THE MILITARY ORDERS of the Hospital and the Temple are considered the most original products of the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem. These institutions, the main aim of which was defined in terms of fighting for the Holy Land and caring for the poor and pilgrims, were responsible for the survival of the Latin settlement in the East until the final fall of the kingdom of Jerusalem in 1291. The Hospitallers' standing at the forefront of the defence of Palestine and Syria exposed them to great expense in maintaining their castles and manpower even in normal times; but natural disasters and the defeat of the Order's forces on the battlefield had devastating effects. This book examines the Order's function as a medieval international organization, looking at the strategies employed by the Hospitallers throughout the thirteenth century to provide the brothers in the East with the necessary resources and manpower to fulfil their tasks. The history of the Hospitallers in the Latin East and France from 1187 to 1274 is described, especially their responses, as members of an international Order of the Church, to crises in the East.

The scope of the study is the period between the battle of Hattin in 1187 and the Second Council of Lyons in 1274. The choice of this period requires some clarification. Even before 1187 the Order had suffered setbacks in the East, for example, falling heavily into debt and undergoing an internal crisis owing to the assistance given to King Amalric in his failed campaign to Egypt in 1168.