Following Orders

[Monsignor de Beaumanoir]

[Femme Falchion]

The young ones thank you for your tribute, your Eminence. 

[Monsignor de Beaumanoir]

This month in Templar history:
(It may also draw out Frere Mikael from his hiding place!  )

December 1 (1307)  A siege begins of Templar castle at Miravet (Tortosa district in Catalonia, Spain) by troops of King James II of Aragón. It ends on the 12th of December (1308) with their negotiated surrender.

Miravet is a little village located in the middle of the Terres de l'Ebre, in the middle of a beautiful landscape between mountains, the River Ebro and a leafy bank forest.



Making use of a crag, the Moors decided to found the Old Village, and crowning the rock, a great castle, rebuilt by the Knights Templars and transformed into a fortress-monastery, was built after the conquest of 1153. It is considered to be the largest fortified complex in Catalonia, and one of the best examples of Romanesque, religious and military, architecture of the Templar order in the whole Western world.

In 1153, Raymond Berenguer IV conquered the last Andalusian bastion of the Ebro area, Murabit, and granted it as a fief to Pere de Rovira, Knight Templar master of Hispania and Provence. It was a vast estate comprising almost all the current counties of Ribera d'Ebre and Terra Alta. It was called the Ribera District, a large territory halfway between a commandery and a province, on which 27 houses and, later on, the Horta and Ascó commanderies depended.

Miravet controlled the river and land pass to the inland, at the same time it worked as an important administrative and political centre. At the end of the 13th century, the province master lived in Miravet, where the treasure and archives of the Crown Order were kept. During the dissolution process, it was one of the most important Templar resistance centers and heroically defended against a siege lasting more than one year, between 1307 and 1308.

[Femme Falchion]

On behalf of the Order of the Hatchet, the Sisterhood that had it's humble beginnings (and end) in the very area (Tortosa district in Catalonia, Spain) over 200 years before the siege at Miravet...thank you for bringing this slice of history back to our attention.  Have you traveled in this area Warrior Monk?

....love a story that makes good use of a crag.  

[Monsignor de Beaumanoir]

Yes I have, back in the late 80s, also trod upon the grounds of Barcelona and Loret Del Mar. It's where I went to an original themed "Medieval Times" dinner show.

[Femme Falchion]

excellent....pictures?

[Monsignor de Beaumanoir]

Yes, I will have to dig the album out and scan and upload them. It won't be right away.....

[Monsignor de Beaumanoir]

We are all aware that the holiday season is upon us, so I thought I'd share a little writing and research a friend completed awhile back:

http://medievalhistory.suite101.com/article.cfm/a_templar_christmas

[Femme Falchion]

warms the heart to know the Templars had a festive Christmas too....   Taxes, food, livestock...what could be better?

(love to see some pictures but don't trouble yourself too much...it's a busy time of year  )

[Sir William Marcus]

Just in time for the Holidays!



Total & full protection from shadows, what lurks in the closet, and hides underneath thy beds. Such imaginary creatures will tremble & disperse in total fear!

[Lady Christina de Pond]

nice outfit wm do they make that adult sizes and they forgot sword of the spirit

[Femme Falchion]

I think Brother William is sharing his holiday "wish list" with us.....

[Monsignor de Beaumanoir]

I've had my set for over a year. Lady Lefay gives me a hard time because I won't let her wash them for fear of not havig his protection in the dark hours of the night......

[Femme Falchion]

Thanks for that visual....

Warrior Monk, renowned Templar Knight, battle brother and defender of all that is Right, in his Armor of God jammies with the peace footies....AHHHHHH....overload.....does not compute....make it stop!!!!!   

[Monsignor de Beaumanoir]

Thanks for that visual....

Warrior Monk, renowned Templar Knight, battle brother and defender of all that is Right, in his Armor of God jammies with the peace footies....

You forgot my historically accurate Templar crossed "woobie"!