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Our story begins in 1360. It was a time of castles and intrigue, of knights and chivalry. Less than twenty years before, the Black Death had decimated Europe's population. Twenty years later, Wat Tyler would meet his fate while leading a peasant uprising. In the meantime, Geoffrey Chaucer the great English poet, was writing his famous Canterbury Tales. The Knights of France and England had tales to tell of their own. Of jousting and tournaments. Of fair maidens and dragons. Of King Arthur and the Round Table. English speakers then did not sound like English speakers today. But people who attended the popular jousting tournaments of the 14th century expected from their heroes what we expect from ours: Courage in the face of great danger.

Knights Hospitaller

"NPR's Sheilah Kast speaks with Eric Jager, author of The Last Duel: A True Story of Crime, Scandal and Trial by Combat in Medieval France. At about this time of year in 1386, two knights in armor faced a duel to the death at a monastery in Paris -- it would be the last time the French government authorized a duel to settle a legal dispute."

Military Orders: In Praise of the New Knighthood (Liber ad milites Templi: De laude novae militae) St. Bernard of Clairvaux trans. Conrad Greenia The following passage is taken from a treatise written in the early 12th century by the Cistercian abbot Bernard of Clairvaux, on behalf of the fledgling Knights Templar. It might be viewed as a combination of exhortation to the Knights, and advertisement to the population in general. Officially it is an answer to a letter written to Bernard by his friend Hugh de Payens, one of the founders of the Templars.

The crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem was always desperately short of defenders, and constantly in danger of falling to the Muslims. The Templars quickly became important in the defense of the kingdom, as did their sister order, the Knights Hospitaller. They were so respected, and so feared, by Muslim leaders for their dedication and determination, that Muslims commonly murdered them when they captured them, rather than allowing the Templars to be ransomed. This was done, for example, by Saladin after the Battle of Hattin in 1187. The Templars fought very hard to defend the Holy Land and the Kingdom of Jerusalem that ruled it, but it was a losing battle. There were too many Muslims, and the Christians were constantly outnumbered and on the defensive. At last, in 1291, Muslims drove Christians out of the Holy Land for the second time (the first was in the 7th century), and many Templars, including their Grand Master, were killed in the final siege.

"Introduction: Between the mid-11th and late-15th centuries, an historically specific configuration of material and ideational factors gave rise to a constellation of religious wars that have come to be known as "the crusades". This constellation included Church-organized wars in the Holy Land, Iberia and along the Baltic frontier as well as within Latin Christendom itself.[1] The Crusades to the Holy Land were "wars of liberation" initially launched by the Church to restore Jerusalem to Christian rule. Following the First Crusade and the establishment of the crusader principalities (the County of Edessa, the Principality of Antioch, the County of Tripoli, and the Kingdom of Jerusalem - collectively known as Outremer), these expeditions were conducted primarily to defend the Holy Places against Muslim attempts at reconquest or, following its loss in 1187 and again in 1244, to recover Jerusalem for Latin Christendom. While authorized by, and fought on behalf of, the Church these wars were prosecuted by princes, nobles and knights from every corner of Latin Christendom as well as by so-called "para-crusaders" (milites ad terminum), and members of military orders such as the Templars, Hospitallers and Teutonic Knights.[2] They were fought primarily against a range of Muslim powers, although the Fourth Crusade ended up being waged largely against adherents to the Greek Orthodox rite. Although the idea of launching additional expeditions to liberate Jerusalem persisted for a considerable time, the Crusades to the Holy Land effectively came to an end with the fall of the last Christian stronghold in Palestine - Acre - in 1291.[3]"

Google map of Knights Templar possesions View this page in Firefox - it has a peculiar mouse action. Mode d'emploi de la carte : Vous pouvez utiliser celle-ci exactement de la même façon que vous utilisez Google Earth® ou Google Maps®. Placez votre souris sur la carte à n'importe quel endroit, ensuite double-cliquez et la carte fera un zoom sur l'endroit que vous avez sélectionné. Pour faire défiler la carte, il suffit de faire un clic droit sur celle-ci et de déplacer votre souris tout en maintenant le bouton droit enfoncé. Lorsque vous cliquerez sur unsymbole (croix ou épées croisées), une petite info-bulle apparaitra avec un lien vers la page présentant l'endroit que vous venez de sélectionner.

