Templar Matthew and Sultan Baibars - Blood Brothers Across the Divide

The mid-thirteenth century Crusader states operated under sustained Mamluk ("Egyptian") military pressure, with successive Templar fortresses falling between 1265 and 1271. Against this background of territorial contraction, a Latin notarial source records a sworn blood-brotherhood between a Templar preceptor and the Mamluk sultan. What does this evidence tell us of that relationship and its function within the broader framework of Mamluk-Frankish diplomacy?

The Fall of Ruad (Arwad) Island on 29 September 1302: The Last Templar Bridgehead Lost

By 1302 the Crusader enterprise in the Levant had reached its terminal phase. The Fall of Ruad (Arwad) on 29 September 1302 represented not only a military defeat, but also a symbolic and institutional turning point, particularly for the Knights Templar. The struggle over Ruad, an islet about 3 km off the Syrian coast near Tortosa, offers a concentrated case study of late Crusader strategy, the limitations of cross-cultural alliances (notably with the Mongols), and the final role of the military orders. 

The Templars amongst the other people of Outremer

When were the Orders of Hospitallers and Templars born? What was their original purpose and how did this develop. Medievalist Alain Demurger elaborates on the role of the soldiers of the Holy Land and their presence among the Crusaders, the Franks, the Christians of Outre Mer (the Orient) and the Muslims.