Following Orders

[Monsignor de Beaumanoir]

Livonian Brothers of the Sword (Fratres militiæ Christi Livoniae)




Bishop Albert of Riga founded the military order of the Livonian Brothers of the Sword (Latin: Fratres militiæ Christi Livoniae, German: Schwertbrüderorden) in 1202; Pope Innocent III sanctioned the establishment in 1204. The membership of the order comprised German "warrior monks". Alternative names of the order include the Christ Knights, Sword Brethren, and The Militia of Christ of Livonia.

Following their defeat by Samogitians in the Battle of Schaulen (Saule) in 1236, the surviving Brothers merged into the Teutonic Order as an autonomous branch and became known as the Livonian Order

History



Livonian BrothersAlbert, bishop of Riga (or Prince-Bishop of Livonia), founded the Brotherhood to aid the Bishopric of Riga in the conversion of the pagan Curonians, Livonians, Semigallians, and Latgalians living on the shores of the Gulf of Riga. From its foundation the undisciplined Order tended to ignore its supposed vassalage to the bishops. In 1218 Albert asked King Valdemar II of Denmark for assistance, but Valdemar instead arranged a deal with the Brotherhood and conquered the north of Estonia for Denmark.

The Brotherhood had its headquarters at Fellin (Viljandi) in present-day Estonia, where the walls of the Master's castle still stand. Other strongholds included Wenden (C?sis), Segewold (Sigulda) and Ascheraden (Aizkraukle). The commanders of Fellin, Goldingen (Kuld?ga), Marienburg (Al?ksne), Reval (Tallinn), and the bailiff of Weißenstein (Paide) belonged to the five-member entourage of the Order's Master.


Seal of the Livonian BrothersPope Gregory IX asked the Brothers to defend Finland from the Novgorodian attacks in his letter of November 24, 1232; however, no known information regarding the knights' possible activities in Finland has survived. (Sweden eventually took over Finland after the Second Swedish Crusade in 1249.)

In the Battle of Schaulen (Saule) in 1236 the Lithuanians and Semigallians decimated the Order. This disaster led the surviving Brothers to become incorporated into the Order of Teutonic Knights in the following year, and from that point on they became known as the Livonian Order. They continued, however, to function in all respects (rule, clothing and policy) as an autonomous branch of the Teutonic Order, headed by their own Master (himself de jure subject to the Teutonic Order's Grand Master).


Masters
Wenno (von Rohrbach) 1204–1209
Volquin (Schenk von Winterstein) 1209–1236

[Monsignor de Beaumanoir]

Military Order of Montesa

This order was established in the Kingdom of Aragon to take the place of the Order of the Temple, of which it was in a certain sense the continuation. It derived its title from St. George of Montesa, its principal stronghold. The Templars were received with enthusiasm in Aragon from their very foundation (1128). Bérenger III, Count of Barcelona, wished to die in the habit of a Templar (1130). King Alfonso I, "The Fighter", having no direct heir, bequeathed his dominions to be divided among the Templars, the Hospitallers, and the Canons of the Holy Sepulchre, but naturally this bequest was annulled by his subjects (1131). The Templars had to be contented with certain castles, the chief of which was Monzon. Although the Aragonese branch of the order was pronounced innocent at the famous trial of the Templars, Clement V's Bull of suppression was applied to them in spite of the protests of King James II (1312). By way of compensation, however, this monarch obtained from Pope John XXII authority to dispose of the possessions of the Templars in his Kingdom of Valencia in favour of a military order not essentially differing from that of the Templars, which should be charged with the defence of his frontier against the Moors and the pirates. It was affiliated to the Order of Calatrava, from which its first recruits were drawn, and it was maintained in dependence upon that order. The first of the fourteen grand masters, who ruled the Order of Montesa until the office was united with the Crown by Philip II in 1587, was Guillermo d'Eril.


Order of Aviz
A military body of Portuguese knights.

