Tag: Crusades

Those Teutonic Knights

An IST History Class.

Just a small diversion from the tedium of being in lock down…we might as well learn something in the process.

One of my newer followers has stated that they like history in all forms….so this post is for Chantel of https://chantellau.wordpress.com/

Recently I did a post about the Knights Hospitaller…..a group during the crusades that we hear little about these days…..the Knights Templar are everywhere….but please read the post about the Hospitallers for more information…..https://lobotero.com/2020/02/23/who-were-the-knights-of-hospitaller/

I bring this up again because there was another order of knights that we seldom hear about….those would be the Teutonic Knights of Prussia….

A medieval Teutonic Knight was a member of the Catholic military Deutscher Orden or Teutonic Order, officially founded in March 1198 CE. The first mission of the Teutonic knights was to help retake Jerusalem from the Arabs in the Third Crusade (1187-1192 CE), and during this failed attempt they set up a hospital outside Acre during the siege of that city. The hospital was granted the status of an independent military order by the Pope, and the knights never looked back. The Middle East proved to be too difficult to hold onto, but the ambitious order merely switched their focus to converting Christians and grabbing land in central and eastern Europe instead. With their famous black cross on a white tunic, the austere Teutonic knights became master traders and diplomats, carving out vast swathes of territory from their base in Prussia and building castles across Europe from Sicily to Lithuania. 

A few things to help my reader associate with the Teutonic Knights…..

Almost as famous as the Knight Templars and Hospitallers, the Teutonic Knights and their popular imagery of extravagant horned-helmets on steel-clad horsemen have stoked the fascination of many a history aficionado. And though the latter was possibly only used for ceremonial purposes, there is without a shred of doubt a unique historical scope when it comes to the legacy of this medieval military order.

Much of it perhaps has to do with the fact that the Teutonic Order made its military mark in the mysterious lands of north-eastern Europe, as opposed to the renowned Holy Land. It should also be noted that at the same time these ‘knights’ were more successful in establishing a full-fledged, economically viable monastic state (Ordensstaat) than their peer Crusader orders like the Templars and Hospitallers. So without further ado, let us take a gander at ten interesting things you should know about the Teutonic Knights

Teutonic Knights: 10 Things You Should Know About the German Military Order

But for those that are too business to read I have included a couple of videos to make it so much easier……

And the differences in the 3 orders……

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

Class Dismissed!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Who were The Knights Of Hospitaller

Please do not confuse these people with the now famous knights of the Holy Land, the Knights Templar, they we two distinct groups of crusaders.

The Crusades became more popular with modern bloggers after the attacks of 9/11 and the term “crusaders” came back into vogue.

But there has been enough “magical, mystery” BS passed around on what some call the “history” channels on your Boob Tube.

The Knights of Hospitaller…..On February 15, 1113, the reigning Pope of the Catholic Church, Pope Paschal II, issued a Papal Bull titled “Pie Postulatio Voluntatis,” recognizing the Order of Hospitallers, a military order of Catholic knights that had existed in the Holy Land since about 1099.  The order had begun in Jerusalem during the 11th Century in service of an Amalfitan (established by people from the Italian city-state of Amalfi) hospital that was founded in Jerusalem to see to the medical needs of Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land, part of the Christian Crusades.  Known more formally as The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, the Hospitallers saw themselves as protectors of Christian pilgrims in a very dangerous land teeming with robbers and warring factions.

February 15, 1113: Who Were the Knights Hospitaller?

These knights were tasked to protect the pilgrims to the Holy Land…..and that was what the Templars were tasked to do as well….so what is the story here?

The difference is simple, and not very subtle; the Templars ceased to exist, and the Hospitallers certainly exist right now, working for the sick. Originally the latter were of a military order, the Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem. The name comes from the dedication to St. John the Baptist of their headquarters in Jerusalem.

These are not their only names: from 1310 they were the Knights of Rhodes, and from 1530 the Knights of Malta, but they were established themselves first in (or around) 1070 with Muslim permission, managing a hospital for sick pilgrims in Jerusalem. They only became a formal order of knights when the city fell to the first Crusaders in 1099.

Knights Hospitaller & Knights Templar: the difference

More information for those who actually like history……http://www.medievalwarfare.info/templars.htm

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

History For a Sunday

Let me begin my day with a wish that all my fathers have a great Father’s Day……..

It has been awhile since I gave a history lesson and this Sunday seems like a good time to do so…….(I hear those heavy sighs and eye rolling)……

It is written that Hitler saw himself as a reincarnation of German Emperor Barbarossa…..seriously? That is who you want to emulate?

It is June 1190 and the leader of the Third Crusade dies…..this great warrior king did not even make it to the fight in the Holy Land…..he drowns crossing a river in Turkey on the way to the fight…..

On June 10, 1190, during the Third Crusade, Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa (r. 1155-1190) drowned in the river Saleph while leading an army to Jerusalem.

