The Sword and the Green Cross: The Saga of the Knights of Saint Lazarus from the Crusades to the 21St Century.

By Tim Wallace-Murphy

tumultuous events surrounding the First Crusade and the ensuing centuries of struggle for the conquest of the Holy Land has reverberated throughout the centuries and affected our collective psyche to this date. The Sword and the Green Cross offers a minutely researched analysis of the creation of one of the monastic and military Orders of the period: the Knights of Saint Lazarus.

Devoid of the chequered popularity of their contemporary Knights Templar or the Knights of Saint John, the Knights of Saint Lazarus, with their green cross and invariable care of lepers and other afflicted pilgrims, nobles, knights and peasantry, offer the reader a fascinating history of diplomacy, military exploits, survival instinct and a legacy which has permeated throughout time. The book explores the Orders birth in the Outremer, its expansion and Papal sponsorship, its constant interaction with the Templars and the Hospitallers and its tremendous growth in Europe which later justified its lengthy operations on the Continent even though the Holy Land was lost to the Crusades.

The book analyses its complete change from a Papal Order to a Monarchical Order under the benign overseeing of the French Kings and dwells at length on the immediate and long term ramifications of the French Revolution and the Orders demise.

The Sword and the Green Cross colourfully projects the period in which the Order flourished and illustrates prominent Lazarites from throughout the centuries. It also minutely dissects the modern day revivals of Lazarite organisations worldwide and, by means of hitherto unpublished documentation, sifts through the interpolated myths of such a revival and its magnetic allure to thousands worldwide.

With a forward by best-selling author Tim Wallace Murphy, The Sword and the Green Cross is a must read for all history buffs and those into Muslim-Christian relations and chivalry.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Feb 4, 2011
• ISBN: 9781456714192

Tim Wallace-Murphy

Max Joseph Ellul was born in Malta, in December 1970. He specialised in marketing and business administration and is the CEO of an international management consultancy group. An avid bookworm and researcher, Max had a number of his works and writings published in the UK and the US. Max is also a Fellow and Companion of numerous professional institutions, including the Institute of Sales and Marketing Management and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Max was granted the Freedom of the Company of the Worshipful Company of Marketors in the City of London and, in June 2005, granted the Freedom of the City as well. He is the only Maltese Liveryman and Marketor in the City of London to be so recognised. Max entered the Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus in the twelfth investiture of postulants held by the Grand Priory of England at the Priory Church of Saint Bartholomew the Great in the City of London. Later, he reluctantly accepted the then Grand Chancellor’s suggestion of organising a Mediterranean Grand Priory. In 2008, Max Joseph Ellul was nominated as the Grand Chancellor of the United Grand Priories of the Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem, which includes the Grand Priories in 26 different, worldwide jurisdictions. He holds the rank of Knight Grand Cross of Grace of the Order and was elected as Grand Commander of Merit in the Companionate of Merit. In February 2006, the Knights in Council presented him with the coveted Gold Oak Leaf of Merit for outstanding services to the Order. In 2004, Max published a short history of the Order of Saint Lazarus entitled ‘The Green Eight Pointed Cross’. Max is married to Dame Commander Christabel nee Saliba DCLJ and has a son, Myron Max Milcom, and a daughter, Malaika.

Book preview

Contents

About the Author.

Author’s Note.

Foreword.

Chapter 1: Introduction.

Chapter 2: The History, Character and Spirit of the Order.

Chapter 3: The First Crusade.

Chapter 4: The Order and The Crusades.

Chapter 5: The Broader Picture

Chapter 6: From the Holy Land to the French Revolution.

Chapter 7: The Order in Europe and the Americas.

Chapter 8: Resurrecting a Dead Dodo.

Chapter 9: The Lazarite twenty-first century.

Chapter 10: Conclusions.

References and Recommended Reading.

About the Author.

The reading of all good books is indeed like a conversation with the noblest men of past centuries who were the authors of them, nay a carefully studied conversation, in which they reveal to us none but the best of their thoughts.