The Kingdom of Portugal, founded in 1128, was not only contemporaneous with the Crusades but conducted one of its own against the Moors. Some crusaders were bound only by temporary vows, and when these expired they would sometimes return to their country although the war was not ended. This accounts for the favour with which military orders were regarded beyond the Pyrenees, in Portugal as well as in Spain; for in them the vow of fighting against the infidels was perpetual, like other monastic vows. Knights Templar were found in Portugal as early as 1128, and received a grant from Queen Teresa in the year of the Council of Troyes, which confirmed their early statutes. A native order of this kind sprang up in Portugal about 1146. Affonso, the first king gave to it the town of Evora, captured from the Moors in 1211, and the Knights were first called "Brothers of Santa Maria of Evora". Pedro Henriquez, an illegitimate son of the king's father, was the first grand master. After the conquest of Aviz the military castle erected there became the motherhouse of the order, and they were then called "Knights of St. Benedict of Aviz", since they adopted the Benedictine rule in 1162, as modified by John Ziritu, one of the earliest Cistercian abbots of Portugal. Like the Knights of Calatrava in Castile, the Knights of Portugal were indebted to the Cistercians for their rule and their habit -- a white mantle with a green fleur-de-lysed cross. The Knights of Calatrava also surrendered some of their places in Portugal to them on condition that the Knights of Aviz should be subject to the visitation of their grand master. Hence the Knights of Aviz were sometimes regarded as a branch of the Calatravan Order, although they never ceased to have a Portuguese grand master, dependent for temporalities on the Portuguese king. At the accession of King Ferdinand (1383) war broke out between Castile and Portugal. When João I, who had been grand master of the Knights of Aviz, ascended the throne of Portugal, he forbade the knights to submit to Castilian authority, and consequently, when Gonsalvo de Guzman came to Aviz as Visitor, the knights, while according him hospitality, refused to recognise him as a superior. Guzman protested, and the point remained a subject of contention until the Council of Basle (1431), when Portugal was declared to be in the wrong. But the right of the Calatravans was never exercised, and the next grand master of the Knights of Aviz, Rodrigo of Sequirol, continued to assert supreme authority over them.

The mission of the military orders in Portugal seemed to fail after the overthrow of Moslem domination, but the Portuguese expeditions across the sea opened up a new field for them. The first landings of Europeans in Africa, the conquest of Ceuta by King João I (1415), the attacks upon Tangier under João's son Duarte (1437) were also crusades, inspired by a religious spirit and sanctioned by similar papal Bulls. The Knights of Aviz and the Knights of Christ, scions of the Knights Templars, achieved deeds of valour, the former under the Infants Fernando, the latter under Henrique, brother of King Duarte. Fernando displayed a no less heroic forbearance during his six years of captivity among the Moslems, a long martyrdom which after his death placed him among the Blessed (Acta SS.,5 June). This splendid enthusiasm did not last. Soon the whole nation became affected by the wealth that poured in, and the Crusade in Africa degenerated into mere mercantile enterprise; the pontifical Bulls were made a vulgar means of raising money and after the grand mastership of the order (1551) had been vested in the king in perpetuity, he availed himself of its income to reward any kind of service in the army or the fleet. If the wealth of the Knights of Aviz was not as great as that of the Knights of Christ, it was still quite large, drawn as it was from some forty-three commanderies. The religous spirit of the knights vanished, and they withdrew from their clerical brothers who continued alone the conventual life. They were dispensed from their vow of celibacy by Alexander VI (1402), who tolerated their marriage to prevent scandalous concubinage; Julius III (1551) allowed them to dispose freely of their personal properties. Nobility of birth remained the chief requirement of aspirants to the mantle, a requirement confirmed by a decree of 1604. Queen Maria I, supported by Pope Pius VI (1 Aug., 1789), attempted a last reformation and failed. Finally, the military orders were suppressed by Dom Pedro, after the downfall of the Miguelist usurpation (1834).

[Femme Falchion]

I had no idea how many different Orders there were!   

At least the Portuguese had the sense to do away with the vow of celibacy.  Concubinage can be so tiresome.
Is this not the Order of Brother Mikael?

[Sir William Marcus]

Order of Alcántara





The Order of Alcántara was originally a military order of León, founded in the 12th century.


A major military and religious order in Spain. It was founded in 1156 or 1166 by Don Suero Fernández Barrientos and was recognized in 1177 by Pope Alexander III in a special papal bull. Its purpose was to defend Christian Spain against the Moors. In 1218 King Alfonso IX of Leon gave to the order the town of Alcántara, and during the next two centuries its knights defended the southern borders of Christian Spain. Membership reached 100,000, and the order's annual income was between 40,000 and 50,000 ducats. After Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile incorporated the military orders into the crown in 1493, the fiefs of the Order of Alcántara formed part of the royal heritage.

Alcántara, is a town on the Tagus (which is here crossed by a bridge--cantara in Arabic, hence the name). The town is situated on the plain of Extremadura, a great field of conflict for the Muslims and Christians of Iberian Peninsula in the twelfth century. Alcántara was first taken in 1167 by the King of León, Fernando II. In 1172 it fell again into the hands of Jussuf, the third of the African Almohades; and was not recovered until 1214, when it was taken by Alonso of León, the son of Fernando.


