The statutes also placed restrictions on native Irish living in English-controlled areas: Irish men and women were not allowed to participate in English churches, Irish minstrels were fo
Trang 1the native Irish, but also a greater sense of connection
between the Anglo-Irish and those born in England
The statute prohibiting England-born colonists from
discriminating against Anglo-Irish colonists shows that
such divisions must have often occurred
The statutes also placed restrictions on native Irish
living in English-controlled areas: Irish men and women
were not allowed to participate in English churches,
Irish minstrels were forbidden among the English, and
common laborers were forbidden to travel without
permission
Yet in order to promote peace in lands under direct
English control, the statutes also granted limited
pro-tections to loyal Irish English authorities mandated a
warning period before enforcement of selected statutes,
forbade the English to war against the Irish without
consent of the Crown, and warned against unlawful
imprisonment of the Irish for another man’s debt In
this way, English forces could focus their military
pres-ence on the greater threat of the outlying Irish
Statutes concerning the native Irish followed a
long line of prior legislation In 1297 one of the
ear-liest Irish statutes ordered English colonists to shun
Irish dress and hairstyles; in 1310 religious houses
were told to deny entrance to Irishmen; a 1351
ordi-nance prohibited Brehon law and Irish-English
alli-ances; and in 1360 limitations were placed on Irish
holders of municipal and religious offices Yet the
Statutes of Kilkenny did not prevent Anglo-Irish
colo-nists from being affected by Irish culture and custom
They instead showed the inability of the English
col-onists to subordinate Ireland successfully Although
the statutes remained in effect for centuries, historical
records indicate that Irish and English alike overrode
them in the decade following the 1366 parliament
The Statutes of Kilkenny now form part of both the
historical record of colonization and the English-Irish
conflict that continues into the 21st century
See also English common law; Norman Conquest of
England; Norman and Plantagenet kings of England
Further reading: Cosgrove, Art, ed A New History of
Ire-land: Volume II: Medieval Ireland 1169–1534 New York:
Clarendon Press, 1987; Curtis, Edmund, and R B
McDow-ell Irish Historical Documents: 1172–1922 New York:
Barnes & Noble, 1968; Frame, Robin English Lordship
in Ireland: 1318–1361 New York: Clarendon Press, 1982;
Otway-Ruthven, A J A History of Medieval Ireland New
York: St Martin’s Press, 1980
Jennifer M Hunt and K Sarah-Jane Murray
Knights Templar, Knights Hospitallers, and Teutonic Knights
At the time of the First Crusade (1096), Christian mo-nasticism had been in existence since the third century after Christ What developed out of the crusade, how-ever, was a unique melding of Christian monasticism with the idea of crusade against the Muslims The most spectacular result was the founding of the three most fa-mous orders of “warrior-monks,” the Knights Templar, the Knights Hospitallers, and the Teutonic Knights The Knights Templar (originally the Poor Knights
of Christ and the Temple, which is in Jerusalem) were founded around 1118 to help the newly established kingdom of Jerusalem defend itself against its Muslim enemies and to protect the large numbers of Christian European pilgrims traveling to Jerusalem The Tem-plars were organized as a monastic order, following a rule devised for them by Bernard of Clairvaux and taking the traditional threefold vow of poverty, obedi-ence, and chastity Nonetheless, the Templars were pri-marily a military order, living under a grand master (elected by the members and serving for life) who was directly responsible only to the pope
It did not take long for the Templars to become
a powerful religious and secular movement in medi-eval society They were granted several extraordinary endowments by popes, including the ability to levy taxes and control tithes in the areas under their direct control Contributions of money and property from members joining the order, along with loaning funds
to pilgrims, ensured that by the end of the 11th century the Templars had extensive wealth in money and land holdings stretching from the Holy Land to England By the 13th century they were the most successful bankers
in Europe Recognized by their white surcoats with the distinctive red cross on the heart or chest, they were in many ways the most powerful force in Europe until the beginning of the 14th century
The fall of the Templars was probably the result
of the animosity harbored against them by the king of France, Philip IV (the “Fair”), when the order refused
to make him a loan to finance his wars Philip pursued them with a bloody vengeance, eventually persuading the pope, Clement V, to excommunicate the order The dissolution of the Templars in 1312 effectively broke the order, and much Templar property was transferred
to the Hospitallers
The Knights Hospitallers (or Order of the Knights of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem) began as a
Bene-236 Knights Templar, Knights Hospitallers, and Teutonic Knights