Space considerations kept us from running this piece last issue - Ed. The Templars and Hospitallers were not the only "warrior monks" though they were far and away the largest and most powerful. There were other smaller military orders, many formed on regional lines. The largest of these secondary orders was the Teutonic Knights. Formed in 1190 by German knights who had accompanied Frederick Barbarossa during his ill fated campaign, they established a hospital in Acre. At their zenith they controlled 60 villages in the Holy Land. In the middle of the 13th century they redirected their attention to ridding the Baltics of the pagan Slavs. Also engaged in finance they became as greedy and demanding as the Templars. In 1445, they met their end when they were overthrown by the Prussian gentry. The Knights of St. Thomas of Canterbury was composed of English knights. Spain, heavily involved in the seven century Reconquista (reconquest of Muslim territories) gave rise to the Orders of St. James, Calatrava, Pereiro, Avis, and Montesa. Others established in Europe were the Order of the Trinity, the Order of the Sword, and the Order of the Holy Spirit. Perhaps the strangest of all the military orders was formed in Acre in 1230. Made up exclusively of lepers, the Knights of St. Lazarus participated in the battle of Forbie where they acquitted themselves well. In 1253 they were almost completely annihilated in an attack against the Moslems at Ramleh. Back to Cry Havoc #16 Table of Contents Back to Cry Havoc List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1996 by David W. Tschanz. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com