Frederick I Barbarossa (known as “red beard”) is generally considered one of Medieval Europe’s greatest emperors.  He had a long reign as not only Holy Roman Emperor but also as King of Italy, King of Germany (which at the time also meant King of the Romans), and King of Burgundy, ruling some of these realms from 1152 until his death in 1190, or nearly forty years!

https://www.historyandheadlines.com/june-10-1190-emperor-frederick-barbarossa-drowns-third-crusade/
 
Death peed on his dreams of glory in the Holy Land….I guess Hitler overlooked that part of the legend of “Red Beard” Barbarossa…..drowned while crossing a river (maybe someone should have told him that swimming in armor never ends well)
 
Ain’t history grand?
 
Plus it was fairly painless.
 
Be Smart!
 
Learn Stuff!
 
Class Dismissed!

Today In History–17 October

On this day in the year 1244 during the 6th crusade the Frankish Army was defeated by the Egyptians……

The Sixth Crusade was of monumental importance to Europe as it managed to achieve what previous Crusades had failed to do – recapture the Holy Land. Considerably less fighting was involved in this Crusade, rather it was the diplomatic manoeuvring by the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick II of Hohenstaufen, which achieved the desired outcome and saw the Kingdom Of Jerusalem regain control of Jerusalem and other surrounding areas for the next 15 years.

The Crusade – which began seven years after the failed Fifth Crusade – was brought about by Frederick, who sought to assuage his guilt at his lack of leadership of the Fifth Crusade by launching the Sixth Crusade to recover Jerusalem, paid for by Holy Roman Empire funds.

http://historylearning.com/medieval-england/the-crusades/sixth-crusade/

The final battle was fought in Gaza in Palestine.

The defeat of the Frankish Army lead to a couple of things……the loss of power and prestige of the papacy and of course the 7th Crusade……ancient exercise of today’s endless wars.

History is a good thing…..but only if you learn from it…..if not then it bites you in the ass.

The Later Crusades

Most people even if they are not a history buff will know of the 1st Crusade and the adventurism into the Holy Land in the name of Christ…..but that was not the only Crusade to try and expel the Muslim usurpers from the “Holy Land”…..

There were a couple of minor Crusades after the First….the Crusade of the Faint Hearted 1101…the Venetian Crusade and then we come to the Second Crusade of 1147…..but what happened after 1150?

Then came the Third Crusade…….

1187 saw the crusader kingdoms reach their low point. The crusaders fought amongst themselves, while at the same time Saladin was unifying large parts of the Muslim world, eventually coming to surround the crusaders. Despite this, the crusaders failed to observe their truce with Saladin, and eventually Saladin decided on war. In June 1187 he invaded Palestine. Guy of Lusignan, king of Jerusalem, was able to raise an army of almost equal size to Saladins’, but it was badly led, and the crusaders suffered a decisive defeat at the battle of Hattin (4 July 1187). Guy was captured, while the most able Crusader leader, Raymond of Tripoli, died of his wounds after the battle. The aftermath of the defeat saw the effective end of all but a tiny remnant of the crusader kingdoms. With their garrisons lost, Saladin was able to capture most cities, including Tiberias, Acre and Ascalon. Only at Tyre, where a combination of strong defences, and the arrival of Conrad of Montferrat with fresh troops thwarted Saladin. From Tyre, he moved on Jerusalem, which surrendered to him on 2 October 1187. News of the loss of Jerusalem broke on a stunned Europe, where moves were soon in hand for a fresh crusade, the Third. However, for the moment those crusaders left in Palestine has to survive.

http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/battles_acre.html

Then there was the 4th Crusade to recapture the lost city of Jerusalem from the Muslims……

The Fourth Crusade was actually conceived in 1199 at a jousting tournament held by Thibaut, Count of Champagne, at Ecry-sur-Aisne in northern France. There, in a sudden wave of mass emotion, the assembled knights and barons fell to their knees weeping for the captive Holy Land. They swore solemn oaths to go as armed pilgrims to wrest it from the infidels. In the months that followed, the crusade took form in a series of feudal assemblies headed by Count Thibaut; Baldwin, Count of Flanders; and Louis, Count of Blois. Rather than wear out their army by a long land march through hostile territory, the leaders decided to reach Egypt by sea. A delegation of six trusted knights went to Venice, the leading seafaring city of Western Europe, to arrange for passage. One of those envoys, Geoffrey of Villehardouin, Marshal of Champagne, later wrote a chronicle of the expedition.

http://www.historynet.com/fourth-crusade.htm

The 4th failed to do what it intended to do…….which was pretty much every Crusade’s fate for 1200 on……time wasted, people dead and resources squandered all in the name of religion……some things never change.

Not to worry there were 6 more Crusades before 1291….after that year there were 6 more crusades until 1481…..

It seems that a Crusade was a popular past time in the Middle Ages.