RENE DESCARTES (1596 – 1650)

Max Joseph Ellul was born in Attard, Malta, in December 1970. He studied at De La Salle College and at the Liceo Vassalli Junior Lyceum, continuing his post secondary education at the Gian Frangisk Abela New Lyceum. After entering the University of Malta, he furthered his studies outside the island and specialised in marketing and business administration.

An avid bookworm and researcher, Max had a number of his works and writings published in the UK and the US and he has had published numerous articles in newspapers, specialised publications and journals.

Max was also a Fellow and active member of numerous professional institutions, including the Institute of Commercial Management (UK), the International Biographical Association (Cambridge), the Institute of Personnel Development (UK), the Marketing Society (UK), the Malta Institute of Management and the Malta Marketing Institute. He was elected to the highest grade of Companion of the UK Institute of Sales and Marketing Management after being a Fellow of the Institute for more than eleven years. He also sits on the Research Board of Directors of the American Biographical Institute and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Max was granted the Freedom of the Company of the Worshipful Company of Marketors in the City of London and, in June 2005, granted the Freedom of the City as well. He is the only Maltese Liveryman and Marketor in the City of London to be so recognised.

He is Chief Executive Officer of an international management consultancy group with offices and representations in Europe and the Middle East. He also sits on the boards of a number of other organisations, and was active as government consultant in a number of countries, in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. He is also a visiting lecturer in marketing and management strategy at the Lycee Prive La Providence in Blois, France.

Max entered the Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus in the twelfth investiture of postulants held by the Grand Priory of England, Wales, Isle of Man and Channel Islands at the Priory Church of Saint Bartholomew the Great in the City of London. He first joined the Commandery of Westminster of the Grand Priory and, eventually, reluctantly accepted the then Grand Chancellor’s suggestion of organising a Mediterranean Grand Priory with its headquarters in Malta.

In 2008, Max Joseph Ellul was nominated and unanimously confirmed as the Grand Chancellor of the United Grand Priories of the Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem, which includes the Grand Priories, Commanderies and Delegations in 26 different jurisdictions throughout the world. He holds the rank of Knight Grand Cross of Grace of the Order and was elected as Grand Commander of Merit in the Companionate of Merit of the Order. Prior to that, in February 2006, the Knights in Council presented him with the coveted Gold Oak Leaf of Merit for outstanding services to the Order.

Max has a long and distinguished record of being active in various non-governmental organisations and philanthropic institutions, both in Malta and abroad. He has been honoured with a number of honorary memberships from such organisations.

In 2004, Max published a short history of the Order of Saint Lazarus entitled ‘The Green Eight Pointed Cross’.

Max is married to Dame Commander Christabel nee Saliba DCLJ and has a son, Myron Max Milcom, and a daughter, Malaika.

Author’s Note.

What we become depends on what we read after all of the professors have finished with us. The greatest university of all is a collection of books.

THOMAS CARLYLE (1795 – 1881)

Sifting through the historical complexities of the Lazarite knights and formulating my thoughts on the subject took years of constant research to see the light of day. Due to the nature of the subject and the distinction that one has to make between a subjective opinion and a historical fact, it is inevitable that this book will shatter a number of fallacies that have been promoted as fact in the modern day chivalric world.

The history of the Order of Saint Lazarus has been juxtaposed with a lot of myth and legend. Propaganda material has also been used by many a faction and obedience – all describing themselves to be the real ‘Order’ of Saint Lazarus, in order to illustrate or underline a specific philosophy projected by the people or groups involved throughout these last couple of centuries.

I have tried as much as possible to share with the readers the results of lengthy research on the subject by including material from worthy gentlemen from throughout the ages who are referred to in the reference section. Without the endeavours of these gentlemen, this work could not have been finalised.

I have also quoted directly from a number of sources in order to ensure that there would be no interpolation of the facts from my end. I have deliberately not created a manuscript peppered with academic footnotes and references in order to ensure an easy read. This does not mean, however, that the factual content of this book has not been checked and double-checked for authenticity. All the statements found in the following chapters are documented and easily retrieved in the bibliography listed at the end of this publication.

