Armies and Enemies of
the Crusades 1096· 1291
Org~nisation.tKtics.dressand weapons. 96 iIIustrltions.bylan Heath
F, ...,k S,HOSP't, lIl'11.TempI• ••1\,,...,,...Syrians,
Selju kl.F' hm ldl . Ayvubodl ,MMnlu kl.A" h l ln',8y,.nl ll"".Georg...Mongol. andllk"-' id l.Armies and Enemies
of the Crusades
1096-1291
Orga nisation,tact ics,dress and wea pons96 illust ra t ions
bylan Heath
Franks,lIo spitallers,Tem pla rs,Armen ians,Syrians,Seljuks, Fat im ids,Ayyubid s,Mam luks,Assassin s,Byzant mes,Georgian s,
Mongols and IIkhanid s
INTR OD UCTI ON
Althou ghman y bookshave beenwritten on the Crusadesoverthe yearsthey mo st lyapp roa ch the subjectfrom a politicalor socialviewp oint,andwit h the exception of R.C.Smau's work ma nlike 'Crusading Warfar e 10 9 7·1 19 3' few or no nehave venturedto describein any detail thewarri o rsand armieswith whichMosle m andChristian vie d forcontrolof theHo ly Land .The aim ofth isbo ok , ther efore,istofillthisgap andadd a litt leflesh tothe bonesofcrusadinghistory,by notonlydescribing butalse, illustr at ing the myriad warrior-types ofOut rernerand the lan dsofIsla m and By zuntium,so that togetherwiththe notes onorganisat ionand tacticsanentirepict ure canbebuilt upofwarfareinthe Mid d le East inthe twocentu ries betweenthefat efulBa t t leofMa nztkertin 107 1 and thefallof the cit yof AcretotheMamlu ks220 years late r.
A fewnotes on terminology.I have used thewor d'Fran k' throughou ttodescribecrusade rs of
Europe an origin or extraction ,tho ugh the Byzantinesten d ed to refer tothem moreoft en as'Latin s'.Where theirethnic origins are mixedor unce rta inMo slem sIhave usuallycalledby that name,thou ghwhere applicableI have somet imessubst itu ted'T u rks'or'Arabs'and onoccasionhaveevenlapsedintousing thepo pular term 'Sa race n'(acorruptio n of'Sh arkeei n', mea ning Ea ste rner or Levanti ne].Following co nventio n, nat ives of the East ernEmp irearc referredtoasBy zantines,orsometim esas Greeks, which te rm theywere beginning toap ply to the mse lvesduri ngthe course of thisera,although they more often persist ed inca lling themselves'Romans' evenin the 12t h and 13thcenturies. 'T heHoly Land',although it refers speci ficallytothe KingdomofJeru salem,lhave generally used(inte rchangeablywithPalestine, Frankish Sy riaand 'Outrerner" ]asa collect iveterm fo rthemai nland crusaderstatesofJeru salem, Tripoli,Annoch and Ed essa ;no moderngeographicalbou ndariesare in tende d byany ofthese te rms, and ifthis shouldat times cause confusio n Icrave yo urind ulgence.
Eu ro pean Crusad es of thissame era,suchaswere foughtinSpain,SouthernFranceandPrussia,are not coveredhere,theparticipat ingarmies oftheseca m paigns havingalready beendescribe d in'Armies of FeudalE~rope 1066·1 300'.
The third and fina lpar tofwhat was onceenvisaged as a single bo ok ,Ithin k Icansafe ly say that this is the part whichI havemost enjo yed preparing.Ihopeyou will find itequallyenjoyabletoread,andthat it willenco uragefu rt her in te restinone ofthe mostnegle cted , and yetat the sametimemost fascinatin g, theatr es of mediaevalwarfare.
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ORGANISAT ION THECRUS ADE RST AT ES
Euro peanfeu dali smwas int rod ucedintoSyria by thecru saders, whofo un ded thePrinci palit y of Anti och(10<)8·1 26 3),theCoun ties of Edessa(1098-1 14 4) andTripo li(1109-128 9 , incorporating
Antioch afte r 11 19 ),theKin gdo m ofCyprus(1191-148 9 ,thereafteravcncuan colony until 1571)and theKingd o m ofJerusalem (1100-1187,th erea ft er in reality theKingdo m ofAcreratherthanJe rusalem unt il the finalext inct ionofthe statein1291).
Feudal cont ingen ts
Since there wasacons t antshortage of ma np ow er,and the survival ofFrankish Syriade pen deden tirely onitsmili t arycapa bilities, generalknight servi ce wassu bject to far fewerrestricti onsth an in Europe.For instance,ther eseems tohavebeen notime-lim iton the length of service that might berequiredeven up to a full year, thou gh itisnot clearwhe t her thiswas at theexpe nseofthevassalor thetenant-in-chie f'; eit he rway it wasnotat the king'sexpense unless ittook placeoutside ofthe kingdom.
Ea ch vassalwas a vassalofthe king, irrespectiveof wh oselandshewas enfeo ff edupo n (wi th the exce p-tionofthelands ofthechurch and theMilit aryOrd ers),andso lo ng ashe wasun der 60 years ofagehe wasexpected to serve mou nte d andfully-a rmed an yw herewith inthere alm an d within 15days whenever the kingsu mmo ned him. Inaddi tionthe vassalwould be accompanied by wh atever knights , serge ants. esq u ires ormercen arieshis terms ofen feoffm en tmight deman d (itshould benoted,how ever cthata vassal wasnotallowed to subi nfeu datemo reof his fiefthan hehimselfhel d,which effectivelyresmct cd thesize ofperso n alre rin ucs'").
The principal lim ita tio n onf~'uda lservice to thecrown wasthat Ed essa ,TripoliandAntio ch were no t con sid ered part of the realm,and milita ryassist an cefrom these prin cip ali t ieswa s only to be expect ed when theking was str o ngenough toenforce it. Whenthecro wnsof Jer usalemandCyprus wer eunited in 126 8 this pro blem becam e more com p licated, Cypnoteknights in sist ing thatthey owed nomilih ry servicetothe kingsaveon the island of Cyprus itse lf:but in 1273 agree me nt wasreached that Cypriotc kn igh tsowed se rvice inJe rusale m too- or wherever elsethekingmighthaveneed ofthem - for 4 monthsevery year.However,even prior to thisdate ,as ea rlyas thereignofAmalric11 (1194·1 20 5 1. Cypriotefeudaltroopsha d appeared in mainland armiesonanu m ber of occasions; 100 Cypriote
kni gh tsto o k part in the Fifth Crusa de und er theCon stableof Cyprus,and inan attac kon lIa mahin 1233,wh ile perhaps300 Cypri oteswere killedat LaForb lcin 1244 and atleast:WOFyp not c knights and50 0 infantry loo kpart in the finaldefence ofAcre in 1291.(TheEstoi red'Eraclcsin formsustha t whe n feu d alten u re was establish ed on Cyprusby Guy de Lusignun , 1192 -11 94,vassals'came fromthe Kingdom ofJeru sale m,fro mTripol i,from Antioch,and from Armen iau,e.Cilicia),And therewe re established fiefsworth 400 white bezan t sfo r a knight andwort h 300 fo r aTurco polewit h twohorses and a coat-of-ma il:Inall 300 knight' sfee swe re pa rcelledout and:WOTu rco pole's fees,leaving Gu y withsca rc ely en oughlandor reven ue to maintain a fa m ilia of20- one sourcesays 70 - knigh ts.) Because ofthesho rt a geof land many vassalsreceived money-fiefs in exchange forservice (e specially in thePrinci palit y ofAntioch), usuallyfro m the revenues ofspcctf'ic town sand citie s:Fra n k ish mercenaries were alsopaid with money-fiefs (seebelow),Some oftheknights owed by the townstsee Appendix 11 and perha psthe ch urchaswellwereprobably also supplied in exch ange for money-fiefs
Tho u ghofte ncomplic at ed by the presenceofcrusa ding European kings an d magnate s overallcom mand wasusua llyinthehands ofthe king himselfor hisbailli[regentI,thoug h inreality aco u ncilofthe chief menof thcarmy de cided stra tegy and policy(:ISHehaed-Di nputsit,'it isth eircustom, when it is aquestionofW:lT,to tak ecou nsel toge ther on ho rseba ck'],Intheabsenceof king orbailli theConst ab le of the Kingdom led the army assisted by hislieutenant cthcMarsha l. Suppliesan d just ice were
res ponsibilities oftheCon st able ,aswastheemplo yment and fairpaym entofmercen aries,boththe king' sandthosehired independently by thefeudallords,from whom hecollec ted theap propriate
•By themid·13thcentury therewasconsiderable dispute ;uto"..hetherthismeantthatthe vassalmustfa) holdat least 51%ofthe fief himselF, orIb) that heneed onlyhold morethan\Io'lUsubinfeudatedtohb,:reatest vassal,
payments;but theMarshal actua lly co m ma nded themercenariesin the field,In battlethe Constable com manded a double-strength troop (hehad the firstchoiceof men after the king's owntroop hadbeen mad e up)and marched in the vanguard,immediately behindthe Turcopcles(see page 39),withthe xta rsh al'stroop,thentheking's, behindhim,Antioch,Ed essa and Tripoli had the irownconstab les and marshals(two marshals cou ldhold officesimultaneously in Anti och),as did the great barons ofJaffa , Sidon,Gahlee and possib lyOultrejourda inandCeesarea.The Senesc hal was senio rtothe Consta blebu t hewasacourtofficia l rath er than a militarycom mand er, In thePrinci pali ty ofAntioehthere were add it io nalof ficers (inAntioch ,Jahala and Lat takieh ]called 'duces' or Dukes.
Frankish mercenar ies
Mercen:lril's, calle d'So dee rs'or soldiers,wereofgreat im portancefromthe very begin nin g of the crusaderst a tes'existen ce,atleastpart iallyco mpensa t ing for thecritica lshortage of feudalmanpower. They becameeven moreimportantover the yearsasthe steady reco nq uestof land by the Saracen s furt her reduced thenu m bersof feuda ltroops availa ble.Somewer eprovid ed ona feudalbasisby vassalswho owed'service decompaignons' (which require dtha t the vassalshouldraise and pay a specifiednumberofmercenaries},ot hers beingprovided byFran kish kn igh tsand sergeantswhost ayed on in theFast aftervisiting the holy places.
