A History of the Crusades (59 page)

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Authors: Jonathan Riley-Smith

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But if holy violence, in this case armed rebellion, has returned to the Christian scene, those institutions which date from the crusades and have survived have long since rejected it. Of course the association with crusading of the Maronite and Armenian uniate Churches, many of the titular bishoprics of the Catholic Church, and some of twenty-six chivalric and religious orders, such as the Order of Preachers (the order of the Dominicans) is indirect, while others, like the Spanish military orders, have changed their functions so much that they are scarcely recognizable. But two orders are what they always were and the line to them from the crusades is clear, even if as living institutes they have developed in different ways. The first of these is the
Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta
(the Order of Malta). This is the same order of Knights Hospitallers which in Palestine and Syria, Cyprus, Rhodes, and Malta, played so important a part in the crusading movement’s history.

After the loss of Malta to Napoleon in 1798, the demoralized and impoverished order fragmented, with its provinces, or what was left of them, functioning with little regard to the central government, which was anyway thrown into chaos by the election by a group of brothers of Tsar Paul I of Russia—not professed, Catholic, or celibate—as grand master. Paul’s mastership, which was tacitly recognized by the papacy, did not last long. After his assassination the order endured three decades of unsettled existence before establishing its head-quarters in
Rome in 1834. It then gradually rebuilt itself, abandoned its ambition to re-establish itself as a military power on independent territory—a Greek island to be won from the Turks in the 1820s; Algeria, which was being suggested as an order-state in the 1830s—and reverted to its original and primary role, the care of the sick poor, at first in the Papal State and then throughout the world. Although the number of fully professed knights is relatively small, over 10,000 Catholics are associated with them as lay members of the order.

Also associated, although less directly, are four other orders of St John which, being predominantly or solely Protestant confraternities, are not orders of the Church but orders of chivalry under the patronage of, or legitimized by, recognized founts of honours, the federal German parliament and the crowns of Sweden, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Three of them,
Die Balley Brandenburg des Ritterlichen Ordens Sankt Johannis vom Spital zu Jerusalem
(generally known as Der Johanniterorden),
Johanniterorden i Sverige
and
Johanniter Orde in Nederland
, are descended from the Bailiwick of Brandenburg, a Hospitaller province which became a Protestant confraternity and broke away from the rest of the order at the time of the Reformation, although it maintained a distant relationship with the government on Malta. The fourth,
The Grand Priory of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem
, originated in an attempt by the French
langues
in 1827 to raise money on the London market and to equip a small naval expedition to sail from England to the assistance of the Greeks who were fighting for independence from the Turks. In return the
langues
had been promised an island in the Aegean which would serve as a stepping stone for a reconquest of Rhodes. All investors in the enterprise and all officers in the mercenary force were to become knights of Malta. The English order of St John that resulted was not recognized by the grand magistry in Rome, but the good work it undertook, which bore fruit in the St John Ambulance service, brought recognition from Queen Victoria, who took it over as an order of the British crown in 1888.

The second surviving crusading institute is
Der Deutsche
Orden
(The Teutonic Order), which has its headquarters in Vienna, although since 1923 it has been an order of priests. Teutonic knights are still to be found only in another interesting survival,
Ridderlijke Duitse Orde Balije van Utrecht
(
The Bailiwick of Utrecht of the Teutonic Order
). Like the Hospitaller Bailiwick of Brandenburg, this commandery turned itself into a noble Protestant confraternity at the time of the Reformation.

These survivals are active Christian charitable institutes engaged in pastoral work or the care of the sick or the elderly. They had always combined fighting the infidel with ministering to the sick, showing how closely related in medieval thinking were war and nursing, and it was this tradition that enabled them to withdraw from their military functions while remaining true to their roots. In their present activities can be heard a distant echo of the medieval conviction that crusading was an act of love.

