MY PPT on the Military Orders

Knights_templar_battle_weary 250pxnear_east_1135_svg I spent the morning giving a lecture on the Crusader states and the Military religious orders.  Here are my slides.  There is no text.  Make up your own.  pl

Download The Crusader States2

I was a bit tired yesterday when I put this up.  I felt something like that Templar to the left.  forthose who might want to reac something about this general subject I suggest:

Zoe Oldenbourg, "The Crusades," out of print but available.

Sir John Runciman "A History of the Crusades," 3 volumes

Anything by Joshua Prawer

There is some new research concerning the origins of the people of the 1st Crusade and the demographic pattern of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

I recommend the director's cut of the movie, "The Kingdon of Heaven,"  There are a number of ahistorical things about the film but I think it captures the spirit of the thing well.

I would welcome comments that add to the bibliography of this subject.  800 years ago wasn't really so long as one might think.  pl

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34 Responses to MY PPT on the Military Orders

  1. Charles I says:

    Class just never lets out here. Thanks Pat.

  2. pbrownlee says:

    Thank you, sir, for sharing. Lots of slides — how long was the lecture? (I ask because I usually find I over-furnish with “ancillary” materials and then skim through/drop a lot — but any effective pedagogical methods/wheezes are well worth sharing — but are also — usually — highly personal.)
    And “Kingdom of Heaven” is still so much better than the usual pap. I remember fuming and snorting through “Troy” — becoming explosive at the highly premature death (!?!) of Agamemnon.

  3. David E. Solomon says:

    Colonel Lang,
    Post college, but many, many years ago I read and enjoyed both the Alexiad (by Anna Comnena) and Saladin (by Beha ed-Din).
    I still think they would make great reading for today’s close minded anti-intellectuals.
    Regards,
    David

  4. Nevadan says:

    I’m sorry I didn’t get to hear your lecture. The slides were wonderful. Thank you.

  5. Francis Egan says:

    Dear Pat:
    Brilliant slide presentation. It will prompt me to study more.
    Best, Francis Egan

  6. Kevin says:

    What about the occultic charactoristics of these orders? Most people have no clue as to their concealed influence on shaping important historical events nor of their current aristocratic memberships. For instance, when the knights templars were slaughtered on Friday October, 13, 1307(this is where we get “friday the 13th”), they had an entire fleet of ships mysteriously disappear from La Rochelle. Not far after, piracy against the popes navies and shipping lanes began to proliferate under the “jolly roger” flag, (named after Norman templar King Roger the II of Sicily)- perhaps in retaliation. I believe these same templars have been coming to north america among other places long before any mainstream history class would like for you to believe. They named the distant land after a star that aided the long navigation, the star was called “merica”. Even Christopher Columbus was a proto-templar, his ships had red templar crosses on their sails. Colubus was not even his real name but a title, in name of the goddess columbia- the same lady holding a torch today in New York harbor and the namesake of our nations capital! The knights hospitalers who later became the knights of malta are another interesting group. They recieved all the wealth, rights, and privilages that were stripped from the templars. Today this order of knights has their own internationally recognized sovereignty; members even recieve diplomatic passports. Their grandmaster has the ranking of a cardinal in the catholic church and a prince in the royal families. Membership is exclusive and by invitation only; to become a member, one must be able to prove their family lineage back 500 years! If you were to see a list of current knighs of malta, you would realize they make up the whos who of high government and industry. GHW Bush is a knight of malta, so is Tony Blair, even Ruppert Murdoch among many others!

  7. Patrick Lang says:

    pbrownlee
    I had an hour. This was inadequate but one does what one can.
    kevin
    There is no “occultic” aspect to these orders. They were created solely for the purpose of providing enough dedicated manpower to defend the Latin East, and have been continued (except for the Templars who do not exist any longer) as charitable and devotional establishments for people with money who like to dress up. pl

  8. michael palmer says:

    Kevin: your tinfoil is showing.

