Wounded and elderly members of the orders were taken care of in the orders’ estates in Europe. They were given such work for the community as their disabilities allowed, and remained in the estates until death.
Hospitalers, Teutonics and Templars provided the crusaders with what they most lacked: a permanent army. Owing to their incomparable gallantry, their spirit of sacrifice, their strict discipline, their implacable rigor, their knowledge of Arabian warfare and their own military experience, they were the backbone of the Christian presence in the Holy Land. However, Hospitalers, Teutonics and Templars did not always behave like the untainted monks and brave knights they were supposed to be. Rather than forming a homogeneous block, they became independent, arrogant, and wealthy temporal powers exclusively favoring their own parties. Hard rivalry between them reflected the conflict-ridden political situation—i. e., the diverging interests of the crusaders which often made their efficiency questionable.
The fortifications built by the military orders were greatly inspired by Byzantine and Muslim styles of military architecture, which were inherited from the colossal realizations of ancient times. The orders constructed, restored, maintained and garrisoned huge fortresses which were at one and the same time monasteries, fortified barracks and castles. Those fortresses always included a chapel, a room for the chapter, and supply-stores; often they included guest quarters as well. They were intended to house large garrisons composed of members of the military orders but also to accommodate laic knights serving during their time of pilgrimage and mercenaries raised among the local population called Turcopoles.
During the 12th and 13th centuries, the crusader fortifications were greatly improved by new ideas and new elements. The experiences acquired during the crusades were brought back to Europe. The constitution of permanent armed forces and the significant development of siege warfare transformed fortifications in both concept and realization, contributing in no small measure to the full development of medieval military architecture in the 13th century and its brilliant apogee in the 14th.
World History