Theywere contrac tedmon thby month(from the 1stof themont h ),breachof sucha contractbe ing regardedas<Ivery seriousoffence ;in the case ofaknight itwaspunishablebyconfiscat io n of his fiefif hehad one (presu ma bly land or money )orhis armourand equipmen tif hedidnot,wh ile an ordinary sold iermighthavehis handsmutilated with a hot iron.On the otherhand mercenaries wer e paidata veryhigh rate (though pro ba blynot at 100 times the rate of aMo slem warrior as issuggestedin oneof Usamah ibnMunqld h's anecdotes ; evide ncesuggests, in fact , that Frankswerepaid 2-5 timesasmuch as thei r Moslem cou nter parts). ~hn y- knights,sergea ntsandinfant ry - tended to behired outright , but mercen ar y knightswere often paid for with money -flcfs, usu ally fromtherevenuesof some to wn , city ortjede speci fied in their cont ract s. Therevenu es varied from 300bezan fsper annum to 600or even 1,000depend ing onhow secur e the revenu eswen'and how ma ny men were needed- the mo re menneeded,the lowerthe revenue.However , because of almostconsta nt wa rfa reand thefrequ ent loss oftownsand landsit wasnot uncommonformer cena ries' pay to bewell overd ue ,andunder such circumst ancesthe y couldselltheir equipmentand liveoffthepro cee ds,owing no service untilthe ou tstand ing debt had beenpaid off. On ot he roccasions theywere paid for byspecial taxes(as in 118 3 ), orby gifts of mo neyfrom Euro pean rule rsinlieuofactualtroops ;thellistoriaRegnilIiero so ly mitani recordsthata~manyas 1,20 0 mercenary knightsand 7,00 0 mercenary infantry were hired priorto the Batt le of Ilattinin 1187,explainingthat they were paid for by amoneygift from lIenry 11of England (inatonement fo rthemurderof Thomasit Becket ), but thesefigures arc somewhaton thehigh side, wh ile inhiswillof 12 2 21' hilip 11of Fra nce left 150,0 00 silver mark s10 thekingof Jerusa lem and the Orde r oftheTem ple for the maintenanceof 100 mer cenary knigh tseachIor a period of3 years. Likew isemon ey sent out to Outremerby thePope seemstohavebeenla rgelyused tohiremercenaries throu ghout the 13thce n tury.
Exa mp les of Frankish knights stayi ngon inOutreme rin exchange forpay are provided by the40 knightsle ft with ayear's pay byWail er d'Avesnes on hisretu rn to Europe in 1218,and the Fre nch regiment of 100 knights est a blished in Acre by Loui sIX [St Louis) priorto his own depa rtu rein 1254 and continuouslymaint ai ned by gifts ofmo neyuntilthefall of thecity in 1291. Alt hough notst rict ly mercenary,the unitsof Fre nch and Germanknight smaintain ed by the baillisof Charles ofAnjouand Frede rtck11should pro bably also heme ntioned here.
Nativesoldiersandmer cenaries:Syrians,Maro nites,Turcupol esand Armenia ns
Farfrom all mercenaries wen' of Frankish origin.Asment ioned above,crusad ersfrom Eu rope oftendill stay on for pay,but themajo rity of mercenaneswer epro ba bly hired fromamongstthe native Chrisuans, the Syrians,Armenians and Mar o nu cs.These woul d be hired outrightratherthan beinggran t edmoney-fiefs. Ithas beensuggest edthat Syriansmayhave su pplie dthe bulkof the kingdom'sinfan try. and tho ugh thereislittleevidenceto su ppo rt thisrat her sweepingstatementitis undeniable that Syriansareto be occas ionally foundin Franki sh armies; some,for instance,helped Ray mond de Sain t-G ilIesin the conq ue st ofTripoli .Undou bt edl yothe rs would take up arm s inan emergency, as did somein 1124, and passages inwillia m ofTyreand Fulch er of Chartresindicatethat they mightsometimesperfor m
garr ison duties.However,WilIiamalsopointsoutthatingeneral theywere ofatimo rous nature,'a race which is regarde dby usJSweak and effemina te',inwhichheis backed up by Jacq ues de Vit ry , Bishop
of Acre,whowrote in the 13thcentury that 'they are altogether unwa rlikeand inba tt le are ashelpless aswomen, savefo r some of them who use bo wsand arrow s but areunarm ouredand read y for running away.Thesemen are knownasSyria ns .. ,Fo rthemost part they are unt rustwort hy,two-fa ced
cun ningfoxes justliketheGreek s (Byzantines), liars andturncoats,lovers ofsuccess,traitors , easily won over withbribes,menwhosay onethingandmeanano t her ,and think nothing oftheft and robbery. For asmall sumofmo neythey becomespiesandtellthe Christians' secrets tothe Sarace ns.' Hard ly reliableallies!
TheprincipalnativeCh ristianelementinthe Count yof TripoliWJ .~provided by theMaronitcs of Le ba non, sett ledprincipally in Gibbat Bsarr i,Kisrawan androundJebail. Theyappea rto have numbered abo ut30 4 0, 000.WiIliamof Tyr epraisedthe militar y skillof theMa ronites, 'a stalwa rtrace, valiant fighters,and ofgreatservice totheChristians inthe difficult engagements whichthey so freque ntlyhad', to which de Vitryadds 'they arenumerous,use bowsandarro ws,and are swift and skilf ul in battle.' They servedin mostTripo litanian armies,fighti ng undertheirownchieftai ns (called bythe ArabictitleMuqaddam), so meof whom evenreceived fief s (which would indicatethatafe w wereactuall y knights;othernativeChristianknigh tsarealso to be found inthe sources, with surna mes suc hasArra bi,QelbeArab,Elteffaha, etc. while inAntio chmanyknights boreGreek names).Bet ween 119 2 and 1194Guy de Lusignanisreportedto have evenintroduced a largenumberofMaromtes into Cyprus(the figure of30, 0 0 0 is given ), these subse q ue ntlyserving asasortof militia.Som e may have lat er accom panied theHospit allers to Rhode s, andlater stillto Malta.
Themost numerous,reliableandefficientSyrianelementinFran kish armies, however,was provide d by theTurcopoles,The termTurcop oleitself, meaningliter ally 'son oftheTurks',had bee nborrowed fro m theByzantines,whoused thenameTurco pouloi forthe ir ownmercenary Turk ish regulars(seepage28; Raymondd'Aguile rs statesthat "Turcopoles wereso named because the ywe re either reared withTurks or werethe offspringof aChristia nmot herandaTurkishfat her'),TheFranksapplied the termrather morelooselytoSyrians, natives of mixedpare ntage (Turkishfath ersandGreek mot hersaccordingto Albert of Aix) ,andconvert ed Turks servingintheirown arm ies.By the mid-12t hcentury, however, judgingfro mthe evidenceofnames reco rdedfo rTurcopoles inwrittenso urces itwo uldseem possiblethat atleastsome,and possibly agreat many , mayhave act uallybeenSyrian Franks(Pou lains) or even Europ ean Fra nks,probablyeq uippedto fight inTur kish fashio n.(Insupportof this last theor yit is interesting to not ethat Turcop o uloi emplo yedby the Cat alans inGreecein theearly-14t hcentu ry included native Greekswhohadshaved theirheadsTurkish-fashioninorder to be employe d inthis capacity.] Alt hough it has been suggeste d that some Turco poleswerefo o t-so ld iersthe sourcesseem to indica te thatthey fou ghtprincipa llyifno t exclusivelyaslightcavalry (see also note 14 in thedress andeq uipmen tsection). Theyhadtheirownofficerscalled Turcopoliers (pro bablyFran ks )butlikeallot he rmercena riescame undertheoverallcomma ndof theMarshalof theKingdo m.
Therewere 1,50 0Tur copo lesin thearmywhich campaigned in theJezreelvalle y in 118 3 and the army at Hattin mayhave includedas many as4,00 0 ;Usam ahrecords a single nobleman (William-Jordan, regent ofTripoli) havingas manyas 200 'Tur kubuli' (fro mLatin 'Turcopo li')in hisemp loy in 110 7.Turcopolcs served in additionin Tunisia(d uri ngLouisIX'sEigh thCrusade) andCy pru sandwere employed in considerab le numbersby theMilita ry Orders- theHospit allers su pplied50 0 in 1168while the Hospitalle rsand Templ ars togetherlost over 500 at LaFo rbie in 1244.
The othermost important groupofnativeChristianswerethe warlikeArmenians ofCilicia (Lesser Armenia).Thesewerenumerou sinthePrincipalit yof Ant iochandcomprisedmost of the population oftheCountyof Edessa, and they areto hefound serv ingvariously as subjects, merce nariesandallies underthe irownchieftains, supplyingboth cavalryandinfantry,par ticula ryunderCoun tJoscel yn11 (1131-11 50).1nl108theArmenian prin ce of Keso un,Ko gh Vasil (Vasilthe Ro bber), su pplied Baldwin ofEdessawit h an army of asmany as 1-2,000cavalryand2,000infa ntry,inclu din ga numbe rof Seljuk ren egades, whilethe chronicler Matt hewof Edessa recordsthattherewere 500 Armenian caval ryin Roger of Antioch'sarmyat AgerSanguin usin 11 19anda similarnumberat 'Aza z in 1125 .When Edessafellin1144 manyof its me rcen ary defe nderswereArmenian s, andsome Arm en ianswere even prese nt atthe siegeofAcrein 1191.
Itsho uld benot ed, however,thattheArm en ians(andveryoccasionally the Maro nites) could also be
foun dfigh tingagainstthe Fra nks.Armenians seem to haveplayeda particularly impo rt antro leinsome Seljuk armiesof thelate-Llth cen t ury,notably thatof Tu t ushof Damascus0 0 79-10 9 5),and they were to befoundtoo in the var io usTu rk ish armieswhichopposed theFirst Crusade.In add itiontheFatirnid s em ploy ed Armenian archersin the12th century.Some timestooopenwarfarecould flareup between Ctltcta andneighbo uringAntioch.
Thefleet:theItalian co mmunes
Tho ughAnt iochandTripolibot h developed smallfleetsthe Kingd o mofJeru salem itself hadno permanent fleetofitsown(thoughit maintainedarsenalsat Tyreand Acre, raising 33ships fro mthese atshortnotice in 1182,probablyinclud ingItalian mercha ntvessels inpo rtatthetime,whilein 12 32 money-fie f'swere paidout toPo ulainsof thecoas talcities for fitti n gout armed ships), Insteadthekings of Jerusalem depend edprinci pally on theItalian com m unesandtheMilit aryOrdersfor navalsu pport (theOrd ers ma in tainingbothtranspo rtsand galleys; in a navalengagement duri ngthesie geofTyrein
1187we find as many as 17 galleys man nedbyHospirallersandTemplars). 13t hcenturyCyprus similarly relied on Italianships, usu all yGe noese.
