Spiritual and knightly orders: the Knights Templar
I did not want to be in such a cool
As in honor of Christ, I took the cross to bear.
Now I would love to fight in Palestine;
But loyalty to the lady got in the way.
As it should, I could save my soul,
When would the desire of the heart cease now.
But still he is in his pride
I'll go to heaven or hell.
Ulrich von Singenberg. Translation B. Yarho
As in honor of Christ, I took the cross to bear.
Now I would love to fight in Palestine;
But loyalty to the lady got in the way.
As it should, I could save my soul,
When would the desire of the heart cease now.
But still he is in his pride
I'll go to heaven or hell.
Ulrich von Singenberg. Translation B. Yarho
But the first "registered", or rather, let's say so - approved by the Pope's order of warrior monks founded Hugh de Payne. The name he came up with was: “The poor knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon” - that is why later they began to call him the Order of the Knights Templar or the Templars (in French, “tampl” just means “temple”). And it was that in 1118, Hugh de Payne, a French knight, together with his eight knight relatives, founded an order to protect the pilgrims in Palestine. They set themselves the following task: "As far as possible, guard the roads to the benefit of pilgrims from the perfidy of the robbers and from the attacks of the steppe nomads." The knights were so poor that they had one horse for two, which is why two horsemen were then depicted on the print of the order riding a horse.
Modern "Knights Templar".
The creation of the order was announced at the Cathedral in Troyes in 1128, where it was officially recognized. Priest Bernard Klervosky was entrusted with the development of his charter, in which all the rules of the order were to be collected. Archbishop Wilhelm of Tyr - Chancellor of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and one of the most famous historians of the Middle Ages, described the creation of the order as follows: “In the same year, several noble knights, people of true believers and God-fearing, expressed a desire to live in strictness and obedience, forever renounce their possessions, and , devoting himself to the hands of the supreme sovereign of the church, become members of the monastic order. Among them, the first and most famous were Hugh de Payne and Godfroy de Saint-Omer. Since the brotherhood did not yet have its own temple or dwelling, the king gave them temporary shelter in his palace, built on the southern slope of the Temple Mount. The canons of the temple standing there on certain conditions gave way to a part of the walled courtyard for the needs of the new order. Moreover, the King of Jerusalem Baldwin I, his confidants and the patriarch and their prelates immediately provided support to the order, allocating to it some of their land holdings - some for life, others for temporary use - thanks to which members of the order could receive livelihood. First of all, they were instructed to redeem their sins and, under the guidance of the patriarch, "protect and protect the pilgrims going to Jerusalem from the attacks of thieves and gangsters and take care of their safety in every way." At the same time, the order was given not only a charter, but also permission for the knights to wear a white monastic robe and cloak, and black robes - for their squires and servants. But the Red Cross on the shoulder of the Templars at first did not have. He was granted by Pope Eugene III only after 1145.
Medieval miniature with the image of a Knight Templar.
Bernard Klervosky himself, subsequently numbered among the saints, wrote the following about knight-monks: “... New knighthood appeared in the Holy Land. The new, I say to you, and not spoiled by the world, in which it leads a double battle - both against the enemies in the flesh and in the blood, and against the evil spirit in the heavens. And there is no miracle in the fact that these knights oppose the strength of their muscles to their physical adversaries, for I suppose this to be a matter of ordinary. But the real miracle is that they fight with vices and demons with the power of their spirit, earning the same praise as the clergy. ” This is what the life of the Templars in the program of Bernard comes to us: “They obey their commander in everything, wear the vestments prescribed to them, not trying to add anything to their attire and their food ... They avoid any excess in food and clothing .. They live together, without wives and children ... They are under the same roof, and in this dwelling nothing belongs to them - not even their own will ... "And another important addition, or rather an addition, which he considered important:" They do not put anyone below themselves. They honor the best, not the nobles ... "" They cut their hair shortly ... They never brush their hair, they wash rarely, their beard is disheveled, they stink of sweat, their clothes are smeared with dust, dirt and stains from the harness ... "
Printing Templar.
An interesting description, despite the fact that special cleanliness at this time was not at all popular, as the church taught that you cannot wash away sins with water. And the fact that Bernard said that they were smashed later, says a lot.