Some of the conclusions gathered in this work are mine. Some are conclusions of other gentlemen listed in the reference section, which I fully agree with. Although the works in the reference section have been invaluable for this work, any omissions or errors in this work are mine, and mine alone.

I have not deliberately created a list of people that I need to thank as I was sure that I would omit a name here and there. In spite of this, I would like, however, to thank my family for their patience and all the Grand Officers of the Supreme Grand Priory and the Grand Chancery of the United Grand Priories of the Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem for their assistance in this operation.

Special thanks must go to His Excellency Richard Comyns of Ludston, the Supreme Grand Prior of the Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus and all the officers and members of the Council of Knights of the Order for their aid in ensuring that I had the opportunity to analyse the historical documents and manuscripts which are in their respective private collections. Chevalier Steven Groeneveld, Chevalier Danielisz Bela, Chevalier Roberto Ortiz, Chevalier Ramiro Anzit Guerrero, Chevalier Anton Savvov, Chevalier Vladimir Velikovskikh, Chevalier Luigi Sorge, Chevalier Thomas Nash, Dame Martina Mitter, the Right Reverend Monsignor Anton Gauci and the Right Reverend Monsignor Joseph Vella Gauci, respectively the Grand Priors and heads of the jurisdictions of South Africa, Hungary, Brazil, Argentina, Ukraine, Russia, Italy, the International Priorate, Austria, Malta and Gozo, gave me invaluable information about the Hospitaller Order in their respective regions. Likewise, the heads of jurisdictions of countries as diverse as Australia, Bolivia, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Tripolitania, Denmark and the United States also gave their invaluable input with constant information on what is happening in their particular sphere of influence.

Past Members and Fellows of the Chevalier Ramsay Society gave their valued input throughout the years; Chevalier James Neilson of Edinburgh, Baron George A. Way of Plean, Chevalier Robin Slack and others gave their esteemed input as well, with anecdotes and descriptions of recent, and not so recent, Lazarite history. The late Confrere Andrew Pattison, who I sorely miss, was also influential in ensuring that I obtain access to a number of private archives which featured manuscripts and documents related to Saint Lazarus.

The late Chevalier Reginald Attard, then Vicar General of one of the Military and Hospitaller Orders of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem, and a number of high-ranking officers of the Malta Obedience, gave me invaluable information on how this particular branch of the Order views the present and future Lazarite operations. Other dignitaries in the Lazarite world operating under the past and present French, Spanish and Italian Grand Masterships also amply assisted me with constant and essential information about the inside news of those factions of the Military and Hospitaller Order.

There are two very important historians on the subject of the Order of Saint Lazarus whose works have been so influential in the production of this book. I am referring to Chevalier James J Algrant and Francois Velde, the latter an economist and a former John Hopkins University professor. Their love of truth and historical accuracy shines through their work in every sentence you read.

My research in this subject could not have seen the light of day had it not been for the incessant and loyal assistance of the Malta and Gozo Lazarite team. I owe a lot to this wonderful group of confreres and consoeurs.

I have intentionally mentioned and listed my active presence in a Lazarite chivalric confraternity specifically because I wanted to ensure that this is not used by interested parties in order to create the myth that the conclusions of this book are unnecessarily subjective due to the author’s involvement – hence interest – in one of the various present Lazarite organisations. History, historical documentation and historical facts can be interpreted in many ways but cannot be denied. Unfortunately, some pseudo Lazarite historians in these last decades have tried very hard to misquote and misuse important historical events and letters in order to project an illusory and unreal perception of the history of the Saint Lazarus knights.

My first contact with the modern day Order of Saint Lazarus was not intentional and did not originate from my homeland. It was basically due to my then extensive commitments with the world famous Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland which brought me into contact with the Order.