TheItalia n com munes(seco nd in importanceonly to the Milita ryOrders in 13thcentury Outremer) had mostly beenesta blished inthe earlyyearsof the12thcenturyinexchangefo rthe servicesrenderedby Italia n fleets in the captureofthecoastalcit ieswhich,wit h theexce pt ion ofTy reand Ascalon ,all fell between 1100 and1111. Fo rexam ple 40Oen oescships hadattendedthe siegeofIebailin 110 3,70were atAcrein 1104,60 at Tr ipo liin 1109,4 0Gcn oc seandPisanshipsatBeiru t in 1110,and laterasmany as 100-130Veneti anshipsat the siegeofTyrein 1124. Such fleets hadbeensuppliedprinci pally by the city -states ofGenoa,Pisaand(a tfirsttoalesserextent)Venice,genera lly inexchangefor pay, trad ing concessions or loo t, orofte n01113;usually they werepro mised partofthebesieged citytoo , oft en a third.Theend product wastheest ablish me ntof self-governingItalian commu nes inallthecoast alcities, each underaco nsul or visco unt (vicomte) appointedby itspare n tcit yinItaly. Geno a possessedsuch communes inAcre,Ant ioch, Arso uf, Beirut, Caesare a. Jaffa,Jebail,Latt akieh, Sain tSymeon ,Tyre and Tripoli,andVenicehad itsowncommunesin thelarger of these cities,bothhavingquarters in
Je rusalem too.Pisahadco m mu nesin Acre,Antioc h,Botrun, la t takieh,TripoliandTyre.Inadditio n therewereAmalfitan communesin Acreand La ttak ieh and Marseillaiscom m unes inAcre,Jaffa,Jebail andTyre,there evenbeingaBarcelo neseco mm uneinthe latter. Excep tforAcre fewofthesecould havemust er ed more thanabout500men ,
Tho ughthe com muneswere unde rno obliga tion10 serve in the king'sarmy they couldbecalled upo nto help defendthe cities inwhic hthey had theirquarters and tolendnavalsupport (usually in exchange for extra privileges)in de fenceof the coastal towns.Italia ncon tingentsalsooft en wen talongas'allies' inmanyoffensiveca mpaigns,andasmercenariesinothe rs,
Unfortunatelyfor thekingdom ,ho wever,the Ve ne tian,Plsan,Gcnoese and ot herItaliancon tingents were mu tually hostile,and Jucq ues de Vitry remarksdryly tha t't hey wouldbe very terribletotheSaracens if theywouldceasefrom their jealousyandavarice and wo uld notcontinuallyfightandquarrelwith each ot her. But,.,the ymo reoftenjo in bat tleagains toneano th erthanagainstthetreacherousinfidel.' One of the wo rstofthese bloody civilwa rswasthewar ofSaintSabasinAcr e in125 9,inwhich allegedly (hut im probably)20,000 venetia ns.Cenoeseandothersdied.
Othersourcesof troops
Churchlandsand thetowns ofthe kingdom wereobliged to su pplyconti nge ntsofsergeants.Tho se co nt ingen tson record (list edbyJean d'Jbel in - seeAppendixI) varied between 25 and 500 each ,the listsapparently recording thest ate ofaffairsasitexisted in thereignofBald win IV(1174-118 5).
D'fbcttn givesatotal of 5,02 5sergean ts being availa blefrom these sou rces, thoughhis figu resare probably inco m pleteand reflect the serviceof the kingdomorJerusalemonly, exclusive of An tioch and Tripo li (Edessa hadfallen in 1144).Thesesergea ntswere nota militia, servingratherin exchange for sergeants' fees,They wereprobablyinfant ry,Though ther ewerealso mou nted sergeantsIseepage 71) these were moreusually in theretinues of knights.
Onoccasionthe Arricrl:-Ban.thelevyof allable-bod iedfreemen,might besummoned to su ppleme nt thefe ud alandmerce narycontingents, eitherlocallyas.forexa m ple,atlaffain1122 andAcre in 121 8, or torelievethesiegeofBa'rinin 1137;or on anatio nalscaleasatthesiege of Acre in 1104 ,fo r awar
against Damascus in1126, at Ascalonin 115 3 (wherein additionsome pilgrims were hiredtemporarily), at Montgisard in 1177,orfor thelIalli nca mpa ign of I18 7,Pilgrimsalsoapp eared inexchange for pay on otheroccasions,as at Ramla in1102,Senn abr a in II13,andinthe'Ain Jalu tca mpaign of 1183,but itis clearthatsuchservice wasno talwaysperformed willingly,Crusad ingknightsco nstantl y arriving from Euro pealso su pplement edthekingdom 's army forthe duration of theirstay, often stayingon as merce naries (asmention edabove).
Moslemsand Mongols
Inthefirst halfofthe 12thcent u ry Turkishemtrs.fearful of losingtheirindependencetomore powerful neighb oursor evento theSulta n, co uldbefo u ndallied tothecrusa der statesandsu pp lying troo ps,suchas the 600 Alcp penecavalryand more than 1,00 0Turksand Bcdouinswhofoughtfor Tancre dofAntio ch andBaldwin 11of Edessa respectively at Tell Bashirin 1108,and the5,0 00 from Alep po ,Mardi nandDamascuswhoservedduring the IllS campaign. The Frankish armybesieging Alepp o in 1124 is recorded to have includedasman y as lOO 'Moslem ten ts' (Bedo uinsunde r theamir Du bays),com prising one-third ofthetotal force,Bedouin spiesandsco uts beingrecorded inadd it ion on otheroccasions. Assassins werealsoto be found allied tothe Fran ks onoccasion (the re were somein Ra ymo nd of Ant ioch's armydefeated at Fo nsMu ratus),whileEgy ptian troopstoo appearedin Franki sh ar mies, no tably duringthest rugglewith Nured-Dinforcont ro l of Egy pt in I167,butthey were regarde daspoor soldiersof littlemilitarysignificance.There werealso so me Saracen arche rs int roduced from Sicily in 1113;moreacco mpanied Frede rick11duringthe SixthCrusadeof1228-1229,and probably the300 'Tu rcopoles' re portedin the fleetdespa tche dbyWilliam IIof Sicily in118 7were also Saracens.
EventheMon go ls(inthis case the NestortanorChrist ian-influencedlfk hanidsof Persia)somet imes foug htfor the Fran kishcause, andin thiscontextappearso me of the mostunlikel y armiesofthis era, such asthemixedbag ofMongols, Turks,Franks (u nder Bo hemondVIof Antiochl,Ar meniansand Georgi answhichcampaigned in Syriain 1259 and 1260 under theIlk hanHulagu.In 1281,under his successorAbuq aan army of similarco mposit io n,chie fl y Mongols,Georgiansand Armenia nsbut incl ud ingHospitullc rs from the garriso nof al-Marqa b, fo ugh t the Ma mluksat Ho rns. 10yearsearlier, in
1271,Abaq a had allegedlydespatchedasmany as10,00 0Mo ngo ls against theMamluksinSyria in responseto anappeal fromtheEnglishprince Edward (lat er Ed wardI), theninvolved in whattransp ired to be averymino r crusadingenterprise.
Totalst rength
In theAut umn of 1099 Godftey de Bouillon couldmuster3,000meninJerusalem,but Albe rtofAix records thatby the Springof 1100this haddeclined to only 200knights and 1,0 00 infa ntry,The ne xt year Fulch erof Chart resrecordsthatKing Baldwin I hadbarely 300cavalryand 30 0 infa ntry withwhic h to garriso nJerusale m, Ramla,Ja ffa and Huifa,and even at the First BattleofRamla therewereasfewas 260cavalry and 900 infa nt rypresent. Baldwin found it necessary ,in fact ,toestablisha mercena ry force to garrison bothJerusale m and Ja ffa atleast as early as 110 I,and in 1108 wehearof a forceof as many as:!OO mercenaryknightsand 50 0 mercenary infa nt ry from thegarrisonof Jerusalem.
700knightsand 4,000infan t ry gathered byBa ld win in 111I pro bably represented the total fe udal st rengt hofthe kingdom attha t time (tho ughhereaselsewh ere to the totalnumberofknights sho uld probablybeadded an unknownnumber of mounted sergeants); the conti ngen tsof Bert ra ndofTripoli, TancredofAnt ioeh ,BaldwinofEdessa(200 knightsand 100 infant ry ),Josccly n ofTurbcssel(100 knightsand50infant ry), Richard ofMarash(60 knightsand100 infantry)and ot he rs, plusArmen ian cont inge nts, brought thisfo rce up to ato talst re ngt hofso me 16,00 0 men.
Fo r aca mpaign in 11 15Baldwinsu pplied 1,0 00infantry and500 knights,Ant ioch mustering 2,0 0 0 cavalryandinfa ntryand Tripoli2,000infantr y and 200 knights.To thesewere ad ded5,000Seljuk auxiliary cava lry.AnotherAntiocheneforce ,recorded atAger Sanguinusin 1119, consiste dof 700 knightsand3-4,000 infant ry and thispossibly representsthe principality'stotalstre ngt h in knights and sergeants respective ly,the latterincludinga nu mberof Syriansand Armenians.The totalnumberof knights act ually availableto AntiochorTripo li was pro bablyabo u tthesameasinthekingdom of Jerusalem. The num berof knightsinEdessa was probablysome whatlessbutap pea rs tohave been at least500.In 1138 a forcerecordedmarchingfromSamosa ta to therelief of Edessaitself isrecordedas numbering300knightsandabout4,000infantry.
In 118 3an army of over 15,000'trul y excellent armedfoo t-soldiers' and 1,3 00 knights isrecord ed by Willia m of Tyr e,while(mad ad-Dingives15-20 ,000infantryand 1,500 knights plusin addition 1,50 0 Turccpolcs.Eitherway,atthattime itwasthelargest army to have been mustered inFrankish Syria, thou gh it included so me Europ ean crusaders. But thelargestarmy ever musteredbythe kingdom was the force of 2Q.63,OOO rec orded in thelIaltincampa ignof 118 7,The only det ailed se tof figuresforthis army gives usa breakdown of 1,0 0 0knights, 1,200mercen ar yknights,4,000Turcopoles, 25, 00 0 infa ntry, and7,00 0 merc ena ryinfantry, tota lling 48 ,200 men. However,on the evide nceofthe Itinerar ium Regis Ricard i, whic hreckons more than 1,000knights and 20,000 infant ry;the Libellusde Expugnat m, whic hgives 1,200 knight s, manyTurco pcle s andover 18,000infant ry;theBrevisHistorja, which gives25,000 ;andtheMoslem autho r Abu Sha mah, who reck on sat least 23,000 men , itsee msa reasonable assumptio n that the army was about20-25,00 0strong,pro bablyincluding 1,200 knight s of who mabou t 200 weremercen aries,Ano lh er source,theI losplt alle rs' le t ter, recordsthearmyto have been 30, 000st rong includ ing some 1,200knights,Thelowest figuregive nin the sources is 5,000, which is as improbableasthe63,000 given in one Moslemsource.