Then our leaders planned to attack the city with machines, in order to enter it and adore the sepulchre of our Saviour. They made two wooden towers and many other machines. . . . Day and night on the fourth and fifth days of the week we vigorously attacked the city on all sides; but before we made our assault the bishops and priests persuaded all by their preaching and exhortation that a procession should be made round Jerusalem to God's honour, faithfully accompanied by prayers, alms and fasting. Early on the sixth day we attacked 19th century illustrator Gustave Dore's conception of the seige of Jerusalemthe city on all sides and could do nothing against it. We were all surprised and alarmed. Then, at the approach of the hour at which our Lord Jesus Christ deigned to undergo the passion of the cross for us, our knights in one of the towers fought bravely, amongst them Duke Godfrey and his brother, Count Eustace

Throughout the siege, attacks were made on the walls, but each one was repulsed. The Genoese troops, led by commander Guglielmo Embriaco, had previously dismantled the ships in which the Genoeses came to the Holy Land; Embriaco, using the ship's wood, made some siege towers. These were rolled up to the walls on the night of July 14 much to the surprise and concern of the garrison. On the morning of July 15, Godfrey's tower reached his section of the walls near the northeast corner gate, and according to the Gesta two Flemish knights from Tournai named Lethalde and Engelbert were the first to cross into the city, followed by Godfrey, his brother Eustace, Tancred, and their men. Raymond's tower was at first stopped by a ditch, but as the other crusaders had already entered, the Muslim guarding the gate surrende

The actions of a Norman knight, Bohemond, and a Frankish crusader, Raymond of Toulouse, exemplify this fact. The comparison of these two, as well as the rest of the crusade leaders, demonstrate that the Norman crusaders were driven by a complex and sometimes conflicting mix of pious and secular motivations, no different from their Frankish counterparts.

The History and Mythos of the Knights Templar - The Council of Troyes

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In 1176 a delegation from Sicily came to the English court, asking for Joan's hand in marriage on behalf of William II of Sicily. Joan's parents agreed to the proposal, and the betrothal was confirmed. On the 27th of August, Joan, together with a large group of people consisting of ladies-in-waiting, knights, clergy and various retainers, laid out to sail for Sicily. The trip began with the short stretch from Winchester to Southampton, escorted by the archbishops of Canterbury and Rouen, the bishop of Evreux and her father's brother Hamelane. Then Prince Henry, her oldest brother, accompanied her across the Channel and into France to Poitiers. There she was met by another brother, Richard, who escorted her through the Duchy of Aquitaine, across the allied County of Toulouse to Saint Gilles Port, where Bishop Richard Palmer welcomed her in the name of the King of Sicily. Twenty-five Sicilian ships awaited the young princess to sail her to her husband-to-be. The last part of the journey left Joan seasick, but she finally arrived at the end of January and married William at Palermo Cathedral on the 13th of February 1177 at the tender age of eleven while her husband was twenty-three! She was crowned, and was now queen consort.

The Templars, Hospitallers and other military orders in the eyes of their contemporaries, 1128-1291.

On the map shows the events from time of the First Crusade.. I mentioned the most important cities and fortresses of the Crusaders and the way of knights and armies to the Holy Land. Map applies only to the military part of the crusade.

The Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem (lat.: Ordo Equestris Sancti Sepulcri Hierosolymitani, OESSH) is a prestigious Catholic chivalric order of Knighthood that traces its roots to Duke Godfrey of Bouillon, principal leader of the First Crusade.

"What Are the Duties of a Noble?"

A Tumultuous Period The defeat of the Byzantines at Manzikert in 1071 ushered a period of upheavals in the region we call Middle East. For a while the Seljuk empire was dominant but that dominance was challenged by the Crusaders who over a period of nearly 200 years fought not only the Muslim powers but also the Byzantines. The first Mongol invasion in the early 1200's produced more upheavals and it was not until the mid 1300's that a power had risen that was eventually going to dominate the region. These were the Ottoman Turks. A second Mongol invasion in 1402 delayed their rise, but in 1453 the Ottomans took Constantinople and dominated the region until the 20th century.

The defense of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, and the blooming of the spirit of chivalry were the determinant causes that induced the "frates" to become "equites et servientes armigeri". By the will of Innocent III, the initial hospitaller tasks were supplemented with military functions. It was an original fusion: military forces defending the Christian dominions, and hospitaller charity defending life.

Crusader Castles in the Holy Land 1097-1192