The picture, as you see, is created not by the most attractive one - and, nevertheless, the success of the task of attracting people to the order was immense. True, those who entered the order were promised — and in a very sublime form — absolution. However, Bernard allowed the order - with the permission of the local bishop, of course, to recruit even those who were ... excommunicated from the church! But it should be emphasized that he himself had absolutely no illusions about people recruited in this way: “Among them,” he wrote, “are villains, atheists, perjure criminals, murderers, robbers, robbers, debauchee, and I see this double benefit: thanks to the departure of these people, the country will be delivered from them, while the East will rejoice at their arrival, expecting important services from them. ” Of course, this is a rather cynical approach for a real Christian. “Love is love, but you have to know when to stop!”
However, the crusades really became for the West deliverance from many "extra mouths", and why not use this further. And then, did Saint Bernard think to make monks out of these people? Far from it - just professional soldiers deprived of their own will, whom the church could oppose to the completely unbridled knight freemen — that’s all! In order to become one of the monks of the Temple, it was necessary to endure a trial period — sometimes extremely long. Nevertheless, both fighters and gifts began to flock to the order literally from all sides, and a halo of unusual attracting force was created around monastic chivalry. And the Order of the Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem was also widely used: those who were afraid of the strict requirements of the Order of the Templars, found here a softer, though no less knightly atmosphere.
Both orders will save the Holy Land twenty times, and the six Grand Templar Masters will lay down their heads in battle. And that is very important: the order became rich, very rich: in the East by force weapons (since war is always robbery), and in the West - through donations and gifts. Because the order was presented as it was previously presented to the abbeys - that is, fulfilling a vow, fearing afterlife retribution, or for the traditional care for the salvation of the soul. Order received money, land, and even slaves. Many feudal lords included him by will in the number of their heirs, or in favor of the order refused to wastelands, forests and clay plots, where nothing, in fact, does not grow, but which were quite good enough to give them a godly order! The king of Aragon went so far as to decide even to give the kingdom his own kingdom, and only the strongest dissatisfaction of his vassals, and even the peasants whom the local priests turned against the templar, forced him to part with this idea. And it's a pity that this did not happen! In Europe, then the whole state could be under the authority of the Order, and that would be a social experiment! The Order took almost everything! Meanwhile, in addition to donations in Champagne and in Flanders, the Templars began to receive land in Poitou and in Aquitaine, which made it possible to protect almost the entire coast of France from Arab raids. By the year 1270, they had about a thousand commanders in France, and in addition to them numerous “farms” (small farms managed by members of the order). Well, by the year 1307 their number doubled.
Reconstruction of the Templars, XIII century.
The most interesting thing is that the Templars really piously honored their charter, forbidding them to raise their weapons against the co-religionists. After all, they in the West did not participate in any feudal feud, although in the East, and in the lands of Spain and Portugal (and also in the battle of Legnica in 1241, against the Mongols of Batu Khan) they fought constantly! The regulations of the order were such that they did not allow the knight brothers to move farther from the camp than the command could be heard, they did not allow to advance without order or leave the formation even if they were wounded. Moreover, the knights were obliged to fight the heretics with their triple superiority in numbers.
At the same time, the charter prescribed that if they had to defend their life from the attack of co-religionists, they could only take up arms after being attacked by the latter three times. And in case of non-fulfillment of their duty, they should be flagellated three times, which was not allowed among the secular knights at all! Eating the Templar meat during the week could only three times. We had to take communion three times a year, also listen to the mass three times and give alms three times a week ... They should have fought with the enemies while their banner fluttered. And only when the banner fell, and all the comrades were scattered or died, the Knight Templar, trusting in the Lord, had the right to seek escape in flight and leave the battlefield.
The number of knights brothers in the Outremer was about 300 people. Another order could put several hundred sergeants and lay knights, temporarily adjacent to the Templars, which was at that time a very impressive force - it was not for nothing that the kings of Jerusalem usually put them in the vanguard of their troops. At the same time, the order was also able to defend its castles and fortresses as well as to fight in the open field. In this case, the Templars were tireless builders. In the East, they built castles and laid roads. In the West, the order was built, above all, churches, cathedrals, and of course castles. In Palestine, the Templars owned 18 large castles, and the Templar castles were built very quickly and were really impregnable fortresses. The distances between them were chosen with the expectation that this area was easy to patrol. Here is a far from complete list of castles built by the Order in the Holy Land: Safet (built in just four years), Belvoir and Palmer Castle in Galilee, Beaufort and Arcas castles in Lebanon, Tortosa, Red and White Castles in Syria. In addition, large detachments were located in each of these castles, which further strengthened their importance. For example, in the Safad fortress, built to guard the road from Damascus to Akkon, in the area of the crossing over the Jordan River and restored by the Order in 1240, there were fifty Templars in peacetime. There were also thirty novices at their disposal as reinforcements. In addition, they had fifty more lightly-armed cavalry warriors, thirty archers, eight hundred twenty foot soldiers, and four hundred slaves.
