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and Religious Orders Orders of Chivalry - Knighthood inhabits a grey area between
the Commons of a land and it's Nobility. The concept is an ancient one
and, in its essence, revolves around a person who is a member of a distinguished
clan or lineage and who is wealthy enough to own and maintain a horse,
armour, and arms, serving their city or nation in the capacity of a semi-noble
warrior. Such a person need not hold a noble or territorial title, but
nearly always needs to be at least gentry, however that is defined by their
society. Central to the idea is that of horse-borne arms - indeed, most
words used to describe such a warrior or class evolved out of terms for
"horse" or "rider" (Caballero, Cavaleiro, Cavaliere, Chevalier, Equites,
Ritter - English forms the exception, "Knight" being derived from a word
meaning "servant, companion, minion).
This file's chivalric orders: Order of Calatrava, Knights of St. John ("Kts. of Malta"), Order of Christ, Order of Santiago, Knights Templar, and Teutonic Knights. Local Commanderies of various Orders: (St. John: Heitersheim and Sonnenburg. Templars: England, Ireland, Scotland. Teutonic: Biesen, Koblenz, Ootmarsum, and Utrecht). Religious Orders - Included in this file are a variety of religious orders. These priestly organizations are not chivalric in the sense of the term detailed above, but they deserve inclusion here because they resemble in many ways their knightly counterparts, being tightly-knit organizations with a spiritual focus, and international in scope. This file's religious orders: The Dominican Order, and the Jesuit Order. |
ORDER of
CALATRAVA The oldest of the military orders in Spain, the Order
of Calatrava was established by two Cistercian monks to defend the Castle
of Calatrava (located in south-central Spain about 12 miles (19 km.) east
of Puertollano and 120 miles (193 km.) south of Madrid). The Order grew
in influence and prosperity, and by the end of the Reconquista had
200,000 members.
MALTA
The
Knights of St. John Hospitaler of Jerusalem began as an order devoted
to the construction and maintenance of medical facilities for use by pilgrims
and others in the Holy Land. In this task they have perservered to the
present day, and are still widely known for their charitable works in health
and human services. As crusaders though, they quickly developed into a
military order as well, and were instrumental in defending Acre and Cyprus,
conquering and holding Rhodes, and holding Malta (by which name they are
still generally known today). After Malta was captured by the French and
British during the Napoleonic wars, the Order fell on hard times, but was
revived in the later 19th century as an instrument of Roman Catholic charitable
works.
ORDER of
SANTIAGO An early military Order established in Castile to protect
pilgrims on their way to the shrine of Santiago de Compostella, and to
battle Iberian Muslims generally. Founded in the town of Cáceres
(south-central Spain, in the Tagus Valley near the modern Portuguese frontier,
54 miles (86 km.) northeast of Badajoz) and orginally named after that
town, it became known as the Order of Santiago in 1171. In 1174, Alphonse
VII of Castile gave the Order the town (now village) of Uclés, (located
55 miles (88 km.) east-southeast of Madrid). The Order became very wealthy
and influential, having close to 700,000 members when it was absorbed into
the new Spanish monarchy.
TEMPLARS
The
Order of the Poor Knights of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon were
for a time one of the most powerful organizations in Mediaeval Europe,
particularly in France, where they owned enormous estates and were free
of all feudal obligation save to the Papacy itself. They began as a small
band of warriors housed in one wing of what had been the Temple in Jerusalem,
who tasked themselves with the responsibility of escorting pilgrims safely
through the Holy Land. As they grew, they diversified their activities,
becoming in time a real military presence in the region. They were regarded
by their Muslim opponents as deadly foes. Nevertheless, as their wealth
and power grew, they became quarrelsome with Christians as well, and their
habit of utter secrecy regarding internal affairs of the Order made them
vulnerable to attack from outside, most notably the Knights of St. John
and the King of France. They were suppressed at the beginning of the 14th
century, ostensibly on doctrinal grounds, and most of their properties
were siezed by various monarchs in Europe. They have continued to exert
a fascination on subsequent generations however, and they have provided
a murky yet real influence on the later development of European Freemasonry.
The
TEUTONIC KNIGHTS The Knights and Brothers of the German Houses
at Beloved Lady of Jerusalem was created for service in the Holy Land
during the Crusades, in 1191. Originally based at Acre, when that city
fell they moved to Venice, in 1291. Finding life in that place uncongenial
to their mission of converting the Heathen by military action, they obtained
permission to establish themselves in the Baltics, there to establish control
over the Pagan Prus and Letts. The last Grand Master with temporal authority,
Albert von Hohenzollern, converted to Protestantism in 1525, secularized
the Order, and established the territories it held as the Duchy of Prussia.
The Order was reconstituted and relocated in 1527, surviving until the
Napoleonic era, when it was again restructured into it's modern form as
a charitable organization. As an aside, the Order's heraldry provided the
basis for the design of the modern German military decoration, the Iron
Cross.
OTHER RELIGIOUS ORDERS
The
DOMINICANS
The Order of Preachers (Ordo
Praedicatorum), more commonly known as the Dominican Order,
or Dominicans is a Catholic religious order, sometimes called "Blackfriars"
because of the black cappa, or cloak, they wear over their white habits.
The Dominican Order was founded by Saint Dominic in the early 13th century
as an Augustinian order. It was one of the great orders of mendicant monks
that revolutionized religious life in Europe during the High Middle Ages.
Founded to preach the gospel and to combat heresy, the Order is famed for
its intellectual tradition, having produced many leading theologians and
philosophers. Despite the attitude of their founder, who believed in persuasion
by example, the Dominicans became closely allied with and at times dominated
the Inquisition.
PROVINCIAL and DISTRICT AUTHORITIES Here are lists of various regional and local commanders of assorted chivalric orders.
Order of St. John: Grand Priory of Heitersheim Ranked as Princes of the Empire in their own right.
