The emergence of spiritual orders of chivalry dates back to the time of the Crusades, which the Catholic Church has organized since the ninth century. The goal was good: the liberation of Palestine and the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, but passing tasks were no cheaper: both the high Catholics and the crusaders themselves needed new lands and longed for the riches of the eastern cities.
The formation of spiritual and chivalric orders
When the fortress of Jerusalem surrendered to the grace of the victor in 1099, the Pope blessed the creation of new organizations to protect and protect both Christian possessions and the pilgrims themselves from local Islamists. By that time, a base had already been created - various spiritual brotherhoods, from which the spiritual and chivalric orders of the Hospitallers, Templars, and some others were formed.
It was difficult enough to reconcile the two opposite, according to the Holy Scriptures, hypostases - service to God and military service, where you had to kill your own kind. But by the twelfth century, the history of the spiritual and chivalric order had grown by its own ideologists, who fully justified not only the creation, but also the lifestyle of the crusader knights.
Holy vows
A knight entering the order became a monk, taking vows of poverty, obedience, chastity, intransigence to the infidels, and fulfillment of the duty of hospitality. The commoner, who joined the order, became a military monk. However, commoners and in the circle of initiates always kept their own, separate group. Some orders accepted even women into their ranks.
The discipline was army, all implicitly obeyed the head - the grand master, the grand master, who could keep an account only to the Pope. The rulers, on whose lands the spiritual-knightly order (the Templars and any other) were located, if they did not join its ranks, had no voting right, especially command, did not.
Hierarchy
The history of the spiritual knightly order was written on special tablets. From the monastic and from each other, knightly orders were distinguished by clothing and their own charter, which was signed by the Pope. But, unlike the monastic ones, the ranks of the knight-monks grew very, very quickly, as required by the constant war.
Knights not only robbed eastern villages and cities, they violated many of the commandments of Christ: they lent money at interest rates, exploited local residents, and engaged in the slave trade. And steadily countless rich. The ninth-century crusader knight was distinguished from his fellow in the thirteenth as heaven from earth. I must admit that, having become rich, many orders invested money in science.
Each member of the order had a specific position. Over time, it could be recognized by clothing (only initiated, of course). The Templars - in a white cloak with a red cross, the hospitals - in black, the knights of the Teutonic Order - in white with a black cross.
The history of the spiritual and chivalric order shows that it was allowed to sew a special cross on clothes with a papal bull only in 1146, and not all at once, but only to the most notable blood knights. Over time, when the Crusades significantly enriched the treasury of not only the Order, but also of individual knights, luxury even in clothes did not take long.
Three main orders
Until the beginning of the fifteenth century, the history of the spiritual and chivalric order during the Crusades describes a little more than twenty orders, of which three are the richest, most influential and powerful. They possessed such huge fortunes that kings envied them. Here is this wonderful three:
- Order of the Hospitallers (Johannites).
- Order of the Templars (Templars).
- Teutonic (German) Order.
The history of the spiritual knightly order was written not only in the Holy Land. Crusaders participated in wars in all territories of the Christian world. In Spain, the knights of the orders of the Hospitallers and Templars were the first to start fighting, and the Teutonic Knights tamed the whole of Central and Northern Europe. True, their military glory ended in Eastern Europe (recall Lake Peipsi and Alexander Nevsky).
History of the Knights Templar
The colossal fortune allowed the orders to buy the best land throughout Europe. As proof of the power of the Templars, for example, minted their own money, freely circulating throughout Europe. The coins were made of silver and gold, and there were so many of them that the Templars were credited with alchemical discoveries, for example, the extraction of gold from lead ...
This organization was able to survive for quite some time. Back in 1118, nine French knights, led by Hughes de Payen and Geoffrey de Saint-Ome, remained to defend the road to Jerusalem from the Mediterranean Sea after the first crusade. First of all, Christian pilgrims from robbers and robbers. From the King of Jerusalem, Baldwin, they received a residence, after which they later began to be called - Temple Castle, built on the site of the ancient temple of Solomon. This Order has several names:
- Order of the poor knights (or brothers) of the Jerusalem Temple (or the Temple of Solomon).
- Order of the Templars.
- Order of the Knights Templar.
Charter
Those who wanted to join the Order, the knights certainly had to become monks - humble, poor and celibate. It was, however, a very successful project. The history of the order of the chivalry of the knights suggests that its charter was one of the most rigid and strict, and Saint Bernard himself developed it, and it was approved by Pope Eugene III in 1128, that is, after ten years of unofficial existence.
In the Templar Order, the knight was obliged to forget all worldly things, including relatives, to eat only bread and water, to dress in the simplest and coarsest clothes. He could not have any property. If in his things after death they found gold or silver, in the consecrated land of the cemetery he had no place.
