Procedures for the Settlement of Disputes between Military Orders in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries

Alan Forey
2015 Ordines Militares Colloquia Torunensia Historica  
D isputes between military orders in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries could hardly be avoided. It is not surprising that, as the possessions of the orders grew, rights over property became the most frequent source of conflict. Yet there were also other causes of discord: assaults by individual brothers, transfers from one order to another, the design of habits 1 and obligations of mutual hospitality could all occasion disputes. Claims by one order to authority over another, such as those of
more » ... the Hospital over the Teutonic Order and of the Temple and Calatrava over the order known first as Mountjoy and then as Monfragüe 2 , were a further source of dissension. Arrangements were needed to prevent or settle differences, especially as military orders -particularly the Templars and Hospitallers -were increasingly criticized for their disputes and rivalries. In some instances, attempts were made to eliminate conflict by regulating relationships between orders. Rules were, for example, drawn up to check attempted transfers from one order to another. The Templar customs allude to an agreement with the Hospital which prevented brothers of one order from entering the other 3 , and texts of several rulings made by military orders in the Iberian Peninsula on 1 On clashes between the Templars and the Teutonic order on this issue, see N. E. Morton, The Teutonic Knights in the Holy Land, 1190-1291, Woodbridge 2009, p. 57. 2 A summary of the dispute between the Hospital and the Teutonic order is provided by Morton (as n. 1), pp. 91-95; on the Temple, Calatrava and Mountjoy/Monfragüe, see A.
doi:10.12775/om.2014.002 fatcat:g7y6ur5bjfar3oqw725rk3ut24