the military orders and the conversion of muslims in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries

Journal of Medieval History 28 (2002) 1–22www.elsevier.com/locate/jmedhist

The military orders and the conversion ofMuslims in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries

Alan ForeyThe Bell House, Church Lane, Kirtlington, Oxon OX5 3HJ, UK

Abstract

Descriptions of the activities of military orders only rarely included any reference to theconversion of Muslims, and in practice the orders did not seek to impose Christianity by force.They were at times also reluctant to allow voluntary conversions among their Muslim vassalsand slaves, although claims that they sought to prevent Muslims in neighbouring Islamic terri-tories from accepting Christianity are questionable. The explanation of the attitudes displayedby the orders is not to be found in the fear of losing theirraison d’etre or in the extent oftheir understanding of the Islamic faith: they were adopting current attitudes, which were basedon economic advantage and probably also on perceptions of the nature of Islamic society. Asmore attention came to be devoted in the West to missionary work, some criticised the orders’military activities for hindering peaceful missions, while it was also argued — for exampleby Lull — that the orders should engage in the work of conversion, using force as well aspreaching. But the writings of theorists had little practical effect. 2002 Elsevier ScienceLtd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Military orders; Conversion; Muslims; Slaves; Raymond Lull

The warfare to which military orders devoted themselves in Mediterranean landsduring the twelfth and thirteenth centuries was seen to serve various purposes.1 Insome documents stress was placed on fighting as a means of salvation for brethren:‘they do not fear to shed their own blood as martyrs, and thus rejoice eventually toend their lives for God alone’.2 The practical objective was most frequently described

1 For a brief survey, see A.J. Forey, ‘The emergence of the military order in the twelfth century’,Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 36 (1985), 184–6.

2 J. Gonza´lez, El reino de Castilla en la epoca de Alfonso VIII, 3 vols (Madrid, 1960), vol. 2, 745–7, doc. 432.

0304-4181/02/$ - see front matter 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.PII: S0304 -4181(01 )00014-8

2 A. Forey / Journal of Medieval History 28 (2002) 1–22

as defence, both of territories and of the Church and the faithful: some scribes likenedthe orders to a wall or a shield.3 Yet military orders were also seen to be fightinga war of vengeance and expansion. The latter task was usually said to involve thefreeing of parts of the Church from subjection and the recovery of lands which hadearlier been seized from Christians. Charters of donation not only include generalisedcomments about expansion but also at times in the Iberian peninsula refer to assist-ance given in particular campaigns and to possible conquests by the orders them-selves.4

It has been argued, however, that a handful of royal charters also envisage theconverting of non-Christians by the Templars and Hospitallers. A grant was madeto the Hospitallers in the middle of the twelfth century by Raymond Berenguer IV,count of Barcelona, ‘ for propagating (propagandam) the faith and religion of holyChristianity’ , and of the Templars it was said by Peter II of Aragon in 1208 that‘wherever the religion of the Christian faith thrives, they devote themselves to itspropagation (propagationi) and defence’ .5 Similar statements may be found in thedocumentation of Spanish military orders. In 1171 Fernando II of Leon asserted thatthe brothers of Santiago had undertaken to fight against the infidel ‘ for extending(dilatanda) the faith of Christ’ , and in the same year the archbishop of Compostela,in favouring the same order, said that he wished ‘ to propagate (propagare) … andextend (dilatare) the faith and Church of God’ , while in 1231 Gregory IX referredto the zeal which the brothers of Calatrava ‘are known to have for the propagation(propagationem) of the Christian cult’ .6

Yet it is questionable whether such statements were meant to refer to any involve-ment of the military orders in conversion, especially as some of those making themshowed no interest themselves in winning Muslims over to Christianity. The Chris-tian faith could be extended in various ways which did not involve conversion: itcould, for example, be a consequence of the expulsion of infidels or the removal at

3 Gonzalez, El reino de Castilla, vol. 2, 331–2, 364–5, 745–7, docs 200, 220, 432; vol. 3, 139–41,doc. 641.

4 See, for example, Gonzalez, El reino de Castilla, vol. 2, 305–7, doc. 183; J. Gonzalez, Reinado ydiplomas de Fernando III, 3 vols (Cordoba, 1980–6), vol. 3, 43–4, 65–7, 305–6, 314–16, 317–21, docs531, 550, 739, 751, 753–4; Libro de privilegios de la orden de San Juan de Jerusalen en Castilla y Leon(siglos XII–XV), ed. C. de Ayala Martınez (Madrid, n. d.), 321–2, doc. 143.

5 H. Nicholson, Templars, Hospitallers and Teutonic Knights. Images of the military orders, 1128–1291 (Leicester, 1993), 18. Although I have not accepted some of its conclusions, I have found this workvery helpful. For the texts quoted, see J. Delaville Le Roulx, Cartulaire general de l’ordre des Hospitaliersde Saint-Jean de Jerusalem, 4 vols (Paris, 1894–1906), vol. 1, 141–3, doc. 181; A.J. Forey, The Templarsin the Corona de Aragon (London, 1973), 377–8, doc. 12. See also Delaville Le Roulx, Cartulaire, vol.2, 239–40, 299–301, docs 1603, 1742; Documentos de Jaime I de Aragon, ed. A. Huici Miranda andM.D. Cabanes Pecourt, 5 vols (Valencia, 1976–), vol. 1, 73–5, doc. 32.

6 J.L. Martın, Orıgenes de la orden militar de Santiago (1170–1195) (Barcelona, 1974), 212–15, 224–5 docs 42, 51; Bullarium equestris ordinis S. Iacobi de Spatha, ed. A.F. Aguado de Cordoba, A.A. Alemany Rosales and J. Lopez Agurleta (Madrid, 1719), 5–6, 7–8; Bullarium ordinis militiae de Calatrava, ed.I.J. de Ortega y Cotes, J.F. Alvarez de Baquedano and P. de Ortega Zuniga y Aranda (Madrid, 1761), 63.

3A. Forey / Journal of Medieval History 28 (2002) 1–22

least of their rulers.7 Some documents relating to military orders do in fact refer tosuch expulsions: the count of Barcelona in 1143 made concessions to the Templarspartly ‘ for the expelling of the race of Moors’ , and when in 1172 a group of inhabi-tants of Avila associated themselves with the order of Santiago, they proposed toextend their activities to Morocco ‘when the Saracens have been driven from theparts of Spain on this side of the sea’ .8 The exiling of Muslims in fact characterisedsome conquests both in the Holy Land and in the Iberian peninsula.

Although the relevance to conversion of charters which allude to the propagationor expansion of Christianity may be questioned, a very few twelfth- and early thir-teenth-century sources do explicitly seek to link military orders with the convertingof Muslims. Alexander III’s confirmation of the order of Santiago issued in 1175contains the injunction: ‘ in their warfare they should devote themselves to this objec-tive alone, namely either to protect Christians from their [the Saracens’ ] attacks orto be in a position to induce them [the Saracens] to follow the Christian faith’ .9 Thisstatement was incorporated into the rule of Santiago and was also included in laterconfirmations of Alexander’s bull.10 In 1088 Urban II had sought to promote theconversion of conquered Muslims in Spain ‘by word and example’ ,11 but cardinalAlbert of Morra, who was responsible for the 1175 bull,12 did not elaborate on hisprecise meaning and the later sources are no more explicit.13 As Humbert of Romanspointed out a century later, force might serve in various ways to further conversion:conquest facilitated preaching to subjugated infidels — although missionary activitywas in practice more characteristic of the thirteenth than of the twelfth century —

7 When writing in the early twelfth century about lands in Spain conquered from the Muslims byAlfonso VI, the author of the Historia Silense referred to ‘provinces recovered from their sacrilegioushands and converted to the faith of Christ’ , but he was not referring to the conversion of Muslims: ed.J. Perez de Urbel and A. Gonzalez Ruiz-Zorrilla (Madrid, 1959), 119.

8 Coleccion de documentos ineditos del Archivo General de la Corona de Aragon, ed. P. de Bofarully Mascaro, etc., 41 vols (Barcelona, 1847–1910), vol. 4, 93–9, doc. 43; Colec.cio diplomatica de la casadel Temple de Barbera (945–1212), ed. J.M. Sans i Trave (Barcelona, 1997), 110–14, doc. 35; Martın,Orıgenes, 226–8, doc. 53; Bullarium S. Iacobi, 8–9.

9 Martın, Orıgenes, 248–54 doc. 73; Bullarium S. Iacobi, 13–17.10 E. Gallego Blanco, The rule of the Spanish order of St James, 1170–1493 (Leiden, 1971), 110 cap.

30; Bullarium S. Iacobi, 30–1, 36–40, 51–2, 57–8, 79–81, 173–4; D. Mansilla, La documentacion ponti-ficia hasta Inocencio III (965–1216) (Rome, 1955), 145–51, doc. 124; Martın, Orıgenes, 350–1, 403–5docs 168, 226. In a thirteenth-century vernacular version of Santiago’s rule, the reference to conversionwas replaced by the more neutral phrase ‘ for the increase (acrescemiento) of God’s faith’ : D.W. Lomax,La orden de Santiago (1170–1275) (Madrid, 1965), 225–6 doc. 1 cap. 34.

