Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Acknowledgements
- List of Abbreviations
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Financier and Treasurer
- 3 Defender of the Realm
- 4 International Ambassador
- 5 National Statesman
- 6 The Prior and the Secularisation of the Order in England
- 7 Conclusion
- Appendix 1 Diplomatic Duties of the Prior for the Crown
- Appendix 2 Hospitaller Presentations to Benefices, 1297–1540
- Bibliography
- Index
3 - Defender of the Realm
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 September 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Acknowledgements
- List of Abbreviations
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Financier and Treasurer
- 3 Defender of the Realm
- 4 International Ambassador
- 5 National Statesman
- 6 The Prior and the Secularisation of the Order in England
- 7 Conclusion
- Appendix 1 Diplomatic Duties of the Prior for the Crown
- Appendix 2 Hospitaller Presentations to Benefices, 1297–1540
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
By the end of the thirteenth century the feudal military summons was no longer an effective means of raising troops. It was incompatible with the almost continuous war with either Scotland or France and often with both. In the early fourteenth century, the feudal summons had been replaced by the contract system but, as Powicke has pointed out, this was done in a way so that ‘the king's position as head, and that of the nobles as leaders, remained unimpaired’.
The Prior of St John is one illustration of this change. Although theoretically exempt from any military service to lay rulers, Hospitallers did in fact do some sort of service. At first summoned by feudal writ, as in 1297 to serve against Scotland, from 1339 the Prior was contracted to muster and lead troops for the defence of the realm. This change was not clear-cut and the Prior continued to provide a mixture of feudal and contract service after 1339 up until the cessation of the feudal summons in 1385. Although the 1385 summons was the first since 1327, this did not stop the crown calling lords in between these dates to muster and lead troops by their ‘fealty, affection and allegiance’ owed in defence of the realm.
This distinction between the different types of service and their implications for the Prior's role in English society has not been fully appreciated by historians of the crusades, who attempt to apply general theories on Hospitaller history to individual Hospitaller priories. For example, it has been implied that Prior Thame was pressured into offering service in 1337, thus setting up the crown versus Hospitaller dialogue common to most literature on the English Hospitallers. Thame’s request that the 1337 service should not become a precedent, however, was asking for no more than the usual concession that all English lords gained from the crown, and that it was granted is really of very little relevance. He, like other lords, was expected to serve in future, if required.
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- Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2009