This was years before the romanticised interpretation projected by Dan Brown’s best selling novel The Da Vinci Code. Nevertheless, Rosslyn Chapel at that time was – as it still is – receiving a lot of attention as being the holy shrine in which one may find all sorts of wonderful symbolism and supposedly earth-shattering revelations. According to the pseudo-historians’ theories, these revelations would include the head of Jesus, the body of Jesus, the lost secrets of Freemasonry, the Jerusalem Temple treasure, the Templar treasure, the Cathar treasure, secret scrolls, proof of Jesus’ descendants and other such unorthodox and mind – boggling ideas. Most of the mentioned fallacies emanated from the very imaginative minds of authors or pseudo historians trying to earn a fast buck. Admittedly, however, all these concepts assist greatly in getting people to know about Rosslyn Chapel and then finding out for themselves the real treasure trove of the Chapel, all exquisitely and methodically carved in stone by a very real medieval and unconventional genius; the latter being one of the finest sons that the Scottish Sinclair family produced throughout its interesting and dynamic history.

Being very active with the ‘Friends of Rosslyn’, a registered Scottish non-governmental organisation headed by the unique Niven Sinclair, a meeting in the nineties was arranged between the President of the ‘Friends of Rosslyn’, James McKay Munro and the Grand Prior of the Order in Scotland, Richard Comyns of Ludston. I also had to attend to this meeting due to my marketing chores within the Rosslyn team.

It was from this chance encounter up in Edinburgh that Richard instilled in me the urge to join the Order of Saint Lazarus. Richard and I became firm friends and have shared many an experience in Scotland and abroad, in voluntary work and in business related activities. But his assistance in my induction into the world of Saint Lazarus is something that I will cherish forever.

My past work with the ‘Friends of Rosslyn’ and other fascinating activities in ‘Auld Reekie’ meant that I would also create a lasting friendship with a unique personality whom I cherish as a brother. It was in Edinburgh that I first befriended renowned author Tim Wallace Murphy. He gave me a number of hints on how to finalise a manuscript and get it into book format; I hope I have not let him down with this attempt. Naturally, for his forward to this book, I am eternally grateful.

Author Roy Martin was also essential in assisting me in polishing the document once research on it was finalised. Thank you, Roy. My older brother, the Chevalier Ronald Ellul, was also instrumental in sorting out my pictorial needs for the cover of this book and his input in the original photos he supplied were essential in creating an attractive design for this book.

I finally dedicate this book to the unknown and unlisted knights of Saint Lazarus, who fell whilst defending their principles and codes with their last breath. This book will underline what a different – and difficult – environment these knights lived in, especially when one compares those days to the present. It could very well be that their codes and principles were somewhat warped and interpolated by medieval politics and other factors which nowadays would be termed as anachronistic and obsolete. Nevertheless, their deeds and Hospitaller accomplishments are firmly cemented in the annals of history of knightly orders.

M. J. Ellul.

Pavillon Beauseant

Paola, Malta.

2010.

Foreword.

By Tim Wallace Murphy

Tim Wallace Murphy is an international bestselling author known for his deep knowledge of Rosslyn, the Knights Templar, Sacred Geometry and Rex Deus. Born in Ireland in 1930, he studied medicine at the University College in Dublin. Years later, he furthered his knowledge in the fields of history and philosophy and embarked on his successful literary output which is still as strong as ever today. He now lives in the south of France in a picturesque village called Vence, just outside of Nice. Previous works of this author include:

The Mark of the Beast

An Illustrated Guidebook to Rosslyn Chapel

The Templar Legacy within Rosslyn Chapel

Rosslyn: Guardian of the Secrets of the Holy Grail

Rex Deus: The True Mystery of Rennes-le-Chateau

Templars in America: The St.Clair/Zeno Voyages

Custodians of Truth: The Continuing Story of Rex Deus

Cracking the Symbol Code

The Enigma of the Freemasons

What Islam did for Us

The Knights of the Holy Grail

Hidden Wisdom

Since the late nineteenth century there has been a veritable literary avalanche of books about the history, real or imagined, of the various military orders that sprang from the era we collectively know as ‘the Crusades’. This massive output has focussed principally on the mysterious order of the Knights Templar, who were founded in mysterious circumstances, rose to power and influence at an incredible pace, left an indelible mark on European society and culture and who were then suppressed with brutality after less than two centuries of existence. Second in importance to the Templars in this literary cascade came the Knights Hospitaller, otherwise known as the Knights of St John or, by their later title, the Knights of Malta. Other military orders such as the Teutonic Knights, the Knights of Alcantara or the Knights of Calatrava also get more than a passing mention. But, until ‘The Green Eight-Pointed Cross’, also by my friend Max was published in 2004, I, for one, had read litlle or nothing about the Military and Hospitaller Order of St Lazarus apart from a brief mention in such works as ‘The Monks of War’ by Desmond Seward.