11 Mansilla, Documentacion pontificia, 43–5 doc. 27.12 See A. Ferrari, ‘Alberto de Morra, postulador de la orden de Santiago y su primer cronista’ , Boletın

de la Real Academia de la Historia, 146 (1960), 63–139.13 When referring to the wording of Alexander III’s bull, M. Rivera Garretas, ‘Los ritos de iniciacion

en la orden militar de Santiago’ , Anuario de estudios medievales, 12 (1982), 281, maintains that thepapacy ‘conceived of the religious–military vocation as a means of extending European culture …a civilis-ing expansion which permitted the creation of cultural and economic relations of lordship, in which theChristians would safeguard their lives and property’ . This does not seem a very helpful comment.


and serious setbacks in battle could help to weaken the faith of Muslims.14 Baptismcould also be imposed by force; but in view of canonical opinion, it is unlikely thatAlbert of Morra was advocating this method. The statements about Santiago havenevertheless been linked with comments made by the Cistercian abbot Isaac de l’E-toile, who in a sermon referred to a new order (novus ordo) which ‘with lances andcudgels forces unbelievers to the faith’ .15 He saw the new foundation as using forceto convert. A chronicler of St Martin of Tours similarly asserted that the Frenchking, Philip II, left money to the Templars and Hospitallers to hire mercenaries ‘whowould convert the usurpers of the promised land and recall them to the unity of thefaith’ .16 Yet, while this writer named the two leading military orders, the identity ofthe foundation to which Isaac de l’Etoile was referring has been disputed. If — ashas been argued — this sermon was delivered when Isaac was still abbot of l’Etoile,it was written before the foundation of Santiago and could not refer to that establish-ment. It has been suggested that the phrase ‘new order’ harked back to the term‘new militia’ (nova militia), which St Bernard used of the Templars, and Isaac del’Etoile’s comment has been taken to refer to them.17 Yet St Bernard was writing ageneration earlier. If Isaac was referring to a particular order, the foundation in ques-tion was probably Calatrava, which became affiliated to the Cistercians and whichreceived rulings from the Cistercian general chapter in 1164.18 It is, of course, alsopossible that he was referring to the military order as an institution, rather than toa particular foundation:19 but, at a time when there were several military orders inexistence, he referred to an order, rather than to a type of order.

One reason which has sometimes been advanced for not associating Isaac de l’E-toile’s comment with the Temple or Calatrava is that these two orders did not seekto impose baptism by force.20 Yet in fact none of the military orders confrontingIslam sought to promote conversion directly by force in the way that members ofmilitary orders in the Baltic region in the thirteenth century sought to impose Chris-

14 Opusculum tripartitum, 1. 15, 16, ed. E. Brown, Appendix ad fasciculum rerum expetendarum etfugiendarum (London, 1690), 195–6; for an English translation, see L. and J. Riley-Smith, The crusades.Idea and reality, 1095–1274 (London, 1981), 112, 114.

15 B.Z. Kedar, Crusade and mission. European approaches toward the Muslims (Princeton, 1984), 105;G. Raciti, ‘ Isaac de l’Etoile et son siecle’ , Cıteaux. Commentarii Cistercienses, 12 (1961), 290; Isaac del’Etoile, Sermons, ed. A. Hoste and G. Raciti, 3 vols (Paris, 1967–87), vol. 3, 158–60.

16 ‘Ex chronico Turonensi auctore anonymo, S. Martini Turon. canonici’ , Recueil des historiens desGaules et de la France, ed. M. Bouquet, etc., 24 vols (Paris, 1869–1904 edn), vol. 18, 304. It has beenpointed out by Nicholson, Templars, Hospitallers and Teutonic Knights, 18, that this comment is notfound in the text of Philip II’s will.

17 J.F. O’Callaghan, ‘La vida de las ordenes militares de Espana segun sus estatutos primitivos’ , in:Alarcos 1195. Actas del congreso internacional conmemorativo del VIII centenario de la batalla deAlarcos, ed. R. Izquierdo Benito and F. Ruiz Gomez (Cuenca, 1996), 17 and n. On the identification withthe Temple, see also J. Leclercq, ‘L’attitude spirituelle de S. Bernard devant la guerre’ , CollectaneaCisterciensia, 36 (1974), 216–17; M. Barber, The new knighthood. A history of the order of the Temple(Cambridge, 1994), 345, n. 50.

18 Bullarium de Calatrava, 3–4; Raciti, ‘ Isaac de l’Etoile’ , Cıteaux, 13 (1962), 20–1, 33.19 See L. Bouyer, La spiritualite de Cıteaux (Paris, 1955), 201–2.20 Kedar, Crusade and mission, 105; O’Callaghan, ‘Vida’ , 17.


tianity on pagans. Isaac de l’Etoile and the Tours chronicler both lived far fromChristian frontiers, and were not well-informed about the orders’ functions in Medit-erranean lands. Although chansons de geste allude to forced conversions andalthough during the first crusade there had been attempts to coerce Muslims to acceptbaptism,21 these were not imitated. The master of Calatrava, Martin Perez de Siones,is reported to have ordered the slaughter of more than 200 Muslim captives in 1170,but this was not because they had refused to become Christian.22 In Mediterraneanregions the military orders gained authority over Muslims, both free and slave, butdid not coerce them to become Christian either at the time of conquest or later:Muslims who passed under the lordship of the orders were allowed to keep theirreligion, as happened on other estates. Although little detailed information survivesabout the orders’ vassals in the Holy Land, it is clear that Muslims living underwestern rule there were allowed to preserve their faith, even if they did lose somemosques.23 Any members of the Teutonic order who were transferred in the thirteenthcentury from the Holy Land to the Baltic therefore found themselves confronted bya very different situation. The religious freedom allowed by the orders to Muslimsin the Iberian peninsula is apparent from surrender agreements and cartas de pobla-cion. In the charter granted by the Templars in 1234 at Chivert in northern Valencia,shortly after it had passed into Christian hands, Muslim tenants were allowed toretain their main mosque and to practise their religion freely. Similar terms wereconceded by the Hospitallers to Muslims at La Aldea, on the left bank of the Ebronear Tortosa, in 1258.24 These agreements were, moreover, intended to be permanent:the military orders did not envisage that there would in the future be any attemptto limit religious freedom.

Yet if the orders did not seek to impose Christianity by force, it must also beconsidered whether they encouraged and promoted conversion by peaceful means,or sought to hinder it. Those whom the orders could most easily influence were theirown Muslim vassals and slaves. Little evidence survives about the orders’ Muslim

21 Kedar, Crusade and mission, 62–3; see also S. Loutchiskaia, ‘La conversion reelle ou imaginaire?Les attitudes envers les musulmans dans le premier royaume latin de Jerusalem’ , in: Le partage du monde.Echanges et colonisation dans la Mediterranee medievale, ed. M. Balard and A. Ducellier (Paris, 1998),93–102.

22 F. de Rades y Andrada, Chronica de las tres ordenes y cavallerıas de Santiago, Calatrava y Alcantara(Toledo, 1572), Calatrava, f. 17v.

23 See, for example, B.Z. Kedar, ‘The subjected Muslims of the Frankish Levant’ , in: Muslims underLatin rule, 1100–1300, ed. J.M. Powell (Princeton, 1990), 138–40, 161–3; D. Talmon-Heller, ‘Arabicsources on Muslim villages under Frankish rule’ , in: From Clermont to Jerusalem. The crusades andcrusader societies, 1095–1500, ed. A.V. Murray (Turnhout, 1998), 107.

24 Cartas pueblas de las morerıas valencianas y documentacion complementaria, ed. M.V. Febrer Rom-aguera (Zaragoza, 1991), 10–16, 53–6, docs 1, 15; J.M. Font Rius, Cartas de poblacion y franquicia deCataluna, 2 vols (Madrid, Barcelona, 1969–83), vol. 1, 444–6, doc. 303; compare A. Yelo Templado,‘Los vassalos mudejares de la orden de Santiago en el reino de Murcia (siglos XIV–XV)’ , Anuario deestudios medievales, 11 (1981), 448. Other studies of the Spanish military orders and their Muslim depend-ants also focus mainly on the later middle ages: see, for example, M.F. Lopes de Barros, ‘A ordem deAvis e a minoria muculmana’ , in: Ordens militares. Guerra, religiao, poder e cultura. Actos do III Encon-tro sobre ordens militares, ed. I.C. Fernandes, 2 vols (Lisbon, 1999), vol. 2, 167–73.


vassals in the Holy Land. In the 1260s the author of De constructione castri Saphetargued that the rebuilding of the castle meant that ‘ the faith of our Lord Jesus Christcan be preached freely in all the aforesaid places [in the region of Safed] and theblasphemy of Muhammad can be publicly refuted and demolished in sermons’ ; buthe was just expressing an aspiration, not commenting on Templar policy.25

More precise evidence survives from Spain, although the extent of the free Muslimpopulation varied from one region to another: in the Campo de Calatrava, forexample, there were hardly any free Muslims on the estates belonging to the orderof Calatrava.26 Military orders were clearly in some cases reluctant to allow Muslimtenants to convert, and penalised them for doing so by confiscating their land. SomeMuslim tenants paid higher rents than Christians and were obliged to perform labourservices from which Christian vassals were exempt: this was acknowledged by JamesI of Aragon in his Chronicle, and is evident on Templar estates at Villastar in south-ern Aragon, where Muslims were in 1267 to pay a quarter of produce in rent, whereasChristian settlers there paid only a seventh on some crops;27 and some Muslim vas-sals of the Temple in southern Aragon and Valencia owed labour services, whilethere is little evidence of such obligations among Christian tenants in these districts.28

James I had decreed in 1242 that Muslim converts should not be deprived of theirland,29 but, although this ruling was later repeated and supported by papal decrees,30

it was not fully implemented on Templar or other estates. Berenguer of San Marcial,who was Templar commander of Asco on the lower Ebro in the opening years ofthe fourteenth century, confiscated all the possessions of a Muslim woman at Vinebre

25 R.B.C. Huygens, ‘Un nouveau texte du traite ‘De constructione castri Saphet’’ , Studi medievali, 6(1965), 386.

26 E. Rodrıguez-Picavea, La formacion del feudalismo en la meseta meridional castellana. Los senorıosde la orden de Calatrava en los siglos XII–XIII (Madrid, 1994), 312; J.F. O’Callaghan, ‘The Mudejarsof Castile and Portugal in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries’ , in: Muslims under Latin rule, 20.

