The Ecclesiastical Orders of Knighthood

by James Herman Van der Veldt

THE EQUESTRIAN ORDER OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE OF JERUSALEM

The origin of this order of knighthood (Ordo Equestris Sancti Sepulchri Hierosolymitani) is the subject of a great deal of controversy. There is no doubt that the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre originated in the Holy Land and existed at the time of the Crusades or possibly even earlier. There is no doubt either that for many years an order of knighthood was in existence and called the Order of the Holy Sepulchre. For some time it was listed as a pontifical order of knighthood, apparently because, off and on, the popes have been its grand masters, but the Annuario pontificio has ceased to list it as such since 1931, when Pope Pius XI transferred the grand mastership to the Patriarch of Jerusalem. However, the order as it presently exists is an ecclesiastical order of knighthood; article 44 of its statutes, published in 1949, clearly states that it “is strictly religious, both in character and objective.” The problem is not only at what time it originated as an order, but also what its status was; more particularly whether it ever achieved the status of a religious military order, as did the Templars or the Hospitallers.

Some writers believe that the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre formed an order which was founded even before the Crusades. In fact, they are of the opinion that this order was the cradle from which all other religious military orders in the Holy Land developed. This is the position found amongst older authors and at present strenuously defended in the monumental work of Guido A. Quarti.[25]

According to this author the prototype of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre is to be found in the “rabdophoroi,” macebearers, who are said to have been attached to the church of the Holy Sepulchre from ancient times to keep order during the ceremonies. These ushers were, according to Quarti, “i primitivi cavalieri” of the Holy Sepulchre. They are supposed to have formed a fraternity which was instituted when Saint Helena, in the beginning of the fourth century, built the basilica of the Sepulchre. Other authors go even farther back and point out that in Jerusalem a confraternity of hermits existed to whom Pope Anaclet in 81 is said to have assigned the custody of Christ’s tomb. Some writers attribute the foundation of this legendary society to the Apostle St. James, first bishop of Jerusalem.[26]

This confraternity, then, is taken to be the forerunner of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre. When in 451 the bishopric of Jerusalem was made a patriarchate, the confraternity of custodians is believed to have been transformed into a chapter of canons. Whatever the vicissitudes of this chapter may have been throughout the succeeding centuries, we arrive at some more solid historical data at the time of the first Crusade. After Godfrey de Bouillon had captured the Holy City in 1099, a chapter of canons was instituted in the basilica of the Sepulchre of our Redeemer. Now, according to Quarti, this chapter was a religious military order, the oldest of all such institutions.

This opinion is criticized by many authors, even though they admit that the first knights of the Holy Sepulchre appeared during the reign of Godfrey. They concede that at the time of the Crusades there was a chapter of canons attached to the church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. But they find no proof that this chapter formed a religious order, let alone a military order. The most that can be said is that it acted in some respects like the orders of St. John or the Temple, inasmuch as it received ample donations in the form of manors, farms, fishing rights and the like, not only in Palestine, but also in many parts of Europe. And like the military orders, the chapter of the Holy Sepulchre established priories in many lands to administer the estates it had received.

The most famous of these donations was the bequest made by King Alfonso of Aragon, who willed in 1134 that his kingdom be equally divided among the Templars, the Hospitallers, and the Canons of the Holy Sepulchre. The three organizations wisely ceded their rights to Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona. But the event had an intriguing juridical angle, because it made it possible for the “Order” of the Holy Sepulchre to claim at a later date the title of “sovereign order.” For—so it was argued—the chapter of the Holy Sepulchre was by right the partial sovereign of the kingdom of Aragon until the disputes concerning this legacy were settled; and by ceding its rights to the count, the chapter had acted as a sovereign power.

On the other hand it is admitted that the Crusades gave rise to the existence of knights who, being knighted at the Holy Sepulchre, were called after it. During the Crusades, before or after battle, hundreds of soldiers were dubbed knights, and it was only natural that these soldiers who came to fight in Palestine for Christ’s sake were eager to receive the knighthood in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, right at the tomb where the body of Christ rested for three days. This may have been the case during the first Crusade when Godfrey de Bouillon assumed the title of Defender of the Holy Sepulchre; in fact, legend has it that Godfrey created twenty knights of the Holy Sepulchre. It is also possible that the soldiers knighted at the tomb of the Saviour assumed a special distinction which at first may have consisted of the patriarchical cross with double bar and after the fall of Acre in 1291 assumed the form of the five-fold cross which still is the symbol of the Knights of the Sepulchre. Wearing the same badge, some knights may have banded together in groups and fought side by side on the principle of brotherhood in arms.

However, it is extremely doubtful that these knights formed an order, like that of the Order of Saint John, for the records make no mention of monastic vows, rule, community life, community of goods, or regular organization. It is equally doubtful that the knights formed a secular brotherhood in arms, but granted that they did, the fraternity had no permanent organization.

Like most other knights, when these knights of the Holy Sepulchre had completed their service in the Holy Land they went back home to Europe. And like all other knights—with the exception only of those of Saint John—after the fall of Acre they left the Orient for good. Back in Europe some knights of the Holy Sepulchre may have retired into monasteries, as many a battle-weary knight did, perhaps to fulfill a vow. Small groups of knights belonging to the same district may have founded convents. As a matter of fact, mention is made of several religious communities of the Holy Sepulchre in Spain, Belgium, France, Germany, Poland and elsewhere. But it is here that the critics insist that such communities were not formed by knights, like those of the Templars and the Knights of Saint John, but by canons and even by canonesses. These communities were probably independent of one another, like Benedictine abbeys, but it could be expected that they would be designated as belonging to the Order of the Holy Sepulchre. It would follow also that, conformable to the customs of the time and under the influence of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre who naturally would take an interest in those convents, the epithet “military” was added to the term “order.” Such seems precisely to have happened, for one of the first, or at least one of the most famous of these institutions, established at Saragosa in 1276 and occupied by women, came to bear the sonorous title: “Real Monastero de Canonesas Comendadores de la Orden Militar del Santo Sepulcro”—The Royal Monastery of the Canonesses-Commanders of the Military Order of the Holy Sepulchre.