Richard The Lionhearted and the Third Crusade: The Church, The Templars, and The Crusades – Part 4

After the Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem fell to the Muslim forces of Saladin, news began to arrive in Europe of how the Crusaders were defeated at the Horns of Hattin, as well as how the Christians suffered with the fall of Jerusalem to Saladin, and that the relic of the True Cross was now in the hands of a non-Christian people. Interestingly, Saladin was on good terms with a certain Christian people, as well as their Christian queen - namely Queen Tamar of the Orthodox Christian land of Georgia. The Georgians were, in contrast to other Christian pilgrims, allowed free passage into the city. Queen Tamar outbid the Byzantine emperor in the efforts to acquire the holy relic of the True Cross, offering 200,000 gold pieces to Saladin who had taken the relic as a prize at the battle of Hattin, but Saladin rejected her offer. Thus as each piece of depressing news found its way into Europe it would eventually inspire Pope Gregory VIII to call for the Third Crusade.

Pope Gregory VIII only reigned for a few months in 1187 AD, but he reigned long enough to call for yet another Crusade to win back Jerusalem and the lost holy relic of the True Cross. Three European monarchs took up the pope's declaration: one - the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa King of Germany, another - Philip II of France, and thirdly – Richard I The Lionhearted of England. With these monarchs being the three most powerful men in Western Europe, the campaign looked promising. Barbarossa was the first king to set forth, traveling with his army through Thrace in the spring of 1190. The Byzantine emperor Isaac II Angelos was not happy about the Western Christians traveling through his territory, but was relieved once the Germans had passed on into Anatolia. Soon afterwards a calamity occurred for in June of 1190 the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa drowned by falling from his horse into the River Saleph in southern Cilicia. Frederick's death on top of the dysentery which was spreading through his army, would result in the majority of the European forces to actually make it to the Holy Land, be the French and the English.

To recover that which had been lost became the utmost desire of every Christian knight. For the Pope's call for a new Crusade, would wash away every sin. The kings of England and France received the sacred badge from the Archbishop of Tyre, and were now ready for a Holy War. The first major battle of the Third Crusade was at Acre. The city had already been under siege for some time by an army led by the former king of Jerusalem: Guy of Lusignan. Fortunately for Guy, many other Crusader armies quickly arrived in support. Some of the troops left over from Frederick Barbarossa's army, as well as a French force led by Henry of Champagne, along with the armies of Richard I and Philip II, made all forces united and ready to take the city in early June of 1191 AD. With a constant flaying of the walls of the city of Acre using catapults, the siege engines of king Richard, as well as divisions in Saladin's army, would all add up to factors in the Crusader victory at Acre which was officially captured on the 12^th of July in 1191. However, in just the next month after the Crusader victory king Philip needed to return to France due to political problems in Flanders which threatened his throne. So, from the original three kings, the Crusader army was now left with one: King Richard the Lionhearted.

After the fall of Acre the Crusaders set their eyes on Jaffa, a vital port which supplied Jerusalem. However, Saladin felt the best way to deal with the Christian invaders was to fight them in hand to hand combat out in an open field. Thus on the 7^th of September in 1191, on the plain of Arsuf, the two armies clashed head long with one another. The Crusaders ended up winning the battle but the Muslim losses were not that heavy. The Crusaders then marched on to Jaffa, but were also intent on heading straight for Jerusalem. King Richard agreed with the armies popular demand and they then moved towards the Holy City. Unfortunately for the Christian armies, they would not reach their goal of Jerusalem until after January of 1192. For rainy weather was slowing them down, as was a dwindling supply of food. Due to these conditions, a fateful decision was made.