This gap in the history of the military orders has now been filled by the present work also by Max Ellul. Max writes with clarity and detail about the origins of the order and its growth and development throughout Europe. He not merely treats with its military history, which although brief, now takes its true place in the annals of bravery, but also details its primary purpose which was, and in the case of the revived modern orders, still is ‘Hospitaller’ in nature.

It is not yet widely recognised that the prolonged and sustained actions of the various hospitaller orders which sprung from the Crusades and continued to flourish throughout the Middle Ages and, in one instance at least, right down to our own times, created the ‘mind set’, the philosophy so to speak, that became the foundation for the principal of universal health care in Europe. Thus once again we find that medieval warrior monks have left an indelible imprint on our society and culture.

However, it is when Max begins to describe the rise of the modern ‘revival’ orders bearing the name of St Lazarus, that he really comes into his own. I, for one, as a historian have been deeply troubled by the spurious claims of so many well-intentioned ‘revivals’ of medieval orders to continuity with their medieval predecessors, and have remarked upon this absurd phenomenon elsewhere in my own works. It appals me that so many sincere and superbly motivated people worldwide, good people who devote so much time and effort to charity and good-works, can nonetheless delude themselves that they are members of either the Knights Templar or the Order of St Lazarus and that there is a continuous and unbroken link between them and their medieval forebearers. Such claims, in the case of the modern so-called Knights Templar, are usually founded on that blatent forgery ‘The Testement of Larmenius’. The Knights Templar were abolished in 1314 by order of the Pope, not because they had been convicted of heresy – they had not been convicted of anything – but simply because they ‘had fallen into disrepute.’ One modern revival order in Scotland, the Militum Templum Scotii, has some claim to be the heirs of much of Templar tradition and teaching, but even it cannot realistically claim continuity with the original long suppressed medieval order.

Sadly a similar situation exists within the modern revivals of the Order of St Lazarus, with outrageous claims being made for continuity with an order which had demonstrably been allowed to ‘wither on the vine’ over a century earlier. One order, and one alone, can claim a degree of continuity with the original Order of St Lazarus, and that only through amalgamation, that is the Savoyard Order of St Maurice and St Lazaraus. All others are modern revivals.

The lack of integrity and historical rigour that pervades most of the modern revived orders sadly also pervades some of their day-to-day behaviour. Squabbles and infighting abound – how much chivalry is there in that? Arrests and convictions are made under the criminal law in more than one country under charges of ‘selling false titles’. Slander and invective, rather than scholarship, characterize the almost constant infighting between the various rival factions. Energy wasted that could be put to far better use in charitable works of one form or another.

I have a great deal of respect for all men and women of good-will who are prepared to work unceasingly for the benefit of those less fortunate than themselves. However I have nothing but compassion tinged with contempt for those who forget the age-old maxim ‘True nobility lies not in being superior to others, but in being superior to the person you once were yourself.’ When the modern revived orders do good work, I commend them and salute them. I would like, however, to close these words of mine with a plea to all those active in the world of modern – day chivalry to always remember the over-riding principle:

‘If you have Integrity – nothing else matters.

If you do not have integrity, then nothing matters.’

I commend this work to you for its clarity, its accuracy and, above all, its integrity.

Tim Wallace Murphy

Nice, France

2010.

Introduction.

Come forth, Lazarus! And he came fifth and lost the job.

JAMES JOYCE (1882 – 1941)

It is taken for granted in most of the present day civilized world that a visit to the pharmacy, chemist’s or apothecary is a must to procure the prescribed medicine and thus aid and assist the cure of normal ailments. What is not taken for granted is that, to this day, most of the Western world’s symbol of a pharmacy or a chemist’s is indeed a green cross. Why is the cross green? Not red or black or blue. Green.

