The 11th through to 13th Centuries saw a period of time when ones religious

standing was at peril. The battle between Christian and Islamic forces drove the
Europe into what is deemed to be its darkest times. As a result, monastics from all
over Europe and the Middle East sought solace within their religious order by
perpetuating their religious beliefs and practices. The promise of the Holy Land
came the uprising of a number of crusades whose success and failure is still an
issue of debate in current times. One so called by-product of the Holy Crusades was
the creation of various military orders. The military orders in question within this
current essay are the Templars and the Hospitallers, arguably the most well-known
of the military orders during the High Middle Ages. While both religious orders and
military orders were established in the name of Christianity, they each shared their
similarities and had their differences. It was these similarities and differences which
led to the differing reputation of the military orders in the medieval society. This
essay aims to explore the history of these military orders, highlight the similarities
and differences between religious orders and military orders, and to look at their
purpose and function within Western Christendom. Contemporary perspectives or
the orders will also be analysed to determine whether their creation changed the
Western conception of monasticism.

In order to determine whether the creation of the military orders changed the
conception of western monasticism, it is necessary to compare the similarities and
differences between the doctrine and practice of the religious orders to that of the
military orders. Early Medieval monasticism was established with the belief that the
legacy of Jesus Christ could be preserved through a life of asceticism, solitude and
simplicity away from the stresses of civilization. This led to the building of various
abbots in which devout individuals could congregate and make vows that they will
adhere to this simplistic lifestyle of worship. The Rule of Saint Benedict, under which
the earliest of the religious orders were founded, made various rules which dictated
the lifestyle of the monks. These included vows for seclusion, chastity, manual
labour, rigorous religious practice, and poverty. These rules had been taken and
adapted into western monasticism by the likes of Martin of Tours, Honoratus of
Marseilles, and John Cassian (Huddleston, Gilbert. "Monasticism." The Catholic
Encyclopedia. Vol. 10. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 31 May 2013).
When discussing the military orders, it is impossible to forego the occurrence of the
Holy Crusades. The request for assistance from the Pope to Emperor Alexios I
Commenus of Byzantium results in a large number of nobles and pilgrims travelling
from Europe to the Middle East to fight the infidels in the company of Knights and
other military men. However, after what was then known as the First Crusade, many
of the Knights did not return to home to their normal lives, in fact some chose to

continue Knighthood and fighting. The military orders were thus known to have
been born as a product of the crusades. The Templars famously began with a man
named Hugh de Payens, who in returning from the First Crusade, vowed to rescue
the holy sepulcher of Christ from the foul abominations of the heathen (Addison, C.
G. (Charles Greenstreet). The Knights Templars. 3rd ed. London, 1854. 328pp.
British Law: Legal History.p.8 ). Similar the Knights Templar, the Knights Hospitaller
also had its roots in the Holy Crusades. The main aims of the Knights Hospitaller
were to set up hospitals in order to care for injured and sick pilgrims on their road to
Jerusalem. During the First Crusade, approximately 3000 Christians were massacred
at the hospital they had established in Jerusalem. As a result, the Hospitallers
becamse militaristic and its members came to be known as Knights (Vertot, abb
de. The history of the Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem, University of
Sydney. 23 Oct. 2014). The Knights of both the Templar order and the Hospitaller
Order underwent daily training to prepare them for the fight against the infidels.
This indicates that both orders understood the dangers of the pilgrimage to the Holy
Land, and in order to defend those who choose to continue the faith, measures must
be taken in order to heal the sick and to train the able-bodied.

Perhaps one of the most obvious distinctions between the religious orders and the
military orders was the fact of the latters involvement in warfare and bloodshed.
This was a very new development of monasticism as traditional monks of the time
did not endorse this kind of violence. According to Chapter 12, verse 52 of
Matthews Gospel Christ instructed his disciples to put away his sword for all who
take the sword will perish by the sword. However, the Templars and the
Hospitallers, born from a background of warfare and violence, were naturally drawn
to warfare as was required of their goals to protect the Holy Land. However, the
warrior monks were exempt from punishment as they fought with the belief that
they would be granted remission of their sins and automatic admission to Heaven if
they were to die in combat against the enemies of the cross. (Knights of Christ?).
This certainly changes the conception of western monasticism from one of secluded
spiritual development, to a violent participation in large world issues.