Richard had marched within sight of Jerusalem, but he knew that even if he could storm the city's walls, his army which had been so reduced by the various battles over the past two years would not be able to hold it against an inevitable counterattack. It was a decision supported by the commanders of both of the army's two most experienced fighting units: the Knights Templar and the Knights Hospitaller. Now more than ever the loss of Fredrick's army was most deeply felt. Another march was made on Jerusalem the following year, but as times before, it stopped short and the leaders once again decided they might take the city after a prolonged siege, but they would almost certainly be unable to keep in check a counterattack from Saladin.

During this time, Saladin went on to attack Jaffa, which would fall in July of 1192. Richard sailed to and arrived in Jaffa in August after the city fell to Saladin. Richard was determined to reclaim Jaffa. Taking the lead the “Lionhearted” achieved his goal against all odds, though in the terms of the bigger picture not much had changed. The Muslims still controlled Jerusalem and Saladin's army was still intact. It was pretty much a stalemate, and just as with Philip of France, domestic affairs in England demanded Richard's immediate return home in order to safeguard his throne in October of 1192. The entire Third Crusade campaign was officially abandoned, and no Crusader army would ever get this close to Jerusalem ever again.

Richard and Saladin did manage to negotiate a peace deal at Jaffa. The Crusader held fortresses of Ascalon had to be given up and dismantled while a small strip of land around Acre was to be kept by the Crusaders. The future of the safety and humane treatment of Christian pilgrims in the Holy Land was also bargained for. It was not quite what was hoped for at the outset, but there was always the possibility of another Crusade at some time in the future. King Richard did indeed note that in any future campaign against the Arabs it would be to the Crusaders advantage to attack from Egypt, the weak underbelly of their empire. And it was precisely this plan which the Fourth Crusaders adopted, even though they would again become distracted from their original objective. For the prize of the Fourth Crusade would not be Damascus, The Queen of Syria, nor Jerusalem the Holy City, but the soldiers of the Fourth Crusade would covet and set their eyes upon the jewel of the Byzantine Empire, namely Constantinople.

References:

Adduson, C.G. The Knights Templars. (Forgotten Books, 2012).

Haag, M. The Templars: History & Myth. (London, England: Profile Books, 2008).

Lane-Poole, S. Saladin and the Fall of Jerusalem. (London, England: Greenhill Books, 2002).

Lewis, B. The Assassins: A Radical Sect in Islam. (New York, NY: Basic Books Inc., 1968).

Robinson, J.J. Dungeon, Fire & Sword. (Lanham, Maryland: The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group Inc., 2009).

Wasserman, J. The Templars and the Assassins. (Rochester, Vermont: Inner Traditions, 2001).

Saladin and the Fall of Jerusalem, 1187 AD: The Church, The Templars, and The Crusades – Part 3

 

Saladin was born in 1137 AD in Tikrit, in the territory of modern day Iraq, and was a Kurd by blood. Shortly after he was born Saladin's father Ayub and uncle Shirkuh, voluntarily gave themselves into the service of Zengi in Mosul. The two brothers served in his armies in many wars, and when Baalbeck fell, in October 1139, Ayub became the governor of the conquered city. Baalbeck was celebrated not only for its antiquity and its temples, but for its lofty situation. Baalbeck in the time of Ayub was surrounded by fertile fields, orchards, and gardens. It was here that the governor's son Yusuf (the future Saladin) received the typical education for a Muslim boy. He most likely learned Arabic grammar, in order for the reciting of the Koran, as well as the elements of rhetoric, poetry, and theology.

From 1154 to 1164, Saladin lived in Damascus, at the Court of Nur-ad-din. The Arab chroniclers are silent as to what Saladin studied, but we are informed that he showed himself a youth of “excellent qualities,” that he learned from Nur-ad-din how “to walk in the path of righteousness, to act virtuously, and to be zealous in fighting the infidels.” As the favored governor's son, he naturally enjoyed a privileged position. He was the shining example of that tranquil virtue which shuns, “the last infirmity of noble minds.” This is all we are told of Saladin up to the age of twenty-five. The fact that Saladin, who later would become the most renowned leader of his day, was apparently an obscure individual up to the age of twenty-five, is even more mysterious given that his uncle Shirkuh, who later brought him into public life, was Nur-ad-din's right hand man, an able and ambitious general.