This green cross owes its controversial birthpangs to the tumultuous happenings of the first crusade and its immediate aftermath. The green cross came to project one of Christendom’s monastic orders of knights, commonly known as the Order of Saint Lazarus. The latter owed its creation to the Latin Catholic church which today is supposed to symbolise the epitome of peace, humility and an abhorrence of war and murder, even when such blood is spilt in the name of a supposedly merciful God.

Although the Old Testament frequently portrays the Almighty as a God of wrath and vengeance, modern – day Christian apologists try hard to neglect whole centuries of Christian history where the words of Exodus were indeed the order of the day:

‘The Lord is a man of war.’ (Exodus 15:3)

The purpose of this book is to inform the reader of the past and present Order of Saint Lazarus, putting such a religious and military organisation in its proper historical perspective and to, slowly but surely, cast off a huge amount of interpolations and inaccuracies regarding this subject matter.

This is a difficult task, primarily because the collective mental image of a knight normally takes the shape of the widely popular Knights Templar or the Knights of Saint John. Indeed, these two Orders of Knighthood emanating from the harsh crusading centuries totally eclipse all other Orders of Knighthoods in terms of popularity and myth.

Needless to say, one will find numerous web pages throughout the internet, together with promotional and propaganda material from several organisations, all projecting themselves to be the authentic and real Order of Saint Lazarus. They all have their own version of events, most of which start depicting the Order of Saint Lazarus from the crusading period. Fact is frequently juxtaposed with fiction and fantasy. Unfortunately, fallacies and wholesale neglect of the historical evidence have been purposely and strategically intermingled with contemporaneous accounts in order to validate this, or that, version of spurious history. On the other hand, one will also find a number of very serious publications and web pages dedicated to the works of prestigious historians who maintain that there is no real present – day chivalric Order of Saint Lazarus and that such above-mentioned web pages are operated by bogus ‘Orders’, accredited and acknowledged by no one other than themselves. The conservative and non-sensationalist Catholic Encyclopedia has stated that

‘…the historians of the Order have done much to obscure the question by entangling it with gratuitous pretensions and suspicious documents.’

Although this may indeed seem a harsh statement to be splattered across the introductory pages of a book analysing the history of the Order throughout the ages, one must ensure that such a work is projected, from the outset, in a factual manner in order to exclude the possibility of misinterpretation of the subject matter.

In this book I try to disentangle the facts from fiction and mythology. I also try to ensure that the reader understands the very major distinction that one needs to make in this specific, chivalric field: the moral, legal and practical distinction between a Chivalric Order and a Chivalric Organisation.

It is not my intention to present this work as a definitive and final research into the Order of Saint Lazarus. There are hundreds, indeed thousands, of facts and figures and names of unremembered and forgotten knights and dames of the Order which are not even mentioned in this work.

The Order of Saint Lazarus has to be examined with constant reference to the prevailing backdrops of the day. One cannot fully understand a monastic order of warriors unless one scrutinizes the period of the crusades. The crusades also need to be analysed as a political and religious by-product of the papacy and its then constant and self-attained prerogative of integrating its spiritual authority with its temporal authority, even though there is no justification for the latter from the gospels.

The history of the Order of Saint Lazarus touches on the lives, norms, practices and customs of societies spread across the globe and, consequently, spreads across decades and centuries. It will touch on long forgotten mores and norms, extinct empires and kingdoms, and - unfortunately - wars, intrigues, treachery and over-zealousness. There are both heroes and scoundrels in this history. There are pious men who gave much to the Order of Saint Lazarus and there are crooks and con men that gave the Order a very bad name.

This book will try to give a fresh, albeit factual, outline of the Order of Saint Lazarus and also examine the numerous organisations bearing the name of Saint Lazarus in the modern world.

