Some Perry Hospitallers

[janner]

Some background

The Order of Hospitallers was founded in the 11th century and recognized by Pope Paschal II in 1116.(1)  Headquartered in the great hospital in Jerusalem, its original object was to provide aid and relief to pilgrims to the Holy Places. However, Raymond du Puy (master, 1119–24) permitted the Order to undertake military activities and these soon began to take precedence over the charitable work from which it took its name.(2)  When Jerusalem was surrendered to Saladin in 1187 the hospital was lost and the Order became completely military. Its headquarters remained in the Holy Land and was established in Acre after its capture by the Third Crusade in 1191. There is stayed until Acre fell to the Mamluks some hundred years later.(3)

Before being made the 9th Master of the Order, Garnier had been Prior of England (c. 1184-1190) and travelled to the Holy Land with King Richard I and Robert de Sablé (future Grand Master of the Templars).

Here we see the Order in action at the battle of Arsuf on 7 Sep 1191. Despite having asked Richard several times and been denied permission to charge the enemy to relieve the pressure on the rearguard, sources relate that the Hospitallers finally launch themselves through their infantry shield. Here Garnier vainly tries to restrain his Marshall as he leads the Hospitallers out against the enemy.



As with the Templars, the rule of the Hospitallers made the Marshal the commander of the Order in the field and he also acted as standard-bearer with the Standard Bearer actually commanding the serjeants once the Marshal had taken the flag. To the Marshal’s rear is a brother-serjeant who is dressed in the brown habit of his rank and is sounding the charge.\









1. Delaville le Roulx, Cartulaire Generale des Hospitalliers, i. 29.
2. See letter (1178–80) from Alexander III to Roger des Moulins: Cartulaire, i. 360. For Raymond's Rule see ibid. i. 62.
3. Cartulaire, iv, 321–7, 329.

[cdm]

Lovely work and thanks for the read, always nice to have more than just pics to look at

[Malamute]

Great stuff. Nice to read a bit of background info too on a subject I know very little about.

[Brummie]

Looking very good! Love that period, and love the black and white design you chose. The shields are very smart.

[Captain Blood]

Very nice, Steve.
Especially under that blazing middle eastern sun! 

[janner]

Thanks for the kind comments, it certainly feels quite Mediterranean in Richmond today 

[OSHIROmodels]

Very nice Steve, I like the fact that not all the command are in the front rank as per most rules suggest 

cheers

James

[Sangennaru]

the hospitaliers are great! i always loved the crosses on the shields!

[janner]

Very nice Steve, I like the fact that not all the command are in the front rank as per most rules suggest 

cheers

James

I was never quite convinced with the idea of some poorly armed musician being squeezed into the front rank between some heavily armed knights, hoplites etc. and, while Steven Seagal could no doubt demonstrate otherwise, I'm not sure about a flugelhorn as a close combat weapon...

[Gluteus Maximus]

Lovely figures 

I've been interested in the Hospitallers since we went to Malta on our honeymoon back in '95. There is a huge amount of Hospitaller stuff to see there and I came back with several good books about them as well as a load of photos (which I can't find    ).

One day I'll have to get some figures and paint them up.

[janner]

Lovely figures 

I've been interested in the Hospitallers since we went to Malta on our honeymoon back in '95. There is a huge amount of Hospitaller stuff to see there and I came back with several good books about them as well as a load of photos (which I can't find    ).

One day I'll have to get some figures and paint them up.

Thanks GM, I was on Malta with the long-haired general a couple of years ago and there are some fun museums there - not to mention a superb collection of Renaissance weaponry in the Armoury Museum.

I'm not sure if anyone does anything specific for the siege of Malta, but the red and white heraldry would look very smart.

[valleyboy]

I like the look of those, well done, hadn't realied that the hospital part of their service was defunct. Thanks for the info and the pics

[janner]

Sorry to mislead you, but no they had hospitals elsewhere and cracked on with that as well as the military function when Jerusalem was surrendered.

That said, the Latin translation is closer to hostel than hospital, so if you visit a medieval Hospitaller commandery site then the location marked hospital will have been the guest house rather than the medical facility.

However, they did tend to pilgrims and continue with a medical function to this day.

[SgtPerry]

Very nice unit, Janner!

Unlike the Templars, the Hospitallers often had an health center in their commanderies for the poor people or the pilgrims. When the Templars were emprisonned in France, most of their commanderies were given to the Hospitallers so it is often difficult today to know which is the first owner of the commanderies.

Olivier

[janner]

Very nice unit, Janner!

Unlike the Templars, the Hospitallers often had an health center in their commanderies for the poor people or the pilgrims. When the Templars were emprisonned in France, most of their commanderies were given to the Hospitallers so it is often difficult today to know which is the first owner of the commanderies.

Olivier

Yes, the hospice was common to most monasteries based on the rule of St Augustine. The Templars followed the rule of St. Benedict while the Teutonics took their military rule from the Templars and their Hospitaller rules from the Hospitallers!

The problem of who the commandaries belonged to in conflated by the loss of the Templar archive, but much work is being done on the Scandanavian commandaries by Christer Carlsson so slowly slowly catchee monkey