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.108 In this respect they represent the Church ratherthan warriors.Yet the Templar/Hospitallers excessive caution is not helpfulfor Christendom: Regnier s rash courage saves the situation at Constantinople,where Clodas brothers are about to usurp the empire, and at Rome.The authoror authors of the long version of Theséus regard Regnier as excessivelyviolent, yet clearly it is also possible to be too cautious.The message to theaudience is that Christian warriors can be too violent, yet the Church is toocautious; in order to advance Christendom, a combination of both is needed.Yet it would be odd if this author did not know that the Hospitallers of his ownday were involved in holy war against the Muslims.The German verse romance Orendal does not depict the Templars as noncombatants, but very much involved in holy war.Yet it also depicts theTemplars as lacking spiritual awareness and in courage, for they ignore thehero on his first arrival at the Holy Sepulchre and refuse to ride out with himinto battle on the grounds that he is not wearing armour while in fact he iswearing Christ s robe, whose wearer cannot be harmed.On the other hand, theTemplars are the loyal servants of Bride, queen of Jerusalem and ride out toassist their queen the moment that they see that she has ridden into battle; andthey accept Orendal as their king as soon as they realize the truth of thesituation, setting him honourably on the throne.109 Once again, they appear inconnection with a love affair, although their role is neutral rather than activelysupportive.Orendal has been variously dated to before 1170, after 1196, and the lateMiddle Ages.Certainly, its composition appears to have been linked withthe veneration of the relic of Christ s robe at Trier, which dated from 1197.However, only one manuscript of the verse romance survives, dated to 1477,as well as two later printed versions, one in prose.The simplistic style,language and storyline suggest that the poem was composed in the twelfthcentury, but this is incompatible with the appearance of the Templars, as itis hardly likely that the Order would have appeared in romances written inGermany, where the Order was not well known in the twelfth century, before itbegan to appear in epics written in France, where it was extremely well known.There are also errors in the description of the Order, such as the banner(described as green and red at 884.5 the Order s banner was in fact black and108La Chanson de Roland, ed.F.Whitehead (Oxford, 1946), lines 1876 82.109Orendal, ed.H.Steinger, Altdeutsches Textbibliothek 36 (Halle, 1935), pp.iii vi, and lines836 43, 866 70, 884 91, 1201 4, 1340 41, 1676 85, 1949 2016, 2161 86. Color profile: Generic CMYK printer profileComposite Default screenMONASTIC ROLES 75white), which indicate that the Order was no longer in existence when thisversion of the poem was written.110 In short, Orendal as it survives is afifteenth-century medieval romance which may or may not ressemble a lostearlier work.In its view of the Templars lack of spiritual awareness, it iscertainly closer to the late fourteenth-century Theséus de Cologne than to anywork written before the dissolution of the Order in 1312.The Military Orders appear in many roles in fictional literature which underline or assume the fact that they were religious orders.Although in a few laterworks they are depicted as falling short as religious warriors (as in Theséus andOrendal) or in their caring vocation (as in the fourteenth-century Renaut deMontalban), elsewhere the quality of their spirituality is not in question.Infact, in general the quality of their spirituality is not of central importance tothe story, as they hardly ever appear in roles where they are required to offerspiritual leadership.In the great majority of their appearances in literature,the Military Orders accompany the hero and give merely physical assistance,either charitable or military.110See, for instance, Geschichte der Deutschen Literatur 1: Der Deutsche Literatur vonKarl dem Grossen bis zum beginn der Höfischen Dichtung, 770 1170, ed.H.de Boor (Munich,1949), pp.256 7; see also Wentzlaff-Eggebert, Kreuzzugsdichtung, pp.379 80.This gives abibliography of critical works up to 1960.Wentzlaff-Eggebert argued that the original version ofthe poem was written before 1196, but the present form of the poem is a late medieval redaction.Green, Medieval Listening and Reading, assumes a date of before 1300: see, for instance, pp.76 7, 85, 107. Color profile: Generic CMYK printer profileComposite Default screenCHAPTER THREEMILITARY ACTIVITYThe Military Orders appear in medieval fictional literature involved directlyin holy war against the Muslims, initially in the Holy Land, but in fifteenth-century literature also in Spain and Prussia.They also appear in supportingroles, advising kings and lending them money, acting as messengers and,finally, acting as ambassadors for Christians in need of help against pagans.All of these are roles which the Orders performed in actuality.1 Active participants in holy warThe Templars first appeared in a military role alongside Richard ofMontivilliers, fighting the Muslims in the Holy Land in L Escoufle (12001202).1 Shortly after this they appeared in a different guise as the Templeise inWolfram von Eschenbach s Parzival, where their role, in defence of the GrailCastle, Munsalvaesche or Munsalvatsche, was primarily military.It will bedemonstrated in Chapter 4 that this castle actually represented Jerusalem:hence the need for Templars to defend it.Two of Wolfram s adaptors,Albrecht in the late thirteenth century and Ulrich Füetrer in the late fifteenth,continued the depiction of Templars in this role.2The Templars reappeared fighting Muslims, this time as genuine Templarswith the Hospitallers, supporting the hero in Gautier de Tournai s Gille deChyn, written in the 1230s.This work, surviving in only one manuscript, wasapparently commissioned by the monks of St Ghislain to publicize the careerof their noble patron, whose body lay buried in the abbey church.It is notknown when Gilles de Chyn was in the Holy Land, but he died in 1137, beforethe Hospital became a major force in the army of the kingdom of Jerusalem,and before the Templars had become prominent.These two Orders may havehelped him if and when he was in the Holy Land, but their role in battle wasprobably less prominent than Gautier later imagined it.31L Escoufle, lines 1060 65; Trotter, Medieval French Literature, pp.132 4, discusses thiswork but does not mention the Templars role.2See below, pp.109 110, 120 47.3L Histoire de Gille de Chyn by Gautier de Tournay, ed.Edwin B.Place, NorthwesternUniversity Studies in the Humanities no.7 (Evanston and Chicago, 1941), for date, see pp.5 11;lines 2355 7, 2365 6, 2372, 2478, 2506 7, 2614 15.Trotter, Medieval French Literature, pp.142 5. Color profile: Generic CMYK printer profileComposite Default screenMILITARY ACTIVITY 77One of the Templars most striking appearances in the military role wasin the Anglo-Norman poem Du bon William Longespee.This was written tocommemorate William Longespee s death at the battle of Mansurah in 1250,possibly at the request of his family and particularly of his mother Ela,countess of Salisbury, whose vision of his translation to heaven is recorded bythe contemporary St Alban s chronicler Matthew Paris; or, as has been arguedby Simon Lloyd, by the brothers of William s comrade Alexander Giffard,who survived the battle
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