  9. Kevin says:

    When I use the word “occult”, it means secret, mysterious, or hidden from view. I believe it is a little more than just rich people dress up and medals, especially during and after the cold war. I am curious if this is how US intelligence is tied into the vatican in respect to fighting shared enemies(ie communism, poverty, injustic, ect); there is still a reason why heads of state kneel and kiss the piscatory ring. I also believe the templars exhist today through the freemasonry and Rosicrucianism.

  10. bstr says:

    Dear Sir, am I wrong to think the Knights of Malta to be a Catholic organization? I thought that GHW Bush was a Protestant of some sort. Does this organization have honorary appointments as universities award honorary PHDs to non-academic worthies?

  11. Patrick Lang says:

    Kevin.
    I do not think you will believe this but there is no connection between the Vatican and the US Government other than an exchange of ambassadors. I am available for the job.
    BSTR
    Yes. The SMOM is a Catholic order. I am not a member but I would suppose that they have an “Order of Merit” or some such things that can be given to non-Catholics, indeed to non-Christians.
    Subject to correction by a Knight of Malta or ultimately by a Knight of Justice (the top in SMOM), I would add that there are parts of the Hospitallers that “went Protestant” in the Reformation but continue to exist. They and their Catholic brethren have a good deal to do with each other. The Vatican is not always happy about this, but…
    The “Venerable Order of St John” is one of those groups. GHW Bush may belong to that. pl

  12. Will says:

    read the wiki about the knights of St John. After Malta, they even enjoyed the hospitality of the Tsar. There is a pix of the stupendous mortar that defended Rhodes in that article.
    Yes, there are Protestant variations of the Orders.
    when i am ribbed about my educational degrees i deflect i have at least 32 degrees , some of them conferred in two days, Scottish Rite freemasonry. Many of the degrees reflect the ignominy of Friday the 13th! My father was York Rite. They dress up like Crusaders and drink wine from skulls in their initiation ceremony. York rite takes acknowledges Jesus Christ. Scottish Rite a Supreme Being and thus has Muslim and Jewish and other people of the Book.
    But the Shriners revel in Muslim feasts and are Ancient Arabic Noble Knights of the Mystic Shrine or some such- I can’t remember. I quit after a friend started posting the tax returns of the temples- less than five percent of the revenue raised was going to the charity hospitals.

  13. Dan M says:

    “When I use the word “occult”, it means secret, mysterious, or hidden from view.”
    That makes the IRS occult. This explains a lot.

  14. johnf says:

    I didn’t like the Ridley Scott film.
    I can’t think of any film which has done the Crusades justice, but I did enjoy the opening 15 minutes of Robin and Marian.
    I like Dick Lester’s approach to historical subjects.

  15. Andrew Fisher says:

    Pretty slides, but a shame you couldn’t track down more contemporary pictures. I think Matthew Parris’ illustration of Hattin was about the closest and what is that, 60 years after the event?
    I don’t know what words you put behind it, but the slide on Crusading routes I thought pitentially very misleading. From the Third onward, sea routes were overwhelmingly used, and if you count all the small, non-royal expeditions even more so: your slide seemed to concentrate mainly on big and early expeditions where the land route was still used.
    To be fair to Kevin, piracy was a big part of what the Knights of Rhodes and Malta did – it was all their resources would stretch to by then.
    Andrew

  16. Albertde says:

    Belvoir is pronounced beaver for the castle.

  17. Kevin says:

    The order of malta in the york rite of freemasonry is in no way connected to the sovereign military order of malta. There is also a “knight of the holy sepulchre” under the massonic red cross of constantine appendage, I am guessing they also have any connection.

  18. rjj says:

    PL, posted some links to online resources. It is in the spam filter.

  19. rjj says:

    forgot to add the online Alexiad.

  20. Kevin says:

    “That makes the IRS occult. This explains a lot.”
    Yes, in fact it is!
    The Alchemical Dollar

  21. Charles Cameron (hipbone) says:

    Christopher Tyerman, God’s War: A New History of the Crusades.

