Military and religious life in the Middle Ages and at the period of the Renaissance

by P. L. Jacob

The knights of the order had on their side to deplore the loss of more than three thousand of their brethren. Their grand master decreed that annually, on the eve of the festival of Our Lady of September, prayers should be offered up in all the churches of the order, thanking God for the providential succours which had delivered the besieged, and that on the preceding day a commemorative service should be celebrated in honour of those who had fallen in defence of the faith.

Henceforward neither the town nor the island, which remained the head quarters of the order, was again disturbed by the Turks, and Jean de la Valette built a new city in Malta, which was called Valetta, after him.

The members of the Order of Malta were divided into three classes: the knights, the chaplains, and the serving brothers. The first comprised those whose noble birth and previous rank in other armies marked them out for military service. The second consisted of priests, and ecclesiastics who performed all the ordinary religious duties, and who acted as almoners in time of war. The last were neither nobles nor ecclesiastics; and all that was necessary to admit an individual to this class, was for him to prove that he was born of respectable parents, who had never exercised any handicraft. The serving brothers were distinguished at a later period by a coat-of-arms of a different colour to that of the knights. The aspirants were termed douats or demi-croix. The Order of St. John of Jerusalem had merely a nominal existence in the statutes of the Order of Malta, although the knights of the latter, on their reception into the order, were still termed “servants of the sick and needy.” For a long time there existed in Spain, Lady Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem, who devoted themselves to hospital work and deeds of charity (Fig. 145). Every country in Europe furnished its quota to the Order of Malta, which had entirely replaced that of St. John, and was divided into eight different tongues or nations, each under the direction of a grand prior, viz., Provence, Auvergne, France, Italy, Aragon, Germany, Castile, and England. These national grand priors were termed piliers, or monastic bailiffs. Each nation was subdivided into a number of lesser commands, to hold one of which was equivalent to holding an ecclesiastical benefice, and which were subordinate to their grand prior alone.

Fig. 145.—Tomb of Beatrix Cornel, Prioress of the Lady Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem, in the Convent of Sigena, in Aragon (Fifteenth Century).—From the “Iconografia Española” of M.] Carderera.

The regular dress of the order consisted, in each nation, of a black robe, with a pointed cape of the same colour; on the left sleeve of each robe was a cross of white linen having eight points, typical of the eight beatitudes they were always supposed to possess, and which, according to a MS. preserved in the library of the Arsenal, were:—1, spiritual contentment; 2, a life free from malice; 3, repentance for sins; 4, meekness under suffering; 5, a love of justice; 6, a merciful disposition; 7, sincerity and frankness of heart; and 8, a capability of enduring persecution. At a later period the regulations became less austere, and permitted the knights to wear an octagonal golden cross inlaid with white enamel, and suspended from the breast with black ribbon.

A candidate for the robe of St. John of Jerusalem was obliged to present himself at the high altar, clad in a long gown without girdle, in order to denote that he was free from all other vows, and with a taper in his hand. The knight assessor then handed him a gilt sword, saying, “In the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,” to remind him that henceforth it would be his duty to devote his life to the defence of religion. A girdle was then fastened round his waist, to signify that he was bound for the future by the vows of the order. The professing knight then brandished the sword round his head, in token of defiance of the unbelievers, and returned it to its scabbard, first passing it under his arm as if to wipe it, as a symbol that he intended to preserve it free from stain. The knight who received his vows then placed his hand on his shoulder, exhorted him to succour the poor of Jesus Christ, to undertake works of charity, and to devote himself to the welfare of the faith. The new knight having promised to observe these exhortations, golden spurs were placed on his heels as emblems that he was bound to fly wherever honour called him, and to trample under his feet the riches of this world. His taper was then lighted and he continued to hold it during the celebration of a mass, and while a preacher passed in review the rules which should bind, and the duties which should sway a true knight. He was then asked if he was in debt, if he was married or betrothed, if he already belonged to any other religious order, and, finally, if he really and sincerely desired to belong to the Order of St. John. If he answered these questions in a satisfactory manner, he was admitted into the brotherhood, and led up to the high altar. There he pronounced the oath upon the missal, and was declared formally invested with the privileges granted to the order by the pontificate. He was told that henceforward he must daily recite fifty paters, fifty aves, the service of the Virgin, the burial service, and several prayers for the repose of the souls of departed knights companions. Whilst he was donning the dress of the order he was further instructed in his duties. As he put his arms through his sleeves he was reminded of the obedience he owed to his superiors; as the white cross was being adjusted next his heart, he was told that he must be always ready to shed his blood for Christ, who by his own death had redeemed mankind. All the insignia of the Order of Malta were symbols. The pointed black mantle with its peaked cape, worn only on occasions of solemn ceremony, was typical of the robe of camel’s hair worn by John the Baptist, the patron of the order. The cords which fastened the mantle about the neck, and fell over the shoulder, were significant of the passion our Saviour suffered with such calmness and resignation. In time of battle the members of the order wore a red doublet embroidered with the eight-pointed cross.

About twenty years after the first establishment of the Hospitallers, Hugues de Payens, and Geoffrey de Saint-Aldemar, having crossed the seas with nine other nobles, all of French birth, obtained from the patriarch Guarimond, and from Baldwin II., King of Jerusalem, permission to form an association, the objects of which were to act in concert with the Hospitallers against the infidels, to protect pilgrims, and to defend Solomon’s Temple. Baldwin granted them a dwelling within the Temple walls, a circumstance which gave them the name of Templars, or Knights of the Temple. At first they led a simple and regular life, contenting themselves with the humble title of poor soldiers of Jesus Christ. Their charity and their devotion obtained for them the sympathy of the kings of Jerusalem and the Eastern Christians, who made them frequent and considerable donations.

In the first nine years of their existence, from 1118 to 1127, the Templars admitted no strangers into their ranks; but their number having nevertheless considerably increased, they soon preferred a request to the Holy See to ratify the institution of their order. At the Council of Troyes, in 1228, Hugues de Payens, accompanied with five of his companions, presented the letters that the brotherhood had received from the pope and the patriarch of Jerusalem, together with the certificate of the founding of their order. Cardinal Matthew, Bishop of Alba, who presided over the council as the pope’s legate, granted them an authentic confirmation of their order, and a special code was drawn up for them under the guidance of St. Bernard.

The Templars were bound to go to mass three times a week, and to communicate thrice a year; they wore a white robe symbolical of purity, to which Pope Eugenius III. added a red cross, to remind them of their oath to be always ready to shed their blood in defence of the Christian religion. Their rules were of great austerity; they prescribed perpetual exile, and war for the holy places to the death. The knights were to accept every combat, however outnumbered they might be, to ask no quarter, and to give no ransom. However irksome might prove the observance of these regulations, they were not allowed to escape them by entering the ranks of a less austere order.