Common points between RCC and KT

In this part 120, Common points between The RCC and the KT Orders        M Burton/Wikipedia

This lecture presents the evolution of Chivalry and the various common points between the Red Cross of Constantine Order and the Masonic Order of the Knight Templars.

Worthy Knights…

An order of chivalry, order of knighthood, is an order of knights typically founded during or inspired by the original Catholic military orders of the Crusades (circa 1099–1291)

The word knight, from Old English cniht (boy or servant), is related to the German word Knecht (servant, bondsman, vassal).

An Equestrian (Latin, from eques “horseman”, from equus “horse”) was a member of the second highest social class in the Roman Republic and early Roman Empire (Ordo Equestris). This class is often translated as “knight”.

The Scholae Palatinae were an elite military guard unit, usually ascribed to the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great as a replacement for the equites singulares Augusti, the cavalry arm of the Praetorian Guard.

The Scholae survived in Roman and later Byzantine service until they disappeared in the late 11th century, during the reign of Alexios I Komnenos.

History and structure

During the early 4th centuryCaesar Flavius Valerius Severus attempted to disband the remaining units of the Praetorian Guard on the orders of Galerius. In response, the Praetorians turned to Maxentius, the son of the retired emperor Maximian, and proclaimed him their emperor on 28 October 306.

The bishop Eusebius of Caesaria, a historian, states that Constantine the great  was marching with his army, when he looked up to the sun and saw a cross of light above it, and with it the Greek words “(ἐντούτῳ νίκα” E tuto nika (“In this, conquer”), a phrase often rendered into Latin as in hoc signo vinces (“in this sign, you will conquer”).

At first, Constantine did not know the meaning of the apparition, but on the following night, he had a dream in which Christ explained to him that he should use the sign of the cross against his enemies.

Then Constantine, launching his invasion of Italy in 312, forced a final confrontation at the Milvian Bridge, the Praetorian cohorts made up the most prominent element of Maxentius’ army. Later, in Rome, the victorious Constantine definitively disbanded the Praetorian Guard.

Although there is no direct evidence that Constantine established the Scholae Palatinae at the same time, the lack of a bodyguard unit would have become immediately apparent, and he is commonly regarded as their founder.

The term “schola” was commonly used in the early 4th century to refer to organized corps of the imperial retinue, both civil and military, and derives from the fact that they occupied specific rooms or chambers in the palace.

Each schola was formed into an elite cavalry regiment of around 500 troops. Many scholarians were recruited from among Germanic tribes. In the West, these were Franks and  Alamanni, while in the East, Goths were employed.

In the East, under the impact of anti-Gothic policies, from the mid-5th century they were largely replaced with Armenians and Isaurians. However, evidence of the scholarians mentioned in primary sources indicates that the presence of native Romans in the scholae was not negligible.

Each schola was commanded by a Tribunus who ranked as a comes of the first class, and who were discharged with a rank equal to that of a provincial dux. The Tribunus had several senior officers called domestici or protectores directly under him. Unlike the Praetorians, there was no overall military commander of the scholae, and the Emperor retained direct control over them; however, for administrative purposes, the scholae were eventually placed under the direction of the magister officiorum.

In the Notitia Dignitatum of the late 4th century, seven scholae are listed for the Eastern Empire and five for the Western. In Justinian I‘s time (r. 527–565), but also possibly in earlier times, the scholae were billeted in the wider neighbourhood of Constantinople, in the towns of Bithynia and Thrace, serving in the palace by rotation.

As befitted their guard’s status, the scholarians received higher pay and enjoyed more privileges than the regular army: they received extra rations were exempt from the recruitment tax and were often used by the emperors on civilian missions inside the Empire.

In the later Roman Empire, the classical Latin word for horse, equus, was replaced in common parlance by the vulgar Latin caballus

From caballus arose terms in the various Romance languages related with the (French-derived) English cavalier: Italian cavaliere, Spanish caballero, French chevalier (whence chivalry), Portuguese cavaleiro, and Romanian cavaler. The Germanic languages have terms related to the English rider: German Ritter, and Dutch and Scandinavian ridder. These words are derived from Germanic rīdan, “to ride”.

 Evolution of medieval knighthood

 Some portions of the armies of Germanic peoples who occupied Europe from the 3rd century onward had been mounted, and some armies, such as those of the Ostrogoths, were mainly cavalry. However, it was the Franks who generally fielded armies composed of large masses of infantry, with an infantry elite, the comitatus, which often rode to battle on horseback rather than marching on foot.

When the armies of the Frankish ruler Charles Martel defeated the Umayyad Arab invasion at the Battle of Tours in 732, the Frankish forces were still largely infantry armies, with elites riding to battle but dismounting to fight.