27 The chronicle of James I, king of Aragon, cap. 366, trans. J. Forster, 2 vols (London, 1883), vol. 2,482; Cartas pueblas de las morerıas, 77–80, 85–7, 93–4, docs 35, 38, 45; Forey, Templars, 395–7, doc.24; Cartas de poblacion del reino de Aragon en los siglos medievales, ed. M.L. Ledesma Rubio (Zaragoza,1991), 255–7, 260–1, 267–8, docs 207, 210, 216.

28 Forey, Templars, 203–4; see also the Hospitaller charter for La Aldea, which mentions a day’s serviceeach month.

29 Coleccion diplomatica del concejo de Zaragoza, ed. A. Canellas Lopez, 2 vols (Zaragoza, 1972–5),vol. 1, 168–9, doc. 66; Documentos de Jaime I, vol. 2, 131–3, doc. 350.

30 Documentos de Jaime I, vol. 5, 55 doc. 1350; Cortes de los antiguos reinos de Aragon y de Valenciay principado de Cataluna, 26 vols (Madrid, 1896–1922), vol. 1, 217–18; M. T. Ferrer i Mallol, Elssarraıns de la Corona catalano aragonesa en el segle XIV. Segregacio i discriminacio (Barcelona, 1987),69. James I’s decree of 1242 was supported by a papal bull issued in 1245: A. de Saldes, ‘La ordenfranciscana en el antiguo reino de Aragon. Coleccion diplomatica’ , Revista de estudios franciscanos, 2(1908), 474–5; S. Grayzel, The Church and the Jews in the XIIIth century (Philadelphia, 1933), 254–6;see also R.I. Burns, ‘Journey from Islam. Incipient cultural transition in the conquered kingdom of Valen-cia (1240–1280)’ , Speculum, 35 (1960), 340. In 1206 Innocent III had written to the clergy of Barcelonaabout lords who, ‘ fearing to lose material benefit’ , sought to prevent conversions, but he may have beenreferring to the baptism of slaves, not free Muslims: Mansilla, Documentacion pontificia, 375–6, doc. 352.


who converted to Christianity.31 This incident has left a record only because Templarlands passed shortly afterwards under royal control and an appeal was made to theCrown: there is no reason to assume that it was exceptional. It is therefore unlikelythat the military orders in Aragonese lands reacted favourably to royal instructionsthat Muslims should be obliged to listen to the preaching undertaken in the thirteenthcentury by friars.32 The obligation of ensuring attendance rested mainly on the Mus-lims themselves and on royal officials, rather than lords, but the latter could obviouslyinfluence the response of their vassals. Certainly at the end of the thirteenth centurysizeable communities of free Muslims continued to live on some of the Templars’estates in the Corona de Aragon: the population of Miravet, for example, was stillpredominantly Muslim at the time of the Templars’ arrest.

Yet the practice of confiscating converts’ property was not the custom in all partsof Spain. Although decrees similar to that issued by James I in 1242 were alsoenacted in Castile,33 indicating that confiscations sometimes occurred, fueros issuedby military orders in that kingdom reveal that in various places converts were allowedto retain their possessions: that granted by the order of Santiago to Ucles in 1179,for example, stated that ‘men of Ucles who become converts can, if they have sons,bequeath their possessions to them after death’ .34 But there is no evidence to suggestthat the military orders sought to encourage conversion of their free Muslim vassalsin any part of the Peninsula. They seem to have been more concerned to protecttheir Muslim tenants — whether by building walls around morerıas or by judicialaction — against attacks by a hostile Christian populace.35

There was similarly little readiness to promote the baptism of slaves. Since in theHoly Land in the early thirteenth century it was the custom that emancipation should

31 Barcelona, Archivo de la Corona de Aragon (henceforth ACA), Cancillerıa real, Cartas reales diplo-maticas, Jaime II 4706.

32 It is apparently not known to what extent these royal decrees were generally enforced: J. Riera iSans, ‘Les llicencies reials per predicar als jueus i als sarraıns (segles XIII–XIV)’ , Calls, 2 (1987), 113–43; M.D. Johnston, ‘Ramon Lull and the compulsory evangelization of Jews and Muslims’ , in: Iberiaand the Mediterranean world of the middle ages. Studies in honor of Robert I. Burns, S. J., ed. L.J.Simon, P.E. Chevedden, etc., 2 vols (Leiden, 1995–6), vol. 1, 7–13.

33 A. Benavides, Memorias de D. Fernando IV de Castilla, 2 vols (Madrid, 1860), vol. 2, 280, 288,docs 197, 203.

34 Martın, Orıgenes, 277–80, doc. 97; M. Rivera Garretas, La encomienda, el priorato y la villa deUcles en la edad media (1174–1310) (Madrid, Barcelona, 1985), 234–40, doc. 7; see also the fuero ofEstremera: ibid., 241–3, doc. 11; Martın, Orıgenes, 337–9 doc. 153; Lomax, Orden de Santiago, 122.Compare El fuero de Zorita de los Canes, ed. R. de Urena y Smenjaud (Madrid, 1911), 115, art. 182,although this may refer to the conversion of those who had been slaves. It was based on the fuero ofCuenca, as were those of a number of places under the lordship of Santiago and of the Hospitallers:Fuero de Cuenca, 9. 12, ed. R. de Urena y Smenjaud (Madrid, 1935), 254 and n.; J. Gonzalez, Repoblacionde Castilla la Nueva, 2 vols (Madrid, 1975–6), vol. 1, 356; M. Rodrıguez Llopis, Conflictos fronterizosy dependencia senorial. La encomienda santiaguista de Yeste y Taibilla (ss. XIII–XV) (Albacete, 1982),57; Libro de privilegios, 450–1, 464–5, 472–3, 475–6, 478–9, 481–3, 490–1, 506–8, 509–12 docs 255,266, 269, 271, 274, 277, 285, 300, 302–3; P. Guerrero Ventas, El gran priorato de San Juan en el Campode la Mancha (Toledo, 1969), 83–96.

35 Forey, Templars, 200; see also R. I. Burns, ‘Social riots on the Christian–Moslem frontier (thirteenth-century Valencia)’ , American Historical Review, 66 (1960–1), 378–400.


accompany baptism, lords — including the military orders — often refused to allowslaves to convert, partly because conversion was viewed by some slaves merely asa means to secure freedom, but also, of course, because slaves provided manpowerand could be a source of profit through sale or redemption.36 The possible releaseof slaves could also at times be used as a bargaining counter in negotiations withneighbouring Muslim powers.37 James of Vitry condemned Christian lords whoadopted a hostile stance to the conversion of slaves,38 and that the military orderswere among them is implied by a letter sent in 1237 by Gregory IX to the patriarchof Jerusalem and to the masters of the three leading military orders, stating that thoseslaves who genuinely aspired to baptism should be allowed to convert, but shouldnot thereby lose their servile status.39 The Hospitallers do not appear, however, tohave sought to facilitate conversion in the period following the papal decree, for astatute issued in 1262 ruled that no slave should be baptised without the specialpermission of the master,40 although that did not imply that no slaves at all wouldbe allowed to become Christian.41

The Hospitaller decree applied not only to the Holy Land but also to Spain.Although it seems earlier to have been the custom in some parts of the Peninsulafor converted slaves to be freed, in the later thirteenth century baptism no longerensured emancipation, and could no longer be resisted by lords on the grounds thatit led to a loss of slaves.42 There were certainly a number of baptised slaves onTemplar estates in Aragon in the later thirteenth century: baptizati belonging to theTemplars are mentioned both in inventories of conventual possessions drawn up in

36 Kedar, Crusade and mission, 77–8, 146–7. On the redemption of Templar slaves, see La regle duTemple, ed. H. de Curzon (Paris, 1886), 95–6, art. 113; for the redemption of a Templar slave in Catalonia,see L. Pagarolas i Sabate, Els Templers de les terres de l’Ebre (Tortosa). De Jaume I fins a l’aboliciode l’orde (1213–1312), 2 vols (Tarragona, 1999), vol. 2, 34–5, doc. 28. In the mid thirteenth century theTemplar castle of Safed was said to require the services of 400 slaves: Huygens, ‘Nouveau texte’ , 384.

37 In the Iberian peninsula it was reported that in a surrender agreement with the Muslims of Miravetand Zufera during the conquest of the kingdom of Valencia the Hospitallers and Templars had promisedto release captive Moors: ACA, Ordenes religiosas y militares, San Juan de Jerusalen, Cartulario deTortosa, f. 19–19v doc. 58; see also the agreement between the orders of Santiago and Calatrava in 1243:Bullarium de Calatrava, 685–6. In the Holy Land, Templars and Hospitallers were, however, reluctantto allow their slaves to be used for general exchanges of prisoners: A.J. Forey, ‘The military orders andthe ransoming of captives from Islam (twelfth to early fourteenth centuries)’ , Studia monastica, 33 (1991),275–6.

38 Jacques de Vitry, Lettres de la cinquieme croisade, ed. and trans. R.B.C. Huygens and G. Duchet-Suchaux (Turnhout, 1998), 54.

