Administration in the early Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem

By the end of 1110, the administrative shape of the crusader states in Syria and Palestine can be discerned. How were secular and religous rule established?

“King Baldwin I was the head of a feudal hierarchy in the kingdom of Jerusalem, including the lands held by Tancred, and overlord of the rulers of Tripoli and Edessa. His kingdom extended as far north as Beirut, while his expedition beyond the Dead Sea in 1100 and his persistent attempts to overcome Ascalon suggest plans for southern expansion once circumstances allowed. In this year, too, is found the first mention of the existence of burgesses (burgenses), whose activities came under the control of a royal official, the viscount. Burgesses were key subjects of the king, covering a great range of non-noble occupations, including administrators, professions, traders and farmers, and were clearly numerous enough by this date to form a definable group. They are listed as the third of the Crown’s lay orders, after the magnates (optimates) and knights (milites). By the 1140s, they were encompassed within a more formal legal structure in the shape of a Court of Burgesses, found not only in Jerusalem but also in other royal cities, most notably Acre and Tyre, (…)

The patriarch of Jerusalem was the ruler of the Church, perceived as key both as spiritual leader and as a source of supply for defence, as well as presiding over an embryonic diocesan structure that included the archbishop of Caesarea and the bishops of Lydda-Ramla, Bethlehem and Nazareth, and a developing network of monastic houses, endowed by seculars prompted both  by piety and economic necessity. In turn, the monks and canons were the driving forces behind the creation of agricultural settlements, essential underpinning for the military establishment upon which survival depended.
However, quite contrary to the vision of a previous generation of ecclesiastical reformers the Church remained subordinate to the king, for whom military needs overrode all other considerations.”

This blog quotes sections, with minor alterations, from The Crusader States by Malcom Barber, (2012, p 94), Yale University Press. The illustration shows the View of Jerusalem by Conrad Grünenberg, 1487. source Wikipedia

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Services by the military Orders to Western monarchial powers

The issue of military orders in the service of Western monarchies is a vast, important and still little studied theme. Kirstjan Toomaspoeg elaborates on few main issues. In this blog we focus on the services the Military Orders provided to the Western princess.

“The
orders distinguished themselves above all as specialists in maritime
warfare, taking care not only of strictly military aspects, but also of
naval logistics and the organization of navigation. This was the case of
the Temple in the England of Henry III (1207-1272, TN), of the Hospital
in the Angevin kingdom of Sicily (after 1265) and in the England of
Edward II (1284-1327, TN) and Richard II (1367-1400, TN), as of Santa
María de España in Castile under Alfonso X (1221-1284, TN). Another
specialty of the orders was the defense of border regions (…) But we
still know many examples of their participation in land expeditions, in
“internal security” operations or to episodes of civil war where they
supported, in principle, the sovereigns in place. (…) Another function
regularly exercised by the members of the military orders, (was, TN)
that of ambassador, envoy and negotiator (…)

 

The
brothers of the military orders exercised administrative
functions (…) in the pontifical, French, English and
Castilian courts, appearing in the second half of the 12th century. They
rarely exercised similar functions in most other states, such
as the kingdoms of Bohemia, Poland or Hungary, or even in Scandinavia
and in the Germanic world. This difference can be explained by the
various methods of recruiting civil servants (…)

 

When
the crowns did not yet have a sufficient body of professional
administrators, the military orders, like other ecclesiastical
institutions, served as a basis for recruiting civil servants. Members
of military orders often came from dynamic and sometimes well-educated
sections of society, such as the urban gentry, and they had acquired
good administrative experience by managing their own possessions .
Furthermore, from the 15th century at least, these institutions were
also concerned with the education of their own staff, sometimes sending
brothers to universities to study law and other skills necessary for the
administration of heritage. The qualities of administrators from
military orders are particularly evident in the areas of finance and
treasury management. Several brothers of the Temple were treasurers of
the kings of France and England or functionaries of the Aragonese
treasury (…) 

 

Top
explain the motivations which drove the kings to use the brothers, it
does not seem at all naive to underline the importance of the discretion
and the internal discipline of the military orders, therefore their
ability to maintain secrecy. The other explanatory factors reside in the
capillary presence of the houses of the military orders throughout
Europe, the fascination they exerted on the ideological and religious
level, finally, the personal capacities and the knowledge of the
brothers. The orders were highly regarded by most monarchies, which
sometimes even entered into competition for their collaboration (…)“

This
blog quotes subsequent sections, translated from French to English bij
TN and slightly edited to provide a continuous storyline,
from Les ordres militaires au service des pouvoirs monarchiques occidentaux by Kristjan Toomaspoeg, consulted here on 2023-07-25. Illustration  Departure of French King Louis IX to the crusades using a Hospitaller vessel, by Maître De Boucicaut (Actif vers 1408/1420). Louvre Musum Paris. source

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