The Shire of Loch Cairn, Meridies

The Knights Templar
Serjeant of the Order
by THL Owain Fitzmarshal

The Knights Templar, one of the finest military organizations of history, and elite force in their own time. They combined God and war; the two biggest past-times of the medieval world. One of the armies to have trained to work cohesively as a unit, not as a mob: but the order of the Temple was not just Knights. There were clerics, squires, turcopoles, skilled laborers and Serjeants. Primarily the Serjeants were the mounted men-at-arms, but in truth their duties ranged from scouts to infantry, from cook to squire. They were the proverbial jack-of-all-trades. Bold warriors too good not to be used and yet not good enough to be Knights of the Order. They were primarily made up of the burgeouise, but some were full fledged Knights of illegitimate birth. If the knights were the backbone of the Order, then the Serjeants were the body.
The Serjeants received basically the same issue as the Knights. However they were to have only one horse, normally their mail was "incomplete"; no feet and either half sleeves or no sleeves. Their weapons were usually not of the same quality of the Knight's. To quotethe Rule of the Order: "The surcoats of the Serjeant Brothers should be completely black, with a red cross on the front and on the back. They may have either a black or brown mantle: and they may have everything that the Knight Brothers have except the horse's equipment, the tent, and the cauldron, which they will not have. And they may have a sleeveless coat of mail, hose without feet, and chapeau de fer; and all these aforementioned things they may have according to the means of the house."
Black surcoats? But the Templars wore white. Yes, but according to the rule (Primative Rule #68) on the wearing of white mantles "... that the serjants and squires should not have white habits, from which custom great harm from used to come to the house; for in the regions beyond the mountains false brothers. Married men, and others who said they were brothers of the Temple used to be sworn in, while they were of the world. They brought so much shame to us and harm to the Order of that Knighthood that even the squires boasted it; for this reason numerous scandals arose. Therefore let them assiduously be given black robes;... This I must admit makes it look like the black robes were prone to heavy drink, company of lecherous women, and wild tales.
Most Serjeant Brothers would never obtain Knighthood. However there were special ranks and privileges which they could attain that Knights could not. The Standard-Bearers were Serjeants, as were the Cook Brother of the convent, the Farrier of the convent, body-guards to the greater officers, and even the Under-Marshal of the Order was one. The Commander of the shipyard at Acre, who also acted as admiral of the fleet, was a position that only a serjeant could hold. If there are enough privileges to make being a serjeant worth while then remember the letgerious women, heavy drink, and wild boasting.
This is really a very brief description of the Serjeant and there is much more to be told. However space and my current knowledge prevent it being put here at this time.

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home		The Shire of Loch Cairn, part of the Kingdom of Meridies, is located in Manchester, Winchester, Tullahoma, McMinnville, Sewanee, and Lynchburg TN.
What's New		The Knights Templar Serjeant of the Order by THL Owain Fitzmarshal The Knights Templar, one of the finest military organizations of history, and elite force in their own time. They combined God and war; the two biggest past-times of the medieval world. One of the armies to have trained to work cohesively as a unit, not as a mob: but the order of the Temple was not just Knights. There were clerics, squires, turcopoles, skilled laborers and Serjeants. Primarily the Serjeants were the mounted men-at-arms, but in truth their duties ranged from scouts to infantry, from cook to squire. They were the proverbial jack-of-all-trades. Bold warriors too good not to be used and yet not good enough to be Knights of the Order. They were primarily made up of the burgeouise, but some were full fledged Knights of illegitimate birth. If the knights were the backbone of the Order, then the Serjeants were the body. The Serjeants received basically the same issue as the Knights. However they were to have only one horse, normally their mail was "incomplete"; no feet and either half sleeves or no sleeves. Their weapons were usually not of the same quality of the Knight's. To quotethe Rule of the Order: "The surcoats of the Serjeant Brothers should be completely black, with a red cross on the front and on the back. They may have either a black or brown mantle: and they may have everything that the Knight Brothers have except the horse's equipment, the tent, and the cauldron, which they will not have. And they may have a sleeveless coat of mail, hose without feet, and chapeau de fer; and all these aforementioned things they may have according to the means of the house." Black surcoats? But the Templars wore white. Yes, but according to the rule (Primative Rule #68) on the wearing of white mantles "... that the serjants and squires should not have white habits, from which custom great harm from used to come to the house; for in the regions beyond the mountains false brothers. Married men, and others who said they were brothers of the Temple used to be sworn in, while they were of the world. They brought so much shame to us and harm to the Order of that Knighthood that even the squires boasted it; for this reason numerous scandals arose. Therefore let them assiduously be given black robes;... This I must admit makes it look like the black robes were prone to heavy drink, company of lecherous women, and wild tales. Most Serjeant Brothers would never obtain Knighthood. However there were special ranks and privileges which they could attain that Knights could not. The Standard-Bearers were Serjeants, as were the Cook Brother of the convent, the Farrier of the convent, body-guards to the greater officers, and even the Under-Marshal of the Order was one. The Commander of the shipyard at Acre, who also acted as admiral of the fleet, was a position that only a serjeant could hold. If there are enough privileges to make being a serjeant worth while then remember the letgerious women, heavy drink, and wild boasting. This is really a very brief description of the Serjeant and there is much more to be told. However space and my current knowledge prevent it being put here at this time. Back to Archive
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