Resort to Military Orders

In order to defend this conquest, on a border exposed to many assaults, the king resorted to military orders. The Middle Ages knew neither standing armies nor garrisons, a deficiency that the military orders supplied, combining as they did military training with monastic stability. In 1214 Alcántara was first committed to the care of the Castilian Knights of Calatrava, who had lately received great support after their performance in 1212 at the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa against the Almohades. Alonzo of León wished to found at Alcántara a special branch of this celebrated order for his realm. However, four years later the Order decided that the post was too far from its Castilian headquarters. They gave up the scheme and transferred the castle, with the permission of the king, to a peculiar Leonese order still in a formative stage, known as "Knights of St. Julian de Pereiro".

Origins of the Order

This order's genesis is obscure, but according to a somewhat questionable tradition, St. Julian de Pereiro was a hermit of the country of Salamanca, where by his counsel, some knights built a castle on the river Tagus to oppose the Muslims. They are mentioned in 1176, in a grant of King Fernando of León, but without allusion to their military character. They are first acknowledged as a military order by a papal bull in 1177 by Pope Alexander III. Through their compact with the Knights of Calatrava, they accepted the Cistercian rule and costume, (a white mantle with the scarlet overcross), and they submitted to the right of inspection and correction from the Master of Calatrava. This union did not last long

Internal dissensions

The Knights of Alcántara, under their new name, acquired many castles and estates, for the most part at the expense of the Muslims. They amassed great wealth from booty during the war and from pious donations. It was a turning point in their career. However, ambitions and dissensions increased among them. The post of grand master became the aim of rival aspirants. In 1318, the Grand Master, Ruy Vaz, was besieged by his own Knights, sustained in this by the Grand Master of Calatrava. This rent in their body produced no less than three grand masters in contention, supported severally by the Knights, by the Cistercians, and by the king. The rise of such dissensions could be attributed to the fact that military orders had lost the chief object of their vocation when the Moors were driven from their last foothold in the Iberian Peninsula. Some authors assign as causes of their disintegration the decimation of the cloisters by the Black Death in the fourteenth century, and the laxity which allowed recruitment from the most poorly qualified subjects. Lastly, there was the revolution in warfare, when the growth of modern artillery and infantry overpowered the armed cavalry of feudal times, while the orders still held to their obsolete mode of fighting. The orders, nevertheless, by their wealth and numerous vassals, remained a tremendous power in the kingdom, and before long were involved deeply in political agitations. During the fatal schism between Pedro of Castile and his brother, Henry the Bastard, which divided half Europe, the Knights of Alcántara were also split into two factions which warred upon each other.

[Lady Christina de Pond]

I had no idea how many different Orders there were!   

At least the Portuguese had the sense to do away with the vow of celibacy.  Concubinage can be so tiresome.
Is this not the Order of Brother Mikael?

ok maybe i missed something
templars had concubines?

[Monsignor de Beaumanoir]

ok maybe i missed something
templars had concubines?

Not!

Well friends and serving Brothers, I am off to check the defenses of Acre for a week. Best wishes to all, and I'll drop in now and again...

[Lady Christina de Pond]

i thought not just making sure

have a great week be safe warrior

[Femme Falchion]

ok maybe i missed something
templars had concubines?

Not!

Well friends and serving Brothers, I am off to check the defenses of Acre for a week. Best wishes to all, and I'll drop in now and again...

Enjoy....the secular community will bumble on without you.

Hope the Princess will grant you some respite!   

[Sir William Marcus]

I do understand the importance of this journey as the defenses of Acre have gone unchecked thoroughly for sometime. Hopefully a token of appreciation will await you upon your return





Enjoy my brother.

[Monsignor de Beaumanoir]

Medieval Fortress standards commissioner Brynn (aka: Grand Matron of the Medieval Miniature Military Orders) makes the rounds of Crusader fortresses of the Outremer with building aid and blue prints in hand.





The heroes of the Holy Land are present to answer questions and keep wayward Saracen and rising tides at bay.



First she inspects the Teutonic Quarter.



Then it's off to the Templar fortress and nearby Hospitaller facility.



After making her authoritative inspection rounds, and requiring that much of the other building structures not be renovated, because of their relative uselessness in the cause, when compared to the contributions made by the various Warrior Monks, it was off for some photos from the Accursed Tower position of the Mediterranean side:



And Akko bay:



Once she was sure that standards were being met, the commissioner left with high praise for this facility, and an urgency to meet the call for naps and noon time munchies!

[Femme Falchion]

Huzzah!  This is absolutely amazing to behold!  Why, the Grand Matron of the MMMO has the intelligence and ingenuity of Athena herself!

The architect certainly knows how to stay true to a theme.   

[Sir William Marcus]

Huzzah!  This is absolutely amazing to behold! 

Huzzah indeed! Truly amazing I must agree!

Job well done commissioner Brynn!

[Lady Christina de Pond]

very nice but it's a little close the the waves.

[Monsignor de Beaumanoir]

very nice but it's a little close the the waves.

[Sir William Marcus]

I was waiting for that!