  22. G Hazeltine says:

    Some evidence of how Saladin was viewed in the middle ages, in this lovely story from the Decameron:
    http://www.stg.brown.edu/projects/decameron/engDecShowText.php?myID=nov1009&expand=day10

  23. Interesting how the stupendous efforts put forth by Christendom and Islam in the period of the Crusades still resonates in the modern world, sometimes below the horizon. Interesting how we have referred to the West since Gibbon and not Christendom. A wonderful book by British Historian John Hale “The Civilization of Europe In the Renaissance” published in 1993 helps explain why.

  24. rjj says:

    Twenty years ago In Terry Jones’ “Crusades” Suheil Zakkar talked about his newly published book on Saladin, but it has never been translated into English. Anybody know why?

  25. Will says:

    One can learn some geostrategy from that time- from the wiki:
    “The Berke-Hulagu war was fought between two Mongol leaders: Berke, khan of the Golden Horde, and Hulagu, khan of the Ilkhanate. It was fought mostly in the Caucasus mountains area in the 1260s after the destruction of Baghdad in 1258. The war marked a key moment in the fragmentation of the Mongol Empire after the death of the Great Khan Mongke.
    ….
    “In 1252, Berke converted to Islam, and in 1257 he assumed power in the Golden Horde after the death of Ulagchi. Like his brother Batu, was loyal to the Great Khan Mongke. Although aware of Berke’s conversion to Islam, Hulagu, after conquering Persia, destroyed Baghdad in 1258, added Iraq to the Mongol Empire, advanced towards Syria and Palestine, and began a war of attrition against the Mamluk Sultanate. Berke became enraged with Hulagu’s rampage through Muslim lands, and as a preparatory step, directed his nephew Nogai Khan to raid Poland in 1259 in order to collect booty to finance a war. Several Polish cities were plundered, including Kraków and Sandomierz. Berke then struck an alliance with the Mamluk Sultan Qutuz and later Sultan Baibars of Egypt.
    That same year, Mongke died in a military campaign in China. Muslim Historian Rashid al Din quoted Berke Khan as sending the following message to Mongke Khan, protesting the attack on Baghdad, (not knowing Mongke had died in China) :
    “He has sacked all the cities of the Muslims, and has brought about the death of the Caliph. With the help of God I will call him to account for so much innocent blood.”
    —”The Mongol Warlords”, quoting Rashid al Din’s record of Berke Khan’s pronouncement; this quote is also found in “The Mamluk-Ilkhanid War”.

    The Crusader States considered an alliance with Hulagu but misfortune struck when a the ruler of Tyre’s son accidently killed a Mongol and soured the relationship.
    However the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia did enter into an alliance w/ the Mongols. Eventually they succumbed to the Mamelukes and ultimately to the Turks. The nobles fled to Cyprus b/ the commoners remained until the Armenian Genocide.
    The Armenian refugees in Lebanon did not all come from the Caucasus- many came from Cilicia in the 20th Century.
    The Great Victory of Baibars’ Mamelukes at Ayn Jaylut (Goliath’s Spring) that saved Egypt and Islam from the Mongols would not have been possible w/o the pressure of Berke Khan and the Golden Horde. (and the death of Monge Khan that summoned Hulagu back East to a succession council)

  26. ads says:

    A minor quibble effendi, but does the painting in slide 14 depict Manzikert? The Turks’ opponents are armored more like late Renaissance heavy cavalry, although axes had gone out of fashion by then except in the east (Poland, Hungary, Muscovy). The heavily curved sabers would also seem to indicate that they are Eastern European horsemen. I would guess Poles except husaria would have wings and pancernj would be wearing lighter armor.

