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Shield of the Blessed Gerard, circa 1100
Although the Blessed Gerard is cited as the founder and first Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller of Saint John of Jerusalem, this is not strictly true.
When Gerard arrived in the Holy Land, sometime before 1080, a hospital, which was dedicated to Saint John the Almoner (an early seventh century Patriarch of Alexandria who was noted for his generosity to the poor and care of the sick), already existed in Jerusalem. It is true, though, that it was under Gerard's direction that the hospital staff formed themselves into a separate Order; and this was recognized by Pope Paschal II in 1113: and in this respect, Gerard was the founder of the Hospitallers of Saint John; although he never used the title of Grand Master. However, we should not refer to the Order as the Knights Hospitaller during this period, as it was only after Gerard's death that it became militarized.
In fact, it is difficult to substantiate most of the claims made about Gerard; and he remains an historically shadowy figure. Even his surname cannot be given with absolute certainty. It is variously said to have been Thom or de Martigues. The former (and variations on it, which include Tonque and Tum) are most likely derived from a misreading of the Latin phrase 'and then' that occurs next to Gerard's name in an original source. Much stronger traditions are attached to the surname of de Martigues: and Martigues in Provence, France, is claimed as his place of origin. It is for this reason that the Langue of Provence has seniority over all the others (the Hospitallers divided up their territories into provinces which were referred to as Langues; which is to say tongues, or languages: hence the Langues of England, Aragon etc.). However, Hainault and Amalfi have also been proposed as Gerard's birthplace.
Possibly Gerard was from Amalfi, and this would help explain his presence in the Holy Land in the late eleventh century. Of course, he could have arrived as a pilgrim, and then decided to stay; but his taking up residence in Jerusalem and his involvement with the Hospital of Saint John does make more sense if he was one of the Amalfitan merchants who had interests in the city. It was, after all, this group who had established the Christian community in Jerusalem and who had founded Saint John's Hospital.
A medieval hospital did not resemble a modern establishment. True, the Hospitallers of Saint John did nurse the sick and weary, but for the most part, they offered refuge to the large numbers of Christian pilgrims - especially the poorer ones who could not afford to make alternative arrangements - passing through Jerusalem. Perhaps the Abbot of Saint Mary of the Latins, who was in overall charge of the Christian hospitaller missions in the city, felt that all the comings and goings at Saint John's would be too much of a worldly distraction for his brethren. This could be why it was staffed by lay-brethren, rather than monks. Confusingly, Gerard is usually referred to as 'Brother'; which would seem to indicate that he was a monk of Saint Mary's whom the Abbot had appointed to run the nearby Hospital of Saint John. However, in the medieval period it was possible to become a lay brother or an associate member of a religious community without actually becomming a fully-fledged monk or nun. These brethren would be expected to live according to the rule of their community (which, in the Hospitallers' case, was that of Saint Benedict to start with), but because they would be preoccupied with other duties, it was acknowledged that they would not be able to completely withdraw from the outside world in order to dedicate themselves to contemplation, nor would they be able to observe the same regime and attendance of services as the conventual brethren. This may also help to explain why Gerard pushed for the independance of the Hospital from the control of the Abbot of Saint Mary's: a move which would probably not have otherwise crossed his mind had he been a monk, as it would have conflicted with his strict vow of obedience.
There is a tradition that Gerard may have originally been a knight; and so armorials of the Order of Saint John attribute arms of azure, a lion rampant argent to him. Again, the tradition is an uncertain one; but we have placed these arms upon a type of shield that would have been used during Gerard's lifetime. It is a handcrafted badge in pewter and enamel, and is approximately 39mm overall. |
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| Code: KTB184Price: £6.50 |
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Shield of the Knights Hospitaller of Saint Lazarus, circa 1187
The Knights Hospitaller of Saint Lazarus claimed to be the oldest of all the Military Orders of the Crusades in the Holy Land. Some of the Order's scholars traced its origins back to the time of the Jewish High Priest, John Hyrcan (fl.134-105 B.C.), who, it is said, founded a leper hospital outside the walls of Jerusalem. It was claimed by the Lazarite brethren that the hospital that they later occupied was built on the site of Hrycan's original foundation; and on the basis of this, he was included at the head of the list of the Order's Grand Masters.
As far-fetched as this seems to us, the Order had its reasons for promoting this story. However, the very fact that they made serious and scholarly attempts to do so indicates that quite early on the Order's true origins had become obscure. Any history of the Lazarites' founding therefore is speculative. It would be fair, though, to state that their inception does pre-date the First Crusade.
