Cardiff University, School of History, Archaeology and Religion HS 1805 The Military Orders, 1100–1320; HST 908 The Military Orders Documents relating to the Military Orders Translated by Helen J. Nicholson. Original translations 1988–98; this edition 2013 Extracts from the chronicles of Matthew Paris relating to the Templars, Hospitallers and Teutonic Knights translated from the Rolls Series editions by Helen J. Nicholson Contents Matthew Paris, Chronica Majora [The Greater Chronicle] ...................................................................... 2 Vol. 3 .................................................................................................................................................... 2 About the Templars’ and Hospitallers’ pride and jealousy .............................................................. 2 The letter of Gerald, patriarch of Jerusalem ..................................................................................... 3 Thierry, the prior of the Hospital in England, is sent to help the Holy Land. ................................... 6 Vol. 4 .................................................................................................................................................... 7 Delightful events in the Holy Land about a peace treaty which had been made. But it had a very sad outcome. ..................................................................................................................................... 9 The Battle of La Forbie .................................................................................................................... 9 Vol. 5 .................................................................................................................................................. 12 King Louis IX’s Crusade ................................................................................................................ 12 The military orders’ exemptions from the authority of bishops ..................................................... 12 The battle of Mansurah .................................................................................................................. 13 The military orders and Henry III .................................................................................................. 15 The Holy Land after 1250 ............................................................................................................... 16 How the Templars and Hospitallers killed each other .................................................................... 16 Matthew Paris, Flores Historiarum [Flowers of History] .................................................................. 17 Vol. 2 .................................................................................................................................................. 17 The battle at Gaza or La Forbie between the Christians and the Kharizmians ............................. 17 Matthew Paris, Historia Anglorum [History of the English] .............................................................. 18 Vol. 1 .................................................................................................................................................. 18 Vol. 2 .................................................................................................................................................. 18 Vol. 3 .................................................................................................................................................. 19 Matthew Paris, Abbreviato Chronicorum Angliae [Abbreviation of the Chronicles of England] ...... 20 1 Matthew Paris, Chronica Majora [The Greater Chronicle] Taken from the edition ed. Henry R. Luard, Rolls Series 57, 7 vols (London, 1872– 84), trans. and copyright H. J. Nicholson, 1988–98 Direct translation is in normal type. Paraphrase or summary is in italics. Explanations and additions are in square brackets. Vol. 3 [Until the arrival of the emperor Frederick II in the Holy Land in 1228, Matthew’s Chronicle account of the military orders follows that of his predecessor at chronicler at St. Albans, Roger of Wendover. Then Matthew begins to express his own opinions.] 1229 (Vol. 3, pp. 177–9) About the Templars’ and Hospitallers’ pride and jealousy [Frederick has recovered Jerusalem by negotiation with the Sultan of Egypt and his army has entered Jerusalem] So God had arranged for matters to go in this way, but Sathanas, the ancient sower of discord, resented the Christians’ success, and prompted the inhabitants of that country, especially the Templars and Hospitallers, to become jealous of the emperor’s successes. Their jealousy was encouraged by the pope`s hatred for the emperor when they heard that the pope had already hostilely invaded the empire. They receive so much income from the whole of Christendom and, only for the defence of the Holy Land, swallow down such great revenues as if they sunk them into a chasm of the Great Abyss! And now, because they themselves wished to gain the credit for all these wonderful deeds which the emperor had done, they craftily and treacherously told the Sultan of Babylon [Cairo] that the emperor proposed to go to the river where Christ was baptised by John the Baptist. There he intended to adore the footsteps of Christ and the feet of His Forerunner – John the Baptist, of whom Christ said: ‘no mother`s son ever arose greater than him’. He would go in secret and humbly, dressed in linen, with a few companions. So the sultan could capture or kill the emperor there as he liked. When the said sultan heard this and noticed that the letter with this information was sealed with a familiar seal, he was disgusted at the cunning tricks, envy and treachery of the Christians, and especially of those who appear to wear the religious habit with the sign of the cross. Calling two most reliable and discreet counsellors to him, he poured all this information into their ears, showing them the letter – to which the seal was still fixed – and said: ‘See the loyalty of Christians!’ Having inspected the letter, after long and diligent deliberation they replied like this: ‘Lord, a peace treaty has been made which is pleasing to both sides, which it would be villainous to violate. To throw all the Christians into confusion, send this same letter to the emperor, with the seal attached. He will then be very friendly towards you, and with good reason.’ The sultan did as they advised and sent the letter to the emperor, informing him of all the aforementioned trickery. Now, while this was going on, the emperor had been warned of the treachery by his efficient and hardworking spies, but he at first hesitated, not believing that religious men were capable of such great malice. While he was in doubt, the sultan`s messenger arrived bringing him the said letter, which made him certain about it. Rejoicing that he had escaped the hidden snare, he pretended that he knew nothing about any of this until the time for retribution should come, and made the necessary preparations for his return to his country. 2 This was the cause of the hatred between the emperor and the Templars and Hospitallers; although the Hospitallers drew less shame from what had been done. From this time on the emperor was bonded to the sultan with an indissoluble glue affection and friendship. They were allies and sent each other precious gifts, among which the sultan sent the emperor an elephant. The Templars and Hospitallers and their accomplices, finding that the emperor had put off the pilgrimage that he had proposed to make to the River Jordan, realised through this and other signs that their trick had failed. Therefore they drew the Patriarch of Jerusalem into their conspiracy, and he is said to have written this letter to defame the emperor. The letter of Gerald, patriarch of Jerusalem ‘Gerald, Patriarch of Jerusalem, to all Christ’s faithful in the Lord, greeting. How marvellous and how miserable the emperor’s expedition to this side of the sea has been from beginning to end, in grave prejudice to Jesus Christ’s business and contempt for the Christian faith, may be clearly seen from his actions here which were rotten from start to finish, since he arrived excommunicate, bringing scarcely 240 knights with him, and without money, hoping to support himself by plundering the land of Syria. First he came to Cyprus and captured the nobleman John of Ibelin and his sons, whom he had summoned to him to deal with the business of the Holy Land – an uncourteous deed, for he seized them when he had invited them to dine with him. Afterwards he retained the king [Henry] as if he were a prisoner, after summoning him. So he completely occupied the kingdom through violence and treachery. Having done this, he crossed to Syria. And although at the start he promised to do great things and boasted about this in the presence of simple people, he at once sent messengers to the sultan of Babylon [Cairo] asking for peace. On account of this he seemed contemptible to the sultan and his pagans, especially when they saw that he had not brought a large enough armed force with him to harm them. Meanwhile, on the excuse of fortifying Joppa [Tel Aviv/Jaffa] he headed that way with the Christian army in order to get nearer to the sultan in order to be better able to negotiate with him for peace or a truce. What more shall I say? After a long drawn-out negotiation and without taking advice from anyone in the country he suddenly announced one day that he had made