39 Kedar, Crusade and mission, 212, doc. 2a; Delaville Le Roulx, Cartulaire, vol. 2, 513–14, doc. 2168.40 Delaville Le Roulx, Cartulaire, vol. 3, 43–54, doc. 3039, art. 49.41 Complaints about the attitudes of lords in the Holy Land and Cyprus continued: Kedar, Crusade and

mission, 151; B.Z. Kedar, ‘Multidirectional conversion in the Latin Levant’ , in: Varieties of religiousconversion in the middle ages, ed. J. Muldoon (Gainesville, 1997), 192.

42 Kedar, Crusade and mission, 77, 149–50, 214–15 docs 2 e, f. In Valencia, slaves who were baptisedwith the consent of their lords were at first freed, but this must have dissuaded lords from giving theirconsent, and James I later decreed that baptizati should in all cases remain slaves: Fori antiqui Valentiae,83. 13, ed. M. Dualde Serrano (Madrid, Valencia, 1950–67), 153–4; Burns, ‘Journey from Islam’ , 343–4; see also C. Verlinden, L’esclavage dans l’Europe medievale, 2 vols (Bruges, 1955–77), vol. 1, 292.


Aragon in 1289 and in records relating to the Templar trial there.43 As all recordedpurchases of slaves by the Templars in north-eastern Spain were of Muslims,44 itmight be postulated that the Order did not prevent its slaves from converting. Butnot all instruments of sale have survived, and there was certainly a market in baptisedslaves.45 Although in the thirteenth century the proportion of baptizati among slavesin Barcelona was growing,46 the Aragonese Templars certainly do not seem to havetaken measures to encourage the conversion of Muslim slaves, for the numbers ofbaptizati on their estates appear to have been small: at Miravet in 1289 there wereforty-three Muslim slaves and only two baptizati.47 Although evidence about othermilitary orders in Spain is sparse, they are similarly known to have possessed baptiz-ati,48 but it is not clear whether these slaves were Christians when they were acquiredby the orders.

Although the evidence is limited — further research may reveal new informationscattered among the surviving sources — it is clear that in some cases the orderssought to impede the baptism of both slaves and free Muslim tenants, and there islittle to indicate that the military orders sought to promote the conversion of thoseunder their authority. They did not themselves have the personnel to instruct potentialconverts — the role of brother chaplains was merely to provide for the spiritualwelfare of their colleagues — but there were other ways in which conversion couldhave been encouraged by the orders. A late-medieval prose version of Theseus deCologne has the Templars rejoicing when more than 12,000 Muslims were convertedin a recaptured Jerusalem: ‘ the Templars displayed great joy’ ;49 but in reality the

43 J. Miret y Sans, ‘ Inventaris de les cases del Temple de la Corona d’Arago en 1289’ , Boletın de laReal Academia de Buenas Letras de Barcelona, 6 (1911), 62–9; ACA, Canc. real, registro 291, f. 258,303, 305, 321, 358.

44 Records survive of the purchasing of more than thirty slaves by the Aragonese Templars. Most ofthese documents are in the collection of royal parchments in the ACA: see, for example, Canc. real, pergsJaime I 712, 1161, 1674, 1768, 1806, 1907, 1914, 1924; but see also ACA, Ordenes religiosas y militares,San Juan, perg. Barbara 45. For published texts, see Miret y Sans, ‘ Inventaris’ , 73–4; Forey, Templars,398–9, doc. 26.

45 See, for example, J. Miret y Sans, ‘La esclavitud en Cataluna en los ultimos tiempos de la edadmedia’ , Revue hispanique, 41 (1917), 14; Verlinden, L’esclavage, vol. 1, 303; L. J. Simon, ‘ The Churchand slavery in Ramon Llull’s Majorca’ , in: Iberia and the Mediterranean world, vol. 1, 352–3.

46 S. P. Bensch, ‘From prizes of war to domestic merchandise. The changing face of slavery in Cataloniaand Aragon, 1000–1300’ , Viator, 25 (1994), 83.

47 Miret y Sans, ‘ Inventaris’ , 68. In most inventories slaves were described merely as captives, withoutany indication of the numbers who had been baptised.

48 For a thirteenth-century Hospitaller baptizatus in Aragon, see J. Vincke, ‘Konigtum und Sklavereiim aragonischen Staatenbund wahrend des 14. Jahrhunderts’ , Gesammelte Aufsatze zur KulturgeschichteSpaniens, 25 (1970), 44 doc. 6. In 1468 the abbot of Morimond ruled that officials in the order of Calatravashould not free baptised slaves without the permission of the chapter general: if any were found to havebeen freed they were to be seized and made slaves again: J.F. O’Callaghan, ‘‘ Difiniciones’ of the orderof Calatrava enacted by Abbot William II of Morimond, April 2, 1468’ , Traditio, 14 (1958), 251, art. 38.

49 Hystoire Tresrecreative. Traictant des faictz et gestes du noble et vaillant chevalier Theseus deCoulongne, 2 vols (Paris, 1534), vol. 2, 121. I am grateful to Helen Nicholson for drawing my attentionto this work.


orders’ approach to the baptism of Muslims in Christian lands seems to have beenlacking in enthusiasm.

It has been claimed that in the East the Templars on occasion also sought toprevent Muslims of neighbouring Islamic states from converting when they wishedto become Christian. Two well-known instances are reported by William of Tyre,and his claims are echoed by Walter Map. The first occurred in 1154, when Nasr,the son of the Egyptian vizir Abbas, was captured on the road out of Egypt intoPalestine and fell into the hands of the Templars. William of Tyre related that whileNasr was in captivity he sought baptism and was instructed in the elements of theChristian faith; the Templars, however, then agreed to ransom him for 60,000 dinarsand he was returned to Egypt, where he was killed.50 Lundgreen, whose argumenthas been taken up by more recent writers, claimed that as Nasr was taken on 7 June1154 (23rd of Rabi I, A. H. 549) and was back in Cairo only four days later hecould hardly have made the progress towards Christianity which William of Tyrepostulated.51 It would, however, be very surprising if a ransom had been arrangedand the return journey completed in so short a time, and in fact the thirteenth-centurywriter, Ibn Khallikan, who provides precise dating about Nasr’s later movements,places his return in the year 1155 (27th of Rabi I, A. H. 550).52 There would thereforehave been sufficient time for the kind of instruction to which William of Tyre alludes.It can, of course, be objected that the chronicler was not in the East in 1154–5, andthat he was hostile to the Templars: but his report may not have been a completefabrication, even if Nasr’s interest in Christianity may have been feigned. Yet, ifWilliam of Tyre’s account is taken at its face value, he is implying that, until theywere offered a large ransom, the Templars were prepared to allow the instruction inChristian teaching of a captive: they were not taking the initiative, but were notopposing baptism. In the last resort, however, financial considerations could not be

50 William of Tyre, Chronicon, 18. 9, ed. R.B.C. Huygens (Corpus Christianorum: continuatio mediev-alis [henceforth CCCM], vol. 63, Turnhout, 1986), 823; Walter Map, De nugis curialium. Courtiers’trifles, 1. 21, ed. and trans. M.R. James, C.N.L. Brooke and R.A.B. Mynors (Oxford, 1983), 62–6. WalterMap maintains that Nasr wanted to become Christian even before he was captured. For other early westernaccounts of the incident, see H. Nicholson, ‘Before William of Tyre. European reports on the militaryorders’ deeds in the East, 1150–1185’ , in: The military orders. Volume 2. Welfare and warfare, ed. H.Nicholson (Aldershot, 1998), 115.

51 F. Lundgreen, Wilhelm von Tyrus und der Templerorden (Historische Studien, vol. 97, Berlin, 1911),94–5; M. Melville, La vie des Templiers (Paris, 1951), 66; M.L. Bulst-Thiele, Sacrae domus militiaeTempli Hierosolymitani magistri. Untersuchungen zur Geschichte des Templerordens 1118/19–1314(Gottingen, 1974), 59. The claim seems to have its origin in the dating given in H. Derenbourg, OusamaIbn Mounkidh, un emir syrien au premier siecle des croisades (1095–1188) (Publications de l’Ecole desLangues Orientales Vivantes, 2nd ser., vol. 12, pt 1, Paris, 1889), 259.

52 Biographical dictionary, trans. Baron MacGuckin de Slane, 3 vols (Paris, 1842–71), vol. 2, 427; seealso ‘Extraits du Nodjoum ez-Zahireh, par Abou’ l-Mehacen’ , Recueil des historiens des croisades. Histori-ens orientaux, 5 vols (Paris, 1872–1906), vol. 3, 508. The date of Nasr’s capture is given by Usamah,Memoirs of an Arab-Syrian gentleman or an Arab knight in the crusades, trans. P.K. Hitti (Beirut,1964), 53.


ignored.53 It is only Walter Map who argues that the Templars remained totally deafto Nasr’s pleas to be allowed baptism;54 but he was writing in the West, and hiswhole account is less plausible than that of William of Tyre.