In 1159 Nur-ad-din was stretched out on a bed dying of an illness. Shirkuh was thinking to take the crown himself, but Ayub counseled his brother otherwise and suggested to wait and see if their master was in fact going to die or not. Nur-ad-din did recover, and in 1160 Shirkuh acted as leader of the Damascus caravan of pilgrims on their way to Mecca. Shirkuh took a prominent part in the wars of Nur-ad-din, in the conquest of Harim from the Franks in 1164, and the massive capture of fifty Syrian fortresses. In all of this Saladin had no share. It was not until Shirkuh made his memorable expeditions to Egypt that the future “Sultan of the Muslims” emerged from his voluntary retirement and stepped boldly into his uncle's place as the true successor of Zengi in the role of champion of Islam.

For two centuries Egypt had been ruled by a dynasty of Caliphs who claimed to descend from Fatima, the daughter of Mohammad, and were hence known as the Fatimids. Now in the days beginning in 1164 there were many Syrian soldiers in Egypt, mainly from the forces of Nur-ad-din. Many conflicts between the Syrians, Crusaders, and the Fatimids took place for about five years. Then on the 26^th of March in 1169, the Fatimid Caliph chose Saladin to be the successor of his uncle Shirkuh. Saladin was led to the throne, and was invested with the mantle of vizier and decorated with the title el-Melik en-Nasir, “The King Strong to aid.” Saladin began to order his life more rigorously. Devout as he had always shewn himself, he became even more strict and austere. He put aside the thought of pleasure and the love of ease, adopted a Spartan rule, and set it as an example to his troops.

In the years to follow in the land of Egypt, Saladin managed to fend off attacks from Christian Crusaders, as well as insurrection from within Egypt itself. And with the death of Nur-ad-din in May of 1174, Saladin became the most powerful ruler between Baghdad and Carthage. Following in the footsteps of Zengi, and Nur-ad-din, Saladin made his way onto the conquest of Syria. However, the Assassins of Persia had at this time made their way into Syria and were the terror of the country. While making his march to Allepo, Saladin was resting in the tent of one of his captains, when an Assassin rushed in and struck at his head with a dagger. Thankfully the chain-mail Saladin was wearing saved his life, but his sudden assault from the Assassins brought terrors which he never felt on the battle-field.

So Saladin fervently increased his assaults. On June 21^st 1176 the fortress of Azaz surrendered to Saladin. He then turned to Aleppo, and made an agreement with the king of Aleppo, and other neighboring princes. Now Saladin was officially recognized as ruler over all the dominions he had conquered. Saladin would also go on to make truces with the Christians.

By July 1187 AD, Saladin had captured most of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. On the 4^th of July in 1187, at the Battle of Hattin, he faced the combined forces of Guy of Lusignan, and Raymond III of Tripoli. In this battle the Crusader force was almost completely annihilated by Saladin's tenacious army. It was a major disaster for the Crusaders and a turning point in the history of the Crusades. Saladin captured Raynald of Chatillon and was personally responsible for his execution in retaliation for his attacks against the Muslim caravans making the Hajj. The members of these caravans had besought his mercy by reciting the truce between the Muslims and the Christians, but Raynald ignored this and insulted the Islamic prophet Mohammad, before murdering and torturing a number of them. Upon hearing this, Saladin swore an oath to personally execute Raynald. Guy of Lusignan was also captured. Seeing the execution of Raynald, he feared he would be next. However, his life was spared by Saladin, who said to Guy, “it is not the wont of kings, to kill kings; but that man had transgressed all bounds, and therefor did I treat him thus.”