A full account of the Order’s history would also inevitably have to list long dead and forgotten Lazarite knights and members, most of them with double or triple barrelled surnames, many bearing a serpentine list of noble titles. These would not make light and intresting reading in this day and age. I have tried to project a factual history that would give a certain impetus to anybody interested in knowing more about this valiant order.

But first, before we embark on our journey across time and continents to savour the mark of the Order throughout the centuries, let us answer a very simple question.

WHAT IS CHIVALRY?

Without a clear perception of the term ‘chivalry’, one cannot even start to address the history of the Order of Saint Lazarus.

Although the military orders are also referred to as chivalric orders, chivalry - as a system per se of ethical ideals - arose from feudalism and reached its highest development in the 12th and 13th centuries. Chivalric ethics originated chiefly in France and Spain and spread rapidly to the rest of mainland Europe and to England. They represented a fusion of Christian and military concepts of morality and still form the basis of gentlemanly conduct. Noble youths became pages in the castles of other nobles at the age of seven; at fourteen they trained as squires in the service of knights, learning horsemanship and military techniques, and were themselves knighted, usually when they reached the age of twenty one.

The chief chivalric virtues were piety, honor, valor, courtesy, chastity, and loyalty. The knight’s loyalty was due to the spiritual master, God; to the temporal master, the suzerain; and to the mistress of the heart, his sworn love. Love, in the chivalrous sense, was supposedly largely platonic; as a rule, only a virgin or another man’s wife could be the chosen object of chivalrous love. With the Roman church’s cult of the Virgin Mary, the romanticized elevation of noblewomen on a pedestal reached its highest expression. At least on paper.

The code of chivalrous conduct was worked out with great subtlety in the courts of love that flourished in France and in Flanders. There the most arduous questions of love and honor were argued before the noble ladies who presided. It is from this custom that the term ‘courtly love’ came into being. The French military hero Pierre Terrail, seigneur de Bayard, was said to be the last embodiment of the ideals of chivalry.

In practice, chivalric conduct was never free from corruption. This became increasingly evident in the later Middle Ages. Courtly love often deteriorated into promiscuity and adultery and, likewise, pious militancy was diluted into barbarous fights. Moreover, the chivalric duties were not owed to those outside the bounds of feudal obligation. The outward trappings of chivalry and knighthood declined in the 15th century, by which time wars were fought for victory and individual valor was relegated to an irrelevant nuisance.

The above amply demonstrates that the present day collective perception of knights in shining armour derived from a period which materialized much later than the barbaric crusades which gave birth to these monastic warriors. These crusades were indeed called for and encouraged by the Papacy, which believed that it was indeed the will of God to kill and murder what were referred to as ‘infidels’ or unbelievers.

This was indeed the same Papacy which graces us with modern day Popes who have tried their hardest to project a church of peace and its abhorrence to bloodshed. It is indeed the same church which boasts of hundreds, even thousands of martyrs, most of which are historically unaccounted for, who preferred to die a martyr’s death instead of killing another human being. These early Christians were idealized and sanctified for standing up to heathen Roman emperors who demanded that they serve in their armies.

All this changed with the Church’s acquisition of temporal power due to Emperor Constantine’s politico/religious orchestrations. In desperate need of a unified and servile empire, Constantine, although never a baptized Christian till his deathbed (and even on his deathbed was baptized by an Aryan heretic priest and not by a mainstream ecclesiastic), gave the Roman Christian church the possibility to become in itself an important and essential part of the Roman establishment. The hunted, to use a harsh anecdote, became the hunters. Theologians and Christian prominent personalities bent over backwards to bring about a religious reason for the Church’s unashamed change of heart when it came to reconciling itself with bloodshed. Jesus’s pacifist suggestions of turning the other cheek, together with some three centuries of Christian pacifist traditions were put aside in order to indissolubly unite Rome and Christianity, even to the point of having their fates inextricably linked for perpetuity.

Eusebius of Caesarea, a Constantinian historian of the early fourth century, tried to reconcile traditional Christian pacifism with the new duties of the Christian citizen of the Roman Empire by distinguishing between the clergy, immune from military service, and the laity, who were now fully expected to wage the