The second instance concerns the incident when a Templar killed an envoy of theAssassins in 1173. William of Tyre reported that the leader of the Assassins hadstudied Christian writings: he and his followers therefore rejected the teachings ofMuhammad. Then, wishing to learn more of Christian doctrines, he sent an envoyto the king of Jerusalem with the proposal that, if he was released from his obligationto pay the Templars a tribute of 2,000 dinars a year, he and his followers wouldaccept baptism. Amaury welcomed the proposal and even agreed to pay the tributefrom his own revenues. On his return journey, however, the envoy was killed bythe Templar Walter of Mesnil, with the approval of his colleagues.55 A shorter butsimilar account is provided by Walter Map, although he does express some reser-vations about the accuracy of such reports.56 Lundgreen has pointed out that, as itstands, the story told by William of Tyre does contain certain implausibilities,57 andit seems to be based on misconceptions about religious changes among the Assassins.The chronicler’s interpretation has its origin in the declaration of the qiyama orresurrection by the Ismaili leader Hasan II in 1164, but William misunderstood whathe had heard, and assumed that the Assassins were moving towards Christianity.58

It was presumably this assumption which led him to believe that the embassy toAmaury was concerned with the acceptance of the Christian faith. It has admittedlybeen argued that William of Tyre had access to Amaury’s version of events and thathis account reflects the royal point of view;59 but William reported Amaury’s willing-ness to assume responsibility for the payment to the Templars as merely a rumour(ut dicitur). He was therefore not as fully informed as claimed. It would seem thatthe embassy sent by Sinan, the leader of the Syrian Assassins, was of a political,rather than a religious, nature, and the Templars feared the loss of tribute. The epi-sode cannot be cited as a clear indication of reluctance on the part of the Templarsto allow the conversion of Jerusalem’s opponents.

The Templars were criticised not only for preventing conversion but also for dis-playing undue tolerance of Islamic religious practices and allowing these to beobserved even in the order’s houses. Frederick II, writing in 1244, claimed that hehad heard from some journeying from the East that ‘ the Templars allowed the afore-

53 It has also been suggested that the Templars had political reasons for agreeing to accept a ransom:Melville, Vie des Templiers, 66; Bulst-Thiele, Sacrae domus, 60.

54 He also states, however, that the Templars were sceptical of Nasr’s claims.55 William of Tyre, Chronicon, 20. 29–30, ed. Huygens, 953–5.56 De nugis curialium, 1. 22, ed. James, Brooke and Mynors, 66–8.57 Lundgreen, Wilhelm von Tyrus, 113.58 J. Hauzinski, ‘On alleged attempts at converting the Assassins to Christianity in the light of William

of Tyre’s account’ , Folia Orientalia, 15 (1974), 229–46; B. Lewis, ‘Kamal al-Din’s biography of Rasidal-Din Sinan’ , Arabica, 13 (1966), 242; B. Lewis, The Assassins (London, 1967), 71–4; see also M.A.Kohler, Allianzen und Vertrage zwischen frankischen und islamischen Herrschern im Vorderen Orient(Berlin, New York, 1991), 279–80.

59 Barber, The new knighthood, 103.


said sultans [of Damascus and Kerak] and their followers to perform their super-stitious practices, invoking the name of Muhammad, within the precincts of housesof the Temple’ . This is obviously a second-hand report from a ruler who was not afriend of the Templars,60 and it has been maintained that Matthew Paris, who repro-duced the emperor’s letter in his Chronica majora,61 dismissed the charges in hisHistoria Anglorum and Abbreviatio, although it would be more accurate to say thathe did not repeat them.62 This story may well have been inaccurate, but in the latertwelfth century Usamah related that on one occasion the Templars vacated a smallchurch adjoining the Templar headquarters (the former al-Aqsa mosque) so that hecould pray in it, and also intervened when a recently-arrived Frank repeatedly triedto force him to pray to the east.63 The Templars do not seem to have tried to impedethe practice of the Islamic faith by Muslims visiting the Holy Land. The requirementsof diplomacy would in fact have encouraged them to be tolerant of the religiouspractices of some Muslim visitors.

It might, of course, be argued that the military orders would not in fact havewanted Muslims in lands bordering on Christian territories in the East or Spain tobe converted, for widespread conversion of western Christendom’s enemies wouldhave undermined the purpose of the military orders. When writing about the killingof the Assassins’ envoy, Walter Map claimed that some said that the Templars didnot want ‘ the faith of the infidels to be swept away in favour of the unity of peace’ .64

Yet, although there were frequent rumours about the anticipated conversion of vari-ous Muslim leaders, these were almost always unfounded, and in the thirteenth cen-tury friars had minimal success in seeking to convert Muslims living in non-Christianlands. The threat to the orders’ raison d’etre was scarcely significant: conversion ona very large scale would have been necessary for them no longer to be needed.Military orders might in a few circumstances even benefit from a piecemeal andlimited conversion of Muslim rulers. It was reported in 1245 that Zeit Aazon, whohad been governor of Sale, on the Atlantic coast of North Africa, was intending tobe baptised and was ready to grant the town to the order of Santiago. Innocent IVgave his approval to this proposal, but Sale could not be gained without conquest,and the plan was never implemented.65

60 Frederick II was himself accused of allowing the invocation of Muhammad’s name in the Templein Jerusalem: Epistolae saeculi XIII, ed. G. Pertz, 3 vols (Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Berlin, 1883–94), vol. 2, 92, doc. 124.

61 Ed. H.R. Luard, 7 vols (Rolls Series, 1872–84), vol. 4, 302.62 S. Menache, ‘Rewriting the history of the Templars according to Matthew Paris’ , in: Cross cultural

convergences in the crusader period. Essays presented to Aryeh Graboıs on his sixty-fifth birthday, ed.M. Goodich, S. Menache and S. Schein (New York, 1995), 201; Historia Anglorum, ed. F. Madden, 3vols (Rolls Series, 1866–9), vol. 2, 483–4; vol. 3, 289.

63 Memoirs of an Arab-Syrian gentleman, 163–4.64 De nugis curialium, 1. 22, ed. James, Brooke and Mynors, 66.65 Bullarium S. Iacobi, 166; R. Chabas, ‘Ceid Abu Ceid’ , El Archivo, 6 (1892), 408–9; A. Ballesteros

Beretta, ‘La toma de Sale en tiempos de Alfonso X el Sabio’ , Al-Andalus, 8 (1943), 105–6; C.E. Dufourcq,‘Les relations du Maroc et de la Castille pendant la premiere moitie du XIIIe siecle’ , Revue d’histoireet de civilisation du Maghreb, 5 (1968), 60–1.


In seeking a more general explanation of the orders’ attitudes to conversion, it isdifficult to relate their stance to the extent of their own knowledge about the Islamicfaith. Precise information on the degree of understanding displayed by members ofthe military orders is, of course, usually lacking, but the extent of knowledge appearsto have varied from one region to another. The fullest evidence is provided by therecords of the Templar trial in districts such as France and Italy, where many con-fessed to the major charges, for a number of Templar witnesses maintained that thepractices of which the Order was accused were derived from Islam. In some instancescomment of this kind was made about the denial of Christ and spitting and tramplingon the cross, which supposedly occurred at admission ceremonies. James of Troyes,for example, who appeared before papal commissioners in Paris, asserted that hehad heard that

a certain Templar knight, who had come from overseas and who had been amongthe pagans, had brought to those parts the aforesaid errors, namely that at theirreception they should deny Christ, trample on the cross and spit on it;

and in 1307 Geoffrey of Gonneville, the master of Aquitaine, had claimed that thedenial of Christ

was introduced by reason of a promise made by a certain evil master who wasin the prison of a certain sultan, and he could not gain his liberty unless he sworethat, if he was freed, he would introduce this procedure in our order, namely thatall who were admitted should deny Jesus Christ.66

It might be suggested that these comments show an awareness of the Islamic denialof the divinity of Christ and the rejection of the crucifixion. Yet some Templars whospoke of Muslim influences referred to a denial simply of God,67 and it seems that theopinions of these Templars were derived from distorted views expressed in westernpropaganda sources rather than a true understanding of Islamic teachings aboutChrist.68 A number of those, moreover, who linked accusations against the Orderwith Islamic influences, did so in the context of idolatry: reference was made tosupposed Muslim idols. Gaucerand of Montpesat, who was interrogated at Car-cassonne in 1307, referred to an idol ‘made in the image of Baffomet’ , and anotherTemplar questioned at the same time spoke of an ‘ image of Baffomet’ and of ‘kissinghis feet, saying Yalla, a word of the Saracens’ .69 In an undated set of French testi-monies a brother alluded to a head called Magometum,70 and Bernard of Parma, whowas interrogated at Florence, stated that he had seen a head at a provincial chapter

66 J. Michelet, Proces des Templiers, 2 vols (Paris, 1841–51), vol. 1, 258–9; vol. 2, 398.67 Michelet, Proces, vol. 2, 205–9, 214–16.68 A. Kruger, ‘Das ‘Baphomet-Idol’ . Ein Beitrag zur Provenienz der Hauptvorwurfe gegen den Tem-

plerorden’ , Historisches Jahrbuch, 119 (1999), 130–1.69 H. Finke, Papsttum und Untergang des Templerordens, 2 vols (Munster, 1907), vol. 2, 323, doc. 153.70 Finke, Papsttum, vol. 2, 343, doc. 156.


and had been instructed: ‘You are to worship that head because he is your god andyour Magumeth’ .71 At Palombara in Italy a Templar also claimed that he had beentold that he should believe in ‘one great god whom the Saracens worship … Thegrand master and each provincial preceptor has a certain image which representedthat great god, and displayed it in their main chapters and assemblies and they adoredit as their god and saviour’ .72 Islam seems often to have been seen as an idolatrousreligion, in which Muhammad was regarded as a god, although the witness at Palom-bara — unlike the authors of some chansons de geste — did attribute only one godto the Muslims. Although the Templars were questioned about idols, it does notseem that witnesses were encouraged by their interrogators to refer to Islam: mostof those testifying in the undated French testimonies spoke of idols, but only onemade reference to Muhammad.73 They seem again to have been relying on infor-mation derived from western works such as chansons de geste, on which their notionsof Islam were based: they merely displayed stereotyped misconceptions.74

Many of those questioned in western Europe had spent their whole careers indistricts remote from Muslim lands and had not served in the East. Yet most of theTemplars who did serve in the East had been recruited in lands far from the frontierswith Islam, and had probably taken out to the Holy Land or Cyprus views such asthose expressed in Templar testimonies in France and Italy. Whether they acquireda more accurate knowledge of Islam while in the East is not easy to ascertain. TheTemplars in Cyprus denied all the main accusations against them and did not elabor-ate on them. The correspondence of masters of the military orders and of otherofficials in the East does at times provide incidental comment about Islam, but thisis not usually very informative. Letters and other documents, for example, even inthe late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries commonly refer to Muslims aspagans and to the lands of Islam as paganismus and paynisme.75 But terms were inthis period not used with any precision, and little should be read into the employmentof these words. The most detailed statement about Islam is that found in a letterwhich, according to one version, was sent to Innocent III by the patriarch of Jerusa-lem and the masters of the Temple and Hospital at the turn of the twelfth and thir-teenth centuries in response to a papal request for information about the situation inMuslim lands: this reports that the caliph, the pope of the Muslims, ‘goes with his

71 T. Bini, ‘Dei Tempieri e del loro processo in Toscana’ , Atti della Reale Accademia Lucchese diScienze, Lettere ed Arti, 13 (1845), 474; J. Loiseleur, La doctrine secrete des Templiers (Paris, 1872),184–5.

