“History does not repeat the Crusades, but it remembers their shadow. Then, armies marched under banners of faith toward sacred ground; today, the Middle East still suffers when land, memory, religion, security, and power are treated as wounds to be defended rather than human lives to be protected. The lesson is not that the past has returned, but that peace fails whenever people inherit ancient grievances and forget the living cost of carrying them forward.” – MJ Martin
What Were the Crusades and Why Did They Come About?
The Crusades were a series of religious, military, and political campaigns launched mainly by Western European Christians between the late 11th and late 13th centuries. Their original purpose was to recover Jerusalem and the Holy Land, which were sacred to Christians, Muslims, and Jews. The First Crusade began after the Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos asked Western Europe for help against the expanding Seljuk Turks. In 1095, Pope Urban II called on Christians to take up arms, defend fellow Christians in the East, and reclaim Jerusalem. The Crusades came about because several forces converged at once: deep religious devotion, concern for pilgrimage routes and holy sites, papal ambition, knightly culture, political rivalry, land hunger, and economic opportunity. For many medieval Europeans, crusading was seen as both a sacred duty and a path to honour. For rulers, nobles, merchants, and the Church, it also offered power, prestige, territory, and trade. Over time, the Crusades expanded beyond the Holy Land into places such as Spain, the Baltic region, and even parts of Christian Europe. Their legacy is complex: they encouraged trade and cultural contact, but also caused great suffering and deepened religious hostility.
Knights
During the Crusades, several organized groups of knights became famous. Some were religious military orders, while others were feudal or national knightly forces serving kings, nobles, or local Crusader states.
Knights Templar
The Knights Templar, formally the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, were among the most famous Crusading knights. They were founded in the early 12th century to protect pilgrims travelling to Jerusalem. Over time, they became a powerful military and financial order.
Knights Hospitaller
The Knights Hospitaller, also known as the Order of St. John, began as a charitable order caring for sick and poor pilgrims in Jerusalem. They later became a major military order, defending Crusader territories and fortresses. After the loss of the Holy Land, they later became associated with Rhodes and Malta.
Teutonic Knights
The Teutonic Knights were a German military order founded during the Crusades. They originally cared for German pilgrims and later became a powerful fighting order. They were active in the Holy Land, but became especially important in the Baltic Crusades against pagan peoples in northeastern Europe.
Knights of the Holy Sepulchre
The Order of the Holy Sepulchre was connected to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Its members were associated with the defence and religious importance of Jerusalem, though it was not as militarily powerful as the Templars, Hospitallers, or Teutonic Knights.
Knights of St. Lazarus
The Order of St. Lazarus was associated with the care of lepers, including knights who suffered from leprosy. It also developed a military role in the Crusader states. Though smaller than the major orders, it was part of the broader Crusading world.
Knights of Santiago
The Order of Santiago was a Spanish military order active mainly in the Reconquista, the Christian campaigns against Muslim-ruled territories in Iberia. While not centred on the Holy Land, it was part of the wider Crusading movement.
Knights of Calatrava
The Order of Calatrava was another major Spanish military order. It defended Christian territories in Iberia and fought in campaigns against Muslim powers. Like Santiago, it belonged more to the Iberian Crusading tradition than to the eastern Crusades.
Knights of Alcántara
The Order of Alcántara was also based in Spain and fought in the Reconquista. It was similar in purpose to Santiago and Calatrava, combining monastic discipline with military service.
Knights of Montesa
The Order of Montesa was founded later in Spain, after the suppression of the Templars. It inherited some former Templar properties and continued the tradition of Iberian military orders.
Knights of the Sword Brothers
The Livonian Brothers of the Sword, or Sword Brothers, were active in the Baltic Crusades. They fought in what are now Latvia and Estonia before being absorbed into the Teutonic Order.
Secular Crusading Knights
In addition to formal military orders, many Crusaders were ordinary feudal knights serving under kings, princes, dukes, counts, and barons. These included French, Norman, English, German, Italian, Flemish, and other European knights who joined Crusades as part of noble armies. Famous leaders included figures such as Godfrey of Bouillon, Bohemond of Taranto, Richard the Lionheart, Philip II of France, and Frederick Barbarossa.
Summary
The most famous Crusading knightly orders were the Knights Templar, Knights Hospitaller, and Teutonic Knights. Other important groups included the Knights of St. Lazarus, Knights of the Holy Sepulchre, the Spanish orders of Santiago, Calatrava, Alcántara, and Montesa, and the Baltic Sword Brothers. Together, these groups shaped the military, religious, and political history of the Crusading age.
About the Author:
Michael Martin is the Vice President of Technology with Metercor Inc., a Smart Meter, IoT, and Smart City systems integrator based in Canada. He has more than 40 years of experience in systems design for applications that use broadband networks, optical fibre, wireless, and digital communications technologies. He is a business and technology consultant. He was a senior executive consultant for 15 years with IBM, where he worked in the GBS Global Center of Competency for Energy and Utilities and the GTS Global Center of Excellence for Energy and Utilities. He is a founding partner and President of MICAN Communications and before that was President of Comlink Systems Limited and Ensat Broadcast Services, Inc., both divisions of Cygnal Technologies Corporation (CYN: TSX).
Martin served on the Board of Directors for TeraGo Inc (TGO: TSX) and on the Board of Directors for Avante Logixx Inc. (XX: TSX.V). He has served as a Member, SCC ISO-IEC JTC 1/SC-41 – Internet of Things and related technologies, ISO – International Organization for Standardization, and as a member of the NIST SP 500-325 Fog Computing Conceptual Model, National Institute of Standards and Technology. He served on the Board of Governors of the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) [now Ontario Tech University] and on the Board of Advisers of five different Colleges in Ontario – Centennial College, Humber College, George Brown College, Durham College, Ryerson Polytechnic University [now Toronto Metropolitan University]. For 16 years he served on the Board of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), Toronto Section.
He holds three master’s degrees – in business (MBA), communication (MA), and education (MEd). As well, he has three undergraduate diplomas and seven major certifications in business, computer programming, internetworking, project management, media, photography, and communication technology. He has completed over 80 next generation MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) [aka Micro Learning] continuous education programs in a wide variety of topics, including: Economics, Python Programming, Internet of Things, Cloud, Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive systems, Blockchain, Agile, Power BI, Big Data, Design Thinking, Security, Indigenous Canada awareness, and more.
Martin in a volunteer, a photographer, a learner, a technologist, a philosophizer, and a romantic optimist.