The formation of the order was completed in 1139 by the bullet of Innocent II, which stated that any templar has the right to cross any borders freely, does not pay any taxes and cannot obey anyone except His Holiness the Pope. Well, after 1145, they began to wear crosses not only on the left shoulder, but also on the chest and on the back. The banner of the Templars was two-colored: the top was black, the bottom was white. The black robe in the order was in the squires and servants. The military rank had knights who had two marching horses and one warhorse, and a squire who served for a fee either voluntarily. In this case, it was strictly forbidden to corporal punishment. The knights were followed by sergeants, who wore brown clothes and fought in the equestrian ranks. Each of them had their own horse and servant. Being in the castles of the order, they were located in the same rooms as the knights, and had exactly the same bedding. But in the campaign neither tents nor canopies were supposed to them - they slept right on the ground and ate from the same boiler. Armed servants, who were in the army, went into battle under the command of their brother-standard-bearer, along with others. Finally, in the army of the Templars there could also be mercenaries - Turkopules, usually recruited from the Armenians and representing horse archers, which, however, always had to dismount before firing. In reality, and not in the manner in which they depicted their seal, they acted on the march, being well-equipped. According to the Order of the Order, the knight should have had: a small tent, a hammer to drive tent pegs, then another rope, an ax, certainly two whips, as well as a bag for sleeping accessories. Then he had to have a cooking pot, a bowl and a sieve for sifting grain, certainly two cups, then two jars, and also a ladle, a spoon, and two knives, etc., and that, not counting his weapons and armor. that the Templars have always been of the best quality. Naturally, all this was transported by pack horses, otherwise the knight could not take a single step with such a load!
Here it must be said that in addition to military prowess, the Templars have also shown themselves to be very resourceful people in terms of the development of ... financial affairs! After all, it was the Templars who invented checks, whose presence allowed people not to carry gold and silver with them anymore. Now it was quite possible to make a pilgrimage with just a small piece of leather, but then turn to any order commandery and get there money on it in the right amount. The money of the owner of such a check became inaccessible to the robbers, who in the Middle Ages were very much. The order gave loans at 10 per cent per annum, while the usurers ’commission had 40 and more per cent. And although the popes freed the crusaders, going on a campaign, from debt to Jewish usurers, the Templars always gave back debts.
Figures miniatures, including depicting the Knights Templar, are very popular today.
It is known that wealth corrupts, and very soon tempers templar in many ways changed. For example, although the statute of the order prescribed moderation in food, they consumed wine in such quantities that even the following saying was born: “Drinks like a templar” —that is, in the most immoderate way! Naturally, the wealth collected by the order for all its long history, caused the envy of so many to him, so soon after the exile of the Crusaders from the Holy Land, persecution began on the order. In 1307, French Philip IV (who, by the way, owed the Templars a large amount of money!) Accused the Templars of witchcraft and ordered them to be arrested and tortured in order to obtain confessions. Then the Pope ordered them to judge, which, of course, was executed. But nowhere, except France, the Templar wine has not been proven. Nevertheless, the pope anyway abolished the Order, and his last Grand Master was burned at the stake in the center of Paris on an island in the middle of the Seine in 1314, and dying, he cursed the king and the pope, and both of them soon died! Many Templar fled in the territory of England and Scotland. In Germany, they entered the Teutonic Order, and in Portugal they simply changed the name of the order and became known as the Knights of Christ.
But such depicts the knights of the thirteenth century, the famous "Bible of the Crusader" or the Macius's Bible.
But in Italy, the Knights of the Order of San Stefano from Tuscany became the heirs of the Templars. It was founded in 1561 by the Grand Duke Cosimo de Medici Tuscany to fight the pirates. The Order had a Benedict statute, and the Grand Duke was his patron and at the same time Master. The brothers of the order were divided into four classes: noble-born knights, priests, servant brothers, and canoness women. The headquarters of the Order was in Pisa. The galleys of the Order acted together with the galleys of the Knights of Malta and patrolled in the Mediterranean together with them. The 12 gallery of the Order participated in the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, where the fleet of Christian states won a decisive victory over the Turks. The clothing of this order was a white cloak that had a light red lining and a red Maltese cross on the left side of the chest, trimmed with gold edging. For the servant brothers, it was a white cloak or a simple shirt with a red cross stitched in. White clothes were relied upon by the priests, and the red cross was with a yellow edging made of braid.
Templar reenactors
Information