72 A. Gilmour-Bryson, The trial of the Templars in the papal state and the Abruzzi (Vatican City,1982), 255.

73 Similarly, only one of those questioned at Florence made comments of this kind.74 Kruger, ‘Baphomet-Idol’ , 131.75 See, for example, Matthew Paris, Chronica majora, vol. 3, 68–70; vol. 6, 162, 167, 191–7, 203–4;

C. Kohler and C.V. Langlois, ‘Lettres inedites concernant les croisades (1275–1307)’ , Bibliotheque del’Ecole des Chartes, 52 (1891), 58–61; J. Petit, ‘Memoire de Foulques de Villaret sur la croisade’ , Bibli-otheque de l’Ecole des Chartes, 60 (1899), 608; B. Z. Kedar and S. Schein, ‘Un projet de ‘passageparticulier’ propose par l’ordre de l’Hopital, 1306–1307’ , Bibliotheque de l’Ecole des Chartes, 137 (1979),224, 226.


followers to Magometh, the lord of the Saracens … That lord Magometh is visiteddaily and worshipped, just as the crucified Lord is visited and worshipped by Chris-tian people’ .76 This comment does not necessarily reflect the views of all mastersof the military orders in the Holy Land: Usamah’s tale of praying indicates someknowledge at least of Muslim practices. Yet the Templar Ricaut Bonomel, whenbewailing Christian losses in the Holy Land, where he was writing, appears to seeMuhammad as the Muslim counterpart of the Christian god:

…Dieus dorm, qui veillar soliaE Bafometz obra de son poderE fai obrar lo Melicadefer.77

It would seem that proximity to Islam did not always lead to knowledge. In theHoly Land, many knights of the military orders were men who had recently beenrecruited in the West and who spent only a limited time in the East,78 although thosewho held leading positions had usually resided there longer and would have hadmore experience of contact with Muslims. Yet few members of the military ordersin the Holy Land understood Arabic: diplomatic relations with Muslim rulers wereconducted through interpreters.79 Literacy within the orders was apparently limited,80

and most brothers could not learn from the writings of scholars or pilgrims whodid possess more accurate information.81 Those, moreover, who thought that theyunderstood the nature of the Islamic faith were not likely to seek to test the accuracyof their views.

The fullest knowledge apparently existed in Spain, where members of militaryorders were mostly of local origin and where contact with Muslims had existed since

76 Ryccardi de Sancto Germano Chronica, ed. C.A. Garufi (Rerum Italicarum Scriptores, vol. 7, pt 2,Bologna, 1937), 57. In other versions the letter is attributed only to the patriarch: E. Martene and U.Durand, Thesaurus novus anecdotorum, 5 vols (Paris, 1717), vol. 3, 269; C. Hopf, Chroniques greco-romanes inedites ou peu connues (Berlin, 1873), 29n.; ‘Continuation de Guillaume de Tyr, de 1229 a1261, dite du manuscrit de Rothelin’ , Recueil des historiens des croisades. Historiens occidentaux, 5 vols(Paris, 1844–95), vol. 2, 520.

77 A. de Bastard, ‘La colere et la douleur d’un templier en Terre Sainte: ‘ I’ re dolors s’es dins mon corasseza’’ , Revue des langues romanes, 81 (1974), 356. Melicadefer has been identified with Baibars: ibid.,367–8.

78 A.J. Forey, ‘Towards a profile of the Templars in the early fourteenth century’ , in: The militaryorders. Fighting for the faith and caring for the sick, ed. M. Barber (Aldershot, 1994), 200–1.

79 A.J. Forey, ‘Literacy and learning in the military orders during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries’ ,in: The military orders. Volume 2. Welfare and warfare, ed. H. Nicholson (Aldershot, 1998), 200; H. M.Attiya, ‘Knowledge of Arabic in the crusader states in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries’ , Journal ofMedieval History, 25 (1999), 206. Attiya asserts that knowledge of Arabic was more widespread amongFranks than has usually been thought, but his argument rests mainly on a limited amount of anecdotalevidence and on certain assumptions.

80 Forey, ‘Literacy and learning’ , 185–97.81 On pilgrim writings, see A. Graboıs, ‘La ‘decouverte’ du monde musulman par les pelerins europeens

au XIIIe siecle’ , Al-Masaq, 5 (1992), 29–46.


the eighth century. The settlement charters granted by military orders to Muslimcommunities in Spain certainly imply some degree of knowledge, although this refersto Muslim religious customs rather than to doctrines. At Chivert the practices ofsummoning to prayer, praying, fasting and going on pilgrimage were mentioned, aswell as the pool of ablutions used for washing before prayer (aliupum), while theHospitaller charter for La Aldea similarly refers to calling to prayer and prayingaccording to the Islamic custom.82 Various documents relating to the orders alsomention the use of the cuna in the settlement of suits, although it is not clear towhat extent its nature was understood.83 The Chivert carta de poblacion does, how-ever, also state that if a Muslim had to take an oath ‘he is not to be compelled togive it by any other being or thing other than almighty God’ .84 Yet similar policieswere followed both in the eastern Mediterranean and in Aragonese lands, eventhough the degree of knowledge in the two regions appears to have differed.

Details of the beliefs and practices of Islam were probably in fact of little interestto most members of military orders. The majority of brethren were laymen and, likecrusaders, concerned with territorial objectives, not with Muslim souls. The subjectof conversion is mentioned only very rarely in the rules, customs and capitulardecrees of the military orders. When these institutions did issue ordinances relatingto the issue, it was to safeguard their interests. Brothers were merely adopting thestance which suited their purposes and which was then prevalent in Mediterraneanlands, for — although growing interest was shown in the West during the twelfthand thirteenth centuries in missionary activity to Muslims and although some rulersgave their support to attempts at peaceful conversion — the attitude adopted by themilitary orders in Spain and the Holy Land in the main reflects common practice inthose regions.

The attitude of westerners at both ends of the Mediterranean was partly determinedby practical considerations. Manpower was needed to ensure that lands were worked,and in Spain Christian lords were seeking not only to retain existing Muslim tenantsbut also to attract new ones: the Muslims, for example, to whom a carta de poblacionwas granted by the Templars in 1267 at Villastar in southern Aragon were new

82 Cartas pueblas de las morerıas, 10–16, 53–6, docs 1, 15; Font Rius, Cartas de poblacion, vol. 1,444–6, doc. 303. Both documents mention the post of cabacalanus: on this office, see R.I. Burns, Islamunder the crusaders. Colonial survival in the thirteenth-century kingdom of Valencia (Princeton, 1973),190–1.

83 Apart from the charters for Chivert and La Aldea, see J.M. Font Rius, ‘La carta de seguridad deRamon Berenguer IV a las morerıas de Asco y Ribera del Ebro (siglo XII)’ , in: J.M. Font Rius, Estudissobre els drets i institucions locals en la Catalunya medieval (Barcelona, 1985), 569; Pagarolas i Sabate,Templers de les terres de l’Ebre, vol. 2, 10–11, doc. 4; see also Burns, Islam under the crusaders, 221,227–8.

84 When the Muslims of Chivert gave an oath of allegiance to the new order of Montesa in 1319, itwas recorded that they had done so ‘according to their cuna facing towards the alquible’ : Madrid, ArchivoHistorico Nacional, Ordenes Militares, Montesa, carpeta 529 no. 716–P; see Burns, Islam under the cru-saders, 216–18.


settlers.85 A harsh religious policy would have threatened the supply of Muslims,who might prefer to live in areas under Islamic rule. This would be true not onlyof any enforced conversion at the time of conquest, but also of later attempts atobligatory evangelisation: this might encourage Muslim vassals to seek refuge interritories still under Islamic rule.86 Economic concerns obviously also influencedattitudes towards voluntary conversions of individual Muslim vassals, as such con-versions would sometimes have involved financial loss; and the conversion of slaves,even if it did not lead to emancipation, probably tended to limit lords’ authority overthose subject to them.

Yet in the Baltic region, where manpower was also needed in conquered lands,Prussians and Livonians were coerced into baptism: and it could be maintained thatrevolts and rebellions in Prussia and Livonia might have been averted if a moretolerant policy about religion and other matters had been adopted.

