1The subject of career patterns among those who held office in the central convents of the Temple and Hospital in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries has recently been discussed by Jochen Burgtorf1, but comparatively little has been written about the careers of Templars and Hospitallers who held posts in western provinces and priories during that period. This is perhaps not surprising, as the topic is beset with pitfalls. There might be two or more brothers with the same name who cannot easily be distinguished2. Only the first name of some officials is given in surviving documents, and names may appear in varying forms. Some documents do not assign a title to a brother who is known to have held an office, and most give no indication of the ranks of lay brothers. It is difficult to discern the precise status of many houses in the West, and the terms «commander» and «preceptor» were, of course, used of a variety of different posts. There is the further problem that an official in charge of a major house might be called commander of a subordinate one which was under his authority. It should also be remembered that information provided in the records of the Templar trial depended on a witness’s memory, and may therefore be faulty. More generally, the sources which survive for some regions are meagre, and this precludes the compilation of comprehensive lists of officials. It is for this reason that, especially in the examination of lesser offices, attention will be focused particularly on the Templars in Aragon, whose records are fairly full, although evidence from elsewhere will, where possible, also be used3.

2The most minor administrative officers were chamberlains (camerarii/clavigeri) and brothers who had charge of a group of estates comprising a dependency or grange within a commandery4. Although the Templar Gerald of Caercino, who was chamberlain of Tortosa on the lower Ebro from 1184 to 1186, later became provincial master and can therefore be assumed to have been a knight5, evidence from the Templar trial both in France and in Aragon suggests that at the turn of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the post of chamberlain was then commonly occupied by sergeants6, some of whom were given office soon after entering the order: during the Templar trial Peter of Cercelles stated that he was sent to be claviger at Lagny le Sec immediately after being admitted to the order7. Aragonese evidence also indicates that dependencies or granges were during the later part of the Temple’s history usually held by brothers who were sergeants, although Torres de Segre in Catalonia, which housed a small community and which was dependent on the convent of Miravet, was an exception and was at times under the control of a knight in the later thirteenth century8.

3Some brothers who held the office of chamberlain or who had charge of a dependency later became heads of commanderies, although they did not always move directly from one post to another. Bernard of Cornellá was chamberlain of the Templar convent of Tortosa in 1260 and commander of Pina in Aragon in 12629, and the Templar Peter of Gissona was chamberlain of the Catalan house of Gardeny before becoming commander of the nearby convent of Barbens in 124910. Similarly, Sancho of Hueso was in charge of La Litera, a dependency of the Templar convent of Monzón, in 1238 and was commander of Huesca in northern Aragon in 124111; Peter of San Román had charge of Perpignan, in the Templar commandery of Mas-Déu, from 1242 to 1244 and became commander of Zaragoza in 124512; and Francis of Tallada was appointed Templar commander of Puigreig in northern Catalonia in 1274 after having responsibility for Segriá, a dependency of the convent of Gardeny13. As information about the ranks of lay brothers is usually lacking, except for those mentioned in the records of the Templar trial, it cannot of course be proved that throughout the thirteenth century those who became commanders after holding lesser office were normally sergeants. Yet it is clear that those Templar sergeants who are known to have been set over commanderies in the Aragonese province at the turn of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries tended to be appointed to minor houses in the more northerly parts of Aragon and Catalonia, such as Añesa, Pina, Boquiñeni, Castellón de Ampurias and Puigreig, or to those in cities, such as Barcelona or Tortosa, or to houses elsewhere, such as Burriana in northern Valencia, which were not centres of major Templar lordships. They were not usually given convents which were based in the more important Templar castles. Presumably, because of their rank in the order, they were assigned commanderies where there was no, or only a negligible, knightly element14. A survey of those promoted earlier after acting as chamberlains or having charge of dependencies reveals a similar pattern: they were not usually given charge of convents housed in important castles15. It may therefore be postulated that those promoted in this way during the thirteenth century were normally sergeants.

4In France, however, where the Temple had no military role, it was apparently more possible for those who had occupied minor administrative posts to become heads of important commanderies. The Templar Bertrand of Viviers was chamberlain of St Gilles in 1266 and commander of Jalès in 1273 and later of St Gilles itself; and Arnold of Calmon, who had earlier been Templar chamberlain at La Capelle, was commander of Toulouse in 127616.

5It should not be assumed, however, that all sergeants who were appointed to commanderies had earlier been chamberlains or had had charge of dependencies. Berenguer Guamir, who had joined the Temple at the Aragonese house of Ambel about the year 128417 and who was commander of Tortosa in the 1290s and commander of Barcelona in the first decade of the fourteenth century18, had beforehand apparently held no lesser office in the Aragonese province.