It isfro mlists of just a fewyearsearlie rtha nthis dat e thatJean d'lbelin compiledhisrecord offeud al service owed totheKingdom ofJerusalem , fulldetailsof whichare given in Append ix I.Continge nts rangedinsize fro mthe 10 0 knights each duefrom the 3 grea tba roniesofSido n, GalileeandJaffaand Ascalo n, right down tothe service ofsingle knight s. D'lbelin adds up hisfiguresto a totalof 577knights, but hisarithmeti cappea rs10he at fault,the act ualtota lbeingat the most 749 andatthelea st636 if certain discrepan ciesaretaken int oaccount.Norare d'l helin 'sfigures complete,hislist omittingthe service due to the kingdom fromTripo li (from which heelse wherereco rdstheserviceof 10 0 knight s being pot en tially available) and Ant ioch,as wellas certai nknown fief'sfor whichhepro bablyhad no information.Itseems reaso nab le to assume thatiftheseunknowncontingentswere ad ded atotal strengt hin the regio nof 1,0 00 knight swo uld pro bablybe arrivedat.Even then mercena ries and the Military Orde rsareno t inclu ded.Duringthe 13th cent uryCyprus to o couldraise 1,0 00 knight s. The last lai';:e army raised bythecrusade rslateswas that whichfought, and was dest roye d, at LaPcr bie in 1244 .Figur es vary and are not altogethe rreliable, but it would appea r that thistotalled 6,00 0men includi ng,according to theEst oired'Eracle s, 600 knight s fro m Acre ,Jaffa,Antioch-T ripcli,Cyprus,and theMilit ar yOrde rs of Temple, Hospital,Teutonic Knight s andSt Lazarus, One chronicler, Salimbene, saysthatCyprus and Antioch-Tripolilost as many as 300 knight s each, whichis almos tcertainly an exaggerat ion. However,thecasua ltiessuffered by the Milit aryOrde rswou ld tendto suggestthat the Eraclcs'600, ifitis an accuratefigure, refe rs only tolay knights. ThePat riarch ofJerusalem wrote a let terrepo rting theloss of312Te mpla r breth ren and324Turcopoles in theiremploy , 325Ilospital1er bret hre n and200Turcopolc s,29 7 out ofan improbable300 Teutonic Knights,and the totaldestruct io n of thela zarcontingent. Fred erick11 rece ived reports Ihat theHospitatlerslost 200 breth ren and the Templars 300,perhaps theirwholeCon vent,whileMatt hew Parisreco rdsthatthese 2Orderstoget her muste red500bret hren for thebattle.(In all thesefiguresnodifferentiat ion is madebetween brothe r knigh tsand brothersergea nrs.) Allin all the inferenceis tha t therewereabout 1,000-1,200 knights in total,possibly more,wit h probab ly abo ut half sup pliedby theMilitaryOrders.
THEMILITARYORDER S
Thesewerewith o ut doubt themost importantsourceof tro o ps in the crusader states,continge ntsof Templa rs andfor lIospitall ers appeari ngineveryarmymustered bytheking of Jerusalemfro mthemid
-12thcent uryon wa rds, Their military services,however,werenot obligatory, the greatOrders ofTe mple, Hospit aland Teuto nic Knights beinganswe rable directly- andonly - to thePope(the y evendrew up the ir own treat iesand alliances inde pe ndentl yof the crown,ofte nmotiva tedby financialco nsid erations), and theking ofte n fe lt obliged toencouragetheir military assista nce by promisingextra-largesharesof the spoils,orother allurements;in 1220, forexa mple,JohndeBrienneprom isedtheTeutoni cKnight s ha lfthe plunde r of Damictta.R.C.Small,howeve r,remarksinhis 'Crusad ingWarfare 'that thepresence of Milit aryOrdercon t ingents'cost the feudalrulers full military comman dof theirforcesinthefield.' Theheavyre liancewhich the kingwas obliged to placeon thesetroo pseffectively inc reased the power and indepen denceof theOrders, whichthe grantingoffortresses forthe irdefenceagainst Mosle m incursio ns (sta rting with Gibelinor Bet hgeblin nea rAscalo n,grant ed totheIfospitalle rsin 1136) did muchto encourage;atone stage theTempl arsheldsome18 fortressesin thecrusa de rsta tes, while Dr. Jonat ha n Rile y-Smith estima tes thatthe Hospit allerspro bably held25 fo rtressesin1180 and29
in 1244.(Itshould be noted,howev er,that none of thesmaller Ord ersheldfortresses,with the possible
excep tionof one to wer hel d by the Laza rsat Betha n y.) large frontieresta tes were also pu rchased from
lord sno longe rableto mainlai nordefen d them,and evensome to wns, such as Safed,Tort osaand Ascal on,cam e in to their possession. TheOrd e rswerealso ent rus ted with thedefence of some royal
fort ressesandassisted in thedefence of others,
In add it ionto theirterrit ori alpos sessions in theEas tthey alsoreceivedestates from large numbers of
benefac torsthro ughou tEurope ,inEngla nd,Irel and, Scotla nd , France,Spain,Port ugal, Italy,Sicily,
Germa ny,Sca nd inavia ,Hu ngary and laterGreece andCyprus, Matthe wParisest ima ting the propertyof theHospitalinthemid-fJt hcenturyat 19,0 00 manors,andoftheTe m pleat9,000 ma no rs.Itwas from their European commanderiesthat th e ConventsofOutrem er dre w th eirre in fo rcem e nts in tim es of grea t need, suc hasafter thedisast er of lIatt in in 1187 and thefall of thekey Hosp it allerfortressofArsouf in 1265.Theco m m andery wascom mo n tothe organ isatio nof all theOrd ers,comprisinga unitofbrother
knigh tsandbro t hersergea nts (usually 12 or mor e bret hre n)underan offic ercalled aco mm and er
(I'£leger orlIausko mt u r inthecaseof theTeuto n icKnight s, Come ndudo rein the case ofMontjole and
the SpanishOrde rs).TheTemple and Ho sp it alhad 14and 12com manderiesrespect ivel y in Syria,plus
ot he rsin Cilid a andCy prus,inaddition to fortressgarrisons. The Hosptt alle rs
The Ilo sp itallers wereso nam ed because of the ir original founda tion c. 10 70 as anursing brethren for pilgrims inthemonastery hospita lofSt Mary ofth elal in inJerusalem . They wer egranted Pa pal
prot ectionin1113 astheOrderoftheHo sp it alof St Jo hn .Th enu rsing role oftheOrderpred o minat ed at firstand remain ed im po rt a nt thr oughoutthisera (t he 750 wounded fromtheBail ie ofMon t gisard in
1177 ,for instance, wer e treated at theHo sp it alin Jeru sal em ).
Thoughthey were fairly certainly inexiste nceearlier(possiblyasearly as 1I26, whena Constable is
recorded,or 1136,when the Ord er wasgran ted thefortress ofGibehn) a brotherknight doe snot occu r inan yHos pitalle rdocum en tuntil 1148,and prior to the mid-12thcen tu ry it isprobabletha t the majorit y
ofwh at eve r armed fo rces it mainta inedweresupp lied by mer cenaries - possiblyeven includi ngTem pla rs.
Th er eaft er theirmilit a ry respon sib iliti es stead ily incr eased,andst at u tes of 1204- 1206ind icat e that the Order'sorga nisa t ion was by then based onitsmilit ary brethren ,both knightsand sergea nts.
Th eir militaryhierarchy,pro bablybasedon tha tofthe moremilitarist icTcm plars,was heade d bythe Marsh al,thoug hth eMast er had sup re mecom ma nd, TheMarshal only first appearsin the I 160sth ough
as alreadymentioned aConstableisrecorde d asea rlyas1126andlasted until at least 116 9,probabl y
astheMarsha l'slieu tena nt.Immedia tely benea th theMarsh alcamethe Gonfanonier{theOrder ' s
stan da rd-beare r),the Comma nde rof theKnight s,and theMaster Esqu ireof theConvent. Of thesethe
Comman de r, firstrecordedin 12 20,was an office r appointed by theMarshalto lead a force in his
absence ,while theMast erEsquirewas a bro thersergeant responsiblefor all the esquiresandgrooms. Three other knownofficers were mercena ries - theTurcopolier,theMaster Cro ssb cw m an and the Master Sergea nt, Th eTu rco polier,a bro th er sergea nt by 1248andabrot her knight after 1303,was com m and er oftheTu rcop ol e light cavalryem plo yed by theOrder, Turcopolesareregularl y ref erred10 in theservice of the Hos pitallers,as intheinvasionof Egyptin 116 8,attheBailie of Arsoufin 119 1, and at LaFor bie in 1244;by 1206 they wereeven being assignedto the retinues ofthese nior
Ho spitaller officers.
The brethren-a t-a rmsof the Orderconsist edof kn ights and sergean ts(thelatte rou tnum bered by th e
former), tho ug h this dist inction only firstappears in docu mentsin 1206 ,At thisdateeachbrothe r
knigh t was accompaniedby 4horsesand probably 2esquires, while eac hbrothersergea nt hadonly2
ho rses andasingle esquire(inallth eMilit ar yOrdersthe esquireswere drawnfro mamongst the serving breth ren ), At theendof Ihe 13thce nt urythe knight'scomplementofho rseswas reduced to3.
Brother sergea ntsof both Hospit a l and Te mple include dconvertedArabs.
Aswell as theTurco pol esmentio ned aboveaddi tionaltroopsof theOrderwere supplied by confratre
orcom re rcknightsand Donats(non-brethren affiliat ed 10orperm itted to join theOrd er fo r a limited
periodof time under speci alcond itions,suchas adon at io n ofpro perty);feud alvassals from th eOrd er's
est a tes;alliedcon tinge nts(somet imesincludi ngMoslems);and mercenaryknights, se rgea nts and
infan t ry. Unfor t u natelycon temporarychronicle rs tendednottodist in gu ishbet wee ntheactual
brethren-at-armsand these variousty pes ofauxiljary",soit isha rd tojudgewith any accuracy exactly what the full-st rengt hoftheOrder in Outremermight have been.But there arefigu resavailable in the sourceswhich at least givean idea of the Orde r'spote ntial.