Multiple Crusades

 Clerics and the Church often opposed the practices of the Knights because of their abuses against women and civilians, and many such as St Bernard, were convinced that the Knights served the devil and not God and needed reforming.

As the term “knight” became increasingly confined to denoting a social rank, the military role of fully armoured cavalryman gained a separate term, “man-at-arms“. Although any medieval knight going to war would automatically serve as a man-at-arms, not all men-at-arms were knights.

The first military orders of knighthood were the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre and the Knights Hospitaller, both founded shortly after the First Crusade of 1099, followed by the Order of Saint Lazarus (1100), Knights Templars (1118) and the Teutonic Knights (1190). At the time of their foundation, these were intended as monastic orders, whose members would act as simple soldiers protecting pilgrims. It was only over the following century, with the successful conquest of the Holy Land and the rise of the crusader states, that these orders became powerful and prestigious.

The great European legends of warriors popularized the notion of chivalry among the warrior class. The ideal of chivalry as the ethos of the Christian warrior, and the transmutation of the term “knight” from the meaning “servant, soldier”, and of chevalier “mounted soldier”, to refer to a member of this ideal class, is significantly influenced by the Crusades, on one hand inspired by the military orders of monastic warriors, and on the other hand also cross-influenced by Islamic (Saracen) ideals of furusiyya.

Furūsiyya is the historical Arabic term for equestrian martial exercise. Furūsiyya as a science is concerned with the martial arts and equestrianism of the Golden Age of Islam.

 The miles Christianus allegory (mid-13th century), showed a knight armed with virtues and facing the vices in mortal combat.

The parts of his armour are identified with Christian virtues, thus correlating essential military equipment with the religious values of chivalry:

Helmet             spes futuri gaudii                     Hope of future bliss

Shield               fides                                         Faith

Armour            caritas                                     Charity

Lance              perseverantia                          Perseverance

Sword              verbum Dei                              Word of God

Banner             regni celestis desiderium         Desire for the kingdom of heaven

Horse               bona voluntas                         Good will

Saddle             christiana religio                      Christian religion

Saddlecloth     humilitas                                  Humility

Reins                discretio                                   Discretion

Spurs                disciplina                                 Discipline

Stirrups             propositum boni operis            Proposition of good work

Hooves            delectatio,                              Delight

consensus,                               Consent

bonum opus,                           Good work

consuetudo                             ExerciseBottom of Form

 The accolade, also known as dubbing (or adoubement) was the central act in the rite of passage ceremonies conferring knighthood in the Middle Ages. It may take many forms, including the tapping of the flat side of a knighting sword on the shoulders of a candidate or an embrace about the neck.

In the first example, the “knight-elect” kneels in front of the monarch on a knighting-stool. First, the monarch lays the side of the sword’s blade onto the accolade’s right shoulder. The monarch then raises the sword just up over the apprentice’s head, and places it on his left shoulder. The new knight then stands up, and the king or queen presents him with the insignia of his new order.

Contrary to popular belief, the phrase “Arise, Sir …” is not used.

There is some disagreement among historians on the actual ceremony and in what time period certain methods could have been used. It could have been an embrace or a slight blow on the neck or cheek. Gregory of Tours wrote that the early kings of France, in conferring the gilt shoulder-belt, kissed the knights on the left cheek.

In knighting his son Henry with the ceremony of the accolade, history records that William the Conqueror used the blow.

The blow, or colée, when first utilized was given with a bare fist, a physical blow struck on or around the ear. This was later substituted for by a gentle stroke with the flat part of the sword against the side of the neck. This then developed into the custom of tapping on either the right or left shoulder, or both, which is still the tradition in the United Kingdom today.

An early Germanic coming-of-age ceremony, of presenting a youth with a weapon that was buckled on him, was elaborated in the 10th and 11th centuries as a sign that the minor had come of age.

Initially this was a simple rite often performed on the battlefield, where writers of Romance enjoyed placing it. A panel in the Bayeux Tapestry shows the knighting of Harold by William of Normandy, but the specific gesture is not clearly represented. Another military knight (commander of an army), sufficiently impressed by a warrior’s loyalty, would tap a fighting soldier on his back and shoulder with the flat of his sword and announce that he was now an official knight. Some words that might be spoken at that moment were:

“ Advances Chevalier au nom de Dieu.”

In medieval France, early ceremonies of the adoubement were purely secular and indicated a young noble coming of age. Around 1200, these ceremonies began to include elements of Christian ritual, such as a night spent in prayers, prior to the rite.

