MILITARY SERVICE, ANGLO-NORMANThe Templars were founded around 1119 by Hugh
de Payens for the protection of pilgrims to the Holy
Land. Initially guided by the Rule of St. Augustine they
later adopted Cistercian practices under the influence of
St. Bernard. After securing ecclesiastical approval at the
Council of Troyes (1129), the order spread rapidly and
increased in wealth, prestige, and influence.
The earliest reference to the Templars in Ireland
occurs about 1180 when Matthew the Templar wit-
nessed a deed whereby Henry II granted them the vill
of Clontarf as their principal Irish foundation or pre-
ceptory. Five other preceptories were established by
the end of the twelfth century as well as nine smaller
houses (Camerae). Though more military than monastic
in appearance, these preceptories functioned as reli-
gious houses in which the Divine Office was cele-
brated, novices were recruited and trained, and to
which older members retired. Like the Hospitalers, the
Templars recruited almost exclusively from the Anglo-
Norman community and sided with the colony in its
struggles against the native Irish population.
The wealth and influence of the Templars aroused
the envy of other religious orders and secular rulers.
Opposition was particularly strong in France where
King Philip the Fair orchestrated a campaign that cul-
minated in the suppression of the order by Pope
Clement V in 1312. Their properties were to pass to
the other military orders, principally the Hospitalers.
As part of the general campaign against the order,
fifteen Irish Templars were tried in St. Patrick’s cathe-
dral, Dublin in 1310. The judges and accusers were
for the most part mendicant friars, and, as elsewhere
in Europe, the case against them was quite weak: one
knight was regarded as suspect because he was
observed not gazing on the host during the elevation
at mass in Clontarf. In 1311, three preceptories were
assigned to accommodate the Irish Knights for the rest
of their lives while the rest passed to the Knights
Hospitaler after 1312.
The Knights of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem
emerged in the twelfth century as the military wing of
an institution originally established to care for pilgrims
and the sick in Jerusalem. Like the Templars, they
came to Ireland in the wake of the Anglo-Normans and
had established fifteen preceptories in every province
except Connacht by the second decade of the thirteenth
century. Their chief house was the priory of St. John
the Baptist at Kilmainham, and they formed part of
the English division or languein the order’s general
structure. They took an active role in the defense of
the colony: in 1274 the prior of Kilmainham, William
Fitz Roger, was captured by the Irish but escaped and
subsequently led a royal army into Connacht. Other
priors held important posts in the colonial administra-
tion, including those of chief governor and chancellor.
The acquisition of six former preceptories of the
Knights Templar in 1312 greatly augmented the Hos-
pitalers’ wealth. The shrewd administration of Prior
Roger Outlaw between 1317 and 1341 consolidated
these gains, and he also used his terms as deputy jus-
ticiar, chancellor, and justiciar to acquire further lands
and rights for the order. In the forty years after Out-
law’s death, English Knights Hospitaler took control
of the Irish priory and its resources. This was greatly
resented by the Anglo-Irish members who in 1384
elected an Anglo-Irish knight, Richard White, as prior.
Exploiting the divisions caused by the Great Western
Schism, they also transferred their allegiance from the
Grand Master of the Avignon, obedience to whom,
paradoxically, was recognized by the English Hospi-
tallers, to the Grand Master of the Roman obedience,
thereby confirming their independence.
Despite their great wealth, the number of knights
in the Irish priory was miniscule so that at the disso-
lution only five had to be pensioned. Of these, the prior
Sir John Rawson received 500 marks and an annuity
of £10. In 1557, the Irish priory was restored but was
finally dispersed the following year on the accession
of Elizabeth I.
COLMÁNN Ó CLABAIGHReferences and Further Reading
Falkiner, C. L. “The Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem in
Ireland.” Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 26
(1906–1907): 275–317.
Gwynn, Aubrey, and R. Neville Hadcock. Medieval Religious
Houses: Ireland. London: Longman, 1970. Reprint, Dublin:
Irish Academic Press, 1988.
McNeill, Charles, ed. Registrum de Kilmainham. Dublin: Irish
Manuscripts Commission, 1943.
Tipton, C. L. “The Irish Hospitallers during the Great Schism.”
Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy69 (1970): 33–43.
Wood, Herbert. “The Templars in Ireland.” Proceedings of the
Royal Irish Academy26 (1906–1907): 327–377.
See alsoAnglo-Norman Invasion; Architecture;
Church Reform, Twelfth Century; Henry II;
Military Service, Anglo-Norman; Military Service,
Gaelic; Racial and Cultural Conflict; Religious
OrdersMILITARY SERVICE, ANGLO-NORMAN
Anglo-Norman military service was employed by the
English king and his government at Dublin for the
defense of English lordship in Ireland. This form of
military feudalism generally reflected the situation in
England and the march of Wales. The most common
unit of Anglo-Norman military service in Ireland was
the knight’s fee. But the knight’s fee in Ireland seems
to have differed considerably from that of England,