What were the Differences Between the Templars, Hospitallers, and Teutonic Knights

All right guys, so my patreon supporters keep coming up with really good questions This this one comes from John and this is what are the differences between the three major? military crusading orders of the medieval world So the Knights Templar the Knights Hospitaller and the Teutonic Knights. Let's look first of all at the Hospitallers Knights Hospitaller were founded the first of these three orders Arguably they existed in some way or another Even prior to the first crusade centered around a hospital cared for pilgrims in Jerusalem prior to the capture of Jerusalem by the the Christian Crusaders of the first crusade Hospitallers Kind of officially come into existence. I believe the year is 1113 and they are focused initially on Medical care so Hence the the word hospital in there in their name. They ran infirmaries. They ran hospitals in which pilgrims the infirm The sick of every kind were taken care of in particular. There was this idea of taking care of pilgrims Because pilgrims could frequently get ill on their journeys the Knights Templar come into existence in 1118 1119 there abouts the Templars are founded Initially as a group of armed men dedicated to God who will Act as guides and protectors to pilgrims on the way to Jerusalem On the way to the Holy Sepulchre and all other holy sites associated with the kingdom of Jerusalem the Templars actually kind of Prompted the militarization of the hospitalers hospitalers started out just as an order of men who took care of The sick in their hospitals and then they evolved a military function first of all as kind of like the Templars as military escorts for pilgrims and eventually they themselves became an army Both the Templars and the hospitalers end up becoming major Military forces in the kingdom of Jerusalem they are Answerable to the Pope. They are not really under the jurisdiction of the king of Jerusalem They are kind of independent in that way however, for the most part their policies were aligned pretty much right there with the Latin kings of Jerusalem there was Some disagreement and some divergences here and there but for the most part they acted in concert the hospitalers continued throughout their career this very important function of running hospitals and infirmaries and Indeed the hospitalers had a branch of sisters. So they were not only just monks But there were also hospital or sisters and they of course did what you would expect. They were mainly nurse type Functionaries they helped to take care of the sick of the infirm The Templars never really developed that sort of dual mission they pretty much always remained as a military force committed above all to Fighting the enemies of the kingdom of Jerusalem fighting the enemies of Christendom Anywhere, they might be Indeed there were there were Knights Templar in highly Who were operating in the Iberian Peninsula as well as in the Holy Land? They participated in the Crusades there and so did the hospitalers But just like in the Holy Land the hospitalers also maintained their dual role of providing medical care Now if we're talking about the Teutonic Knights, the Teutonic Knights were founded much later Than these other orders they were founded in the in the events surrounding the Third Crusade at Acre and Initially they were Kind of right there in the Holy Land alongside the Templars and the hospitalers But they very quickly evolved a role which which Caused them to focus on the Baltic frontier The Baltic was a main theater of crusading and the Northern Crusades Developed as a front of crusading that was oriented towards conquering These pagan occupied territories quote-unquote and incorporating them into Christendom and converting the local peoples into Christians Latin Christians and so they kind of brought this whole area into the sphere of Latin Christendom the Teutonic Knights are a Germanic order they were they were founded originally by a group of German Knights and They kind of maintained this sort of German identity to them throughout their career And of course, you know their name the Teutonic Knights or as their that's that's how they how they are known That's a history that name sort of alludes to that. The Teutonic Knights are probably most famous for their conversion of the Prussian peoples and the Prussian territory into Well the conversion of the Prussian peoples to Christians and The conquest of the Prussian territory as a kind of large Crusader state sort of this monastic run Crusader state and Christopher Tireman, I think it was He described the Teutonic ruled Prussia as probably the truest of all Crusader states because it was entirely run and controlled by one of the Crusading military orders the Teutonic Knights The Teutonic Knights also had a very close relationship with the Holy Roman Emperor for a lot of their career especially in the 13th century We look at Emperor Frederick the second he the Teutonic Knights almost acted as an arm of his administration in some respects Hermann von Salza, who was the grandmaster of the Teutonic Knights during Frederick the second's reign had a very close relationship with with Emperor Frederick was kind of almost part of his inner circle in a lot of ways and he was he was