Jean de Villiers (grand master)
Jean de Villiers was the twenty-second grand master of the Knights Hospitaller, serving from 1285 until 1293.[1] He was elected Grand Master after the death of Nicolas Lorgne. De Villiers was Prior of France beginning in 1282 and he remained in France to deal with existing problems of the Order. Jacques de Taxi became Grand Master ad interim, perhaps through 27 June 1286, while awaiting the arrival of the newly elected Grand Master in the Holy Land. De Villiers was present at the Siege of Acre in 1291, but escaped just before the city fell to the Mamluks. He was succeeded by Odon de Pins.[2]
Biography
Jean de Villiers appeared for the first time on 6 July 1269 when he went to the Holy Land at the request of Grand Master Hugues de Revel. He was made Commander of Tripoli on 4 April 1277, and then Prior of France in 1282. He was elected Grand Master in the summer of 1285. He remained in France to deal with the many problems of the Order. On 21 August 1286 he was in Puymoisson in Provence to try to mobilize help for the Christian cause, but these efforts were mostly futile. He sold some of his possessions to the Order of Malta, some to the Marmoutier Abbey, and stayed in France to obtain financing. He was successful in this endeavor he went to the Holy Land with important subsidies.[3]
It was Jacques de Taxi, who was Grand Commander at Acre, who then became Lieutenant of the Order ad interim, perhaps on 27 June 1286, while awaiting the arrival of the Grand Master.[4]
Grand Master of the Order
De Villiers arrived in the East in the fall of 1286. On 28 October 1288, he presided over a general chapter in Acre.
On 17 March 1289 the Christians had to face the
The loss of Acre
The forces facing the Mamluks at the
In Cyprus
Taking refuge in Limassol at the castle of Kolossi, Jean de Villiers was occupied by the holding of a general chapter on 6 October 1292. He wanted to put the Hospitallers in a position to reconquer the Holy Land. He still enjoyed a persistent popularity by reforming the mode of election of the Grand Master. Postulants were still numerous and recruitments were subject to the approval of the Grand Master except in the land of Reconquista. He prepared for the defense of the kingdom of Cyprus and the protection of the kingdom of Armenia, both of which were threatened by the Mamluks. Entangled in Cypriot politics, de Villaret formed a plan to acquire a new temporal domain, the island of Rhodes, then part of the Byzantine Empire.[3]
The death of Jean de Villiers occurred in the weeks following the organization of a second General Chapter on 30 October 1293. He was succeeded by Odon de Pins.[3]
See also
- Cartulaire général de l'Ordre des Hospitaliers
- List of Knights Hospitaller sites
- Langue (Knights Hospitaller)
- Flags of the Knights Hospitaller
References
- ^ "Jean de Villiers - The 22nd Grandmaster of The Sovereign Military and Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta". www.smom-za.org. Retrieved 2007-11-11.
- ^ Vann 2006, p. 604, Table: Masters of the Order of St. John.
- ^ a b c Delaville Le Roulx 1904, pp. 240–243.
- ^ Bronstein 2005, p. 99.
- ^ Ziyādaẗ 1969, pp. 735–758.
- ^ Runciman 1954, pp. 387–426, The Fall of Acre.
Bibliography
- Bronstein, Judith (2005). The Hospitallers and the Holy Land: Financing the Latin East, 1187-1274. Boydell Press. ISBN 9781843831310.
- Claverie, Pierre-Vincent (2020). Frankish Epigraphy. The French of Outremer, Fordham University.
- Delaville Le Roulx, Joseph (1904). Les Hospitaliers en Terre Sainte et à Chypre (1100-1310). E. Leroux, Paris.
- Demurger, Alain (2013). Les Hospitaliers, De Jérusalem à Rhodes 1050-1317. Tallandier, Paris. ISBN 979-1021000605.
- Flavigny, Bertrand Galimard (2006). Histoire de l'ordre de Malte. Perrin, Paris. ISBN 978-2262021153.
- Harot, Eugène (1911). Essai d'armorial des grands maîtres de l'Ordre de Saint-Jean de Jérusalem. Collegio araldico.
- Hitti, Philip Khuri (1937). History of the Arabs. Macmillan, New York.
- Josserand, Philippe (2009). Prier et combattre, Dictionnaire européen des ordres militaires au Moyen Âge. Fayard, Paris. ISBN 978-2213627205.
- Lock, Peter (2006). The Routledge Companion to the Crusades. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-39312-4.
- Murray, Alan V. (2006). The Crusades—An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-57607-862-4.
- ISBN 978-1843830382.
- ISBN 978-0333063798.
- ISBN 9780521347723.
- Setton, Kenneth M. (1969). A History of the Crusades. University of Wisconsin Press.
- ISBN 978-0-674-02387-1.
- Vann, Theresa M. (2006). Order of the Hospital. The Crusades––An Encyclopedia, pp. 598–605.
- Ziyādaẗ, Muḥammad Muṣṭafā (1969). The Mamluk Sultans to 1293 (PDF). A History of the Crusades (Setton), Volume II.
External links
- Jean de Villiers. French Wikipedia.
- Liste des grands maîtres de l'ordre de Saint-Jean de Jérusalem. French Wikipedia.
- Eugène Harot, Essai d’armorial des Grands-Maîtres de l’Ordre de Saint Jean de Jérusalem.
- Seals of the Grand Masters. Museum of the Order of St John.
- Charles Moeller, Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem. Catholic Encyclopedia (1910). 7. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
- Knights of the Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem, Encyclopædia Britannica. 24. (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 12–19.