The earlies t largeforcerecorded,in116 8.consist ed of50 0 knig h tsand 500Turco p olespromisedto KingAma lrieIfor his invasionof Egyptand proba blyco mprisedchieflyofmercenaries(orso we can assume ho rn theIactthatthe Mas ter. Gilbert d·Assailly .raised huge loanstofinancethis force). though4 years earlier.in 1163.avisit or toJerusale mwro t etha t theHospit a l wascapable ofhousing 400 knigh tsin addition topilgrimsand the sick.During the Fifth Crusadeof 1217· 12 2 1 the Order appears to have provid ed700 knigh ts (or.more probably. horsemen.thereforeincl ud ingTurcopoles, sergean tsand mercenaries) an d 1.000'persons",pre sum abl y other soldiers,whilefor anattack on Harna h in 1233 a force of 100 knights.300mo unt ed sergean ts and 500 (or 1.50 0 )infan t rysergea nt swas must er ed .andthisapp ear sto have represent edalmost thefullstrengthofth eConvent of Antiochat this time. In124 4 20 Q.325 Ho spitallcrbret hrenwer e killed at theBattleof La Forbie,while5. 15 or 26escaped andothers wer etak en capti ve.suggesti ng an overa ll totalwellin exc ess of 350 ;200 lIo spitallerTurcopole swere also killed,while in add ition thetotalof350 may haveinclud ed ot he r auxiliarics such as mercen aries. Mo sl ofthe Convent's bret h ren-a t-ar msappearto have been lostwhen Arso uf fellin 126 5 ,80·<)0being killed and 180 capture d(ofa garrison totallingab o ut 1.000 men), and a furt her45bre thre nwer ekilled at Car ou blierthe follo wing year .In 128 1wehea r of50 knightsand 50 Turcopolcsbeingsent into Cihcla.
Garr ison st re ngths whererecorded arc often considerablylarger,thoughthesewerecertainly largely mercenary. In1203theHosp itall ergarrison s ofKrak desChevali ersandal-Marqah togethermustered an army of 4·500 cavalry and 1.1OQ.I ,400 in fan t ry. plusTurcopoles,while in 1212 the same two fo rt resses arcre corded tohavebeengarrison ed by 2.0 00and 1,0 00men res pective lyeven in peacetime. By 1271 KrakdesChevalier swasheld by 100 brethren, bothknigh tsandsergeants,unde r the Marshal,and al.Marqab in 118 0 by600 horse men (o bviouslynot all brethren) ,presum abl y su p ple me nte d by in fan try in bot hinstances. Bar lIe braeusreco rdsmoreIhan 100cavalryand 500in fant ryat al-Marqab atthe same da te. while in 118 1 :!OOcavalryand 200 infantryarcrecorded inasortie againstthe Mamluks : bu t inallthese figuresonl yabou t15-6 0 wouldhavebeenbrotherkn ights.
Perhapsthemo strelia blepiece ofevidencefor the tot alstrengt hof theHospitalle rs in Octremeris a Iet ter writt enin 1268by the Mast er HughRevel,in which it is speci ficallysl ated that by th at datethe Ord er coul dmuste ron ly30 0 brotherkn ightsinthewhole of Syria (Le. incl ud ing the Conventsof Antioch andTripoli ).Even more in teresting isanotherstatemen tin the same lett erwher eit isclaimed that in the
pa~ttheOrderhad been ab le to must er 10,000 men.which incl ud ing vassals.Tur eopoles, merce nari es, serving brethre n.etc. , isnot alto get he r imp ossibl e .
Foll ow in gthefallofAcrein12 91theHospi t allcrs remo ved their headq uart ersto Cypru s.and in 130 1 the stre ngthof theirConvent onthe island totalled70bro t he r knig h ts an d 10broth e rsergea n ts, though thepro port ion cha ngedsligh t lyin 13 0 2to65 knights and 15 sergeants; in additi on theywere still augment ed by Turcopolcsand othe rau x ilia ries.
Once established inCyp rus itbecam e obvious that to maintai n theirst ruggle against the Moslemsthe On.k rwasgoin g10 have10 henceforth concent ra teon navaloperations, and it wasas a maritime power tha ttheHospu allers weretoearn theirfame in the later Mid dleAges.Theyhad shipseven in the 12t h cent urybut thesewerechieflytransports. and it wasno tuntil towa rds the cndof the13th cen tury that they firstbega n to concentrate onbu ild ing up th eirFleet of war-galley s.As early as 1300theirsmall fleet launch ed a naval atta ck on the Nile delta .
In 1310theOrder again shi fte d it sheadquart ers. thistimeto theisland of Rho d es (ca ptu re dfrom the Byzantincs in aseriesof cam paigns wh ic hhad commence din 130 6 ).wher e in1311itwasde clar ed tbar the Order needed to main tain 1,000 infan t ry and 500 cavalry for the islan d's future defen ce.
• Some indication(Ifprope rnon smay"os~l bl ybegiven bytheTempjar garrisonofSafed,record ed e. 124) 10have consiste dof SO broth er knights. 30broth elsergeants,SOTur ccpole s, 300 crcebo....men.820 esquires.
...-orkmen and olhe rstlarllelynatives ) and400 staves.
The Templars
Unlike theHospitalle rs,or for that mattertheTeutonic Knights,t heTempla rswerefro mthe outse ta purelymilitaryOrder,In facttheltospit allers' military organisationwasto agrea texte ntbased upon the milit ary institutio nsoftheTemple,and it is even posslhlethatin the first half ofthe 12t hcentury the Hospit alactuallyemployed Templar knightstoful fil certa inmilit ary fun c t ions.
Theaggressiveness, belligerenceand militar yimportance oftheTcmplurs , 't he ne wMaccabees',iswell documentedbycontempo rariessuc h asJacquesde Vit ry,who wrotec. 1225tha t 'Whe ntheTempters werecalledtoarm stheydidnotask howmanytheenem ywere,onlywhe rethey were'.OnC' kingof Jer usalemeve nwro t eto Europe of theTempla rs that 'inthem indeed, afterGod,is placed the enlire relia nce ofallinthe East,' andeventheByzan tine chro nicler Cinnamusbelieved that 't hemanin co mmand of(all)the knigh ts inPa lestine' washe'whomthe Latins callthe Masterof theTemple.' TheOrder's origins, however,werehumble.It wasinit ially foundedinPalestineinabout 1118bytwo French knights,HughdePayens andGodfrcydeSt Omer,fo rtheprotect ionof pilgrimsonIIll.'road fro m Ja ffatoJerusale m.At firstits handfulofknights,9in number,relied on giftsandcast-offsfor the irclothesand keep,beingcalledthePoorKnights of Ch ristasaresult.but KingBald win11,suitably impressed by theirdevo tion, verysoo ngra nted them lodgingin a sectionof theroyalpalace of Jerusale mwhichwas suppose d tohave heenthe siteofthe Temple ofSolomon:hencetheOrd er's fulltitle, the Poor Knights ofChristandtheTemple of Solom on .Theywere granted Papalprote ction as aMilitaryOrder in 1128.
Milit a ry co mma nd wasbasically asperthatdescribed abovefor theHospnallcrs,officersincludi ngthe Marshal, Commanderof theKnight s, Gonfa nonier, Master Esquire,Turcopolier and others(there was apparently aTurcopolierineachcomma ndery) .likewiseinadd ition to brethren theirforcesincluded Turcopoles,vassals, merce naries andallies(so met imesSarace ns) - theTemp ter ga rriso nof Safe dhas already been cited asa possible indicationof propor tio ns.Thepropor tionofTurc o polcswould appear tohavebeensimilartothose oftheHospitallers,basicallyon alevelwiththe numberof breth ren;fo r exampleutLa For biein 1244 ,wheretheTempla rsmay have[0 '11asma nyas 312bret hren,they alsolost
324 Turcopoles.Foot-sold iersin the Order's employ were apparentlyorganised inco mpanies of 50 men - Moslemsourcesrecord 15 suc hinfa ntrycompa niesinthe garrisonofLeChastc uct.
Bret h renagainco nsisted ofknightsandsergeants(thelat ter existing at leastas earlyas 1147).The distinctionbetwee n themwasalmostinevitablymo renoticeablethan amongstthelessmilitaristic Hospltallers,andby 1250 aninitiateseekingent ryinto theOrderasabrotherknighthadfirst10 provethat hewasthe so nordescen dant of a knight,a qualificatio n like wise requ este d by the lIospilallers andthe Span ishOrde rswithin thenext twodecades.
Again,lh e fullstrengt hof theOrderin Dut reme risun knownandcanonlybe surmised from the various referenceswhichareto be fo undsca tteredamo ngstconte mporarysources.
In 115 2 alet te r record sthat theOrder could'onlygather120knightsand 1,0 0 0servingbrethrenand hiredsold ters' tcfight inAntioch,whileinthe kingdo mofJerusale mas early as 115 785-88Templa rs werecaptured and allegedl y 300 killedin anengageme ntwith Nur ed-Din,thesefigur espossibl y includingvarious auxiliaries.ConverselyatMo ntglsard in 1177 therewere asfewas80 brethrenpresent. despitethe Con venthavingsummo ne d allitsavailableknightsfor this ca mpaign; the figurewould seem toindic ate that theTemplars' fullstrength hadnot assembledbefore thearmymarched,
particularlysinceatabout thesame daleWiIliamofTy rerecordsthat'thereare in theOrde rabout 300 knigh ts.. .and analmostco untlessnumberof lesserbrethren.' Inthedisastro us yearof 118 7 wehea r of90Tempte rs beingkilledin theskir mishat Cresscn andafurther260 (perhapsinclud ingsome Hospitallers)at Hut t in,fro m which anumberofothers escaped, whichwo uldimplythat the irtotal st rength<Itthelatter bailiewasin theregion of 300, asopposed toperhapsabout250 Hospitallers. During theTem plar occupat ionofCyprus afewyears la ter,in 1191 .119 2, wehear ofabout 120 Templarcavalry.plusinfant ry,being shippedto theisland; ofthe horsemen 15wereknights, 74 were sergeantsand29 wereprobab lyTurco poles.
