variety of either more occasional or more permanent networks. The study of such networks is difficult because of the lack of information in the fairly standardized charters of the time. Nevertheless, it is the only chance for historians to try and understand thirteenth-century processes of decision-making behind the more formal structures of both the papal curia and the Templar order.

Evolution and Adaptation: The Order of Saint John in War and Peace

The Order of Saint John is the last surviving military religious order established in the Holy Land. Remarkably its historical governance structure, ethos, and mission have survived largely intact.2 The Order’s origins date back to the middle of the eleventh century when a hospice for pilgrims run by the religious community of Saint Mary of the Latins was established. The creation of the hospice responded to an urgent need as testified by the chronicler William of Tyre who explained “there was no one to offer a roof to our unfortunate people,

The Sword Brothers at War: Observations on the Military Activity of the Knighthood of Christ in the Conquest of Livonia and Estonia (1203–1227)

The Knighthood of Christ of Livonia (Militia Christi de Livonia) was the first of the medieval military religious orders to be founded for service outside the Holy Land and Iberia, and thus the first one to be actively involved in warfare anywhere in northern Europe. It was established on the model of the Templars, and indeed the order’s members are referred to as Templars in the earliest correspondence between the church of Livonia and the papacy around the time of its foundation. The vernacular name “Sword Brothers”, by which they later became known, derives from the insignia of the cross and sword that they were given to distinguish them outwardly from their model.1

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

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.

KNIGHTS, JESUITS, CARNIVAL, AND THE INQUISITION IN SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY MALTA

AbstractBetween 1530 and 1798, Malta, the southernmost tip of Catholic Europe, was home to the military-religious Order of St John (of Malta). This organization traced its origins to the years just before the beginning of the crusades in late eleventh-century Palestine. From Malta, the Order sought to keep up its dual mission of hospitality (hence the appellative of hospitallers) and fighting the infidel Muslim at sea. From 1592 to 1768 the Society of Jesus was present in this Catholic outpost from where it supported the mission of the Order and sought to remould hospitaller piety. The relationship between these two organizations had ramifications that spread beyond tiny Malta, both because of the issues that arose between them, as well as because of the international composition of the Order and the Society. The Carnival of 1639 proved to be a defining moment in this relationship; though generally passed over as a ‘temporary disturbance’ this article emphasizes that it was more than this by looking at the dynamics of the links between hospitallers, Jesuits, the Inquisition, and Carnival. This article is based on a wider range of sources than previous studies, which will help to bring out the nuances of the subject under investigation.