In Mediterranean lands there were, of course, precedents for religious toleration,as Christians had usually been allowed to retain their religion when living underIslamic rule. It might further be argued that, despite the Church’s stance on enforcedbaptism, conversion in the Baltic was seen by some as a justification for the conquestof lands which had never been under Christian rule. But part of the explanation ofthe differing treatment of Muslims and pagans is probably to be found in the percep-tions which western Christians had of their opponents. The peoples conquered in theBaltic area tended to be seen as leading a primitive and warlike existence and follow-ing a primitive religion. Conversion to Christianity could be regarded as part of aprocess which in time would make them more civilised and less hostile, althoughthis required the provision of instruction as well as baptism; and the former wasoften in practice lacking. It is difficult to assess western perceptions generally in theEast and Spain about the Islamic faith: treatises written by scholars about Islam andthe image of Islam presented in the chansons de geste have been examined,87 butbrethren of the military orders are not the only ones among those fighting againstMuslims whose impressions are not easy to ascertain: knowledge was, however,probably more widespread among Christians in Spain than among westerners in theHoly Land.88 Nevertheless in both areas there must have been an awareness of thenature of Muslim society, and Muslims could not have been regarded — as Prussians

85 Forey, Templars, 395–7, doc. 24; Cartas de poblacion del reino de Aragon, 260–1 doc. 210; see ingeneral R.I. Burns, ‘ Immigrants from Islam. The crusaders’ use of Muslims as settlers in thirteenth-century Spain’ , American Historical Review, 80 (1975), 21–42.

86 This objection is mentioned by Raymond Lull in Libre de Evast e Blanquerna, 80. 6, ed. S. Galmes,4 vols (Barcelona, 1935–54), vol. 2, 150.

87 See, for example, N. Daniel, Islam and the West. The making of an image (Edinburgh, 1960); N.Daniel, Heroes and Saracens (Edinburgh, 1984), pt 2; C. Pellat, ‘L’ idee de Dieu chez les ‘Sarrasins’ deschansons de geste’ , Studia Islamica, 22 (1965), 5–42; and more recently J.A.H. Moran Cruz, ‘Popularattitudes towards Islam in medieval Europe’ , in: Western views of Islam in medieval and early modernEurope, ed. D.R. Blanks and M. Frassetto (London, 1999), 55–81.

88 Thirteenth-century Castilian rulers displayed a considerable, though not complete, understanding ofIslam: O’Callaghan, ‘Mudejars of Castile and Portugal’ , 42, 52; see also Kedar, Crusade and mission,89–90.


and Livonians were — as a primitive people, for whom conversion would constitutepart of a civilising process.

As increasing attention came to be devoted in western Christendom during thecourse of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries to missionary activities among Mus-lims — this is apparent not only in writings and preaching but even in visual ima-gery89 — the military orders’ focus on fighting and material objectives became theobject of criticism from those who favoured missions. These orders had from theoutset attracted censure from those who maintained that all warfare was evil, as isapparent from the comments in the letter to the Templars written by a certain Hughpeccator and from St Bernard’s defence of the order against its critics.90 Such criti-cism, which did not touch explicitly on the issue of conversion, did not disappear,but from the later twelfth century onwards some writers did argue that warfare shouldgive way to the peaceful conversion of the infidel: there was therefore no place formilitary orders. Walter Map wrote of the Templars that, although it was claimedthat the use of force against force was condoned in law,

it seems, however, that they have not chosen the best way, since under theirprotection our territories in those parts are always being reduced and those of theenemy extended; by the word of the Lord, not by the sword’s edge, the apostlesconquered Damascus, Alexandria and a large part of the world, which the swordhas lost;

and he further provided a condensed version of I Samuel 17: 45–7: ‘You come tome with arms, and I come to you in the name of the Lord, so that the whole churchmay know that the Lord does not save by the sword’ .91 He was arguing against theexpediency of using force, and for the efficacy of preaching. A similar point wasmade by Roger Bacon in the 1260s. He asserted that westerners were often defeatedin the Holy Land; even if they were victorious, there was no one to settle the land.Muslims who survived Christian assaults were made more hostile to Christianity andit became impossible to convert them. In the East, as well as in the Baltic region,‘ the Templars and Hospitallers and the brothers of the Teutonic order greatly hinderthe conversion of the infidel because of the wars which they are constantly waging

89 L.-A. Hunt, ‘‘ Excommunicata generatione’ . Christian imagery of mission and conversion of the Mus-lim other between the first crusade and the early fourteenth century’ , Al-Masaq, 8 (1995), 79–153.

90 St Bernard of Clairvaux, Liber ad milites Templi de laude novae militiae, in Sancti Bernardi opera,ed. J. Leclercq and H.M. Rochais, 8 vols (Rome, 1957–77), vol. 3, 205–39. For Hugh’s letter, see J.Leclercq, ‘Un document sur les debuts des Templiers’ , Revue d’histoire ecclesiastique, 52 (1957), 81–91; C. Sclafert, ‘Lettre inedite de Hugues de Saint-Victor aux chevaliers du Temple’ , Revue d’ascetiqueet de mystique, 34 (1958), 275–99. A recent discussion of the identity of Hugh is provided by D. Selwood,‘Quidam autem dubitaverunt. The saint, the sinner, the Temple and a possible chronology’ , in: Autourde la premiere croisade, ed. M. Balard (Paris, 1996), 222–4.

91 De nugis curialium, 1. 20, ed. James, Brooke and Mynors, 60. Although he did not go so far as tocondemn the ‘new order’ , Isaac de l’Etoile asked: ‘Do they not strengthen that coming son of perditionin the righteousness of his cruelty against Christians? How are Christ’s gentleness and patience and theway of preaching to be employed against him?’ : Sermons, vol. 3, 160.


and because they seek complete domination’ . He condemned the military ordersbecause they were seen to hamper the work of conversion. Roger Bacon advocatedpeaceful missionary activity, although he did accept that force might be used, inconjunction with preaching, to ensure that the Holy Land was retained in Christianhands.92 Preaching was also favoured in a number of other writings, although thesedid not allude specifically to the activities of the military orders: in the 1270s Ray-mond Lull, for example, argued in his Libre de contemplacio that peaceful missionaryactivity was hindered by warfare against the infidel.93

While in some works the military orders were criticised for seeking material endswhich hindered conversion, the argument was also advanced that they should involvethemselves in winning over infidels to Christianity. The general point made by Albertof Morra was taken up and elaborated in the thirteenth century. Although Humbertof Romans averred merely that conquest might serve to facilitate conversion, somewriters maintained that force might be used more directly to promote it, and thatthe military orders should extend their activities to bring about conversion, whetherby force or in other ways. Innocent IV asserted that if infidel rulers refused to acceptChristian missionaries into their lands, the pope could invoke the secular power tooblige them to do so;94 and Ramon Lull in his Blanquerna and elsewhere similarlyadvocated the use of force to ensure that preaching of the Christian faith was permit-ted in infidel territories.95 Neither specifically mentioned the military orders whenadvancing this argument, but in various works Lull maintained that the militaryorders — or a single order resulting from their amalgamation — should work forthe conversion of the infidel, either by the use of force or by other means. It is tobe doubted, however, whether Lull assigned them this role in the Libre de contempla-cio. When arguing in chapter 112 of the Latin version of that work that the HolyLand should be won over by preaching rather than by the force of arms, Lull admit-tedly wrote: progrediantur sancti equites religiosi, et muniant se signo crucis, etimpleant se gratia sancti spiritus, et eant praedicare infidelibus veritatem tuae pas-

92 Opus majus, 3. 13–14, ed. J.H. Bridges, 3 vols (Oxford, 1900), vol. 3, 120–2. Some of Roger Bacon’scomments about the Baltic were foreshadowed by Innocent III, who asserted that the Swordbrethren wereconcerned primarily with gaining land and impeded conversion: Liv-, Esth- und Curlandisches Urkunden-buch, nebst Regesten, ed. F.G. von Bunge, etc., 15 vols (Reval, 1853–1914), vol. 1, 41–3, doc. 36; seealso the complaints by the bishop of Prussia in 1240 against the Teutonic order: Preussisches Urkunden-buch, ed. R. Philippi, etc., 5 vols (Konigsberg, Marburg, 1882–1975), vol. 1, pt 1, 100–2, doc. 134; A.Theiner, Vetera monumenta Poloniae et Lithuaniae, 4 vols (Rome, 1860–4), vol. 1, 34–5, doc. 73.

93 Libre de contemplacio en Deu, 204. 27, ed. A.M. Alcover, 7 vols (Obres de Ramon Lull, vols 2–8,Palma, 1906–14), vol. 4, 317. See also, ibid., 288. 11, ed. Alcover, vol. 6, 186; 346. 24, ed. Alcover,vol. 7, 377. The Latin version of the Libre de contemplacio is in: Beati Raymundi Lulli Opera, ed. I.Salzinger, 10 vols (Mainz, 1721–42), vols 9 and 10. Among Lull’s other early works, see Doctrina pueril,71. 12, ed. G. Schib (Barcelona, 1972), 165. William of Tripoli maintained that force was unnecessary:De statu Saracenorum, in: H. Prutz, Kulturgeschichte der Kreuzzuge (Berlin, 1883), 597–8; see also E.R.Daniel, ‘Apocalyptic conversion. The Joachite alternative to the crusades’ , Traditio, 25 (1969), 127–54.

94 The relevant section from Innocent IV’s Apparatus is published in: Kedar, Crusade and mission,217; see also J. Muldoon, Popes, lawyers and infidels (Liverpool, 1979), 11. Innocent IV’s comment wasrepeated by Hostiensis, In tertium decretalium librum commentaria (Venice, 1581), f. 128c.

