According to De Vertot, the senior Hospitallers were greatly averse to the military projects of their chief: “They urged,” says he, “that they were a religious order, and that the church had not put arms into their hands to make conquests;”73 but the younger and more ardent of the brethren, burning to exchange the monotonous life of the cloister for the enterprize and activity of the camp, received the proposals of their superior with enthusiasm, and a majority of the chapter decided in favour of the plans and projects of their Guardian. They authorized him to borrow money of the Florentine and Genoese merchants, to take hired soldiers into the pay of the order, and to organize the Hospitallers as a great military society.
Gilbert d’Assalit bestirred himself with great energy in the execution of these schemes; he wrote letters to the king of France for aid and assistance,74 and borrowed money of the emperor of Constantinople. “Assalit,” says De Vertot, “with this money levied a great body of troops, which he took into the pay of the order; and as his fancy was entirely taken up with flattering hopes of conquest, he drew by his indiscreet liberalities a great number of volunteers into his service, who like him shared already in imagination all the riches of Egypt.”
A.D. 1168.
It was in the first year of the government of Philip of Naplous (A. D. 1168) that the king of Jerusalem and the Hospitallers marched forth upon their memorable and unfortunate expedition. The Egyptians were taken completely by surprise; the city of Belbeis was carried by assault, and the defenceless inhabitants were barbarously massacred; “they spared,” says De Vertot, “neither old men nor women, nor children at the breast,” after which the desolated city was delivered up to the brethren of the Hospital of St. John. They held it, however, for a very brief period; the immorality, the cruelty, and the injustice of the Christians, speedily met with condign punishment. The king of Jerusalem was driven back into Palestine; Belbeis was abandoned with precipitation; and the Hospitallers fled before the infidels in sorrow and disappointment to Jerusalem. There they vented their indignation and chagrin upon the unfortunate Gilbert d’Assalit, their superior, who had got the order into debt to the extent of 100,000 pieces of gold; they compelled him to resign his authority, and the unfortunate guardian of the hospital fled from Palestine to England, and was drowned in the Channel.75
From this period, however, the character of the order of the Hospital of St. John was entirely changed; the Hospitallers appear henceforth as a great military body; their superior styles himself Master, and leads in person the brethren into the field of battle. Attendance upon the poor and the sick still continued, indeed, one of the duties of the fraternity, but it must have been feebly exercised amid the clash of arms and the excitement of war.
CHAPTER IV
The contests between Saladin and the Templars – The vast privileges of the Templars – The publication of the bull, omne datum optimum– The Pope declares himself the immediate Bishop of the entire Order – The different classes of Templars – The knights – Priests – Serving brethren – The hired soldiers – The great officers of the Temple – Punishment of cowardice – The Master of the Temple is taken prisoner, and dies in a dungeon – Saladin’s great successes – The Christians purchase a truce – The Master of the Temple and the Patriarch Heraclius proceed to England for succour – The consecration of the Temple Church at London.
“The firmest bulwark of Jerusalem was founded on the knights of the Hospital of St. John and of the Temple of Solomon; on the strange association of a monastic and military life, which fanaticism might suggest, but of which policy must approve. The flower of the nobility of Europe aspired to wear the cross and profess the vows of these respectable orders; their spirit and discipline were immortal; and the speedy donation of twenty-eight thousand farms or manors enabled them to support a regular force of cavalry and infantry for the defence of Palestine.” – Gibbon.
Odo de St.
Amand.
A. D. 1170.
The Master, Philip of Naplous, resigned his authority after a short government of three years, and was succeeded by Brother Odo de St. Amand, a proud and fiery warrior, of undaunted courage and resolution; having, according to William, Archbishop of Tyre, the fear neither of God nor of man before his eyes.76
The Templars were now destined to meet with a more formidable opponent than any they had hitherto encountered in the field, one who was again to cause the crescent to triumph over the cross, and to plant the standard of the prophet upon the walls of the holy city.
When the Fatimite caliph had received intelligence of Amalric’s invasion of Egypt, he sent the hair of his women, one of the greatest tokens of distress known in the East, to the pious Noureddin, who immediately despatched a body of troops to his assistance, headed by Sheerkoh, and his nephew, Youseef-Ben-Acoub-Ben-Schadi, the famous Saladin. Sheerkoh died immediately after his arrival, and Youseef succeeded to his command, and was appointed vizier of the caliph. Youseef had passed his youth in pleasure and debauchery, sloth and indolence: he had quitted with regret the delights of Damascus for the dusty plains of Egypt; and but for the unjustifiable expedition of King Amalric and the Hospitallers against the infidels, the powerful talents and the latent energies of the young Courdish chieftain, which altogether changed the face of affairs in the East, would in all probability never have been developed.
As soon as Saladin grasped the power of the sword, and obtained the command of armies, he threw off the follies of his youth, and led a new life. He renounced the pleasures of the world, and assumed the character of a saint. His dress was a coarse woollen garment; water was his only drink; and he carefully abstained from everything disapproved of by the Mussulman religion. Five times each day he prostrated himself in public prayer, surrounded by his friends and followers, and his demeanour became grave, serious, and thoughtful. He fought vigorously with spiritual weapons against the temptations of the world; his nights were often spent in watching and meditation, and he was always diligent in fasting and in the study of the Koran. With the same zeal he combated with carnal weapons the foes of Islam, and his admiring brethren gave him the name of Salah-ed-deen, “Integrity of Religion,” vulgarly called Saladin.
At the head of forty thousand horse and foot, he crossed the desert and ravaged the borders of Palestine; the wild Bedouins and the enthusiastic Arabians of the far south were gathered together under his standard, and hastened with holy zeal to obtain the crown of martyrdom in defence of the faith. The long remembered and greatly dreaded Arab shout of onset, Allah acbar, God is victorious, again resounded through the plains and the mountains of Palestine, and the grand religious struggle for the possession of the holy city of Jerusalem, equally reverenced by Mussulmen and by Christians, was once more vigorously commenced. Saladin besieged the fortified city of Gaza, which belonged to the Knights Templars, and was considered to be the key of Palestine towards Egypt. The luxuriant gardens, the palm and olive groves of this city of the wilderness, were destroyed by the wild cavalry of the desert, and the innumerable tents of the Arab host were thickly clustered on the neighbouring sand-hills. The warlike monks of the Temple fasted and prayed, and invoked the aid of the God of battles; the gates of the city were thrown open, and in an unexpected sally upon the enemy’s camp they performed such prodigies of valour, that Saladin, despairing of being able to take the place, abandoned the siege, and retired into Egypt.77
A. D. 1172.
The year following, Pope Alexander’s famous bull, omne datum optimum, confirming the previous privileges of the Templars, and conferring upon them additional powers and immunities, was published in England. It commences in the following terms:
“Alexander, bishop, servant of the servants of God, to his beloved sons, Odo, Master of the religious chivalry of the Temple, which is situated at Jerusalem, and to his successors, and to all the regularly professed brethren.
“Every