After the Battle of Hattin and capturing almost every Crusader city, Saladin set his eyes on Jerusalem. Saladin offered generous terms and desired to take Jerusalem without the shedding of blood. Unfortunately those inside the holy city refused Saladin's terms and vowed to destroy Jerusalem in a fight to the death rather than surrender it peacefully into the hands of the Muslims. Thus Jerusalem fell to Saladin's forces om Friday, 2^nd of October in 1187 AD, after a brief siege. In the aftermath Saladin met with the Crusader noble Balian of Ibelin to discus terms. The terms agreed upon were for every Christian to pay Saladin a tribute for their freedom. Saladin let some very poor families leave without paying the tribute. Also Patriarch Heraclius of Jerusalem organized and contributed to a collection that paid the ransoms for about 18,000 of the poorer citizens, leaving another 15,000 to be enslaved. In addition to the capture of Jerusalem, Saladin petitioned the Jews and permitted them to resettle in the holy city.

Once all the Franks had departed, and only the slaves and rescued Muslim captives remained, along with the native Christians who begged to stay and pay tribute, Saladin ordered the holy places to be purified and restored for the worship of Islam. The golden cross had been torn down from the Dome of the Rock, and all traces of the Templars' additions were removed from the Al-Aqsa Mosque by ritually purifying the entire site with rose water. However, Saladin would only briefly enjoy his crowning achievement of Muslim control over Jerusalem. For news had reached all the way into England that the holy city was now ruled by a Muslim Sultan. Thus in the year 1189 AD, King Philip II of France and King Richard I The Lion-heart of England joined forces to lead what would become the Third Crusade.

References:

Adduson, C.G. The Knights Templars. (Forgotten Books, 2012).

Campell, A. The Assassins of Alamut. (Published by Lulu, 2008).

Haag, M. The Templars: History & Myth. (London, England: Profile Books, 2008).

Hodgson, G.S. The Secret Order of Assassins. (Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005).

Lane-Poole, S. Saladin and the Fall of Jerusalem. (London, England: Greenhill Books, 2002).

Lewis, B. The Assassins: A Radical Sect in Islam. (New York, NY: Basic Books Inc., 1968).

Robinson, J.J. Dungeon, Fire & Sword. (Lanham, Maryland: The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group Inc., 2009).

Wasserman, J. The Templars and the Assassins. (Rochester, Vermont: Inner Traditions, 2001).

The Rise of the Templars and the Second Crusade: The Church, The Templars, and The Crusades – Part 2

 

The leader and founder, and first Grand Master of the Knights Templar was the French knight Hughes de Payens. Hughes was a veteran of the First Crusade, and was close to the age of fifty when the order of the Templars was founded on Christmas Day in 1119 AD. The King of Jerusalem granted the Poor-Soldiers of Christ the al-Aqsa Mosque as the place of their residence, at the southeast corner of the Temple Mount. Also on the Temple Mount north of the al-Aqsa Mosque, stands to this day the Islamic shine known as the Dome of the Rock. This structure was built over the Foundation Stone, also known as “Even ha-Shtiyya” in Hebrew. According to Jewish tradition this location is where God created the first man Adam, where Abraham attempted to sacrifice his son Issac, and also marks the location of the Holy of Holies where Solomon's Temple once stood. In Muslim belief this location marks the starting point of Muhammad's Night Journey to Heaven. After the siege of Jerusalem in 1099 the Dome of the Rock was turned into a church, and the Knights Templars used its image on the reverse side of their official seals. Its round architectural feature would also become the model for round Templar churches throughout Europe.

The Templar seal depicted two knights sharing a single horse. This symbolized the poverty and the brotherhood of the order. In the beginning they had no financial resources, and no official rule other than the monk-like vows they pledged themselves to at their formation. This led Baldwin II, King of Jerusalem to write to St. Bernard of the Abby of Clairvaux, asking for his assistance in getting the Pope to approve of the Templar order, and also to help draft a Rule to guide the knights in their duty of protecting the pilgrims. In addition to the protection of pilgrims, Baldwin II also felt that the Templars should help defend the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Thus in the year 1128 after the blessing of Pope Honorius II, a great ecclesiastical council was assembled in Troyes, France; which Hughes de Payens and his brethren were invited to attend. There St. Bernard subjected the Templars to the governance of the great religious and military fraternity of the Temple. This endorsement of the Templars by St. Bernard at the Council of Troyes, has gone down in history as the famous epithet, In Praise of the New Knighthood.