However, all this did not prevent the Templars from becoming especially greedy for prey, entertainment and even drunkenness. Artworks written about that time, such as Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe novel , preserve the historical truth found in historical chronicles.
Division into classes and decals
The Templars had estates. This, of course, is the necessary organizational project. The history of the spiritual and chivalric order has preserved for us three divisions: the knights themselves, priests and the so-called sergeants, to whom all the lower ranks belonged: pages, squires, soldiers, servants, guards, and so on.
It must be admitted that, with all this categorical division, monastic vows were accepted by everyone, and they had to fulfill all the rules equally perfectly. However, there were plenty of exceptions to the rules.
For all Knights Templar, a white cloak similar to a mantle with a Maltese eight-pointed scarlet cross was a must. The sergeants dressed in brown, the cross was the same. One could recognize the Templar on the high road by the cry of “Bosean!”, As well as by the flag — a black and white cloth and the Latin motto “Not to us, Lord” (the first words from the ninth verse of the one hundred and thirteenth psalm).
The coat of arms of the Templars was simply a symbol of poverty: it depicted two knights on one horse. If the knight was going on a crusade, then he carried the cross on his chest, and returning on his back. He usually chose the style, cut, size and material of the clothes, as well as the location of the cross.
National and estate affiliation
At first, only a Frenchman of noble origin could be ordained knights of the Templars. A little later, the British got this opportunity. Nevertheless, the Spaniards, Italians, and Flemings became knights. Only knights could occupy leading positions - from the great master and master of possessions to the chestnut, capitulator, draper.
The sergeants became wealthier citizens who held good positions as accountants, squire, managers and storekeepers. Those that were worse went to the servant, to the soldiers, or to the guard.
The bishops of the Roman church and the Pope himself could not control the priests of the Order. The Knights Templar Order demanded that their priests send spiritual needs, despite the fact that all knights of the Order were vested with the rights of a confessor. Confession and communion among the members of the Order could only be sent by an orderly priest, because many secrets were also protected from the Roman Catholic Church.
Despite the strict charter and camp life, the Templar Order quickly became popular. A few years later, three hundred more joined the nine knights, among whom there were many crowned persons. The number of sergeants, of course, also increased.
Where did the firewood come from?
Belonging to the Order gave both personal security and multiplication of fortune. It was impossible to offend a member of the Order. “One for all” is a motto born far from the first musketeer.
The proclaimed beggarly Order was rapidly wealthy. And not only because the rulers often bequeathed untold wealth to him. Entire villages, cities, churches, castles, monasteries eventually became part of the Order. They humbly gave him taxes and taxes. The fact is that the Knights Templar Order engaged in usury.
These are not Jews, but the Templar Order created the banking system of Europe. In the Middle Ages, Jews were only street money changers, and the Templars already had a credit system, bills, their own money. They operated not only with gold, but also with securities.
Departed from the cross
The Templars were noted as the greatest traitors to the work of the bearers of the Cross of Christ. This was also October 1240, when the Muslims of Damascus and Egypt quarreled, the crusaders took the side of Egypt, having concluded a deal by agreement, and received for this not only Jerusalem, but almost all of Palestine. Bloodless! The Templars, conspiring with Damascus, attacked the Egyptians, coupled with the Teutonic knights and hospitals. Moreover, they were more cruel than Muslims with Jews. The blood reached the knees of the horses, as the story of the Knights Templar’s Spiritual Order says. Even fellow crusaders were not allowed to bury their dead. In 1243, Muslims repaid the Templars in full and took Jerusalem back, releasing only three Teutons, twenty-six hospitals and thirty-three Templars alive.
Further crusades were how numerous, so unsuccessful. In 1298, the last Grand Master of the Order was Jacques de Molay. The idea of the Crusades died out, the meaning of the existence of military monks became unclear. The Teutonic Order still had a bit of work - a century and a half. But the Templars became uncomfortable sitting on those riches that the kings did not even dream of. The first Temple was left to the Muslim world, and the Knights Templar Spiritual Order established a residence in Cyprus - there was founded the refuge of Christians who could leave Palestine but were not expected at all in Europe.
Robbers
Karl Valois, brother of King Philip the Beautiful, started a war with Byzantium. It was not easier to fight Greek Christianity than Muslims. The Templars, instead of fighting Andronicus, go along the coast from Thessaloniki to Thrace and Moravia, to the place where Catholicism has already reigned.
The extraction of the Templars was rich. But the European monarchs were outraged. Who is interested in having a force of fifteen thousand real soldiers nearby, well-armed and battle-hardened, moreover, aggressive, arbitrarily and cunningly controlled? And, of course, greed played a role: the Templars were fabulously, incredibly rich.
In 1307, Philip the Beautiful issued a decree on the arrest of all the Templars in the country. The prisoners were brutally tortured, burned at the stake. The treasury of France has significantly replenished. The history of the Knights Templar Order has come to an end.