Soldiers of Christ

The Knights Hospitaller and the Knights Templar in Medieval Ireland

Martin Browne, Colman O Clabaigh

• Publisher: Four Courts Press
• Year: 2020
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9781846829130
• Subtopic: Irish History
• Index: History

The Military and Hospitaller Orders emerged in the 12th century as Christendom engaged with the threats and the opportunities offered by its Muslim and non-Christian neighbours. In an Irish context, the Knights Hospitaller and the Knights Templar were the most significant expressions of this unusual vocation that sought to combine military service with monastic observance. Arriving with the first Anglo-Norman settlers, the orders were granted vast landholdings and numerous privileges in Ireland to support their activities in Palestine and the Middle East. From the outset, the knights were closely associated with the administration of the Anglo-Irish colony, with the superior of the Hospitallers, the prior of Kilmainham, consistently playing a key role in crown affairs. This volume, the proceedings of the Third Glenstal History Conference, explores the history of the Military and Hospitaller Orders in Ireland from their arrival in the late 12th century to their dissolution and attempted revival in the mid-16th century. Other contributions explore the orders' agricultural, artistic, economic, pastoral and religious activities as well as examining the archaeology of some of their sites. [Subject: Medieval History, Crusaders, Ecclesiastical History, Irish History, European History]

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title page
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Contents
• List of illustrations
• List of abbreviations
• List of contributors
• Foreword
• Introduction
• 1. A long way from Jerusalem: the Templars and Hospitallers in Ireland, c.1172-1348
• 2. Authority and autonomy: relations between Clerkenwell, Kilmainham and the Hospitaller central convent after the Black Death
• 3. The Knights Hospitaller in Tudor Ireland: their dissolution and attempted revival
• 4. Continuity, legitimacy and strategy: the titular priors of Ireland - Romegas González, Wyse and Brochero - and their relations with the Spanish monarchy 1576-1625
• 5. Building a frontier? The architecture of the military orders in medieval Ireland
• 6. The archaeology of the Irish Hospitaller preceptories of Mourneabbey and Hospital in context
• Plates
• 7. Temple House: from Templar castle to New English mansion
• 8. The visual culture of the Hospitaller Knights of the Priory of Ireland
• 9. From swords to ploughshares: evidence for Templar argiculture in medieval Ireland
• 10. ‘Powerful adversaries’: the Knights Templar, landholding and litigation in the lordship of Ireland
• 11. Unforgivable trespasses: the Irish Hospitallers and the defence of their rights in the mid-thirteenth century
• 12. Prayer, politics and poetry: Cambridge, Corpus Christi College MS 405 and the Templars and Hospitallers at Kilbarry, Co. Waterford
• Bibliography
• Glossary
• Index