95 Blanquerna, 87. 4, ed. Galmes, vol. 2, 210–11; Ars iuris, in: Kedar, Crusade and mission, 226.


sionis.96 This passage has been translated: ‘ the holy monk–knights should go forward,O Lord, buttress themselves with the sign of the cross, fill themselves with the graceof the Holy Spirit, and go preach to the infidels the truth of Your Passion’ .97 If thisversion is accepted, it could be argued that Lull was envisaging that the militaryorders should abandon warfare for preaching. Yet the Catalan version reads: faensea avant, Senyer, los sants cavallers religioses e guarnesquense del senyal de la creu,e umplense de la gracia del Sant Esprit, e vajen preicar veritat de la vostra passioals infeels,98 and this has been rendered: ‘Let the knights become religious, let thembe adorned with the sign of the Cross and filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit,and let them go among the infidels to preach truth concerning Thy Passion’ .99 Inthis chapter Lull was writing about knights in general, not about the military orders,and the sense of the Latin text is probably that knights should go forth as religious:no reference to the military orders was intended.100 Nevertheless in Blanquerna,written in the following decade, conversion was to be achieved by brethren of aunified military order in part by skill at arms: knights should be sent to infidel rulersand challenge their opponents by feats of arms to establish the truth of the catholicfaith. In this fictional work, the proposal was accepted and one such knight van-quished ten opponents on successive days.101 The claims of religion were to be settledpartly by trial by battle, just as St Francis was reported earlier to have proposed trialby ordeal.102 But in the same work Lull also urged that schools and places of studyshould be created in the houses of a unified military order, where knights shouldacquire a competence in languages and learn arguments which would allow them toprove the validity of the Christian faith: peaceful persuasion as well as force was tobe used to win over the infidel. The knight who vanquished ten infidels by force ofarms also overcame non-believers by the power of his arguments.

In a number of later works Lull provided a variation on this last theme. He wantedclerics knowledgeable in Arabic and other oriental languages to be members of amilitary order created by the amalgamation of existing foundations. A proposal ofthis kind was included in Quomodo Terra Sancta recuperari potest and the Liberde acquisitione Terre Sancte: members trained in languages were to preach not onlyto Muslims but also to schismatics and Mongols.103 The role of trained clerics in a

96 112.11, in: Beati Raymundi Lulli opera, ed. Salzinger, vol. 9, 250.97 Kedar, Crusade and mission, 191.98 112.11, ed. Alcover, vol. 3, 59.99 E.A. Peers, Ramon Lull. A biography (London, 1929), 31.

100 See also B. Altaner, ‘Glaubenszwang und Glaubensfreiheit in der Missionstheorie des RaymundusLullus. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des Toleranzgedankens’ , Historisches Jahrbuch, 48 (1928), 599.

101 Blanquerna, 80. 7, 11, ed. Galmes, vol. 2, 151–2, 155–6.102 L. Lemmens, ‘De Sancto Francisco Christum praedicante coram Sultano Aegypti’ , Archivum Francis-

canum Historicum, 19 (1926), 571–2. According to the Cronica Najerense, 3.49, ed. A. Ubieto Arteta(Valencia, 1966), 116, trial by battle was employed by Alfonso VI of Castile in 1077 to decide betweenRoman and Mozarab rites.

103 Quomodo Terra Sancta recuperari potest, ed. J. Rambaud-Buhot in: Beati magistri R. Lulli operalatina, 3 vols (Palma, 1952–4), vol. 3, 96–8; P.E. Longpre, ‘Le liber de acquisitione Terrae Sanctae dubienheureux Raymond Lulle’ , Criterion, 3 (1927), 278; E. Kamar, ‘Projet de Raymond Lull ‘De acquisi-tione Terrae Sanctae’’ , Studia Orientalia Christiana. Collectanea, 6 (1961), 130.


military order was, however, elaborated in most detail in the Liber de fine, writtenin 1305.104 These brethren would dispute with important captives to win them overto the faith; even if the latter resisted conversion, they could be taught about theChristian religion, and be shown that Muhammad was not a true prophet. Captivescould later be freed and sent to Muslim rulers to inform them of the Christian faith,which would facilitate conversion. Some of the clerics with a knowledge of Arabicwould also be sent to Muslim and other infidel rulers and inform them that the headof the order would give them castles and cities if they converted to Christianity, andwould explain the faith to them. If the rulers were unwilling, they were to be toldthey would be subjected to perpetual attack:

And they are to say to them, that the lord warrior king will give them castles andcities, if they are willing to revert to the sacred catholic faith. And they shoulddemonstrate to them the arguments for our faith; and if they are unwilling, theyare to say to them that it has been decreed that the sword of the warrior will bewielded against them for ever, wounding and killing them.105

The issue here seems to have been not merely the admission of missionaries, butthe acceptance of the proposals.106 The threat of violence was to be used as anincentive to conversion: Lull was moving towards the attitudes displayed in chansonsde geste and the practices adopted in the Baltic region. In his later writings, however,Lull did not always propose this association between a military order and the workof conversion, and did not always link conversion with the use of force. In a numberof late works he mentioned both military orders and preaching to the infidel withoutseeking to relate them.107

Lull possibly advanced some of his views to the Templar master, James of Molay,

104 Raimundi Lulli opera latina (henceforth RLOL), vol. 9 (CCCM, vol. 35, Turnhout, 1981), 282–3.105 Lull also assigned such clerics the role of acting as spies.106 The wording is not without ambiguity, but ‘ if they are unwilling’ (si nolint) seems to be intended

to balance ‘ if they are willing’ (si velint); see Kedar, Crusade and mission, 196. See also Liber superpsalmum ‘Quicumque vult’, in: Beati Raymundi Lulli opera, ed. Salzinger, vol. 4, 30; Liber disputationisPetri et Raimundi sive Phantasticus, in: RLOL, vol. 16 (CCCM, vol. 78, Turnhout, 1988), 28.

107 See Tractatus de modo convertendi infideles, ed. Rambaud-Buhot in: R. Lulli opera latina, vol. 3,99–112; Le Desconort, caps. 55–6, ed. A. Pages (Toulouse, Paris, 1938), 71–3; Petitio Raymundi inconcilio generali ad adquirendam terram sanctam, in: H. Wieruszowski, ‘Ramon Lull et l’ idee de la Citede Dieu. Quelques nouveaux ecrits sur la croisade’ , Estudis franciscans, 47 (1935), 104–9; Liber de ente,in: RLOL, vol. 8 (CCCM, vol. 34, Turnhout, 1980), 239–40; De locutione angelorum, in: RLOL, vol. 16,216; Liber de participatione christianorum et saracenorum, in: RLOL, vol. 16, 246; Liber disputationisRaimundi Christiani et Homeri Saraceni, in: RLOL, vol. 22 (CCCM, vol. 114, Turnhout, 1998), 263–4;Liber clericorum, in: RLOL, vol. 22, 354. According to the Vita coaetana of Raymond Lull, he proposedthe establishment of a new military order at Pisa in 1308, but its purpose was said to be merely warfareagainst Muslims: RLOL, vol. 8, 301; B. de Gaiffier, ‘Vita beati Raimundi Lulli’ , Analecta Bollandiana,48 (1930), 172–3. Nicholson, Templars, Hospitallers and Teutonic Knights, 72, suggests that the trouba-dour Daspol may have thought that the Templars and Hospitallers should have been converting, as wellas killing, the infidel; but the text quoted hardly justifies this conclusion: P. Meyer, ‘Les derniers trouba-dours de la Provence’ , Bibliotheque de l’Ecole des Chartes, 30 (1869), 288–9.


in 1301, when he visited Cyprus and lodged with the Templars at Limassol whenhe was ill.108 But his opinions and those of Roger Bacon had little effect on theactivities of the orders. Few in the West advocated outright rejection of force infavour of peaceful missionary activity; and Lull’s works have attracted more attentionfrom historians than from contemporaries. Many westerners were not optimisticabout the possibilities of peaceful missions in Muslim lands. There would also havebeen practical objections to Lull’s proposed introduction of a new preaching elementwithin a military order, which could have led to divisions over the chief objectivesto be pursued; and the instruction of knights envisaged in Blanquerna did not takeinto account the limited educational qualifications of most lay members of militaryorders: many would have needed further instruction even in their own faith beforethey could enter into disputations.109 Lull’s plan in addition assumed that lay brethrenwould be willing to adopt a new role. As Lull was writing the Liber de fine at atime when the Holy Land had been lost, and there seemed little immediate prospectof its recovery, the proposal that Muslims should be threatened with constant warif they resisted missionary activities was also hardly feasible: it was only in Spainthat a realistic attempt could have been made to further conversion in this way, butobviously no initiative was forthcoming. Lull’s proposals, like the criticisms of thosewho saw force as a hindrance to mission, went unheeded, and the military orderscontinued to concentrate on warfare for territorial objectives, to the exclusion ofmissionary activity.

Alan Forey has taught in the universities of Oxford, St Andrews and Durham. He has published extensivelyon the military orders and crusades. A study of the fall of the Templars in eastern Spain will shortly appear.

108 Vita coaetana, in: RLOL, vol. 8, 296; Gaiffier, ‘Vita’ , 168.109 Compare J.M. Soto Rabanos, ‘La ignorancia del pueblo cristiano llano, un obstaculo para el dialogo

interreligioso’ , in: Dialogo filosofico-religioso entre cristianismo, judaısmo e islamismo durante la edadmedia en la penınsula iberica, ed. H. Santiago-Otero (Turnhout, 1994), 99–116.

the military orders and the conversion of muslims in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries

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