A military order is a Christian order of knighthood that is founded for crusading, i.e. propagating and/or defending the faith (originally only Catholic, after the reformation sometimes Protestant), either in the Holy Land or against Islam (Reconquista) or pagans (mainly Baltic region) in Europe, but may become 'secularized' later.

History

Christian military orders appeared following the First Crusade. The foundation of the Templars in 1118 provided the first in a series of tightly organized military forces which protected the Christian colonies in the Middle East, as well as fighting non-Christians in Spain and Eastern Europe.

The principle feature of the military order is the combination of military and religious ways of life. Some of them like the Knights of St John and the Knights of St Thomas also cared for the sick and poor. However they were not

• Joseph von Hammer in 1818 compared the Christian military orders, in particular the Templars, with certain Islamic models such as the shiite sect of Assassins. In 1820 Jose Antonio Conde has suggested they were modelled on the ribat, a fortified religious institution which brought together a religious way of life with fighting the enemies of Islam. However popular such views may have become, others have criticised this view suggesting there were no such ribats around Palestine until after the military orders had been founded. Yet the innovation of fighting monks was something new to Christianity.

• The role and function of the military orders has sometimes been obscured by the concentration on their military exploits in Syria, Palestine, Prussia, and Livonia. In fact they had extensive holdings and staff throughout Western Europe. The majority were laymen. They provided a conduit for cultural and technical innovation, for example the introduction of fulling into England by the Knights of St John, or the banking facilities of the Templars.

List of



'crusading' military orders

(The starting dates given are for militarisation)

• 1120 Knights Templar - the first purely military order
• 1136 Knights of St John - (Knights Hospitaller, or later Knights of Rhodes and Knights of Malta) a military/hospitaller order
• 1142 Knights of St Lazarus - a hospitaller/military order
• 1158 Order of Calatrava
• 1170 Order of Santiago
• 1173 Order of Montjoie - Castilian, absorbed by Order of Calatrava 1221
• 1176 Order of Aviz - Portuguese
• 1193 Teutonic Order
• 1201 Order of San Jorge de Alfama - Order of St. George of Alfama was amalgamated with the Aragonese Order of Montesa
• 1202 Livonian Brothers of the Sword - by 1237 it had been absorbed by the Teutonic order
• 1216 Order of Dobrin (Bracia Dobrzyńscy) - absorbed by the Teutonic Order in 1228
• 1227 Knights of St Thomas of Acre - a hospitaller/military order of English origin
• 1261 Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary
• 1275 Order of Santa Maria de Espana - a Spanish seafaring military order
• 1317 Order of Montesa - first members comes from Order of Calatrava ; Knights Templar's assets in Kingdom of Aragón.
• 1323 Order of Christ - Assets of Knights Templar ; first Grand master from Order of Aviz
• 1342 Order of the Holy Sepulchre - a military confraternity, rather than an order
• 1408 Order of the Dragon (Ordo Draconis)
• 1459 Order of Our Lady of Bethlehem
• 1464 Knights of St. George - Austria
• 1561 Order of St. Stephen - a Tuscan seafaring military order intended to augment the Knights of St John

Other use

It is possible for a non-crusading order to be founded explicitely as a military order.This is the case of the Orden Militar de la Constancia (Spanish 'the Military Order of Loyalty'), founded by the authorities in the Spanish protectorate zone of Morocco on 18th August 1946. Awarded to military officers and men, Moroccan and Spanish, in a single class. Obsolete 1956.

Sources, References and External links

(incomplete)

• Forey, Alan John, The military orders: from the twelfth to the early fourteenth centuries, Basingstoke: Macmillan Education, 1992.

See also

• Catholic Order
• Congregation (catholic) Orde militar

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