Military order

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A military order is a Christian order of knighthood that is founded for crusading, i.e. propagating and/or defending the faith (originally Catholic, or Orthodox, after the reformation sometimes Protestant), either in the Holy Land or against Islam (Reconquista) or pagans (mainly Baltic region) in Europe, but may become 'secularized' later.

Contents

1 History
2 List of military orders
3 Other use
4 Sources, References and External links
5 See also

History

Christian military orders appeared following the First Crusade. The foundation of the Templars in 1118 provided the first in a series of tightly organized military forces which protected the Christian colonies in the Outremer, as well as fighting non-Christians in Spain and Eastern Europe.

The principle feature of the military order is the combination of military and religious ways of life. Some of them like the Knights of St John and the Knights of St Thomas also cared for the sick and poor. However they were not purely male institutions, as nuns could attach themselves as convents of the orders. One significant feature of the military orders is that clerical brothers could be, and indeed often were, subordinate to non-ordained brethren.

Joseph von Hammer in 1818 compared the Christian military orders, in particular the Templars, with certain Islamic models such as the shiite sect of Assassins. In 1820 Jose Antonio Conde has suggested they were modelled on the ribat, a fortified religious institution which brought together a religious way of life with fighting the enemies of Islam. However popular such views may have become, others have criticised this view suggesting there were no such ribats around Palestine until after the military orders had been founded. Yet the innovation of fighting monks was something new to Christianity.

The role and function of the military orders has sometimes been obscured by the concentration on their military exploits in Syria, Palestine, Prussia, and Livonia. In fact they had extensive holdings and staff throughout Western Europe. The majority were laymen. They provided a conduit for cultural and technical innovation, for example the introduction of fulling into England by the Knights of St John, or the banking facilities of the Templars.

Because of the necessity to have a standing army, the military orders were created, being adopted as the fourth monastic vow.

List of military orders

Listed in date of founding

Crusade Orders formed in the Outremer

Order of the Hospital of St. John or The Hospitallers. Founded c.1070. Papal Order 1113
Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon or The Templars. Founded c.1118. Papal Order 1128 - the first purely military order
Knights of St Lazarus Founded early 12th Century. Militarised c.1123 - Most likely an offshoot of the Hospitallars
Order of Montjoie Founded c.1180.
Teutonic Knights of the Hospital of St Mary of Jerusalem or The Teutonic Knights Founded 1190. Papal Order 1198.
Hospitallers of St Thomas of Canterbury at Acre or Knights of St Thomas Acon. Founded 1191 Militarised c.1217

Other Orders, formed within Europe

Order of Calatrava Founded 1158
Order of Santiago Founded 1170
Order of Aviz - Portuguese Founded 1176
Order of Sant Jordi d'Alfama - Order of St. George of Alfama was amalgamated with the Aragonese Order of Montesa Founded 1201
Livonian Brothers of the Sword - in 1237, it joined the Teutonic Order Founded 1202
Order of Dobrzyń - order absorbed by the Teutonic Order in 1228 Founded 1216
Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary Founded 1261
Order of Santa Maria de España - a Spanish seafaring military order Founded 1275
Order of Montesa - first members comes from Order of Calatrava ; Knights Templar's assets in Kingdom of Valencia Founded 1317
Order of Christ - assets of Knights Templar ; first Grand master from Order of Aviz Founded 1323
Order of the Holy Sepulchre - a military confraternity, rather than an order Founded 1342
Order of the Dragon (Ordo Draconis) Founded 1408
Order of Our Lady of Bethlehem Founded 1459
Knights of St. George - Austria Founded 1464
Order of St. Stephen - a Tuscan seafaring military order intended to augment the Knights of St John Founded 1561
Order of Sagred Spirit -France. Founded 1578

Other use

It is possible for a non-crusading order to be founded explicitely as a military order. This is the case of the Orden Militar de la Constancia (Spanish 'the Military Order of Loyalty'), founded by the authorities in the Spanish protectorate zone of Morocco on 18th August 1946. Awarded to military officers and men, Moroccan and Spanish, in a single class. Obsolete 1956.

Sources, References and External links

(incomplete)

["Military Orders" in Catholic Encyclopedia]
[RoyalArk- here Morocco]
Forey, Alan John, The military orders: from the twelfth to the early fourteenth centuries, Basingstoke: Macmillan Education, 1992.

. It was in the military orders, where the perfect fusion of the religious and the military spirit was realized, that chivalry reached its apogee. It was during this apogee when the secular brotherhood was created.

Military order

History

List of military orders

Other use

Sources, References and External links

See also