History of the Crusades

the Crusades Episode 23, the Knights Templar Part 2.

Hello again.

In last week's episode, we saw the establishment of the Knights Templar.

Just before we get back to the Knights Templar,

we will take a quick diversion to look at the establishment of another military order,

the Knights Hospitala.

The Order of the Hospital of St John started around 1070,

when a charitable group of Italians established a hostel in Jerusalem to care for sick and impoverished pilgrims.

The Egyptians were governing Jerusalem at the time and they allowed the Italians to choose a suitable site for their hostile.

The Italians took vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, and adopted as their patron saint the little known

Saint John, the arms giver, a patriarch of Alexandria from the seventh century. The influx of pilgrims increased after the Latin

Christian conquest of Jerusalem and the Order of the Hospital of St John, or the Hospitlers as they were known, increased as well in both size and status.

They had to attract international patronage and as a sign of their growing prestige

they upgraded their patron saint

dumping Saint John the arms giver in favour of the better known and more popular St John the Baptist.

The Hospitlers watched the establishment of the Knights Templar with interest and decided that there was room within their order for a military function.

Not only would they care for sick and poor pilgrims, they would also fight to keep the pilgrim roots open.

The order still contained brothers whose function was to remain in Jerusalem and care for

the sick, but increasingly they welcomed into their order

Knights whose role was to fight on behalf of pilgrims. Eventually this was to become their main function and the Knights Hospitula would join the Knights Templar as a formidable fighting force.

The Knights Hospitula were identified by a white cross they wore on a black tunic over their

...