4. The Military Orders and the Fall of the Kingdom of Jerusalem

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About this Lecture

Lecture

In this module, we think about the role of the military orders – and of the Knights Templar in particular – in the fall of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Crusader States, focusing in particular on: (i) the growth of the Crusader States up to the 1150s-60s; (ii) the problems encountered by the Crusader States from the 1160s onwards, including: Shirkuh's conquest of Egypt; the rise of Saladin and his territorial gains in Egypt, Syria and the Jazira; the weakening of the Byzantine Empire; the decline in enthusiasm for crusading in the West; and the annihilation of the Frankish army at the Battle of Hattin in 1187; (iii) the importance of the military orders to the Kingdom of Jerusalem, including: their network of major fortresses (e.g. Krak des Chevaliers); their contribution (in terms of personnel) to the armies of the Kingdom of Jerusalem; their wealth; and their status as elite troops; (iv) the problems posed by the Knights Templar, including: the fact that, as a religious order, they were not under secular control; their sabotage of Amalric's proposed alliance with the Assassins in 1173; their contribution to political faction during the reign of Baldwin IV; their support for Guy of Lusignan; and their contribution to the catastrophe that was the Battle of Hattin in 1187.

Course

In this course, Dr Nicholas Morton (Nottingham Trent University) thinks about the military orders in the Crusader States between 1119-87, focusing in particular on the Knights Templar and the Knights Hospitaller. We begin in the first module by thinking about the origins of the military orders: where did the idea come from? After that, we consider the growth and development of the military orders in the 12th century, before turning in the third module to their internal structure and organisation: how did they operate? how were they led? Finally, in the fourth module, we think about the role of the military orders in the fall of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, focusing in particular on events in the run-up to the disastrous Battle of Hattin in July 1187.

Lecturer

Dr Nicholas Morton is a specialist in the history of crusading and the Medieval Mediterranean between the tenth and thirteenth centuries. More recently he has begun to focus specifically upon the theme of inter-faith relations between Christianity and Islam in this region. He has published extensively on topics connected to this subject area, writing a range of monographs and scholarly articles. He is also an editor for the Ashgate series Rulers of the Latin East.

Currently Dr Morton is completing a monograph exploring the First Crusaders' attitudes and behaviour towards the various non-Christian peoples they encountered during their campaign. This will be a highly revisionist work addressing many key scholarly and public orthodoxies surrounding the nature of Christian/Islamic interaction during the crusade.