In the early-13thcent uryJacq uesdeVitry recordsthatthemainlandConve ntst illcomprisedabo ut 300 brotherknights(supple mented by the usualauxiliaries).Anot her source ofsimilardate records
theirstablesinJeru salem holdingup to2,0 00 horseswhich ,allowingforthose ofmercenaries and
auxiliariesaswellas spare mou nts,etc.(Tern p larknightsbeingaccompa nied by2horses,aswellas 2 esquires) , seemstosup portdeVitry'sfigu re,Thegarrisons offrontierfortresseswere aslargeor even la rge r;whenCastle Jaco b(leChastellet)fell in 1179itsTemplargarrisonap pearstohave comprised 80 knights(andsergeants?)and750infantry plusservan tsand crafts men,whilein I230 thegarrisonof To rto sa,to gether withthelIospit allersof KrakdesChevaliers,raisedasmanyas500cavalryand 2,700 infa ntry, ofwho matleast 20 0cavalryand about 1,000infan try wer e pro bably sup pliedby theTemplars.
Ananonymo us13th cent ury sourc e recordsthe garrisonofSa fedas 1,70 0 men inpeacet imeand 2,200
in timeofwar.
Aswit htheHospitalle rs,theTem pletooappea rsto havesup plied 700'k n igh ts' and 2,0 00others during theFift hCrusade,probablychieflymer cenary,while atDarbsaq in 12 37 100 brethren and30 0
crossb o wmen- apparently inthe emplo y of the Order- are reported tohavebeen killed(at thisdate theremay havebeen in allabout 200brethreninthePrinci pality ofAntioch). Asalre ad ymentioned,3I2
brethr e nwerekilledat laPorbie in 1244 and4-36more escaped, thoughMatt hew Parisrecordsthat the
wholeConvent (thefigureof300 brother knightsagain appea rs)waslost;6yearslaterin 125 0 more
than280Templars,probabl yincludingafairnumb erofmercenaries,wer e killed inthe mainbaitleatEl Man sura h, ot hers beingkilledorcapt u red inearlierandsu bseq uentengageme nts. Finallytherewer e perhaps240 at thefallofAcrein 1291, com pa red topo ssib ly 140 Hospitallers,only ISTeu tonicKnigh ts, and25 breth ren and 9 bret hrenrespectivelyfrom theOrde rsofthe Hospitals ofSt Lazarusand
StThom asAeon.
Afterthelo ss of thekingdo m theTem plars con tinuedtohold asingleoffshorestrongholdat Ru ad, off Tortosa , until 1303whe n theMamluksfinallycaptu redth efort ressandexecu t editsgarr ison. Before thentheOrderhad withd rawnitsheadq uarte rsfirst toCyprus, then to France.Withi nafewyearsof thistheOrdercam e toan igno miniousend, Itsgreat wealthhad rousedthejealousyof the ava ricio us kingofFrance.PhiliptheFair,who withPapalsu pport , trum ping-up chargesof heresyand worse. instigatedthearrestofth eOrd er'smemb ers onanin ternatio nalscalein 1307-1308 .Following aseries of prejudic edtrialsbackedupby 'confessio ns' extracted undertort u retheOrder wasoffi cially su ppresse d in 1312, the last Grand Master,Jacquesde Molay,being bu rn tat th estake asa hereticin 1314.
TheTeutonic Knillh lS
TheTeu tonic Knigh ts,thirdofthegreat Military Orders ,oweditsgreatness no t toitsact ivitiesin Outremerbutrather toitsnotorio us,eveninfam o us,campa ignsagainst Prussla,Lithu an ia an d Poland,
theearlystagesofwhich have bee n brieflyout linedin 'Arm iesofFeuda lEu rope'.
TheOrder wasfounded in1190 du ringtheThird Crusade when merchant s ofBre menand Liibeck
esta blisheda ho spita lforthe care ofGe rm an pilgrimsatthe siege of Acre, Itturned military in I19 8 whensomeGerma nknight s jo ined fo llowingtheabo rtiv eGerman cr usade of 1197. TheOrd er ,under thefull title oftheTeuton icKn ights oftheHo spitalofSt Mary ofJerusalem,wasalwaysexclusively Germ anand,exceptfor Ro mania,theBalticlan dsand (briefly )Hu ngary, out side ofOutremerheld
estatesonly in Germa nyitself.
Offici allytheOrder'shead q uarte rswasalwa ysat Acre,despite the factthattheTem p larsdrovethem
outof the cityonone occasion,buttheirchiefst rongholdfro m 12 29 unt il 1271 wasactuallyMontfcrt (whic h they renamed Starken berg). However,theOrderwasalwa ys oversh adowedinSyriaby the
Tem pleand Hospital,and itinst eadconcentrated mostofits atten tio nsintheLevan ton enterprisesin Cilicia,wherethemain fort ressesamongstits many possessionswereAmo uda and Har uniy e.Evenso,
Te utonic con tinge ntswere presen tat most majorengage me ntsofthe 13t hcent ury inclu d ing Bahr
Ashmun (1n l ),LaForbie (]244) and ElMansurah(125 0).ISbret hren werepresen tat the fallof Acre in 1291,of whomonlytheHochm eister(theGran d Master)escapedalive.TheOrderthereaft er
transferred itshea d quarters toVenice,mov in g on toMari enburg inPrussia in 1308.
like theTemplarsand Hospit alle rs,theTeutonicKnigh tsemployedlarge numbers of Tu rcopoles (pro b abl y supplying the bulkof theallegedly 300 -strongTeuto nic contingent atLa Fcrbie andcertainly
comprisingthegreatest part of Starke nb erg'sgarrison atitsfallin127 1)and alsohad bro thersergea n ts, confrere bre th ren(calledHalb bru ders],mercenaries ,andthevassals of its estates(theOrd erheld,fo r inst ance,the Seigno ryof Cou ntJo scely n afte r12 20 ).
St Lazarus
Aft ertheTem pleandthe Hospitalth e Orderof St Lazaruswasthe thirdMilit ary Order tobe
est ablishedin Outremer. Lik eth etwo mainOrdersit hadcommanderi esin Europ e(e.g.BurtonLazars
inLeicestersh ire)aswell asSyr ia.
Thiswasbasically aHospit alOrderconcentratingonthetreatmentof le prosy and waspro b abl y established asan offs hoo t by theHospitallers themselvesintheearfy-Lf t hcentury, tu rningmilita ry c. 112 3.Te m plar breth renwhoco n tractedleprosywere tra nsferr ed to theLazars,asprobab lywer e
llospit alle rs.As well asth eseuncleanbret hrenthere were also non-lepers,but the numberof milit ary bre t h renwasneverpart iculary high and Jea nSire deJoinville's stat e me n t abo ut the MasterofStLa zarus 'whoheldno rankinthearmy' bestsu msuptheirmilitary im port ance.Nevertheless a continge ntof Lazar bre th ren waspresen t,and wiped out ,atLa Forbie,while in 125 3 theyforme d part ofthe army unde r St Lou iswhichencam ped beforeJaffa,animpetuousattack led bytheLazar Mast er seeing allbu t 4of thebrethre nkilled.In129125 brethren werepresentatAcre, all ofwhom were killed .
TheOrder basically ce ased to involveitself in military activitiesfrom the early-La thcent u ry. St ThomasAeon
TheHos pit alle rsofStTho mas of Canterb ury atAcre,usu ally calle d the Knightsof St Tho masAeon, were establis hed in Acre asanu rsing Order after the cap t ureof thecityby Richard1ofEngland and Philip11of Francein 1191. Mem b ershipwasrestrict edtoEnglishmen.It wasalway s a small Order and probably did no t turnmilitaryuntiltheFifth Crusade of 121 7-1221.
The9 brethren presen t and killed atAcre in 1291arean indicat ion of theirmilit ary pote ntia l.Evenwith mercenaries and Turcop olesit isim p roba ble tha tthey evermustered even40 men in Out remer. After the fall of AcretheOrd er established a preceptory inCyprusan d thereafterunderw ent agradu almilitar y decl ine;no bro ther knights arerecordedafter 1357.
Monljoie
Nam ed aftera castl e ou tsideJerusalem thisSpan ish Ord er,estab lishe dbyan ex-Santiagan knight c. 1180,did no tprosper inOutremer, withdrawingtoitscom ma nde riesin Aragon after the defeat at
Ha ttinin 118 7 ,where a smallco ntingent ofbrethren waspresent. In Spain theybeca me knownasthe OrderofTrufac,
ROMANIA;THELATIN EMPIRE
After thefallofCons tantinople in 1204theFra nksdivided up theBy zanti ne Empireamong st them-selves,theLat in Emperor(yetanother Baldwin)receiving one-qu arter and theVe net ian and Frankish crusaderstherema in ing three-quart ers,prob ably three-eighths each. These la nds werethen divided up and par celled outin grou psof200. lOO,70, 60 , 40 , 20, 10, 7 or6 knights'fee s each ,10 bedist rib u ted bythe vassals amongst theirret ain ers.Thegreater vassalseachrece ived thei r Ile fs in2parts- one withinthe Emperor's ownlandsnearConstant in ople,and theotherin theprovinces.
The bas isof militaryservice,drawn up in 120 5 ,wasthat when theEmperor and his sen ior Venetianand Frankishvassalsdecid ed thata cam paignwasnecessar y all knight s- ven enansaswellasFran ks- wer e automatica lly oblige dto serve for aperiod of4 mon ths,from June I to Sep te mber 29. In thecaseof invasionthis service couldbe required foraslongastheEmperorand nobili t ydee med nece ssary.
Bu tof all theFra nkishconques tswhich resultedfro m the Fourth Crusa de , precise detai lsof organisatio nare knownfor onlyone of the statesther eb y esta blished with in theold Byzan tin e territories- thePrincipa lityofAchaia ,alsoknown asxto rea.
Aswith allother Frankishconq ues tsin theEast , organ isatio ninvolvedthe application tothe conquered territoriesofcu rrent feudal pract ices.ThePr incipality of Achaiawasno excep tion.being divided up into 12Baro nies with esta tesvarying fro m 4 knights' feesright upto 24(chiefly in mult iples of4), with manylesserest atesofonefee orahalf-fee each ,someheld byGreeks. Therewerealso 7
eccle siasticalBaro nies.6.of4 feesheldbyBisho psandone,Ach aia itself,of8 feesheld by anArchb ishop, aswellas 3 estates belo ngingtotheMilitaryOrderswith Temp la rs,Hospit alle rsandTeutonicKnights hold ing4feeseach .
