The Templars: The Rise and Spectacular Fall of God's Holy Warriors by Dan Jones

Author:Dan Jones [Jones, Dan]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, mobi, epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2017-09-19T04:00:00+00:00

The feud began in earnest with the emperor’s decision to march south from Acre to Jaffa on November 15, so that he could parlay with the sultan of Egypt. Power in the Ayyubid world was tangled after al-Mu’azzam, the ruler of Damascus, died of dysentery on November 12, 1227, and was succeeded by his twenty-year-old son al-Nasir.7 Preferring political consolidation to a happy family, al-Kamil attempted to overthrow his nephew and seize Damascus for himself. The trouble drew in a third family member, al-Ashraf, ruler of the Jazira, with the result that the Ayyubid empire of Egypt and Syria entered another difficult period of internal unrest.

Rightly sensing an opportunity, Frederick decided that he could make the most of the discord to regain some of the Christians’ lost territories. He was undermanned and a full-on campaign of conquest against the Ayyubids was unrealistic. Still, a show of unity from across the Latin states might be enough to persuade al-Kamil to make concessions—perhaps even returning Jerusalem itself. From his experiences in Sicily, where Muslim and Christian culture intermingled, Frederick was better acquainted than any previous Western crusade leader with the characters and customs of the Islamic world, so much so that scurrilous tales abounded of his “enjoyment of living in the manner of the Saracens,” including a taste for “dancing girls who also sang and juggled.” Setting aside his personal predilections, he was confident that a show of force followed by a parlay for peace would be a fruitful strategy.8

The Templars and Hospitallers saw things differently. Allied with the acerbic and forceful patriarch of Jerusalem, Gerold of Lausanne, they refused to march with the rest of Frederick’s army, arguing that it would be a disgrace for them to associate with a man who had been excommunicated from the Church. Pope Gregory’s words on the matter were clear: “We order him to be strictly avoided by all.” Peter of Montaigu and the new master of the Hospitallers, Bertrand of Thessy,* decided they would carry out their duty to the letter. They agreed to follow the army, but only at a distance of a day’s march—enough to render them honorably present but practically useless.

Frederick was not a man accustomed to being thwarted. In response to the frustration of his wishes he took aim at Château Pèlerin, the Templars’ massive coastal fortress south of Acre. This was one of the Templars’ most spectacular and valuable possessions in Outremer, its importance to the order such that the master and many brothers had returned from Damietta to defend it from al-Mu’azzam during the Fifth Crusade.9 It was also conveniently placed on the road between Acre and Jaffa. Frederick stopped before the castle and demanded that the Templars hand it over to him for occupation by his soldiers—by which he almost certainly meant that he intended to transfer it to the Teutonic Order.

Impasse was swiftly achieved. Frederick was angry with the Templars, but he was in no position to devote precious time and resources to storming a castle built to the highest military specifications by Christian pilgrims.

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