Roger de Moulins
Encyclopedia
Grand Master (order)
Grand Master is the typical title of the supreme head of various orders of knighthood, including various military orders, religious orders and civil orders such as the Ancient Order of Hibernians and the Orange Order...
of the Knights Hospitaller
Knights Hospitaller
The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta , also known as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta , Order of Malta or Knights of Malta, is a Roman Catholic lay religious order, traditionally of military, chivalrous, noble nature. It is the world's...
from 1177 to his death in 1187, succeeding Jobert of Syria
Jobert of Syria
Jobert of Syria was the seventh Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller from 1172 to his death, which is assumed from his disappearance from history to have occurred in 1177. He succeeded Cast de Murols , while Cast's predecessor, Gilbert d'Aissailly, who was still living, had been deposed...
.
The Hospitallers were rivals of the Knights Templar
Knights Templar
The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...
, but Pope Alexander III
Pope Alexander III
Pope Alexander III , born Rolando of Siena, was Pope from 1159 to 1181. He is noted in history for laying the foundation stone for the Notre Dame de Paris.-Church career:...
persuaded Roger to make a truce with them in 1179. In 1184 he toured Europe with Arnold of Torroja, the Grand Master of the Templars
Knights Templar
The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...
, and Heraclius
Patriarch Heraclius of Jerusalem
Heraclius or Eraclius , was archbishop of Caesarea and Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem.Heraclius was from the Gévaudan in Auvergne, France. Like his later rival William of Tyre he studied law at the University of Bologna: his contemporaries and friends included Stephen of Tournai and Gratian...
, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem
Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem
The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem is the title possessed by the Latin Rite Catholic Archbishop of Jerusalem. The Archdiocese of Jerusalem has jurisdiction for all Latin Rite Catholics in Israel, the Palestinian Territories, Jordan and Cyprus...
, and established the Hospitaller Order in England, France and Germany. On his way back he helped the Normans
Normans
The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
attack Thessalonica in 1185.
During his time as Grand Master the Hospitallers became more involved in the politics of the Kingdom of Jerusalem
Kingdom of Jerusalem
The Kingdom of Jerusalem was a Catholic kingdom established in the Levant in 1099 after the First Crusade. The kingdom lasted nearly two hundred years, from 1099 until 1291 when the last remaining possession, Acre, was destroyed by the Mamluks, but its history is divided into two distinct periods....
. Roger opposed Raynald of Châtillon
Raynald of Chatillon
Raynald of Châtillon was a knight who served in the Second Crusade and remained in the Holy Land after its defeat...
and Guy of Lusignan
Guy of Lusignan
Guy of Lusignan was a Poitevin knight, son of Hugh VIII of the prominent Lusignan dynasty. He was king of the crusader state of Jerusalem from 1186 to 1192 by right of marriage to Sibylla of Jerusalem, and of Cyprus from 1192 to 1194...
, and at first refused to hand over his key to the royal treasury when Guy was crowned King of Jerusalem in 1186. He took part in the raid against Saladin
Saladin
Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb , better known in the Western world as Saladin, was an Arabized Kurdish Muslim, who became the first Sultan of Egypt and Syria, and founded the Ayyubid dynasty. He led Muslim and Arab opposition to the Franks and other European Crusaders in the Levant...
at Cresson
Battle of Cresson
The Battle of Cresson was a small battle fought on May 1, 1187, at the springs of Cresson, or 'Ain Gozeh, near Nazareth. It was a prelude to the decisive defeat of the Kingdom of Jerusalem at the Battle of Hattin two months later.-Background:...
near Nazareth
Nazareth
Nazareth is the largest city in the North District of Israel. Known as "the Arab capital of Israel," the population is made up predominantly of Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel...
on 1 May 1187, where he was killed by a lance-wound to the chest.
Roger was succeeded by William Borrel, who served as custodian of the Hospitallers for a brief time in 1187, and then by Armengol de Aspa, who served as provisor (custodian) until 1190. A new Grand Master was not chosen until Garnier of Nablus was elected in 1190 during the Third Crusade
Third Crusade
The Third Crusade , also known as the Kings' Crusade, was an attempt by European leaders to reconquer the Holy Land from Saladin...
.
Sources
- Edbury, Peter W. (ed.) The Conquest of Jerusalem and the Third Crusade, 1998, ISBN 1-84014-676-1
- Nicholson, Helen J. (ed.) The Chronicle of the Third Crusade: The Itinerarium Peregrinorum et Gesta Regis Ricardi, 1997, ISBN 0-7546-0581-7
- Nicholson, Helen J. The Knights Hospitaller, 2001, ISBN 1-84383-038-8
- Runciman, StevenSteven RuncimanThe Hon. Sir James Cochran Stevenson Runciman CH — known as Steven Runciman — was a British historian known for his work on the Middle Ages...
. A History of the Crusades, 1951–54, vol. 2. - Stevenson, J (ed.) "De expugnatione terrae sanctae per Saladinum libellus" in Radulphi de Coggeshall Chronicon Anglicanum, 1875.