The servicefromthelarger estateswasbasedon theholdingof4 fees, which was obligedtosupply 14 horsemenconsistingof thevassal [i.e. the Ban neret).asecond knight,and12sergea nts. Estatesover 4feeshad tosu pply anextraknight or 2sergeantsfor each addi tio nalfee.In thecase ofa singlefeeor
half-fee the vassal(knigh torsergeantrespectively)served aloneand inperson.Asin thekin gdom of Jerusalem allvassals were expectedto serveinperson uptotheageof60 ,afterwhichasonor tenant mightsuhsntu te.
Inaddit io n to the standa rd4mo nt hs' service garrisonduty wasrequired for afu rt her4 mo nthsayea r (though theChurchand MilitaryOrde rswere exempt from the latter]. Evenintheremaining4months
oftheyeartheremight heafurt hersummonsfrom thePrince if theneed shouldarise.This service couldalsobedemanded overseas ;PrinceWilliamwas certainly accompanied by400 Achaia n knightsin Cyprus in1249andinItalyin 126 8.
Thispermilled the maintenanceofanalmost permanent feudal army, and thenumberof troop sthat
could bethus su mmoned wasquiteco nsiderable:atBodonitsa in 1250 Williamwasaccompanied by 80 0 knights,and up to 1,00 0are recordedonotheroccasions,theseprobably representing thefull feudalmuste r.Asmanyas8,00 0 Achaiansarcrecordedin acampaignof 1246 , whileat Pelagonia ther ewereallegedly 12,000 infan t ry in ad ditio ntoanImp robable8,000 horseme n(ofwho m in any
case very few wouldhave actu ally been knights).
Th rou ghouttheEmpireauxiliary troo pswer e suppliedbythe indigeno uspopulation,bot hGreeksand Slavs:inAchaiathelatterwer eprincipallyfrom the Pelopon nesianMelingitribe, st ill favouredby the Catala nsinthe 14thcentury.Anarmy raised in theDuchyofAthensin 13 04con tained asmany as 6.000ThessalianandBulgarcavalry · und er 18 Gree k nohles(possiblyorganised inAl1aghia- see Byzantin eorga nisation), plus some30 ,000 mixed inf antry, chieflyGreek s and Slavs;up to 24 ,00 0 Greek infant ry are recordedin theAthenianarmyat Kephisso sin1311,The Slavsusuallysuppliedarchersand
spea rmen.and the seare certainlythety pes speci ficallymentioned inanAchaianarmyof 1296. Man ysuchtroopsweresup plied to theFrank isharmybyByzantine Archontes(no blemen ) whothe
Franks had confirmedintheir possessions, probably Pronolai(see By zantineorganisation).The contingentsthey provided wereprobablythesame as theyhad heenobliged to supply tothe Byza ntine
armyin pre-Conqucstdays somust haveva riedconsidera blyin numbers. but inoneinstance in1205
acert ainTheodo reBranasagreed tosupply asmany as500 men.Infactthe casewith whichmany By zuminesand Byzantine su bjectsshittedtheirloyalty from By zantine10Frankishruleisnoteworth y,
for wit hout suchobvio usdisa ffect io non their par t itisunlikelythat theseFrankish conq ues tswould havelastedforaslongastheydidoreven .perhaps.havesucceeded utall.Bu tthediscont en t wasthere and trprovedavery realallyoftheFranks ;the incorpo rationintohisarmyin 1211of Nicaea n prisoners-of-warund ertheirown officershy thesecondLatin Em pero r,Henry ofFlan ders,iswith out
dou btfar from being an isolatedIncid
e
nt,and such troopsclearly helped to com pensa te forIhe constant and ofte ncrit icalshortage of manpowerinFrankishGreeceand Romania.(However,it wasnot longbefore thegreed and generalcruelly of the Frank stu rnedthenative population againstthem.) Otherauxiliari es includ edTurksand Cumans,thelatterto be foundin alliancewith theEm pirefrom
[239;therewer eappa rently Cu manspresen tin the Achaia narmydef eatedat Pelagoniain 1259.Some Turks settledinAchaiaafter 1262andsome wereeven knightedand grantedIie fs!After the ascen tof
Charles ofAnjou 10theAchaian throne in12 78 the rewas a marked increaseintheuse ofTu rkishand Bulgarauxiliaries,and inadd itio n Sarucenarchers wer eimpo rte dfrom hisSicilian kingdom toserve
principallyas 6a rrisontroops.
Fran kishmercenaries werealsoem ployedquit eoften.an arm yofallegedl y 60, 0 00reco rdedunder
EmperorBaldwinIIin 12 39con tainingFrench men,ve net tan sand Franks of various othernation alit ies inaddition toGreeks.Moslems and Cumans. Ifthisarmyreall y was 60, 000st ro ng the n itishardly
surprisingto findtha tit consistedalmostentirely of fo reignmercenariesand au xiliaries. Romanian
armies were ingeneralridiculously small; Hen ryhadonly 2,000 me nat I'hilippo polis in 1208 (ofwho m one-sixt hwereGree ks).and asfewas260knights (plus sergeantsandinfant ry,presu mahly) at Lake
•Uu1~ r mercenaries:lho frequentlyappearedinCypru~duringme14th century.
Apol1oniain 1211,tho ughin 1206hehadraisedasomewhatlargerfeudal armyof 600 knightsin addit io nto 10,0 00 inf antry.
Although FrankishGreecelasteduntillongaftertheclose ofthisperiod theLat inEmpir e ofRomania itself survivedonlyuntil 1261,whenConstantinoplefell totheNicacan Byzantines(it wou ld appear that theestablishmentin 1260 of a full-time,regu larly-paid garriso nof 1,000 men for the citycould have met withlittlesuccess').Thereaft ertitularLatin Emp ero rsdrift edaboutEurop einseachof military aidfor thereconquest of 'their' Empire. In1267,for inst a nce,Charles ofAnjoupromised to provide thetitula rEmperor Bald win11 with2,000knights fo r a year' s service towa rdsthe reco veryof Const an tinop le,whilebyatreat yof 1281 he andthetitular Emperor CharlesdeCo urte naywere to provide8,0 00 knightsforanot herexpedit ionplannedfor 1283, to which Venicepromisedto contribute 40ormoregalle ys.Grad ually, how ever, the conce ptofeven atit ular Latin Em perorfalteredand died.
SYR IAAND ANATOLlA:THESELJUK TURKS
Under SultanAlpArslan and hissonand successo rMallk ShahtheSeljuksruleda vast territory stretching fromAnatolia asfar eastasKhwarizmia andAfghanistan,north to theCau casusandtheAral Sea,and southtoSy ria,theRed SeaandthePersian Gulf,and although thisgreat Empire began to break up into
apletho ra of lesserstates towardstheend of the II thcentury theEastern SeljukSulta nsretained supremacy- albeit inmanyinstancesonly nominal- untilthedeat h in 1157 of Sanjar,thelastgreat Sultan,afterwhichtheremnants of the once greatSulta natecollapsedentirely.
Even prior tothatdate theSulta n's influenceinSyria had declined conside rably:Transoxlana, conq ue redin 1073 ,hadfallenin 114 1 to theQarakhitai;andtheSultanate ofMervhad begunto collapseintototalanarchyas aresultof aseriesof revo lts byGh uzz(Turcoman) tribes after 115 3. In1194 theSulta nate ofHamadanfelltotheKhwarizmians,leavingtheSultanate of RuminAnatolia (co nq ueredinthe yearsafter Manzikert] asthe only remaining majorSeljukstate, since theSyrian Seljuk provinces,long-sinceautonom ou s,had by thattime passedtotheAyy ub id Sultana te of Egypt.
It isthesewest ern Scljukst ates, ofRum andSyria, whichareourconcernhere, since theint erestsof theothermajorSeljuk pow erswerealwaysinthe East andso technically lie beyo nd thesco peofthis book.
The strengt hof all Turkisharmies layin thei rbow-armedcavalry,back edbysmaller numbers ofheavy but otherwise similarly armed horsem en. Infantr y wereprovid edchieflyby volunteer town militias, calledAhd ath- literally 'Yo ungmen ' - inSy ria (of t enbased on theFutuwwah, quasi-politicalfactions,
andcomparabletothe 'Ayy arunand Fit yan of Iraq),plusforeignaux iliaries (notably Daylarnis] and tribal irregula rs, thoughsometimesbetter-train ed fo ot-soldierswhomaybeprofessio nals appearin co nt em porar ysources;certainlyitseemsprobab le thatthenapt ha-throwersandcrossbowrnen recorded in the 12t h and 13thce nturiesmust have been regulars.Themilitias se rved mostfreq uent ly inthe vicinityoftheircit ies,ofte nbeingused forsiege andcam pdut ies.
Asincontempo rar y Fatimidarm ies,actual organisat ion wasbasicallydecimalwhereitexisted,based onunitsand multiples of ID, 100 and 1,000.
Iqta'at
Lackinggre atwealt h and therefo reunabletopaytheirmen incash,theSeljuksadoptedand perfect ed aquasi-feudalsystemofmilitary land tenurepreviou sly utilisedhy thei rGhaznuvidand Buyi d predecessors. Thiswastheiqta' (plu ralIqta'a t}establishedinitiallyby theBuyi ds inthemid-LOth centurywhen itwasa grant of confiscatedor uncultivat ed land. How ever,iq t a'at had remainedrare until theSeljukco nquests ofthemld-Llth century,andwereonlyfullyregu larised under Nizam al-MulkjthecelebratedvizierofAlpArsla nand Ma lik Shah,so that his claimthatprevio usrule rs had never distributedgrants ofland butpaidtheir so ldiersonly in mon eyisprob abl y areasona blyaccur ate sta teme nt. However,theiqta' could beapay me nt incash and theGhazn avidswere st illpayingtheir iq ta'atexclusivelyinmoney eve n inNlzam 'stime, sothat the pa ym entoftroopsonly in money bythe Seljuks'predecessorsproba blyind icate snomorethan that iqta'a twerepaidin cash rat herthan land. Therewere 1types of iqt a'- the qati'a and thetu'rna,the heredita rybenefice and thelifetime benefice
res pectivel y.Eitherwastransfera blefrom district todist rict,sinceunliketheFrankish fiefthe milita ry jqt a' represented not apersonalesta te but a paymentinland revenu esfo r services rendered :and since
asasoldierthehold er,thelqt a'darormuqta',might need to he post ed from oneareato another then his iqta' could likewi seI'll' transferred wit h him.The othermain differ ence from Frankish feudalism
wasthat the iq ta' darwaspermittedtolevy onlya speci fic sum (incash and/o r kind)from thepo pulace ofhis iqta' - hisactualpay- andot her than this usually had nofurtherauth ority overthem(a n
except io nbe ingthejqra'at grantedby theZeng ids).Thefactthatthe iq ta ' dar had to collect hispay persona lly at theduetimewas probablycontributo ry totheinability ofMoslemarmiestoremai n in thefield forlong periods.