After the confirmation of the rules and statutes of the order, Hughes de Payens traveled through France and then to England in order to secure funds to increase the strength of the new knighthood. In Normandy the king gladly received him and gave him much silver and gold. He was also welcomed in England, and many donated to the Templar cause of Jerusalem. Grants of land were also made to Hughes de Payens and his brotherhood. Before his departure, Hughes placed a Knight Templar at the head of the order in England, who was called the Prior of the Temple. It was his responsibility to manage the estates granted to the brotherhood and to send the revenues to Jerusalem. Now having laid the foundations of the great monastic and military institution of the temple in Europe, Hughes de Payens returned to Palestine as the head of a valiant band of newly elected Templars, drafted mainly from France and England. However, shortly after his return Hughes de Payens died, and was succeeded in 1136 by Lord Robert, also known as the Burgundian.

Now at this time the strong Muslim leader, Zengi, was on the rise. After a conflict with the Byzantines in Syria, Zengi besieged the Crusader county of Edessa and captured it on December 24^th, 1144. The Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem was shaken to its foundations, and the clergy immediately sent letters to the Pope for assistance. During this period, around the year 1147, Lord Robert Master of the Temple had been succeeded by Everard des Barres, Prior of France. Everard convened a meeting of the order in Paris, which was attended by Pope Eugenius III, Louis VII King of France, and many Princes and Nobles from all parts of Christendom. With the efforts of Pope Eugenius III, along with the preaching of St. Bernard, the Second Crusade was arranged. The Templars, with the blessing of the Pope, adopted the blood-red cross, the symbol of martyrdom, as the distinguishing badge of the order along with the white mantle worn over their chain-mail. At this grand assembly the Templars were given various donations to aid them in their defense of the Holy Land. Brother Everard des Barres, the newly-elected Master of the Temple, gathered together all the brethren from the Western provinces, and in 1147 joined the Second Crusade to Palestine. This would also be noted by Muslim chroniclers as the beginning of the jihad against the Crusader states.

During the march through Asia Minor, the rear of the Christian army was protected by the Templars. Conrad, Emperor of Germany, had preceded King Louis at the head of an army, which was cut to pieces by the Turks. Conrad then fell ill and fled to Constantinople, got on board a merchant vessel, and arrived in Jerusalem with only a handful of men. There he was welcomed by the Templars and given lodging in their quarters in the Holy City. Soon afterwards King Louis arrived with Grand Master Everard, and for the first time the red-cross banner was unfolded in the field of battle. For in July of 1148 the two monarchs, Conrad and Louis, took to the open field, and supported by Templars, laid siege to the magnificent city of Damascus, “The Queen of Syria,” which was defended by the emir Undur. The Crusader army camped near orchards with fresh flowing water in front of the western walls of Damascus. However, the orchards also served as cover for the Damascenes who were able to make repeated attacks against the Crusaders. Louis and Conrad responded by attacking the eastern walls, but the walls were higher on this side of the city and the siege began to drag on. The Crusaders got bogged down and had no other choice but to retreat. Without even entering Damascus the Second Crusade was defeated. The Muslims came out of the Second Crusade stronger than before. They shattered the myth of the invisibility of the Christian knights, and proved their own skill in battle. Throughout all of Islam a resurgence of pride now arose in hearts of the Muslims.