6Knights who gained office in the West had, by contrast, often spent a period in the East during their early years in an order. Over 80% of the Templar knights without office who were interrogated during the Templar trial in Cyprus had been brothers for less than ten years when they were questioned in 1310, and the vast majority of these had been recruited in western provinces; and some questioned in the West during the Templar trial said that they had spent a period in the East shortly after admission19.

7Such service might be followed by appointment to a commandery in the West: the Templar knight Peter of San Justo returned from the East in 1291 and became commander of Villel in southern Aragon within a year20. In some cases knights returning from the East were either recommended for commanderies by the grand master or given them by him21. Yet not all knights who served in the East received commanderies soon after their return to the West. Dalmacio of Timor was in the Holy Land about the year 128822, when he was apparently still a young knight23, and is known to have been back in the Aragonese province without office in 1292 and 129424: he was first mentioned as the head of a Templar commandery there in 1305 after a further stay in the East, during which he held the office of turcoplier25. Nor can it be ascertained whether all knights who were appointed to commanderies in the West had earlier served in the East.

8In 1304, the Hospital decreed that brothers must have served for at least three years before being given bailiwicks, and that castles should not be entrusted to brothers with less than five years’ service26. There is no evidence of a similar regulation in the Temple, but in the later thirteenth century Templar knights in the Aragonese province often had ten or more years’ service before they were appointed to a commandery27. Some in the meantime became companions of the provincial master, but the numbers occupying this position were inevitably small28.

9Some knights who held commanderies in western provinces later became provincial master in the Temple or provincial prior in the Hospital. Half of the Templar masters of the Aragonese province had been in charge of commanderies within the province before their promotion. Yet a considerable number had not, even though their origins lay within the province. Arnold of Torroja became provincial master in 1166 after entering the order in Catalonia some three years earlier: he is mentioned without any office in various documents relating to the house of Gardeny during the intervening period29. Pons Menescalci was named as a brother in Catalonia in 1192 and 119430, but is not known to have held a commandery before he became provincial master in 1196, and similarly Peter of Moncada apparently held no post before he was made provincial master in 127931. In France there were similarly a number of Templar provincial masters who had apparently held no commandery in their provinces before becoming provincial master32. Arnold of Torroja and Peter of Moncada belonged to leading Catalan families, and their rapid advancement may partly be explained by their social standing and family connections33, but not all those who were promoted without holding lesser offices in the province beforehand fell into this category. By contrast, some heads of western provinces or priories had beforehand held office elsewhere, sometimes in the East, before being placed in charge of a western province or priory: Garnier of Nablus was Hospitaller grand preceptor in the Holy Land before taking up office as English prior in 1185 and Andrew Polin was similarly grand preceptor in the East before becoming Hospitaller prior of France in 1239, while Joseph of Chauncy was Hospitaller treasurer before he was appointed prior in England in 127334.

10A few heads of western provinces or priories who did not die in office later became grand master. Three Templar masters of the Aragonese province—Arnold of Torroja, Gilbert Eral and Peter of Monteagudo—were promoted in this way35. Similarly William of Sonnac and William of Beaujeu were Templar provincial masters in Aquitaine and the kingdom of Sicily respectively before becoming grand master36. Yet command of a province or priory was not a necessary qualification for candidates to the office of grand master: some appear to have held no post at all before their election to the mastership37. Although it is difficult to establish a precise ranking between the office of provincial master or prior and leading posts in central convents other than that of grand master, it may be pointed out that some heads of provinces or priories were also later appointed to other senior posts in the East, such as those of grand preceptor and marshal. The Templar Amblardus, for example, who was provincial master in England from 1261 until 1266, apparently later became marshal of the order, as did Guy of Foresta, who was Templar provincial master in England from 1272 until 127538. Reynald of Vichiers, Templar provincial master in France until 1248, then held the office of marshal before being appointed master of the Temple39. But not all holders of these offices in central convents had earlier been heads of provinces40.

11Some heads of provinces or priories went on to become masters deça mer or visitors in the West. The Templar Hugh of Pairaud was provincial master in France before occupying the post of visitor from 1299 until 130741. Yet the posts of master deça mer and visitor were often held in conjunction with the headship of a province or priory: at the turn of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the Templar Berenguer of Cardona was both provincial master in Aragon and visitor in the five kingdoms of Spain42. Others who occupied these positions had previously held office in the East or in other countries in the West: the Hospitaller Arnold of Montbrun, who was comendador mayor in the five kingdoms of Spain in 1237, had earlier been marshal in the East43; and Simon de la Tor, Templar visitor in Spain in 1277, had earlier been commander of Safet in the Holy Land in 1262, grand preceptor in the East in 1271, and provincial master in Apulia in 127544.