Chronology
 

1095

(Mar.) Council of Piacenza

(July–Sept. 1096) Pope Urban II’s preaching journey

(27 Nov.) Proclamation of First Crusade at the Council of Clermont

(Dec.–July 1096) Persecution of Jews in Europe

1096–1102

The First Crusade

1096

Pope Urban compares the
Reconquista
of Spain to the crusade

1096–7

Arrival of the armies of the second wave of the crusade at Constantinople

1097

(1 July) Battle of Dorylaeum

(21 Oct.–3 June 1098) Siege of Antioch

1098

(10 Mar.) Baldwin of Boulogne takes control of Edessa

(28 June) Battle of Antioch

1099

(15 July) Jerusalem falls to the crusaders

(22 July) Godfrey of Bouillon elected first Latin ruler of Jerusalem

1101

(Aug.–Sept.) Final wave of armies of the First Crusade defeated by the Turks in Asia Minor

1107–8

Crusade of Bohemond of Taranto

1108

(Sept.) Bohemond surrenders to the Greeks

1109

(12 July) Capture of Tripoli

1113

First papal privilege for the Hospital of St John

1114

Catalan crusade to the Balearic Islands

1118

Crusade of Pope Gelasius II in Spain

(19 Dec.) Saragossa falls to the crusaders

1119

(27 June) Battle of the Field of Blood

1120–5

Crusade of Pope Calixtus II to the East and in Spain

1120

Foundation of the Knights Templar

1123

(Mar.–Apr.) Crusade decree of First Lateran Council

1124

(7 July) Capture of Tyre by crusaders

1125–6

Raid of Alfonso I of Aragon into Andalusia

1128–9

Crusade to the East recruited by Hugh of Payns

1129

(Jan.) Recognition of the Templars by the Council of Troyes

(Nov.) Crusaders attack Damascus

1135

(May) Council of Pisa. Crusade indulgences offered to those taking up arms against the anti-pope and the Normans in southern Italy

1139–40

Crusade to the East

1144

(24 Dec.) Fall of Edessa to the Muslims

1145

(1 Dec.) Pope Eugenius III proclaims the Second Crusade in the bull
Quantum praedecessores

1146–7

St Bernard of Clairvaux preaches the Second Crusade

1146

Persecution of Jews in the Rhineland

1147–9

The Second Crusade

1147

(13 Apr.) Pope Eugenius authorizes crusading in Spain and beyond the north-eastern frontier of Germany as well as to the East (24 Oct.) Capture of Lisbon

1148

(24–8 July) Withdrawal of the crusaders from the siege of Damascus

1149

(15 July) Consecration of the new church of the Holy Sepulchre

1153

Crusade in Spain

1154

(25 Apr.) Occupation of Damascus by Nur al-Din

1157–84

Series of papal calls to crusade in the East, answered by some small and medium-sized expeditions

1157–8

Crusade in Spain

1158

Foundation of the Order of Calatrava

1163–9

Expeditions to Egypt of King Amalric of Jerusalem

1169

Completion of redecoration of the church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, sponsored by the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I, King Amalric of Jerusalem, and Bishop Ralph of Bethlehem

(23 Mar.) Egypt submits to Saladin, acting on behalf of Nur al-Din

1170

Foundation of the Order of Santiago

1171

Crusade in the Baltic region

1172

(10 Sept.) ‘Abbasid caliphate proclaimed in Egypt by Saladin

c
.1173

Foundation of the Order of Montegaudio

1174

(15 May) Death of Nur al-Din

(28 Oct.) Saladin takes over Damascus

1175

Crusade in Spain

c
.1176

Foundation of the Orders of Avis (as the Order of Evora) and Alcántara (as the Order of San Julián del Peirero)

1177

Crusade to the East of Philip of Flanders

1183

(11 June) Aleppo submits to Saladin

1186

(3 Mar.) Mosul submits to Saladin

1187

(4 July) Battle of Hattin

(2 Oct.) Jerusalem taken by Saladin

(29 Oct.) Pope Gregory VIII proclaims the Third Crusade in the bull
Audita tremendi

1188

(Jan.) Imposition of the Saladin Tithe in England

1189–92

The Third Crusade

1189

(3 Sept.) Fall of Silves in Portugal to crusaders

1190

(10 June) Drowning of the Emperor Frederick I in Cilicia

1191

(June) Richard I of England takes Cyprus

(12 July) Capitulation of Acre to Richard I of England and Philip II of France

(7 Sept.) Battle of Arsuf

1192

(2 Sept.) Treaty of Jaffa

1193–1230

The Livonian Crusade (renewed 1197, 1199)

