From the moment that the First Crusade arrived in the Middie East, the Crusaders started buiiding cashes. As in Europe, they served as residences and administrative centres, as weii as having a miiitary function. But after the Second Crusade the Franks in Outremer found themseives on the defensive and the miiitary nature of cashes became more important. Often iarge and eiaborate, and continuousiy improved by the iatest innovations in miiitary science, the Franks buiit over fifty cashes in Outremer. Geography, manpower and the feudai system aii expiain this considerabie investment in stone.
The Crusader states were long and narrow, lacking defence in depth. The Principality of Antioch, the County of Tripoli and the Kingdom of Jerusalem stretched 450 miles from north to south, yet rarely were they more than 50 to 75 miles broad, the County of Tripoli perilously constricting to the width of the coastal plain, only a few miles broad, between Tortosa (present-day Tartus) and Jeble. The inland cities of Aleppo, Hama, Homs and Damascus all remained in Muslim hands, while Mesopotamia and Egypt were recruiting grounds for any Muslim counterthrust, as the campaigns of Saladin and the Mamelukes would show. For the Crusaders the natural defensive line was the mountains, and they built castles to secure the passes.
Stones more than soldiers were pressed to this purpose as Outremer was chronically short of men. After the conquest of Jerusalem in 1099 most of the Crusaders returned to Europe; the Kingdom of Jerusalem was thereafter defended by 300 mounted knights. Despite successive crusades, at no time during the entire history of the Crusader states were they able to put more than 2600 horse in the field. Moreover, though there was still a large local Christian population, these were Orthodox while the Crusaders were a Latin minority.
Outnumbered and insecure, the Franks of necessity housed themselves in fortified towns or in castles. Nevertheless, if the Crusader states were to survive they had to be a going concern, and the Franks set about organising their possessions along familiar European feudal lines. Castles were as much centres of production and administration as they were military outposts-battlemented country houses, containing corn mills and olive presses, and surrounded by gardens, vineyards, orchards and fields. Their lands in some cases encompassed hundreds of villages and a peasantry numbering tens of thousands. Wood to Egypt, herbs, spices and sugar to Europe, were important exports; indeed throughout the twelfth and thirteenth centuries Europe’s entire supply of sugar came from the Latin East.
But in times of war, agriculture was always the first victim. Were it not for Western subvention and the taxes imposed on trade between the Muslim East and Europe as it passed through the Crusader states, they would have collapsed sooner than they did. The Latin rulers were always strapped for cash, the bulk of their revenues going towards the upkeep of mercenaries, knights and castles. It was a vicious circle; insufficient land and manpower making castles a necessity; the cost of knights and castles greater than the productivity of the land could justify.
In this situation the military orders came into their own. They had the resources, the independence, the dedication-the elements of their growing power.
Structure of the Templars
The TOP FIVE OFFiQALS of the Knights Templar were the Grand Master, the Seneschal, the Marshal, the
Commander of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, and the Draper. Ultimately, the Order owed its allegiance to the Pope-and to no other authority, spiritual or temporal.
Ij! The Grand Master Ruler of the order, the Grand Master was elected by twelve senior Templar members, the number representing the twelve apostles, plus a chaplain who took the place of Jesus Christ. The master had considerable but not autocratic powers.
IJgrand Chapter Comprised of senior officials. All major decisions by the Grand Master-such as whether to go to war, agree a truce, alienate lands, or acquire a castle-required that he consult with the chapter.
Ij! Seneschal Deputy and advisor to the Grand Master.
Ij! Marshal Responsible for military decisions such as purchase of equipment and horses; he also exercised authority over the regional commanders.
Ij! Draper The keeper of the robes, the Draper issued clothes and bedlinen, removed items from knights who were thought to have too much, and distributed gifts made to the order.
Ij! Regional Commanders These were the Commander of THE Kingdom of Jerusalem, who acted as the order’s treasurer and within the Kingdom had the same powers as the Grand Master; the Commander of Jerusalem, who within the city had the same powers as the Grand Master; and the commanders of Acre, Trfoli AND Antioch, each with the powers of the Grand Master within their domains.
I Provincial Masters France, England, Aragon, Poitou, Portugal, Apulia and Hungary each had a provincial master who was responsible to the Grand Master.
Ij! The Knigfes, Sergeants and other men at arms were subject to these various officers and their deputies.
World History