Chivalric code

Knights were expected, above all, to fight bravely and to display military professionalism and courtesy. When knights were taken as prisoners of war, they were customarily held for ransom in somewhat comfortable surroundings. This same standard of conduct did not apply to non-knights (archers, peasants, foot-soldiers, etc.) who were often slaughtered after capture.

Early notions of chivalry entailed loyalty to one’s liege lord and bravery in battle, similar to the values of the Heroic Age. During the Middle Ages, this grew from simple military professionalism into a social code including the values of gentility, nobility and treating others reasonably.

In The Song of Roland (c. 1100), Roland is portrayed as the ideal knight, demonstrating unwavering loyalty, military prowess and social fellowship. Ramon Llull‘s Book of the Order of Chivalry (1275) demonstrates that by the end of the 13th century, chivalry entailed a litany of very specific duties, including riding warhorses, jousting, attending tournaments, holding Round Tables and hunting, as well as aspiring to the more æthereal virtues of “faith, hope, charity, justice, strength, moderation and loyalty”.

Knights of the late medieval era were expected by society to maintain all these skills and many more, Count Ludovico, states the “first and true profession” of the ideal knight “must be that of arms.” simultaneously denoted skilled horsemanship and military service, and these remained the primary occupations of knighthood throughout the Middle Ages.

Chivalry and religion were mutually influenced during the period of the Crusades. The early Crusades helped to clarify the moral code of chivalry as it related to religion. As a result, Christian armies began to devote their efforts to sacred purposes. As time passed, clergy instituted religious vows which required knights to use their weapons chiefly for the protection of the weak and defenceless, especially women and orphans, and of churches.Bottom of Form

Knight of the Holy Sepulchre

The Order of the Holy Sepulchre traces its roots to circa 1099 under the Frankish knight Godfrey of Bouillon (1060–1100), “advocate of the Holy Sepulchre” (LatinAdvocatus Sancti Sepulchri), leader of the First Crusade and first ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem

The history of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem runs common and parallel to that of the religious Canons Regular of the Holy Sepulchre, the order continuing after the Canons Regular ceased to exist at the end of the 15th century (except for their female counterpart, the Canonesses Regular of the Holy Sepulchre).

Background

Pilgrimages to the Holy Land were a common, if hazardous, practice from shortly after the crucifixion of Jesus to throughout the Middle Ages. Numerous detailed commentaries have survived as evidence of this early Christian devotion.

While there were many places the pious visited during their travels, the one most cherished was the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, first constructed by Constantine the Great in the 4th century AD.

During the era of the Islamic expansion, Emperor Charlemagne (c. 742–814) sent two embassies to the caliph of Baghdad, asking Frankish protectorate over the Holy Land. An epic chanson de geste recounts his legendary adventures in the Mediterranean and pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

By virtue of its defining characteristic of subinfeudation, in feudalism it was common practice for knights commanders to confer knighthoods upon their finest soldiers, who in turn had the right to confer knighthood on others upon attaining command. Tradition maintains that long before the Crusades, a form of knighthood was bestowed upon worthy men at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

In any case, during the 11th century, prior to the Crusades, “milites sancti Petri” were established to protect Christians and Christian premises in the Occident.

Persecution of Christians in the Holy Land intensified. Relations with Christian rulers were further strained when Caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah ordered the destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in 1009.

Crusades

The crusades coincided with a renewed concern in Europe for the holy places, with the Church of the Holy Sepulchre as one of the most important places.

According to an undocumented tradition, Girolamo Gabrielli of the Italian Gabrielli family, who was the leader of 1000 knights from GubbioUmbria, during the First Crusade, was the first crusader to enter the Church of the Holy Sepulchre after Jerusalem was seized in 1099.

Kingdom of Jerusalem (1099–1291)

After the capture of Jerusalem at the end of the First Crusade in 1099, the Canons Regular of the Holy Sepulchre were established to take care of the church. The men in charge of securing its defence and its community of canons were called Milites Sancti Sepulcri.

Together, the canons and the milites formed part of the structure of which evolved into the modern Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. Baldwin I, the first king of Jerusalem, laid the foundations of the kingdom and established its main institutions on the Norman-French pattern as a centralised feudal state.

He also drew up the first constitution of the order in 1103, modelled on the chapter of canons that he founded in Antwerp prior to his departure, under which the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem appointed knights in Jerusalem at the direct service of the crown.

Adopting the rule of Saint Augustine, with recognition in 1113 by Papal Bull of Pope Paschal II, with the Milites Sancti Sepulcri attached, it is considered among the oldest of the chivalric orders.

Indications suggest that Hugues de Payens (c. 1070–1136) was among the Milites Santi Sepulcri during his second time in Jerusalem in 1114–16, before being appointed “Magister Militum Templi”, establishing the Knights Templar.