The Crusades: Part 5

King of Kings and Lord of Lords

Crusader lords acknowledged the armies as God’s, not their own, and that they were vassals of the King of Kings. The faith of their leaders affected even the strategic decisions made by the Crusaders. In many cases, religious symbolism would take precedence over military considerations. For instance, before launching an attack on Jerusalem, the Crusaders marched barefoot around the city, emulating the Israelites marching around Jericho in the Old Testament, led by priests carrying crosses and relics.^[1] Their main attack went in at three in the afternoon, the time that Jesus died.^[2] The First Crusade departed on the Feast of the Assumption of Mary on August 15, 1096.^[3]

Before significant events, the army frequently engaged in religious practices such as prayer, confession, and fasting.^[4] Consistently, the leaders thanked God when they achieved victory and referred to the crusading army as His, not theirs. They witnessed and reported divine intervention on many occasions. Their response to difficulties, whether it be famine or being surrounded and outnumbered, was to pray and fast.

Guided By Faith – The Crusader States

Perhaps the faith of Crusaders was displayed most prominently by the few who stayed behind to defend the Holy City and its relics and lands from the overwhelmingly numerically superior enemy. Having fulfilled their vows and already encountered hunger, death, loss of family ties and relationships and seeing the worst of humanity, a few chose not to return to family, friends, lands, castles, titles, and so on and dedicate themselves to protecting the holy sites and places now back in Christian control after the success of the First Crusade.

Not only would they be thousands of miles from their homes and from help that was never guaranteed from the West, but the majority of the population they would rule over was Muslim, the very people they were at war with, just retook lands from and were surrounded by. Not to mention reliant upon. The local population would never be on their side. They were isolated by potential enemies outside of their realms with vastly larger armies, and even outnumbered within! Further, they were in a new climatic and agricultural region, needing to learn and relying on the natives while forging trade agreements and diplomatic relations with a region they had just been at war with. Militarily, culturally, economically, politically, and in almost every way, they needed to build from scratch. But why would they face such a situation? I think it was their faith that made the decision easy, they must do all they can, sacrifice everything, for God.

After the First Crusade, many Crusaders became monks or priests, seeing what they believed to be apparent divine intervention in the many battles they survived.^[1] They believed that God wanted the Holy Land to be in Christian hands, which was how they explained their incredible victories. Given some of the situations they were pulled out of and the lopsided victories they achieved, this should not surprise us. Yet, for all the stories brought back of divine intervention and miraculous victories against overwhelming odds that enthralled all of Europe, I see the battles to establish and even expand the Crusader States in the years following the capture of the Holy City as being even more improbable.

After the victory at the Battle of Ascalon in 1099 that established the Kingdom of Jerusalem, and with a minuscule force of 200 knights and perhaps only 2,000 infantry,^[2] Crusaders constantly wondered why Muslims, who were so many times more numerous, did not wipe them out as they easily could have. Instead, small Crusader armies often allied with Italian ships continued to prevail. In 1101, King Baldwin of Jerusalem could only muster about 1,000 soldiers to meet an invading Egyptian army.^[3] Even near the height of its power, in 1180, the most powerful realm of the Crusader States, the Kingdom of Jerusalem, could muster only 675-700 knights for battle.^[4]

Despite being so outnumbered, the Crusader States expanded for a long time – even capturing Alexandria in 1167 and coming within 35 miles of Cairo, forcing the Egyptians to pay tribute to force them to leave.^[5] Earlier, in 1163, Egypt’s Vizier Dirgham had to destroy dams and thus cause a Nile flood to block the Christian army from attacking and taking Cairo. Egypt nearly fell in yet another invasion in 1164 and likely would have under other circumstances, but the King of Jerusalem had to go to the aid of his vassals in Antioch and Tripoli, who had been taken captive by Muslim forces. Crusaders performed especially well, given they were often forced to fast before battle.^[6]

For each crusade, overwhelmingly the leading cause of death was starvation and diseases, not battle,^[7] yet thousands of Crusaders lost their lives by charging into an enemy so numerous as to be beyond any normal chance of victory. Yet, many times they triumphed! However, the opposing forces were so numerous that Crusaders could inflict massive losses on the enemy, but due to the drastic differences in manpower, they would still lose the battle.^[8]

Security, ease, peace were not the motivators, nor was faith in divine help always at play; it was their faith in eternal life. Godfrey of Bouillon said “We are devout worshippers of the living God and of our Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we go to battle. Our enemies trust in their own strength; we, however, in the name of the living God. Trusting in his mercy, we do not hesitate to give battle to infidels and unbelievers. For we are the Lord’s, whether we live or die.^[9] Describing the Knights Templar, one author wrote “they did not ask how many of the enemy there were, but where they were.”^[10] It is to the controversial Knights Templar that we will now turn.