12Although in some instances brothers moved from lesser to more important offices, many held several posts in succession in different places at the same level. When he was interrogated in Paris during the Templar trial, Peter of Poignencourt said that he had been claviger or chamberlain in at least four houses, and Robert le Verrier similarly stated that he had held that office in four houses45. In the Aragonese province, the Templar Peter of Lena was chamberlain at Tortosa in 1271 and at Castellote from 1272 until 127446. In the Templar commandery of Mas-Déu in Roussillon several brothers had charge of a succession of dependencies: Peter of Canois, for example, was at Perpignan in 1255, La Garrigue from 1256 to 1258, St Arnac in 1261 and Orle in 126547. The Templar Peter of Montesquiu similarly had charge in turn of three dependencies of Gardeny: Monlleó (1293), Urgel (1295-1296) and Segriá (1296-1302)48. In the Templar Aragonese province William of Montgrí between 1243 and 1277 had terms of office as commander in eleven houses49. Transfer from the charge of one commandery to that of another was also common elsewhere in the Temple and in the Hospital. Bernard of Casa, for example, was Templar commander of St Gilles in 1199 and 1200, of Arles in 1201 and of Marseille in the following year, and later held the office of commander elsewhere50; and similarly in Catalonia the Hospitaller Peter of Fonolet was commander of the house of Villafranca in 1282 and of Espluga de Francolí in the next year51. Some western provincial masters or priors similarly held terms of office in more than one province or priory. John le Franceys was Templar master of Aquitaine from 1269 until 1276 and master of France in 127952. The Templar William of Alliac was master of Provence and certain parts of Spain from 1221 to 1223 and master of Auvergne in 122853. Similarly, within Spain, the Templar Stephen of Belmonte held the office of provincial master in Castile, León and Portugal from 1230 until 1239, was briefly master of Provence and certain parts of Spain in 1239, and then master of Provence in 1246, after it had become a separate province54. In the same way, James of Taxy was Hospitaller prior of Messina from 1269 until 1273 and prior of Barletta from 1278 till 128155.

13It has sometimes been suggested that brothers who held a succession of posts at the level of commander progressed from having charge of a small house to being set over a more important one56. It is, of course, difficult to establish any precise ranking between commanderies, but for the Aragonese province of the Templars records survive of the responsions due from commanderies in 1307, as do evaluations compiled by the Hospital and Montesa after these orders had taken over Templar properties there57. These do not provide an altogether consistent picture, but it is possible to gain some impression of the relative standing of Templar houses in Aragon, and to be able to state that there was no clear progression in appointments from less important to more important houses. In 1240 Peter Jiménez was commander of Monzón, which in 1307 paid a responsion of 1,100 mazmodinas and was evaluated later by the Hospitallers at 2,500 lib. Jaca, and in the following year held office at Novillas, which in 1307 paid no responsion and had a Hospitaller evaluation of only 200 lib. Jaca58; and similarly, after having charge of Monzón, William of Miravet was in 1273 commander of Huesca, whose responsion was 350 mazmodinas and which, together with the Hospitaller house there, was later worth 1,000 lib. Jaca59. It would similarly be difficult to maintain that the Templar province of Auvergne, of which William of Alliac had charge in 1228, was more important than that of Provence and parts of Spain, where he had earlier been provincial master60.

14This lack of progression is further illustrated by the common practice in the Temple and Hospital of holding a particular post more than once: this occurred at all levels within a province or priory61. Dominic of Alcorisa was Templar chamberlain of Zaragoza from 1264 to 1266 and from 1270 until 1274, and William of St Estève had charge of the Templar dependency of Perpignan from 1239 to 1240 and from 1252 until 125362. The Templar Fulk of Montpesat had three separate terms of office as commander of Jalès63, and Raymond of Bastida was commander of the Templar house of Castellote in southern Aragon three times between 1265 and 127864. In the Hospital Lope of Grisén had charge of the Aragonese commandery of Zaragoza from 1212 to 1217 and from 1223 to 122565. At a higher level, Pons of Rigaud was Templar master of the Aragonese province from 1189 until 1195 and from 1202 to 120666; the Hospitaller García Artiga had two separate terms of office as prior of Navarre in the 1230s67; and the Hospitaller Raymond of Ribelles held the prioral office of castellan of Amposta from 1276 until 1285 and from 1298 until 130168. As short terms of office were common at the level of commander and below69, appointment of the same brother to offices at the same level allowed orders to utilize fully those who had the required skills; and the reappointment of a Templar or Hospitaller to the same post after an interval meant that a brother was taking charge in a place of which he already had some knowledge and experience.