The gran tingof an lq ta' involved inreturn themilit aryserviceofthelqta'd ur,whowasusuallyan anur , with a specific number of sold ie rs- usually mamlukslave-soldiers (see Egyp tiannrganisa unn] -de pen ding onthe size of the lq ra' (later,under the Ay y ubids, lq tn'atappeared inSyriawhich were spccificatlycalled iqtu'ut of 10,iq ta' utof 20, etc., the figu resreferringtothe nu mber of troopstobe supplied ).Parts ofthe Iqta' migh tevenbe granted tolower-ra n ki ng amirs bythe lq ta'd ar by aprocess
comparable to su binfeudatio n,Under theMam luks asmuchastwo-t hi rdsofeachamir'siq ta' hadtobe
dividedamongst his ownrnamlu ks aspay ,thoughundertheAy yu bids each amir received 2landgra nts,
one tthckhassalfo rhispersonal needs, the ot her (t he actualiqt a' or khubz)fo rthe mainten anceof his
troo ps.Certai nly by themid-12thcentury Seljukmamlukswere being granted theirownlands undera
similarsyste m.
'Askarisandauxnta rtes
Early Scljukarmies consistedof 2majorelements - the'askarof theSulta n,afull-timeforcepaid in cashorlqta' utandcomprisedchieflyof mamlukslave-soldiers:and theprovincialconti ngen tsof the
amirs.who had 'uskars of their own,togetherwith au xiliar ies su pplied byTurcomans, Bed ouins,
Kurdsand othe rrrtbcsmcn.Theprovincial'askarsnumber ed from afewhundredto severalthousand
depl'ndent on the silt' ofthe city ordistr ict - Damascushadan 'askurof 1,000,An tio ch ap paren tly
2,00 0andso on.Asmentionedabo ve,the'uskaris werela rgely ma mlu ksbUIcouldalsoincludefreemen, Usamah himsel f servi ngasapaid freeme n inthe 'askarsof Zengi,Damascus,Egyptand Nu red-Din tthc 'as kar is included Kurds.Armeniansand Ara bsaswellasTurks).Organisatio nwasclearly ona deci malhasis.
Inhis famous writte nwork the Siyase t-Nam e h. the SeljukvizierNizamal-Mulkreco rdsthe Sult an's
standing army toheas largeas400 ,0 00 meninthereign of Malik Shah (I07::!· 1OQ::! ), all paidwit h
iqta'at: a courtic risreputedtohavead vised tha tthis totalsho uldbe cuibackto 70,00 0since peace
theoreigned.thou gh Niaamadvo cated anincreaseinst rengthtoa total of700,000 men. Thesefigures, if credible. prob ably represe nt thetotal st ren gt hof all the'askars,both royal and provincial, over the
whole ,vast Sultan ate,espec iallysinceanot her source recordstherc yal taskarunder MalikShah onone
oc-:asio n as consisti ngof 46,000 cavalry.Befor etheaccessionofhis successo rgar k jyaruq(109::!-1105) thishad declinedto only2V,OOO.
Niaam himsel f advised thema inten anceofanelit euni tof 1,000 Hasham (G uards) fro mamo ngst the
mamluks of theSultan,which shouldbeincreased in st rengt hto 5-10, 000inwartime :theseparticular mamluks wereto be trainedfrom Daylamis. Khorasanians.Geo rgiansand youngTurcomans. Muchlater ,
towardsthe endof the 13 t hcen tury. Ibn Bibi-D uda reco rds mamluksinRum(Anatolia)as chiefl y
of Byzant ine ,Cilician,GeorgianandCnrneanextractio n,the la rgestnum ber bei ng Byzan t ineGreek sor
Cilician Armenians(themaml ukwho captured theByzantineEm per or Ro man us IVatMan zikertwas, bya twistof fat e,aByzant jnelI. Thesewereob tainedby wa r, pu rchase or gift, orrecruite dby levy within theSeljuk slate itself.
After thedeath of~lalik Shahin10Q::! andthe subsequent disint egrat ionofcentralisedSeljukpower, the secondof the afore- ment ione dele ments(theprovincial'askar sand vario us auxiliaries) assum ed the lead ingrole asthe provi ncesbecamepractically and then 10la11y indepen den t.Onlyin themid-I::!t h
century under Nured- Din.foll owing in thefoo tstepsofhisfather Zengi,werethe Syria nprovinces
fo rcibl yreunited ,Nured-Din add ing Egypt to hisdomai nsin 1169 and thereby setting the sta gefo r Satadin's riseto powerhymaking him governor, from which po sition itproved to bebut a short step 10 the Sultanate, therebysucceeding 10theSyrianprovincesand morebesides,
Priortothese events com mandof the Syrian provincial arm ies wasusuall yentrust ed to themo re powerfulamirs, freq uen t ly theamir ofMosuj. But unfort unat elythe emirsdid no t liketaking ordc rs from eac hot her and freq ue ntly thisled 10dissentionand alackof unity inSyrian arm ies: deliberate desert ion was often carried outby jealousamirsin the faceofthe enemyso astobringabout the do wnf allof par ticu larly powerful rivals.Suchdissen t;alltooco m mo n, together with the some what tribal co m positio nof Turkish armies, mean ttha t thecombinedforces ofadist rictor province could take mont hs10 must erand eventhen the amirsofte nrequired liberal bribestoguarantee theircon t in ued presenceandsuppo rt.
Both Rumi and SyrianSeljuksrelied heavilyon Turcoma n au xiliaries,and theseTu rco ma n tribesrne n -whowere fiercethough unrelia blesold iers- were thenucle usof Selju kmilitary st re ngththrougho u tthe whole ofth ispe riod .They did not re adily acceptany fo rm of authority or disciplineandserved mainly in theho pe of plund er co ming their way;if none was forthcomi ng they were mor ethan likel y10 abandon the army. Ot herwisetheir pay ofte ntook theform of ransom money taken inexchange for high-ranking prisone rshythe ir employer;sometimes when theTu rcomans indiscriminatelymassacredtheir prisoners the ythereforede prived themselvesof theirown pay!Some chieft ains were paidwithext remel y large lq tu'ut wh ichseem to havebeen intended as a substit ute forthegrazing lands essent ialtosuchnomadic herdsmen.The y foughtin tribalunitsundertheir ownstandards andchieftains.Modernest im ates haw reckonedTurco man stre ngth in Anat oliaatsome 30,000men in thelat e-llt hcen t ury, butthisfigure is clearlyfartoolow. Frank ish ch roniclers, thoughundoubtedlygoin gtotheop pos iteextre me,claim Ihat duringthe FirslCrusade the Sulta n of Rum ,Kilij Arslan I, musteredsome200·360,000cavalry, and by farthe majority ofsuc ha forcewouldhave beenTurco mans. Certainlyin Ihe early-12thcen tury it waspossib le to raise 20-50,00 0 Turco mans fro m theJazira alon e,
Oth er auxiliar ieswere principally sup pliedby Bcd oui nsand Kurds.TheKurdswer ea hill-peuple from Ihe moun tainousdist ricts ofnort h-west Iran,accord ing to Marco 1' 010 'lust yfijlht ersand lawless men,very fondof robbi ng merchants';they ofte nfeat u red inSeljuk armies(ther e were as ma nyas 10,0 00 at Manztkert} but,liketheTurco mans,lacked organisation and fought principally for 10 01so werc dishea rtenedby long or unsuccessful campaigns, Ku rds wereparticularl y promine n t inthe armies of Nur ed-Din,Saladin and otherZengid,Ort oq idandAyyubid princes,servingbot husauxiliaries andpaid 'askaris. In Rum other auxil iarieswere ofPersian,Arab andevenRussianorigin by the 13th cen tury, Fra nk ishad vent urers alsoappea red on occasio ninSyria nandAnatollanarmies(seebelow]. The Syrian army presentat Harran in 1104mayhelp togiveso meidea ofthe proport ion of auxiliaries in theirforces ;of 10,0 00 men 7,000wer eTurco ma ns,whiletheremainin g3,000 included Hednuins and Kurd s aswellas Seljuks.
Rum in the 13th cen t ury
UnderSulta ns KaiKo bad I(1220-123 7) and Kai Khcsr ou11(1237-1246) abrief revivalof Sclju k power to o k placein Anatolia,both Cilicia n Armenia andtheByzumine Empire of Trebizcnd becomingvassal st ates of the Sulta nate of Rum.Simonde StQue nti n,aFrankish visitor 10 Rum inthe124 0s,recorded that KaiKhosro u was owedtheserviceof 1,400 lancesby the Ctltcian Armeni ansfo r4 mon t hsayea r, 1,00 0lancesby theSultan of Aleppo ,40 0 lancesby the Emperorof Nicaea,and 200 lancesby theEm pe ror ofTreb tzond:thesemay have allserved for pay sinceBar lIeb raeusrecordsKaiKhosro u lak ingAleppcn c and ByzantinecavalryaswellasBe do uinsintohisarmy'fo r gold' in 124 3.Whet he r thefigures oflances arcto he takenasthe total nu m berof meninvolvedisunknown,bUIitseemsim probable: the
numbersare otherwise insignifican t lylow whenco m pared totheSultanate' s regular ma mluk units, which per hapstotalled 60,000men at thistime.
In addit ion Fran kish mer cenaries wereemployed,particularl yunder KaiKausI,Kai Ko bad Iand Kai KhosrouIl,thougheven as early as 1148 apparently 3,00 0Franks capt u red at Attaleiaduring theSecond Crusadehad takenservice with Sultan MasudI.KaiKaus even formed<Ibodyguard unit from Frank s hehadliberat ed byvictoriesover rivalMoslemchieft ains.Ther e wcre atleast 1,0 00 Fra nkishcavalry in KaiKhosro uH'sarmyat theco m mencementof hisreign andil wasprincipally thanks to 300 of them that aserio usTurco man revolt waspUIdown in 1241;in124 3 he emplo yed2,00 0 more and these were prese nt in hisarmyatKuzadugh. Thelatt ercon t inge ntconsistedchie flyof Cypnotes.Cyprus ulso owingse rvicetotheSulta nate atabou tthisdat e,but otherwise suc hmerce narieswere mainly French,Germa n and Itulian.Their co mma nd er held therankofKo ndlsta bl(Constable) bu t hewas not
