Day to day activities regarding Knights Templar and Knight Hospitallers would be interesting, including the support they would have had in ‘garrison’, and while on the move. How were they fed, who tended their armor and gear, their horses, etc.
Acre has fascinated me from what little I’ve seen of the tunnels…would enjoy your take on the battle and last days of this seaside fortress as the Templars were fleeing.
Hi - Thanks for that. Not far from where I live in the English county of Essex are two surviving Templar barns for wheat and barley. Not very glamorous to most people. But they are nearly eight hundred years old - and huge. They give you such a great idea of what life was like in all these commanderies across Europe where non-fighting Templar brothers and sergeants were farmers, traders, and engaged in small-scale manufacture. All this busy activity generating money for the front line. The rule book for the knights was very strict on how they looked after their armour, horses, etc. Everything had to be immaculate and no ornamentation. If a horse bridle had a twiddly design, that had to be painted over or chipped of. I went to Acre, in modern Israel, back in 2012. Fascinating place. It’s now called Akko, by the way. You can still see the long tunnel dug by the knights that connects from the great hall down to the harbour. It’s very impressive. There are more subterranean tunnels being discovered even now. The final siege of Acre, when the crusaders and Templars lost the city for the last time, must have been horrific. It’s said that the Christian upper class ladies of the city were down on the beach handing their jewellery over to fishermen to be rowed out of there. The Templars had one last go at getting it back, thinking the Mongols might help them against the Saracens, but it never happened. Acre was a big loss to the Christians because it was a fabulously wealth port. All the best!!!
Day to day activities regarding Knights Templar and Knight Hospitallers would be interesting, including the support they would have had in ‘garrison’, and while on the move. How were they fed, who tended their armor and gear, their horses, etc.
Acre has fascinated me from what little I’ve seen of the tunnels…would enjoy your take on the battle and last days of this seaside fortress as the Templars were fleeing.
Cheers from across the pond,
Galax, Virginia, US
Hi - Thanks for that. Not far from where I live in the English county of Essex are two surviving Templar barns for wheat and barley. Not very glamorous to most people. But they are nearly eight hundred years old - and huge. They give you such a great idea of what life was like in all these commanderies across Europe where non-fighting Templar brothers and sergeants were farmers, traders, and engaged in small-scale manufacture. All this busy activity generating money for the front line. The rule book for the knights was very strict on how they looked after their armour, horses, etc. Everything had to be immaculate and no ornamentation. If a horse bridle had a twiddly design, that had to be painted over or chipped of. I went to Acre, in modern Israel, back in 2012. Fascinating place. It’s now called Akko, by the way. You can still see the long tunnel dug by the knights that connects from the great hall down to the harbour. It’s very impressive. There are more subterranean tunnels being discovered even now. The final siege of Acre, when the crusaders and Templars lost the city for the last time, must have been horrific. It’s said that the Christian upper class ladies of the city were down on the beach handing their jewellery over to fishermen to be rowed out of there. The Templars had one last go at getting it back, thinking the Mongols might help them against the Saracens, but it never happened. Acre was a big loss to the Christians because it was a fabulously wealth port. All the best!!!