  27. taters says:

    Dear Col.Lang,
    I envy those that were there for your presentation/lecture. Thank you for the slides.
    From what I understand, the Hospitallers, (Knights of St. John) saw the poor as Christ and therefore had an obligation to accept everyone who was ill – regardless of gender, nationality and religion – into the hospital of Jerusalem. The exception was for leprosy.
    (And thank you Col. Lang for the recommendation of the following book.)
    Chapter Four, from The Crusades, A History by Jonathan Riley – Smith, 2nd Edition,
    Yale University Press 1987, pg. 77
    [..] This holy house [of the the Hospital], knowing that the Lord, who calls all to salvation, does not want anyone to perish, mercifully admits men of the Pagan faith [that is Muslims] and Jews…because the Lord prayed for those afflicting him, saying: ‘Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.’
    In this blessed house is powerfully fulfilled the heavenly doctrine: ‘Love your enemies and do good to those who hate you’: and elsewhere: ‘Friends should be loved in Godand enemies on account of God’.
    The admission of Muslim and Jewish pilgrims may help to explain why the sick wereto be given chicken if they could not stomach pork and why there are references to a second kitchen, a coquina privata, in which the chicken was cooked.It may be that the Hospitallers were respecting the dietary laws of their non-Christian patients. [..]
    For an irreverent review of ‘ The Kingdom of Heaven’ one needs to go no farther than SST and the Athenaeum resident fim critic, the esteemed Brig. General/Command Sergeant Major/Wordsmith of the First Rank/Professor Alan Farrell. Pat does a forward and a synapsis on ‘The Kingdom of Heaven’ (Which I enjoyed immensely) and pointing out a few historical ‘liberties’ that Ridley Scott had taken.
    http://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/2005/11/the_kingdon_hea.html
    I also enjoyed reading The Templars by Piers Paul Read, 1999 DaCapo Press
    For those looking for conspiracies this is probably not for you.
    And others by Col.Lang at The Athenaeum and SST on the Crusades.
    http://turcopolier.typepad.com/the_athenaeum/2007/06/krak_des_cheval.html
    http://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/2006/02/we_can_do_peace.html
    Great thread and comments.
    Kind Regards,
    Robert M. Murray

  28. Jose says:

    Just want to recommend the extended version of “Kingdom of Heaven” over the theater version, much longer but a really great movie. IMHO, editing killed the movie so reserve a rainy weekend for the two disk version.

  29. Dustin says:

    “The Crusades through Arab Eyes” by Amin Maalouf

  30. johnanonanonanon says:

    Just a comment on the movie;…
    I enjoy sometimes the revealing aspects of theatre upon those who are constructing it; the Orlando Bloom blacksmith character was tapping that Anvil like a sexaholic taps Britney Spears on the eve of prophylactic prohibition. Neither he, nor anyone on staff, has ever really WORKED a day in their lives. Anyone whose ever done any kind of work knows that one who works all day works slow and steady or he doesnt make it to dinner time in one piece. In any event, it is difficult to accept much of what they depict as authentic. Thank you so much for the validation, the slides, and I hope for an audio of your lecture one day soon. 😀
    Many Thanks!

  31. Peter says:

    Interesting, but you are incorrect- Hugh de Payens did not found the Knights Hospitaller, Fra’ Gerard of
    Amalfi did.
    Also, Bush is not a Knight of Malta – you need to be a Catholic to be one.

  32. Patrick Lang says:

    Peter
    Yes. You are right about the founder of the Hospitallers. I have corrected this on the PPT. I need to download the new version to SST.
    You are aware of course that the Federation of the Orders of St. John include several “Johanniter” orders that are Protestant. In addition, there are several commanderies or bailliwicks or whatever they call them that are Orthodox having come under the protection of the tsar during a period of estrangement from the papacy. Lastly, there is the Victorian “revival” in the Anglican church, “The Venerable Order of St John.” These groups attend each others’ liturgy for events such as the creation of a Knight of Justice of SMOM.
    I gather that Rome is not pleased by that.
    I am not a knight of Malta but I find them interesting. pl

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