The Ecclesiastical Orders of Knighthood

by James Herman Van der Veldt

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The term ecclesiastical orders of knighthood embraces those knightly orders which, in one way or another, are connected with the Catholic Church. At the present time they are in two different groups: the pontifical orders of knighthood in the strict sense and a group of chivalric orders which derive from medieval military orders and continue to come under ecclesiastical jurisdiction.

The Pontifical or Papal Orders of Knighthood are conferred directly by His Holiness the Pope (Ordini Equestri Pontifici, conferiti direttamente dal Sommo Pontefice con lettere apostoliche). They include: the Supreme Order of Christ, the Order of the Golden Spur, the Order of Pius, the Order of Saint Gregory the Great, and the Order of Saint Sylvester, Pope.[1]

The remaining group identified with ecclesiastical orders of knighthood is that of religious military orders. Originally they were religious orders of lay brothers and as such came under the jurisdiction of the Holy See. They enjoyed the approbation and protection of the Holy Father, and it is in that sense they partake of the name, pontifical. Yet they always had a certain autonomy, in that they had their own government, with a grand master at the head, whose office was similar to that of a Superior General of a religious order. Most of these ancient military orders are now extinct or have become purely secular orders of knighthood. A few have retained some features of their ecclesiastical character. They are the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, known also as the Order of Malta, the Teutonic Order, and the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, as well as the extant Spanish Military Orders.

Difference in objective is another important feature between the two groups. The military orders, from the outset, pursued a specific purpose, as the care of the sick and the poor, the protection of the faith, crusading against infidels. This survives today in the existing military orders though in a much modified form.

All other existing orders of knighthood, be they ancient or more recent in origin, are honorary and mere orders of merit. Their only purpose is that of bestowing tokens of respect for well-deserving citizens, to reward military or civil services to the country or the crown, to recognize merit in the field of art, science, charity, or business. Orders of merit are “orders” only in the broad sense of the term; they have a constitution or statutes, but such documents usually contain little more than a description of the origin of the order, its privileges and the degrees of its members as well as the reason for conferring the order and its form of the decorations. In fact, the term “order” has come to be limited to the insignia which the members are entitled to wear.

Within the framework of the above twofold classification of pontifical and military orders, another dual grouping exists which is based on historical criteria. Some of the ecclesiastical orders of knighthood go back to the age of chivalry; this is certainly the case with the military orders, the Order of Christ, and probably the Order of the Golden Spur. The origin of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre is still historically debatable. The remaining pontifical orders of knighthood were established long after the age of chivalry came to a close.

Distinct from the orders of knighthood are a certain number of ecclesiastical decorations. These are marks of honor (distintivi de onore), without, however, extending the title of Knight to the recipient. It is, therefore, incorrect to designate a person receiving such an honor as knighted by the Pope, as it is equally incorrect to put all the ecclesiastical orders of knighthood under the heading of papal decorations.

Ecclesiastical decorations, like the ecclesiastical orders of knighthood, are of two kinds. Those bestowed directly by the Holy See and consequently strictly pontifical are the Cross “Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice” and the Medal “Benemerenti.” The second category are those approved by the Holy See and their recipients may wear the decoration at the papal court and at ecclesiastical ceremonies. The honor, however, is not granted directly by the Pope. An example thereof is the Lateran Cross, which is conferred by the Chapter of the Basilica of Saint John Lateran.

This brief outline will be clarified as the various orders are treated in subsequent articles. It is our intention in the present article to confine ourselves to a survey of the historical background of the orders of knighthood.

Although much of the information about the early beginnings of knighthood is rooted in conjecture, a plausible thesis would make knighthood coincide with the rise of the cavalry in Europe, during the first half of the eighth century. It coincides with the times when the Christians in the encounters with the Saracens soon discovered that their infantry were no match for those who fought on horseback. Such armies had much greater mobility, and the center of gravity in the Christian military strategy shifted accordingly.

Throughout the first hundred years after this new horseback “militia” had been introduced, all free men could join it, on condition that they were able to provide a horse and equip it at their own expense. Only people of some means could afford this luxury, and the wealthier class was that of the landowners. Service in the cavalry, therefore, implied the possessing of some property, preferably in the form of land.

A revolutionary innovation took place simultaneously in the system of land ownership, changing from an allodial, i.e., absolute ownership, to a feudal system. That is why the horseback military service came to be linked with the feudal method of land tenure. It accounts for the historical development of knighthood being so closely related to the history of the feudal system. The history of feudal land ownership is hardly pertinent here, and it will suffice here to state that the tenants-in-chief and their subalterns in the feudal system formed the cavalry of the army; they were the horsemen, chevaliers, or knights. That is how the original form of knighthood became so intimately associated with the tenure of land, and how the knights were known as feudal knights.

While the knights were initially landed gentry, gradually—and already a considerable time before the Crusades—a different type of knight appeared, namely, that of the horseman without land. Equally so, knighthood began to constitute a distinct social class. No longer was feudal tenure the background of knighthood but rather personal valor. The development was the consequence of the custom of primogeniture as it existed in the Frankish form of the feudal system.

Two types of feudal succession were known on the European continent. Where the Longobard feudal law held sway, as was the case in Italy, at the death of the feudatory incumbent, the land was divided among his male heirs. In many cases the original fief was cut into ever smaller portions during successive generations. This gentry were still landholders, even though their financial position, due to the divisions and subdivisions of the ancestral property, might not be much better economically than that of the peasants who actually worked the land.