15It was also very common for brothers who had held office at a certain level to be assigned to a lesser post or to cease to hold office altogether. The Templar Berenguer of San Justo, after occupying the posts of provincial master in Aragon and then commandeur de la terre in Cyprus, became commander of Miravet in the lower valley of the Ebro in 129770. William Cadell was Templar master of Provence, acting as deputy of the provincial master, from 1204 to 1209, but was commander of Monzón from 1210 to 121271. William of Puignaucler was commander of the Templar house of Puigreig from 1281 until 1283 but in the following years had charge of Gandesa, which was merely a dependency of Miravet72. Raymond of Montegalhardo was similarly Templar commander of Toulouse in 1264 but in 1271 had charge of Larmont, which at the time of the Templar trial was described as a grange73. The Templar Raymond of Lunel was commander of Tortosa in 1234 but chamberlain of Monzón in 123874.

16These brothers moved to lesser posts, but Arnold of Claramunt, who was Templar provincial master in the Aragonese province until April 1200 was listed in the following month as a brother without any office75. Peter of Aguda, after being Templar commander of Barberá and then Gardeny, was without office in 120176, and Peter Morut, Templar commander of Zaragoza in 1220-1221, was similarly merely a brother at Tortosa in 122677. The Templar John of Alcover was a brother without office at Gardeny in 1261 after being chamberlain at Tortosa in 1258-9 and in charge of the dependency of Segriá in 126078, while the Templar Pelabous was similarly chamberlain of Tortosa in 1234 but held no office there in 123879.

17In some cases there were particular reasons for such demotions. In 1265 the Hospitaller general chapter ruled that officials transferring from the West should not hold office during their first year in the East: the intention was presumably to ensure that newcomers gained experience before taking on responsibilities80. This ruling did not, of course, affect office-holding in the West, but there some may have lost office or been moved to a lesser post because of unsuitability in certain roles. A brother who had been a chamberlain or had charge of a small dependency might be found not to possess the skills needed for managing a group of brothers in a commandery. In some other instances the loss of office may be explained by age or infirmity. The English Templar Richard Peitevyn, who was a brother at Dinsley at the time of the arrests in 1308, and who had earlier been preceptor at Wilbraham and apparently lieutenant of the English provincial master, may well have become too infirm to hold office, for when interrogated in 1309 he stated that he had entered the order forty-two years earlier, and two years later he was said to be unable to stand81. William of Scotho, at one time Templar preceptor of Denny in Cambridgeshire, may have been in the same situation. He had been a Templar for twenty-eight years when arrested and was then merely a brother at Denny, where there was an infirmary for the aged and infirm82.

18Yet there were many instances where such explanations are not valid. Berenguer of San Justo occupied the post of commander of Miravet for ten years until the arrest of the Templars and did not die until 1319 or 132083: he was obviously still capable of holding office when he returned from Cyprus, and his appointment on that island after he had been provincial master in Aragon suggests that he was regarded as being a competent administrator at that level. It was also common for brothers who had moved from a more important to a lesser office to be promoted again later, and for those who had ceased to hold any office to be given another administrative post later. Although the Catalan Templar William of Puignaucler was set over the dependency of Gandesa in 1284 after having charge of the convent of Puigreig, he later had terms of office as commander again in several convents84; and Peter Morut had a second term of office as commander of Zaragoza from 1231 until 1233 after being merely a brother at Tortosa85. Of course, apparent gaps between terms of office may in some instances reflect merely the inadequacy of the evidence, but clearly for some brothers periods of office were interspersed with times when they held no post.

19Although much of the evidence which has been used in tracing the nature of office-holding in western Europe relates to the Aragonese Templars, sources for the Temple in other regions and for the Hospitallers suggest that similar practices existed in both orders throughout the West, as the examples quoted about the Hospitallers in western Europe and about the Templars outside Aragon could on some points easily be multiplied.