The failure of the Second Crusade came as a shock to Europe because it had been led by the powerful kings of France and Germany. Some blamed the French, who's decades long presence in the Middle East had led them to forge an alliance with the ruler of Damascus at a time previous to the siege in 1148. Some Germans blamed the Templars, saying that they betrayed Conrad and deliberately retreated after taking a bribe from the emir of Damascus. There is no evidence that the Templars did this, but the significance of their criticism is important. For this noble order of warrior monks who fought for God, were now open to complaints. The biggest problem for the Crusaders however, was that the more the Franks of the Holy Land relied on European money and military aid, the more critical the West became if things went wrong. If efforts and victories did not come cheap and easy, then the enthusiasm and support from Europe were not there either. From now on, the defense of the Holy Land would depend on its network of castles, largely built and commanded by the knights of the military orders.

With the departure of the Crusader armies of Louis and Conrad from the Middle East, the Muslim leader Nur ad-din, meaning “Light of Religion” started to encroach upon the holdings of Prince Raymond of Antioch. Raymond, unable to find allies among his fellow Christians, managed to form an alliance with the Kurdish leader of the Shia Assassins, who hated Nur ad-din due to religious conflicts. The Christians were not actually in danger of Nur ad-din. The center of his ambition was the conquest of all of Syria and its grand prize, the city of Damascus. Damascus was now ruled by the emir Mujir ad-din, who made an alliance with the Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem in order to stand against Nur ad-din. Raymond of Antioch had been criticized for his alliance with the fanatical Shia sect of Assassins, but now the entire Christian kingdom was the ally of a Muslim state. The religious concept of the Crusaders had changed since the initial zeal of the First Crusade. Now religion was on the back burner. The motivation of preserving landholdings and governing power was the focus now. God was being replaced by greed, and not for the first or last time.

In 1151 Nur ad-din and his armies approached Damascus, but with the timely arrival of Christian support for the city, his plans were halted. With Nur ad-din held in check to the north by the Muslim-Christian alliance, King Baldwin III of Jerusalem turned his ambitions towards Egypt, which was experiencing political turmoil at this time. To break into Egypt Baldwin III needed to control Ascalon, the southernmost Muslim city on the coast of Palestine. After making preparations, the Christian army marched to Ascalon in January 1153. Equipped with siege engines, many Templars, and even a relic of the True Cross, Baldwin was confident. The siege of Ascalon went on for many months until a breach in the wall allowed the Templars to enter the city. However, the Egyptian soldiers quickly killed all of them and later that day their naked bodies were hanging from ropes along the walls of Ascalon. Depressed and fearful, King Baldwin summoned a council of his nobles. He discussed with them a possible abandonment of the siege, but his officers persuaded him against it. It turned out to be a good decision, for supplies in the city were getting low and soon the inhabitants were prepared to surrender. The large amount of plunder taken from Ascalon was divided among the Christian leaders, and rule of the city was given to Amalric, Baldwin's younger brother and heir to the throne.

The emir Mujir ad-din of Damascus was so impressed by the victory of the Christians, that on top of his alliance with the Kingdom of Jerusalem he agreed to pay an annual tribute in gold. This overt submission to Christian power had a negative effect on his Muslim followers, and they began to side with Nur ad-din in Aleppo. To help him in his desired conquest of Damascus, Nur ad-din turned to two Kurdish brothers who had served him faithfully in the past. One brother, Shirkuh, was a man of great military skill. The other brother, Ayub, drew on a natural talent for administration and had been made the emir of Baalbek. Ayub had a young son, Yusuf, who had yet to make his mark, but who one day would become the greatest Muslim hero of the Crusader period. In his days to come Yusuf's followers would call him “The Prosperity of the Faith,” and to the Christians, and to history he would be known as Saladeen.

 

 

References:

Adduson, C.G. The Knights Templars. (Forgotten Books, 2012).

Bernard of Clairvaux. In Praise of the New Knighthood. (Trappist, Kentucky: Cistercian Publications, 2000).