In the eleventh century, merchants from Amalfi in Italy had made their city state wealthy by trading grain with the Muslim rulers of the Holy Land. The Amalfians had even managed to establish a sizeable Christian quarter within Jerusalem. Here they built the Church of Saint Mary of the Latins and in a neighbouring complex of bulidings they founded a monastery, a convent and a hospital. This was not like a modern hospital, rather it was a place where weary pilgrims could find shelter and hospitality as well as medical services. This was an especially important foundation, because the Amalfians had created a lucrative sideline in organising pilgrimages to Jerusalem. By circa 1080, the Benedictine Abbot of Saint Mary's had become responsible for the whole Christian hospitaller mission in Jerusalem. This effectively meant that the leper hospital dedicated to Saint Lazarus (which was initially run by Greek and Armenian monks) located outside Jerusalem's walls had come under his jurisdiction. It thus became the Abbot's responsibility to appoint a rector or provost of the hospital mission, and he chose Gerard de Martigues. Gerard seems to have delegated the running of the Hospital of Saint Lazarus to one Renault de Bichers, who replaced the Greek and Armenian brethren with Latins, while Gerard himself presided over the Hospital of Saint John the Almoner, near to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This, at least, is a realistic expalnation of the origins of the Order of Saint Lazarus; and it also helps to make sense of the tradition that the earliest Masters of the Hospital of Saint John were said to have been heads of the Order of Saint Lazarus as well.
Nonetheless, because of the specialist nature of the hospital mission of Saint Lazarus and the fact that lepers and their carers were banished to the fringes of society in the Middle Ages for fear of contagion, the Lazarite brethren must have felt naturally inclined towards independance, hence their promotion of the dubious story about their ancient origins.
After the shock of the First Crusade, the Saracens had quickly begun to recover. In 1113, Gerard de Martigues and his brethren had been recognised by the Pope as a seperate Hospitaller Order; but in 1120, Gerard died and was replaced by Raymond du Puy. Raymond's appraisal of the situation was that his Hospitallers were operating in a war-zone; so he began the process of militarization. He realized that it was all very well providing hospitality to pilgrims, but not if they weren't reaching their destinations safely. It was also desirable to take measures to protect the Order's hospitals; and this latter consideration cannot have been lost on the Lazarites because their hospitals were usually situated outside the protection of city walls.
Not only did the statutes of the Hospitallers of Saint John and the Templars state that a knight of these Orders who caught leprosy should join the Hospitallers of Saint Lazarus, the law code of the Haute Cour of Jerusalem made it necessary for secular knights who contracted the condition to do so as well. The more able-bodied of these would certainly have been willing to take up arms to defend their hospitals; so in some ways the militarization of the Order of Saint Lazarus was a more natural progression than in the Order of Saint John. However, the Lazarites soon began recruiting small numbers of non-leper knights; and these personnel provided the contingents that the Order supplied to the army of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. The Knights of Saint Lazarus' first major battle was probably at the Horns of Hattin in 1187, where all those present are thought to have been slain.
The Hospitallers of Saint Lazarus wore black mantles, like the Knights of Saint John. The latter started wearing the insignia of a white cross sometime after 1130; and it is likely that the Lazarites copied this practise soon afterwards, although their emblem is not mentioned in documentary sources until the early fourteenth century. However, this does not preclude it having existed much earlier: particularly as this source condemns the various forms of cross that the brethren had been wearing beforehand. The plain Lazarite cross was green, and one tradition asserts that the choice of colour, which is associated with the Prophet Mohammed, was inspired by a Lazarite knight's capture of a green Saracen banner.
We have hand crafted this badge in pewter and enamel. It is approximately 36mm overall. |
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| Code: KTB180Price: £6.50 |
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Shield of Gerard de Montclar, circa 1169
The early Masters of the Knights Hospitaller of Saint Lazarus are not well documented, so it is difficult to construct accurate or extensive biographies for them. In more than a few cases, not even their surnames are known. However, a few details have been preserved about Gerard de Montclar.
Gerard originally came from the Auvergne region of France, and when he first arrived in the Holy Land he may have joined either the Knights Hospitaller of Saint John or the Templars; although this is by no means certain. There is a tradition that the early Masters of the Hospitallers of Saint Lazarus were themselves lepers. This is possible, since none of them seem to have lasted very long in the post. If Gerard did contract leprosy, then he would have had to leave the Templars or the Hospitallers and transfer to the Lazarites: though the date he entered the Order of Saint Lazarus is not known. By 1169, however, he is recorded as Master. He was a generous patron of the Lazarites, and he donated an impressive collection of relics to the Order's church in Jerusalem. These included a piece of the Virgin Mary's clothing; a fragment of wood from the stake to which Christ was bound and then flogged; and several of Saint Nicholas' bones. He survived until 1185.
We have hand crafted this badge in pewter and enamel. It is approximately 39mm overall.
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| Code: KTB179Price: £6.50 |
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Knight Hospitaller, mid 12th Century.
The foundation of the Knights Hospitaller actually predates that of the Templars; though they did not become a Military Order until later. This makes the history of the Hospitallers' uniforms a fascinating subject.
As mentioned above, even before the First Crusade, a Christian hospital had been established in Jerusalem, close to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Here sick and weary pilgrims could be tended by a group of dedicated and religiously minded lay-people. This Hospital of Saint John the Almoner was the beginnings of the Knights Hospitaller.
