Templars by Steve Tibble

Author:Steve Tibble
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780300274844
Publisher: Yale University Press

PATRONS OF THE CAUSE

King Henry III took the cross no less than three times – in 1216 (when he was still a child and clearly incapable of leading an army), again in 1250 and finally in 1271. On two of these occasions the reasons were clearly political – the usual ploy to get papal support and protection at a time when his administration needed it most. But his vows in 1250 were deeply puzzling, for contemporary commentators just as much as for modern historians.

Henry had made all the right noises with regard to crusading in the past. But, tellingly, words had never manifested themselves in action. On the contrary, in 1245 he had even refused to allow the bishop of Beirut to come to England to preach for a new crusade and, shortly after taking the cross in 1250, we find the king, perversely but driven by reasons of self-interest, trying to stop other English crusaders from setting off.

But Henry was genuinely pious. There is some evidence from the period 1252–3 to suggest that he was expecting to go on crusade in the summer of 1256. Serious and detailed planning took place. Marseille was to be the main embarkation point from Europe. Supply depots were to be established in the East. Discussions took place with the British Templars to get them to provide shipping and accommodation for the vanguard of the English expeditionary force.

Preparations seemed robust. But nothing happened.

Before the expedition could set off, Henry was distracted by equally expensive military and political problems far closer to home, particularly in Gascony. Supporting the crusading cause was always on the agenda, but so were many other things.13

Throughout his reign, there were continuing efforts to help the Holy Land. Henry was a solid, if not spectacular, financial patron of the Templars. He gave 500 marks to the British Templars in 1238, to help them with the costs of ransoming their surviving brothers after the battle of Darbsak the previous year. Henry also gave 2,000 marks to help prop up the defences of the crusader states in May 1264. The grant was made ‘to keep in the Holy Land as many knights yearly as can be maintained by it and this in part ransom of the king’s vow if by any unexpected chance he cannot go in person to the Holy Land’. Promises were still being acknowledged.14

There were also regular payments to the order, the so-called ‘Templars’ mark’, which were taken from each English shire after 1156. The master of the British Templars received in addition an annual sum of 50 marks from Henry III and later too from his son Edward I to maintain a knight in the Holy Land on their behalf.15

Royal patronage towards the Templars continued to be important, both in its own right and as a tangible expression of the crown’s support for the crusading cause. Sometimes this support could be very practical. Henry gave them two estates, for instance, one at Rockley in Wiltshire and another at Lillestone in 1234–5.

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