Haag, M. The Templars: History & Myth. (London, England: Profile Books, 2008).

Lane-Poole, S. Saladin and the Fall of Jerusalem. (London, England: Greenhill Books, 2002).

Robinson, J.J. Dungeon, Fire & Sword. (Lanham, Maryland: The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group Inc., 2009).

Wasserman, J. The Templars and the Assassins. (Rochester, Vermont: Inner Traditions, 2001).

The First Crusade and the Birth of the Templars: The Church, The Templars, and The Crusades – Part 1

After Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD, some sixty years later in 130 AD the Roman Emperor Hadrian vowed to rebuild the Holy City from it ruins. However, these plans were put on hold for in 132 AD another Jewish rebellion against Roman rule broke out. This conflict would be known as the Second Roman – Jewish War. It has also been titled the Bar Kokhba revolt, named after Simon bar Kokhba the Jewish leader of the struggle. At the time some believed Simon to be the true Messiah, giving him the name “Bar Kokhba” meaning “Son of the Star,” while others believed him to be a false Messiah, giving him the name “bar koziba” meaning, “son of the lie.” After a two and a half year fight, Bar Kokhba was defeated by the Romans in 135 AD. Bar Kokhba's revolt enraged Hadrian and caused him to rename Jerusalem as “Aelia Capitolina” and rebuild it in a Greko/Roman style. Jews were forbidden to enter the city on penalty of death, and measures were also enforced that negatively affected Christians.

Christian persecution continued for another two centuries. But with the reign of St. Constantine the Great in the beginning of the 4^th century, persecution ended for the Christians. For in 313 the Edict of Milan declared religious tolerance for Christianity throughout the Roman Empire. Shortly after this the mother of Constantine, St. Helena traveled to Jerusalem in search of the tomb where Christ was buried, as well as other sacred places mentioned in the Scriptures. Ultimately the Church of the Holy Sepulcher was constructed over the site of Christ's resurrection, and throughout the Holy Land churches and shrines were built honoring the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. The pious example of St. Helena and her discoveries of holy relics caused many Christians in the Empire to embark on their own pilgrimages to Jerusalem.

Over the next few centuries Christians from all walks of life continued to make their pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and many Christians resided in Jerusalem in safety. Even after the Arab conquest of Jerusalem in 638 the city's Christian population enjoyed an extended period of peace with the Muslims. But by the 10^th century the Muslims had become more aggressive and started to attack the Christians of Jerusalem as well as burning and looting the churches and shines in the city and elsewhere. And persecution and vandalism continued into the 11^th century. During these difficult times the Church itself was experiencing turmoil from within. Unfortunately, doctrinal differences between Rome and Constantinople could not resolved, and the arrogance of the Church of Rome became unprecedented. Then one Sunday morning in 1054 AD, as the patriarch of Constantinople was celebrating the Divine Liturgy in the grand church of Hagia Sophia, three booted cardinals sent by Pope Leo IX of Rome stomped their way up to the high altar and blasphemously slammed a letter down on the altar and without saying a word they turned around and walked out.

The letter sent from the Pope was a degree of excommunication of the emperor of Byzantium, all clergy, as well as all citizens of the Eastern Roman Empire. For the first thousand years after Christ, both the Western and Eastern Church were one and called Catholic, which means Universal. But when Rome began deviating from the teachings of the Church Fathers they would not heed the censure from the Eastern Church which was holding steadfast to the traditions laid down by the Apostles. With Rome's departure from the truth, the Greek speaking people of the East began calling themselves Orthodox, meaning True Glory. For the name Catholic had been hijacked by the heretics in Rome. Constantinople then excommunicated the Pope, and the Eastern Church would now be known as the Greek Orthodox Church.