When the Crusaders beseiged Jerusalem, the rector of this hospital, Gerard de Martigues, and his staff were ejected; although some say that the Saracens threw them into the dungeons. At any rate, when the city fell, they returned; and the Crusader leaders - such as Godfrey de Bouillon - began to support Gerard and his Hospitallers with grants of land and cash donations. This allowed him to expand his group's activities and establish more hospitals.
When Gerard's successor first decided to take steps towards protecting the Order's hospitals and the pilgrims using these facilities, he just began arming some of the brethren with basic weapons, like spears and shields. Although the idea of armed monks may seem a contradiction to us; in the Middle Ages things were not so clear-cut, and the Church was at times very militant in its attitudes. Raymond's hospital staff were not actually clergy: they were more in the nature of lay brethren: which is to say that they had dedicated themselves to a religious way of life without actually taking the full vows of a monk or a nun (there were also female Hospitallers to look after women pilgrims). Though this made the bearing of arms less of an issue, it was still a far from satisfactory arrangement and the Pope on one occasion had to remind Raymond that his Order's primary vocation was the care of pilgrims. Thus full-time military personnel were admitted into the Order; but the black monkish robes worn by the original armed brethren provided the basis for these Hospitaller Knights' uniforms. However, the early soldiers of the Hospital are something of a mystery. It is unclear whether they were hired-in; or vassals holding land from the Hospitallers; or volunteers who had offered their services to them. It is likely that they comprised elements of all the aforementioned; but my feeling is that at the core was a band of dedicated volunteers. This particular Knight's equipment, which has not changed much from that worn at the battle of Hastings is pretty typical of the mid twelfth century. However, it would be more natural for the Hospitaller Knights to be equipped in older armour because at this stage the Order's function was still first and foremost charitable rather than military; so their gear would have been mostly older surplus stuff that had been donated to them.
We have hand crafted this badge in pewter and enamel. It is approximately 110mm overall. |
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| Code: KTB172Price: £14.50 |
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Shield of Garnier de Nablus, circa 1190
Garnier de Nablus was the Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller from 1190 to 1192. He led the Order during the Third Crusade, and he fought at the Battle of Arsuf in 1191.
By the time that King Richard the Lionheart of England arrived in the Holy Land in June 1191, the siege of the city of Acre had been dragging on for over twenty months. However, he reinforced the Crusader forces entrenched there, and the city soon fell into their hands. With this prize secure, Richard turned his attention to his ultimate goal; the city of Jerusalem. He marched his army south, hugging the coast all the way. The Saracens harrassed the Crusaders constantly, hoping thereby to provoke them into launching an ill-judged charge; in the face of which the Saracens would just melt away, leading the Crusaders into a carefully prepared trap. Richard was too wily a general to fall for this trick; and he managed to maintain the cohesion of his forces throughout the long march. However, as the Crusaders neared the town of Arsuf, the Saracen attacks intensified. Richard halted his army, and turned to face the enemy. The Saracens' tactics remained the same: to try and lure the Crusaders into squandering their most effective weapon: the heavy cavalry charge. The Hospitallers formed the rearguard of Richard's army; and they were taking the brunt of the enemy onslaught. Many of their precious warhorses were falling victim to Saracen arrows; and Master Garnier feared that when Richard eventually decided to unleash the cavalry, his Knights would be in no position to take part in the charge. He begged the King to order the attack; but Richard refused. However, the Hospitallers could stand it no longer. They broke ranks and thundered after the Saracens. Fortunately, the rest of the army supported them; and the Saracens were swept off the battlefield under the weight and ferocity of the Crusaders' charge.
This shield has been carved with Garnier de Nablus' personal arms (sable, a cross potent argent); which is virtually identical to the arms used by the Knights Hospitaller.
We have hand crafted this brooch in polished pewter. It is approximately 65mm overall, and it is supplied gift-boxed. |
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| Code: KTB171Price: £14.50 |
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Shield of Jean de Villiers, circa 1291
Jean de Villiers was elected Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller in 1285. Like William de Beaujeu (cf. KTB164), de Villiers became the last head of his Order to hold his post in the Holy Land. Unlike de Beaujeu, however, he survived the siege of Acre in 1291.
The crisis for the Crusader garrison of Acre came early on the morning of 18th May, 1291. At sunrise, the Saracen besiegers launched a general assault against the walls of the city. Before long, they had captured a key position, known as the Accursed Tower. The Templars and the Hospitallers led the counterattack to try to retake the Tower. It was in the bitter fighting that followed that the Master of the Templars, de Beaujeu, was killed by a javelin in the armpit. In the same action, de Villiers was also wounded by a javelin; this time, between the shoulder blades. However, his wound was not mortal; and he was dragged, protesting, by his knights down to the harbour and placed aboard a ship bound for Cyprus. Thus he escaped. De Villiers continued as Grand Master of the Hospitallers until his death in 1294.
We have hand crafted this brooch in polished pewter. It is approximately 57mm overall; and it is supplied gift-boxed. It would make an atttractive accompaniment to our brooch KTB164, which depicts William de Beaujeu's shield. |
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| Code: KTB166Price: £12.50 |
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