All, however, took strict vows of poverty, chastity and obedience to the rules of the Order. It was not until after the middle of the twelfth century that there began to appear a stronger military aspect to the Knights. By this time they already had command of several castles in Syria including the famous Krak des Chevaliers which they were to turn into the most formidable fortress in the East—so much so that a Moslem was to liken it to ‘a bone stuck in the throat of the Saracens’.

It is probable that these castles were largely manned by hired mercenaries, for the militant arm had not yet sufficiently developed for them to have been held entirely by the Order. Most of the castles were the gift of Count Raymond of Tripoli, who was anxious to have the powerful Hospitallers as his allies against the constant enemy incursions into his territory. He was also well aware that the Order had ample funds with which to maintain and improve them. By 1168 it is clear that the military side of the Order had developed considerably: we find it sending 500 knights together with a suitable number of mercenary troops as its contribution to a crusading venture into Egypt.

By the time that Raymond de Puy died the future development of the Order had been clearly established. Despite the admonishments of more than one Pope—that the Hospitallers should confine the military side of their activities as much as possible and stick to their original Rule as laid down by Brother Gerard—the Knights Militant had arrived upon the scene.

 

 

 

Chapter 3

CRUSADERS IN THE EAST

 

The Europeans who ruled in the eastern states such as Jerusalem and Antioch, and smaller principalities like Tripoli, never numbered more than a few thousand. Even with the addition of their men-at-arms, the poorer Latin settlers, the merchants, priests and others, they were little more than handful, holding on to their lands by castles and the sword—and also by judicious treaties with local Moslem rulers. Being so few it was hardly surprising that it was they who were influenced by their neighbours and their surroundings, rather than the reverse. Many centuries before, although they had come in far greater numbers, the Greeks who had spread over the same area after the campaigns of Alexander the Great had become largely orientalised. If the Greeks with their superior culture had been so transmuted it was natural enough that these comparatively simple and unsophisticated Latin nobles would soon become imbued with the light and the colour, the luxury and the languor of the East.

Used as they were to the cold rains and even colder winter of Europe, to the long twilights, and the brief temperate summers, the brilliance, blue skies and blinding light of these strange lands affected them like a drug. Listening to the biblical stories from their priests in their homelands they had probably never envisaged that Christ Himself had been an oriental, and that the Holy Land was a far remove from the settings in which they had pictured Him. The ultimate failure of the Crusades and the crusading Orders in the Near East was partly attributable to the material aims of Latin nobles, whose private quarrels often took precedence over their real obligations. The records show that they often lived in ostentatious splendour honouring chastity more in the breach than the observance and were constantly at odds with one another. At the same time they brought to this exotically unfamiliar environment the typical feudal system of Europe. In Palestine, since most of the Moslems had emigrated after the Norman conquest, the Latin peasant farmers were largely tied to the land, paying a percentage of their revenues to the local lord. In other areas agriculture was run on the basis of the farmers—whether Europeans or native—carrying on much as before, although subject always to any demands that their local ruler might make of them. As Sir Steven Runciman puts it, ‘The villagers’ dealings with their lord were conducted through their headman, called sometimes by the Arabic name of rais… On his side the lord employed a compatriot as his factor or drogmannus (dragoman), an Arabic-speaking secretary who could keep the record.’ It was from estates such as these—quite apart from those bequeathed to them in Europe—that the Order of St John largely drew its revenues.

The Latin conquerors, who had initially despised the Byzantines for the way in which they traded and had diplomatic treaties with the Moslem enemy, soon found out that it was only by these means that they could continue to hold on to their possessions. This pragmatism was reinforced by their contacts with Byzantines of the Orthodox Church, with Moslems of different sects, and with the Jews. Removed from the intellectual and spiritual security of their small European communities they found themselves in contact with many different streams of thought. The overall result was that they became more tolerant, more broad-minded and, indeed, easygoing. In the military Orders this process was less easily observable, but it existed none the less. It was impossible for all except the most dedicated man to observe that in the kingdoms of the East life was totally different from that which they had known in Europe.

Between the invaders of these eastern lands and the surrounding inhabitants there began a form of communication, a tolerance even, that was found extremely distressing by the newly-arrived European, hot for a chance to save his soul by fighting the infidel. If one may make the comparison, the situation was not unlike that of an officer newly arrived from Britain in the India of the nineteenth century. The old regulars who had been there long before him, or were even descended from several generations of Anglo-Indians, accustomed to the climate and the ways of the land, saw things with a very different eye from that of the new arrival. The newcomers to Outremer for their part found the settlers’ acquiescence in the status quo incomprehensible, irritating, and un-Christian.

The permanent Latin inhabitants of these eastern states certainly lived a considerably more pleasant form of life than they would have done in their native countries. The draughty discomfort of a Norman castle—with the weather baying outside and the dogs baying in the Great Hall—was replaced by elegance and splendour. The castles had refinements far beyond those of Europe. The Byzantines who had built their houses upon earlier Greek and Roman techniques and traditions had been emulated by the Moslems, who in their turn were copied by the resident crusaders. There were efficient sewerage systems—unknown in medieval Europe—piped water supplies in a number of cities, and in areas where water was scarce great underground cisterns ensured that even through the long hot summers the citizens or the soldiers did not go short of fresh drinking water.

The interiors of the houses with their beautiful carpets, hangings of damask, feather beds, and elegant furniture, amazed the newcomer.