Though the Christians of the East stood firm against the lies coming out of the West, a new enemy of our crucified savior was nearing the borders of Byzantium. The fierce nomadic Turks of Central Asia had already made there way into Baghdad in the late 10^th century and in 1055, just one year after the Great Schism of the Church, the Turks took control of Baghdad and established their own power over the caliphate. Then in 1073 the Seljuk Turks surged through Asia Minor, pushing back the Byzantines and capturing their territory. The Seljuks also took northern Syria from the Byzantines and Jerusalem from the Fatimids. Despite these perils the faithful continued in their pilgrimages to Jerusalem, but the journey was now far more dangerous than in times past. Throughout Anatolia and the Middle East there was fighting everywhere and along the roads bandits where at every turn.

The Byzantine Emperor Alexius I Komnenus started to fight off the Turks, but needed more help. Willing to put doctrinal differences and personal prejudices aside, he sent an appeal to Pope Urban II in order to secure mercenaries and funds to aid in the cause. In response to Alexius' plea, Pope Urban II convened The Council of Clermont in central France in November of 1095. Urban's goal was to provide the Byzantine Empire with the necessary means to drive out the Turks from Asia Minor and secure Jerusalem, and in return he wanted the Orthodox Church to bow down to the authority of Rome. The Council of Clermont was attended by huge crowds of clergy and laity. Urban addressed his listeners with the plight of the Christians in the Holy Land and explained the special sacredness of Jerusalem and how the pilgrims had suffered on their journeys. He informed them how the emperor of Byzantium had asked for his help in fighting the Muslims. Then he proclaimed, “Let the West go to rescue the East!” and said those who died in the struggle would receive the remission of their sins. Cries of Deus le volt! - God wills it! - filled the air, and everyone from knights to peasants, rich and poor, stepped forward to receive the Pope's blessing in order to join his holy expedition. Amid the uproar of the news of bloodthirsty Turks, fanatical Muslims, and the panic of Christendom being lost in the very city where Christ walked, the belief spread that the apocalypse was at hand. In their zeal, thousands of peasants took up the cross and marched eastward to liberate the Holy Land. Thus in the year 1096 began the First Crusade.

After three years and nearly three thousand miles the Crusaders approached the walls of Jerusalem on the 7^th of June in 1099. On their way to the Holy City, they managed to wrestle some territory away from the Seljuk Turks in Asia Minor, and now the prize of winning the Church of the Holy Sepulcher from the hands of the Muslims was in sight. The siege of Jerusalem lasted for about six weeks. With 1,200 knights and over 10,000 foot soldiers, the Crusaders poured into Jerusalem butchering men, women, and children of all faiths. Muslims, Jews, and Orthodox Christians were slaughtered by the Christians of the West. When the carnage was over the knights went to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher to give thanks to God for their victory. In the aftermath of the capture of the Holy City, Baldwin I was crowned king of Jerusalem on November 11, in the year 1100 and went on to strengthen European power in the city.

The infidels had been driven out of Jerusalem but not Palestine. Pilgrims were still subject to the hostilities of the Muslims. To alleviate these dangers, nine noble knights who had greatly distinguished themselves during the capture of Jerusalem, formed a holy brotherhood in arms to protect the pilgrims through the passes leading to Jerusalem. They called themselves the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Jesus Christ. They renounced the world and all its fleeting pleasures, and took vows of chastity, obedience, and poverty after the habit of monks. In 1118 Baldwin II, king of Jerusalem granted them housing within the enclosure on Mount Moriah, known as the Temple Mount. There on the site where the Temple of Solomon once stood, these Poor Soldiers of Christ would thenceforth be known as The Knighthood of the Temple of Solomon, better know as The Knights Templars.

 

 

References:

Adduson, C.G. The Knights Templars. (Forgotten Books, 2012).

Haag, M. The Templars: History & Myth. (London, England: Profile Books, 2008).

Robinson, J.J. Dungeon, Fire & Sword. (Lanham, Maryland: The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group Inc., 2009).

Wasserman, J. The Templars and the Assassins. (Rochester, Vermont: Inner Traditions, 2001).