1193

Crusade in Spain

1197–8

German Crusade to Palestine

1197

Crusade in Spain

1198

Foundation of the Teutonic Order

(Aug.) Pope Innocent III proclaims the Fourth Crusade

1199

(24 Nov.) Proclamation of the Crusade against Markward of Anweiler

(Dec.) Taxation of the Church for crusaders instituted

c
.1200

Foundation of the Order of San Jorge de Alfama

1202

Establishment of the Order of Swordbrethren

1202–4

The Fourth Crusade

1202

(24 Nov.) Crusaders take Zara

1204

Pope Innocent allows recruitment for the Livonian Crusade on a regular basis

(12–15 Apr.) Sack of Constantinople by crusaders

(9 May) Baldwin of Flanders elected first Latin emperor of Constantinople

1204–5

Conquest of the Peloponnese by Geoffrey of Villehardouin and William of Champlitte

1206

Danish Crusade to Ösel

1208

(14 Jan.) Assassination of Peter of Castelnau, the papal legate in Languedoc

Proclamation of the Albigensian Crusade

1209–29

The Albigensian Crusade

1209

(22 July) Sack of Béziers

1211

King of Hungary gives the Teutonic Order a march in Transylvania

1212

The Children’s Crusade

Crusade in Spain

(17 July) Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa

1213

(Apr.) Pope Innocent III proclaims the Fifth Crusade. The Spanish and Albigensian Crusades are downgraded in favour of the eastern theatre of war

(12 Sept.) Battle of Muret

1215

Order of Preachers (Dominicans) in Toulouse

(14 Dec.) The constitution
Ad liberandam
agreed by the Fourth Lateran Council, permitting regular taxation of the Church for crusading

1216

(28 Oct.) King Henry III of England takes the cross against English rebels

1217–29

The Fifth Crusade

1218

(27 May–5 Nov. 1219) Siege of Damietta

1219

Danish Crusade to Estonia

1221

(30 Aug.) Crusaders in Egypt defeated at al-Mansura

1225

Teutonic Order invited to Prussia

1226

Albigensian Crusade renewed

1227

Crusade authorized against heretics in Bosnia (renewed in 1234)

1228–9

Crusade of the Emperor Frederick II (last act of the Fifth Crusade)

1229–33

Civil War in Cyprus

1229

(18 Feb.) Jerusalem restored to Christians by treaty

(12 Apr.) Peace of Paris ends Albigensian Crusade Teutonic Order begins conquest of Prussia

1229–53

Crusade in Spain

1229–31

Crusade of James I of Aragon to Mallorca

1231

Crusade of John of Brienne in aid of Constantinople

Crusade of Ferdinand III of Castile in Spain

1232–4

Crusade against the Stedinger heretics in Germany

1232–53

Conquest of Valencia by James I of Aragon

1236

Proclamation of a new crusade in support of Constantinople

(29 June) Ferdinand III of Castile takes Córdoba

1237

Teutonic Order absorbs Swordbrethren in Livonia

1239–40

Crusade in aid of Constantinople

1239–41

Crusades of Thibaut of Champagne and Richard of Cornwall

1239

Proclamation of the Crusade against the Emperor Frederick II (renewed 1240, 1244)

Swedish Crusade to Finland

1241

Proclamation of the Crusade against the Mongols (renewed 1243, 1249)

1242

First Prussian Revolt against the Teutonic Order

(5 Apr.) Battle on Lake Peipus

1244

(16 Mar.) Fall of Montségur

(11 July–23 Aug.) Fall of Jerusalem to the Khorezmians

(17 Oct.) Battle of La Forbie

1245

Teutonic Order permitted to wage a permanent crusade in Prussia

1248–54

First Crusade of St Louis (King Louis IX of France)

1248

(Oct.) Aachen taken by crusaders engaged against Frederick II

(23 Nov.) Seville taken by Ferdinand III of Castile

1249

(6 June) Capture of Damietta

1250

(8 Feb.) Crusaders in Egypt defeated at al-Mansura

1250–4

St Louis in Palestine

1251

First Crusade of the Shepherds

1254

Crusade to Prussia of King Ottokar II of Bohemia, Rudolf of Habsburg and Otto of Brandenburg. Foundation of Königsberg

1255

Crusades preached against Manfred of Staufen and against Ezzelino and Alberic of Romano

1256–8

War of St Sabas in Acre

1258

(10 Feb.) Mongols sack Baghdad

1259

Latins of Achaea defeated by the Greeks in the Battle of Pelagonia

1260

Livonian Teutonic Knights defeated by the Lithuanians in the Battle of Durbe

Second Prussian revolt

Castilian Crusade to Salé in Morocco

(3 Sept.) Battle of Ayn Jalut

(23 Oct.) Baybars becomes sultan of Egypt

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