The military Orders, consisting of men who combined the religious duties of monks and the military exercises of knights, were the Knights Hospitallers and the Knights Templars.

The Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem (Pl. 58, Fig. 1) were originally not a military Order.

This Order took its name and was founded at an hospital in Jerusalem by the merchants of Amalfi, in Italy, for the purpose of affording hospitality to the Pilgrims coming to the Holy Land. It was dedicated to St. John the Baptist, and the first business of its members was to provide for such pilgrims at that hospital, and to protect them from insults and injuries on the road. The open country was perpetually exposed to the incursions of irregular bands of Saracen and Turkish horsemen, and any of the hapless pilgrims who were captured were put to death or sold into slavery.

The Order was instituted about 1092 A.D., and was very much favoured by Godfrey of Bouillon and his successor, Baldwin, King of Jerusalem.

The kindness of the Hospitallers to the sick and wounded soldiers of the First Crusade made them popular, and several of the Crusading princes endowed them with estates; while many of the Crusaders, instead of returning home, laid down their arms and joined the brotherhood.

After a time, when their endowments became very great, they reconstituted the Order on the model of the Templars. From this time the two military Orders formed a powerful standing army for the defence of the kingdom of Jerusalem.

As monks, they followed a rule of life founded upon that of St. Augustine, and wore a black mantle with a white cross on the left shoulder.

They soon came to England, and had a house built for them in London about 1140 A.D., and from poor and mean beginnings obtained so great wealth, honours, and exemptions, that their Superior here in England was the first lay baron and had a seat among the Lords in Parliament; some of their privileges being extended even to their tenants. When on military duty, the knights wore the ordinary armour of the period, a red surcoat with a white cross on the breast, and a red mantle with a white cross on the shoulder.

The smaller establishments upon their manors and estates were called commanderies, and the head of the house was known as the Commander.

Sometimes their houses were called preceptories, but this term was more generally applied to the establishments of the Knights Templars.

They had their headquarters at the Hospital of St. John, near Clerkenwell, where the gate (rebuilt in 1540) may still be seen. There were about 53 cells or commanderies attached to this hospital in different parts of the country, where the novices might be trained in piety and in military exercises.

When the Christians were driven out of Jerusalem, the Knights of St. John passed to the Isle of Cyprus, afterwards to the Isle of Rhodes, and finally to Malta, where they maintained a constant warfare against the Mahommedans, acting as the police of the Mediterranean and doing their best to oppose the piracies of the Corsairs.

The Order was divided at Malta according to nationality—the English knights, the French knights, etc., each nation having a separate house situated at a different point of the island for its defence.

The Order was suppressed in England in 1541, resuscitated in Mary’s reign, and finally abolished on the accession of Queen Elizabeth.

Knights Templars. (Pl. 58, Fig 2.)

The Knights Templars, or simply the “Templars,” were instituted 1118 A.D., and were so called from having their first residence adjoining the Temple at Jerusalem. Nine knights bound themselves into a fraternity, which adopted the fundamental monastic vows of obedience, poverty, and chastity, and, in addition, their business was to guard the roads for the security of pilgrims in the Holy Land. Many members of the noblest houses in Europe joined the Order, and endowments flowed in abundantly. Gradually dependent houses were established on its estates in nearly every country of Europe. Their rule, like that of the Hospitallers, was according to that of St. Augustine, and their habit consisted of a large white mantle with a red cross on the left shoulder, over the ordinary armour of the period. They came to England early in the reign of Stephen, settling first at Holborn in London. Afterwards their headquarters were removed to Fleet Street, and were known as “The Temple.” On this ground they built a monastery, barracks, cloister, council chamber, refectory, a river terrace as exercise ground as well as for religious meditation, a tilting ground where the Law Courts now stand, and a very beautiful church. This establishment now for many years has been given over to the Law, Chaucer having been one of the first law students there. The original church, with its round nave, after the form of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem, still remains—a monument to the wealth and influence of the ancient Templars. The banner of the Order was of black and white cloth, called beauseant (Pl. 29, Fig. 24), and they adopted this word as a war cry.

The rule allowed three horses and a servant to each knight, and married knights were also admitted to the Order.

In England their numbers increased very rapidly, and they obtained large possessions, but in less than two hundred years their wealth and power were thought to be too great. They were accused of horrid crimes, and were everywhere put into prison. Their Order was suppressed by Pope Clement V. in 1309 A.D., and totally abolished by the Council of Vienna 1312 A.D. The Superior of the Order in England was styled Master of the Temple, and was often summoned to Parliament.

Like the Hospitallers, the Templars built churches and houses on their estates called Preceptories. When the order was suppressed, these lands and houses, eighteen in number, were handed over to the Hospitallers.

In the Temple Church there are nine effigies of knights, which are certainly the finest and most interesting collection of monumental figures of this early period possessed by any one church in the kingdom. They exhibit the military costume as it is said to have been worn at the Crusades.

According to the sculptor who restored the effigies, the Templars wore long beards, and their general dress consisted of a hauberk or tunic of ringed mail reaching to the knees, with sleeves, gloves, and chausses covering the legs and feet of the same kind of mail, a light sleeveless surcoat of white with a red cross over the hauberk, girded about the waist by a belt; another belt passing transversely round the body over the right shoulder and under the left arm, by which a long or kite-shaped shield was supported; a sword belt obliquely across the loins, with a long, heavy sword attached, and single-pointed or “prick” spurs.

Over all was worn a long white mantle fastened under the chin and reaching to the feet, with a red cross on the left shoulder.

On the head was worn a linen coif, and above that a bowl-shaped skull-cap of red cloth turned up all round. When completely armed, the coif and cap were exchanged for a hood of mail covering the neck and head, and over that one of the large heaumes or helmets was worn.