a part of his inner circle and the Teutonic Knights Acted in close concert with Imperial policy for the most part the Templars had a similar Relationship you might well, okay somewhat similar relationship to the the kings of France and to the kings of England Not nearly as close but a fairly close association The Templars were heavily concentrated in England and France in terms of their their Western European holdings and just to clarify The Templars while their main battlefront activity was in the Holy Land in Spain they maintain a vast network throughout Western Europe and Kind of the centers of their administrative and fundraising activities were probably in France and in England So the kings of France the Capuchin kings of France had a very close relationship with the Templars. We look back through The different kings of France who went on crusade Louis the seventh Philip the second Louis the ninth all along the way the Templars were acting in close concert With the French kings and their crusading plans, but the Templars also had very close relationships with the kings of England Richard the Lionheart famously was had a very close relationship with the Templars the Templars were Among his his most prized advisors during the Third Crusade indeed, he kind of Puts the Grand Master of the Templars at that period of time Robert de Sable In his position as Grand Master Robert de Sable had a history of Being what associated with Richard the Lionheart and other English rulers Edward the first he was closely associated with the Templars during his brief crusade the ninth crusade The Templars and the Hospitallers also were highly active in the Iberian Peninsula, but primarily on the two flanking Kingdoms the kingdom of Portugal and the kingdom of Aragon the central kingdom of Castile and Leon had Templars and Hospitallers as well, but they were more Castile was more focused on its own Native Castilian military orders, which were introduced like the the order of Calatrava sort of an order of Castilian Leonese warrior monks, but the Templars and the Hospitallers had had Kind of favored positions in the kingdom of Aragon and the kingdom of Portugal I'm a king like James the first of Aragon for example was highly Involved with the Templars and employed Templars and just about everything. He did another difference with the Teutonic Knights is They kind of had a close association with the Blessed Mother you know, we look at the Templars and they're kind of really closely tied to the Holy Sepulchre and You know Christ Jerusalem is the seat of Christ's holy holy places Jerusalem that territory is kind of almost regarded as Christ's Feudal holdings in some way The Templars were kind of Christ's army the Teutonic Knights kind of developed this concept of being The Blessed Mother's order they were her order of warrior monks. In fact, the Baltic region kind of Was thought of as sort of Mary's land Mary's territory like this is where the Virgin this is kind of her her domain and the The idea was that she was going to replace the the pagan beliefs that were you know She you know she would rule as Queen where once these pagan gods these false pagan gods who were demons in the eyes of The Teutonic Knights had ruled and so the Teutonic Knights are kind of closely associated with the Mother of God I think it's fair to say that the Teutonic Knights are more closely associated with a Secular ruler the Holy Roman Emperor then the Hospitallers and the Templars ever were the Templars and the Hospitallers had close relationship with relationships with various crown heads of Europe, but nothing like kind of the The closeness that the Teutonic Knights had with the Holy Roman Emperor and you know It's to be expected the Holy Roman Empire was kind of a German thing. The Teutonic Knights were a German order I think it also might be fair to say that the Templars were the strictest of these three orders I may be wrong on that and if anybody out there has evidence to the contrary then please let me know and I'll gladly admit to my error, however The Templars for example would accept Men who'd been thrown out of the Teutonic Knights for transgression Famously one of the masters of the Teutonic Knights was expelled for financial Fraud and he was accepted into the Templars kind of as a penitential thing so the idea was that he would be able to do his proper penance with the Templars and Because of the strictness of the Templars, so I think the Templars were arguably the strictest of the three It also might be fair to say that the Templars were a bit more militaristic than the Hospitallers Hospitallers were certainly a very professionalized army Just like the Templars, but again that dual role of the Hospitallers kind of kept their soul Kept them one foot in the militarized aspect of things and one foot in the charitable aspect of things where the Templars were really geared towards Towards the military function of the Crusades Anyway, just kind of a brief overview there Just off the top of my head some some differences between the Templars the Hospitallers and the Teutonic Knights. I hope you enjoyed this this discussion John and If you have not yet pick up a copy of my novel of the Crusades. Why does the heathen rage? There's a link below. I'll talk to everybody soon. Bye