20Of course, appointments do not in all cases reflect general policies adopted by the Templar and Hospitaller authorities. Some were influenced by particular factors. These included outside pressure. The Templar marshal Hugh of Jouy became Aragonese provincial master in 1254 after he had apparently been banished from the Holy Land by the French King Louis IX86; and Albert of Canelli, who was first mentioned as Templar master in Sicily in 1262 and who was related to the Hohenstaufen Manfred, had to leave the kingdom when Charles of Anjou assumed control: he was later holding lesser posts farther north87. Amaury de la Roche was given charge of the Templar province of France after royal and papal influence had been exerted in 126488. In 1293 James II of Aragon sought to prevent the Hospital from nominating visitors or other officials to exercise authority in his territories who were not his subjects, although this was only a temporary measure taken during time of war89. James’s decree implies that intervention might occur not only with regard to the most important posts in a province, and there are examples of outside pressure on the appointment of commanders of houses. In 1283 Peter III of Aragon influenced the choice of commander for the Hospitaller house of Mallén; and when in 1290 Romeo of Burguet was removed from office as Templar commander of Barcelona, the Aragonese King Alfonso III protested, as he had been employing that brother in the collection of a royal aid; and Romeo was restored to his post90. Eleven years later the Hospitaller general chapter ruled that if a request was made by a great lord in the East or West to the master that a certain brother should be given an office—presumably at any level—the letter should not be read out until the next chapter91. Alexander IV had earlier warned the Temple against granting houses or provinces to individuals at the request of kings, princes or nobles, and this caution was repeated by Clement IV in 1267, but clearly appointments were sometimes determined by outside influence92. Yet, as has been seen, some interventions were occasioned by particular circumstances, and are not an indication of continuous interference; and rulers were more likely to concern themselves with appointments to senior, rather than to more junior, posts. Nor were the candidates of kings and popes always accepted: in Aragon James II’s nominees for the office of Templar provincial master in 1302 and 1307 were rejected93. Outside influence probably affected only a small minority of appointments. Nepotism within an order could, however, also occur: in the records of the Templar trial a considerable number of brothers stated that they had been admitted in the presence of a relation94, and it is clear that many did have members of their families who were brothers. This might be a factor influencing appointments, as in the case of Fulk of Villaret, who seems to have benefited from the fact that his uncle was master of the Hospital95. Brothers themselves might also lobby for office: the Aragonese provincial master Berenguer of Cardona wrote that he was approached at Limassol in 1306 by a number of Templars who were seeking the Catalan commanderies of Gardeny and Corbins96. Personal wishes were at times also of importance in the relinquishing of office, as in the resignation of the Hospitaller master Gilbert d’Assailly97; but little evidence survives on this point from western Europe.

21Yet, although in some cases appointments were subject to particular pressures, it is possible to draw some conclusions about the practices which were commonly followed by the Temple and Hospital in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries in appointments to administrative posts in western Europe. Although some brothers progressed from less important to more important posts in the West, there was not a fixed route which was followed by all who achieved high office. When discussing office-holding in the central convents of the Templars and Hospitallers, Jochen Burgtorf concluded that there were no career patterns in the sense that those who held high office had all progressed in the same way98, but he suggested that certain tendencies may be discerned. The same may be said of appointments in the West. It is also clear that for many Templars and Hospitallers there was no steady progression from less important to more important offices: in many cases there was in fact movement in the opposite direction, even though a brother had not been considered inadequate in any way. The custom of holding office within a province or priory for only a short term, together with the practice of moving brothers to less important posts, suggests that office in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries was normally regarded as a responsibility, not as a reward, and was to be held as the needs of the order required. There seems to have been a concern to ensure that brothers did not become too established in a post, and to distribute the burdens of administration as widely as possible, although there were, of course, many brothers who never held any administrative posts and who were engaged solely in domestic or agricultural work. It is true that Hospitaller statutes of the later thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries allude to the granting of offices for life as well as for a term in western priories: in 1301, for example, reference was made to the granting of houses in Germany for life or a period99. At a Templar chapter at Arles in 1296 James of Molay similarly granted to John Fernández, cubicularius of the pope, several Templar houses in north-western Spain for life, and ten years later Peter of San Justo was given a life grant of the Templar commandery of Alfambra in southern Aragon100. During the Templar trial it was also said that Henry Danet had as a favour been placed in charge of Templar houses in Ireland for life101. But this evidence is late, and the lists of officials which can be compiled do not suggest that appointments for life were common for most of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. In that period heads of provinces seem to have been appointed for a limited, though renewable, term—in the Temple it appears to have been four years102—while those holding the office of commander may have had their appointments reviewed at the annual provincial chapter103. Yet references to life appointments in the later thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries serve as a reminder that practices could change, as is also apparent later, for example, with the emergence of the concept of ancianitas in the Hospital104.