One of the defining distinctions between religious monasteries and military orders
was the idea of asceticism. The basic notion of asceticism was self-denial, and a
rejection of the world as it was a place of temptation and sin. Monastic communities
and abbots were thus established in order for those religiously devout men to
congregate in isolation from a world which they had lost faith in. Within these
religious communities, monks could focus on reaching their own salvation
(Huddleston, Gilbert. "Monasticism." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 10. New York:

Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 31 May 2013). The religious monks rejection of
society is exampled by the nature of seclusion portrayed in Saint Benedicts Rule,
for example in Chapter 66 which states that monasteries are to be self-contained
and that monks are to avoid intercourse with the outer world (Herbermann,
Charles, ed. (1913). "Rule of St. Benedict". Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton
Company.). On the other hand, military orders sought a more philanthropic path
through, for example, establishing hospitals such as the Knights Hospitaller did, and
also providing aid by combat as did the Knights Templar. The Templars showed a
lacking notion of asceticism as evidenced by the chronicles of Matthew Paris. In this,
Paris recounts that the Templars and Hospitallers became very jealous of Emperor
Frederick IIs success. This jealousy and hatred came from the military monks
confidence pride of their own victories thus far (MATTHEW PARIS). In addition,
letters between Hugh de Payens and Saint Bernard of Clairveaux indicate a reliance
of the latter by the former. It is evident, in Saint Bernards responding letter, that
the Templars had already asked three times for Saint Bernard to exhort them toward
their duties (CLAIRVEAUX). The participation in warfare was another distinguishing
aspect. The militaristic nature of the Templars and Hospitallers demonstrates that
they were willing to involve themselves in the affairs of the world. They
involvement in the frontier against the Muslims shows that the military orders were
very much in fact integrating themselves, or having intercourse (or so to speak,
in creating a distinction from the Rule of Saint Benedict), with the issues of society
(EMERGENCE OF MILITARY ORDER 12TH CENTURY). This indicates that the Templars
still had a sense of belief in wider society, and still looked towards it for
encouragement and permission to move forward. Therefore, a distinction can be
made between the religious monks and the military orders due to their notion (or
lack) of asceticism.

In addition to establishing the early forms of the hospital, the Knights Hospitallers
also fortified cities by building castles in the places they visited to serve as a
reminder of their presence and influence. In establishing their presence in certain
crusader states, the Knights Hospitallers subsequently sought to help the
surrounding inhabitants, yet another philanthropic trait of the military orders. As not
all the members of the brethren fought in the frontlines, many of the Hospitallers
chose to help the economy. In doing this, they provided land grants to the needy
which in turn spread their influence through the land(Martin, Edward James. The
Trial of the Templars. New York: AMS, 1978. 25. Print.). This is evidence that the
Knights Hospitallers were also responsible for creating one of the earlier forms of
real estate and banking. The establishment of various forms of businesses by the
Knights Hospitallers demonstrates the changing nature of western monasticism as it
branches out from the development of churches and abbots to the development of
hospitals and banking.

Due to their success and various victories, Templars were also granted many
bounties by Nobles all across Europe. For example, King Louis VII admired the
Templars so much that he ordered his own soldiers to treat the Templars as brothers
and to march together (Addison, C. G. (Charles Greenstreet). The Knights
Templars. 3rd ed. London, 1854. 328pp. British Law: Legal History.p.8 ). The
Templars interaction with the monarchy is also evidenced by such documents as
King Alfonso IIIs permission of the Templars to export horses (King Alfonso
permids), and a letter from King James II of Aragon to the Templars demanding them
to help defend his Kingdom against Castile (King James II). As a result of their
collaboration with various monarchical figureheads, the Templars were thus granted
abundant bounty and monetary awards. This also goes against the monastic ruling
that abbots were to deny themselves of worldly pleasures. The Templars
involvement with the monarchy provides a stark contrast to the rules of the
religious monks, whereby they are ordained to ally only with God and the papacy.

In conclusion, while the underlying root of the creation of both religious and military
orders may initially cloud the distinction between the groups, it is important to
understand that the vast differences between method and practice was what led to
the evolution of the religious order into the later military order. The basic structure
of both religious and military orders was quite similar, so too was the ultimate goal
for which both groups sought to achieve; the perpetuation of Christianity and its
religious belief and practices. However, the method of execution of both groups was
the defining point in terms of the western conception of monasticism. Religious
orders were highly associated with the private religious practice of devout

individuals who wished to separate themselves from the daily stresses of ordinary
civilian life. Monasteries and abbots provided the grounds for an individual to
develop their own religious identity in a much more self-centered notion compared
to the military orders. Created within the background of the crusades, the military
orders were dominated by the notion of the development and protection of Christian
practices not only in the religious knights themselves, but also of the people in their
society. Their main aim was not to increase their own personal understanding of
God, but to spread this understanding throughout the land while preventing the
growth of any other religion, namely Islam. In this way, the military monks seemed
far more altruistic than the religious monks as they were significantly involved in
worldly affairs. Furthermore, impressions of their contemporaries showed that their
behavior was irregular of orders of the time, and indicates that there must have
been a change in nature of monasticism. This distinction between self-interested
and altruistic methods of the religious monks and military monks (respectively)
demonstrates that the military orders were not necessarily just a development
along the continuum of western monasticism, but likely a slightly separate branch
and form of monasticism. While both functioned in order to maintain Christian
belief, both groups did so in very differing ways and thus led to a change in
conception of western monasticism after the creation of the military orders.