Knights Templar

“In this same year, certain noble men of knightly rank, religious men, devoted to God and fearing him, bound themselves to Christ’s service in the hands of the Lord Patriarch. They promised to live in perpetuity as regular canons, without possessions, under vows of chastity and obedience…Their primary duty, one which was enjoined upon them by the Lord Patriarch and the other bishops for the remission of sins, was that of protecting the roads and routes against the attacks of robbers and brigands. This they did especially in order to safeguard pilgrims.”^[11]

William of Tyre Describing the Origins of the Templars in 1118 A.D

The Knights Templar, formally the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, were a religious order of soldier-monks dedicated to ensuring pilgrims’ safety. They were granted a base in Jerusalem by King Baldwin II, located on the Temple Mount, from which they were named.^[12]

A monastic order, they took vows of chastity, poverty, and service.^[13] They lived a life of prayer and regularly attended mass. They were modest, wearing white as a symbol of purity. The wearing of a red cross symbolized their acceptance of martyrdom.^[14] Writing of a typical Templar Knight, Saint Bernard of Clairvaux said “Why should he fear to live or fear to die when for him to live is Christ, and to die is gain? Gladly and faithfully he stands for Christ, but he would prefer to be dissolved and to be with Christ, by far the better thing.”

Like Western Catholicism, they did not fight on holy days or women and children or civilians. They aimed to defend the defenseless and the holy sites.^[15] Their noble deeds earned them large donations from the West in anticipation of their care and protection while traveling. They served as a military and religious order and helped maintain the Crusader States.

The Primitive Rule of the Templars had them cast away desires and gain from this world, serving only God. They were monks, a religious order called to divine obedience, diligence, and perseverance, expecting to die as martyrs in the cause of Christ and “charged with the duty of giving your souls for your brothers, as did Jesus Christ, and of defending the land from the unbelieving pagans who are the enemies of the son of the Virgin Mary.”^[16] They did not drink, hunt, or eat much meat and were to not focus on money and wealth but, as monks, willingly embrace poverty.

One contemporary described the Knights Templar as “Lions at war, and gentle as lambs at home; in the field they were fierce soldiers, in church they were like hermits or monks.”^[17] While renowned as great warriors, perhaps their power has been overstated as there were only about 300 Templar Knights at any given time in the Holy Land.

Other Orders

Even though it slowed, persecution of pilgrims by Muslims continued after the establishment of the Crusader States. For example, in 1119 some 300 pilgrims were killed and 60 sold into slavery.^[18] The knightly orders were created in response to these kinds of attacks.

The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem was originally established as a hospital to provide medical care and food to poor pilgrims. Over time, an armed branch was added to protect their services and those under their care. The Hospitallers, also known as the Knights of Saint John, were founded to provide medical care and armed protection for pilgrims visiting the Holy Land.^[19] The Grand Master was “the guardian of the poor” and they considered the poor their lords and themselves as mere serfs to the poor.^[20] In their hospitals they treated everyone as if they were treating a queen or king.^[21] The Hospitallers “treat each person with the reverence of Christ, caring for the poor and burying the dead regardless of race or religion.” They even maintained separate kitchens to provide Kosher food for their Jewish patients. They stated, “Knowing the Lord, who calls all to salvation, does not want anyone to perish, mercifully admits men of the pagan faith (Muslims) and Jews.”^[22] They also took vows of chastity and poverty. The Teutonic Knights began as the military wing of Saint Mary’s hospital in Jerusalem.

Historians Thatcher and McNeal wrote, “The Middle Age had two ideals, the monk and the soldier. The monk was the spiritual, the soldier the military hero. The military-monkish orders, whose members were both monks and soldiers, represent a fusion of these two ideals”.^[23]

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^[1] (Asbridge 2005 328)

^[2] (Barber 97)(Madden 2005 30, 39)(Asbridge 2005 328)

^[3] (Barber 117)

^[4] (Riley-Smith 125)

^[5] (Kors and Peters 330)

^[6] (Riley-Smith 69)

^[7] (Weidenkopf 2014 77)

^[8] (Kors and Peters 338)

^[9] (Weidenkopf)

^[10] (Monte October 10 2014, 219)

^[11] (Medieval Sourcebook: William of Tyre: History of Deeds Done Beyond the Sea)

^[12] (Madden 2014)

^[13] (Barber 196)

^[14] (Stark 2010 166-167)

^[15] (Armstrong, n.d. Piety, Politics, and Persecution) (Riley-Smith 98)

^[16] (Translated by Mrs. Judith Upton-Ward)

^[17] (Monte October 10 2014, 219)

^[18] (Stark 2010 173)

^[19] (THATCHER and SCRIBNER’S, n.d.-Anastasius IV Grants Privileges to the Knights of St. John (Hospitallers), 1154-)

^[20] (Weidenkopf 2014 113, 83)

^[21] (Armstrong, n.d. Piety, Politics, and Persecution)

^[22] (Riley-Smith #)

^[23] (THATCHER and SCRIBNER’S, n.d.-Military-monkish Orders. The Origin of the Templars, 1119)

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^[1] (“The First Crusade: The Accounts of Eyewitnesses and Participants”) (Weidenkopf 2014 72-73) (Madden 2005 33-34)

^[2] (Weidenkopf 2014 73)

^[3] (Weidenkopf 2014 38, 73)

^[4] (Stark 2010 156-157)