In France and other countries where the Frankish feudal system prevailed, conditions were altogether different. Here, according to the law of primogeniture, the entire feud passed to the eldest son, who was then bound by an oath of fealty to his overlord. The younger sons had to be satisfied with precious little; they might make a livelihood by offering their service to their eldest brother, in which case they were obliged to do the menial work of the estate very much the same as that of domestics and peasants. It is quite understandable that many of these younger sons, particularly the less amenable and the more venturesome, could be expected to scorn such an inferior station in life. Being of noble birth, this dispossessed youth might say with the steward of the gospel: “What shall I do?... To dig I am not able; to beg I am ashamed.” Only two callings were open to them, the priestly or the military vocation, and of the two the calling of soldier was far more attractive. Upon leaving the paternal domain, they usually were given a horse and armor to aid in their search for economic independence. For the most part, they did not have to look long, because war was in progress all over Europe among the many and small feudal states. Yet, because they were no longer aligned with the feudal hierarchy, they had no obligation to render military service to any specific lord and could approach the highest bidder. This meant that a new and ever increasing group of independent, non-feudal horsemen came into existence who sought to win their spurs on their own merit. They became knights, not because they happened to have a feudal estate, but because of personal exploits on the battlefield. These soldiers frequently gained more than glory and honor inasmuch as a grateful employer who had taken them into his pay would extend his bounty to presenting them with a castle and some land, upon success in a military expedition. The medieval right of plunder could provide the victorious knight with the necessary accoutrement to furnish his newly-won castle. One readily appreciates the consolidation of the economic position for those concerned. There was this difference, however, that their possessions came to them not by right of birth but by personal valor.

The same kind of knight appeared also in the lands of the Longobard feudal system. The small gentry in Italy, unsatisfied with what little they possessed, often offered their military services to the rapidly growing townships. This eventually bettered their economic as well as their political status.

Two types of knighthood were then in existence, the older form of territorial knighthood concentrated in ruling fief-holders, and the newer form, that of chivalry founded on individual military service. Since the latter was bestowed upon a soldier independently of a fief, it might be called non-feudatory knighthood.

As the non-feudal knights grew to be the more numerous, knighthood became a separate class of society. Like any other social institution, knighthood passed through the storm-and-stress period of adolescence. Knights in the tenth and part of the eleventh centuries were often enough no more than bands of lawless brigands. Living as they did outside the ranks of the feudal hierarchy, these “gentlemen” interpreted the fact of not being bound by fealty to any particular master as a kind of charter of freedom from all laws and prohibitions. As narrated in the medieval lays or ballads, the examples of lawlessness and cruelty among some knights are, of course, outstanding. Yet, this new social class was indeed a menace to society. It was understandable, in the long run, that the authorities should look for means to call a halt to the excesses. In this effort the civil authorities were strongly supported by the Church, which launched a kind of peace offensive, endeavoring to direct the crude energies of knighthood into right channels and make of the new class an instrument of good in the social structure. There was success so that little by little knighthood became respectable to a remarkable degree. The reaction described had set in at the end of the tenth century, and a century later a change for the better in the moral life of the knights was everywhere in evidence. The reform was, however, not due exclusively to outside forces. As a class, the knights had the same needs and the same aspirations; and the better elements among them would try to enter into some sort of common tie. That common bond was a code of honor for knighthood and came to be generally accepted by the end of the eleventh century, namely around the time of the first Crusade. The motto of a good knight was succinctly expressed in the following Italian rhyme: “La mia anima a Dio, la mia vita al Re, il mio cuore alla Dama, l’onore per me (My soul to God, my life to the Crown, my heart to the Lady, my own the renown).” The duties of a knight broadened into that of protecting and defending the Church, the widows, the orphans and the oppressed, of vindicating justice, and of avenging evil. The catalogue of the cardinal virtues for chivalry included courtesy, valor, class loyalty, self-denial, munificence, and hospitality. The code was well-nigh theoretically perfect, even if all knights did not observe it in practice. As a matter of fact, the virtues to which the knight was dedicated sometimes led to exaggerations, distortions, and their very opposite.

The high point in the age of chivalry came during the Crusades, those religious wars waged in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries by the Christians of Western Europe against the Mohammedans for the recovery of the Holy Land. An interaction came about between the Crusades and chivalry. The spirit of chivalry was largely responsible for making possible these campaigns for a religious ideal. Thereby, the Crusades provided a powerful impetus in the development of knighthood, for it was during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries that chivalry attained its highest peak both in quality and quantity. The Crusades did not create a new type of knighthood, but they gave the knights a chance to show their mettle.

When the landless soldiers of the Cross distinguished themselves in battle just as well or perhaps even better than the feudal knights, it was reasonable that they should claim their reward. If they fought as well as those who owed knighthood to their feudal status, why should they not claim the honors and benefits of knighthood? In that way the Crusades gave the horsemen large scale opportunity to become knights through personal valor. However, the conditio sine qua non for becoming a knight at this time was still the old law that the candidates should be of noble birth, that is to say, that they could trace their descent from the ancient feudal families. In the century following the Crusades the decline of knighthood set in, and it is generally admitted that by 1500 the age of chivalry had passed. Then it was that its tradition and spirit were kept alive in the orders of knighthood.