Review: Sword Brethren by Jon Byrne

Synopsis: 1242. After being wounded in the Battle on the Ice, Richard Fitz Simon becomes a prisoner of Prince Alexander Nevsky of Novgorod. Alexander, intrigued by his captive’s story, instructs his scholar to assist Richard in writing about his life.

Richard’s chronicle begins in 1203, when his training to be a knight is disrupted by treachery. He is forced to flee England for Lübeck, where he begins work for a greedy salt merchant. After an illicit love affair, his new life is thrown into turmoil, and he joins the Livonian Brothers of the Sword as they embark on imposing the will of God on the pagans of the eastern Baltic.

Here, he must reconcile with his new life of prayer, danger and duty – despite his own religious doubts, with as many enemies within the fortified commandery as the wilderness outside. However, when their small outpost in Riga is threatened by a large pagan army, Richard is compelled to make a crucial decision and fight like never before.

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The premise intrigued me. Much has been written about the Crusades to Outremer, France, Constantinople and Spain, but very little has been dedicated to what is referred to as the Northern Crusades - the Christianisation of the Baltic by the Teutonic Knights and their kindred orders.

This fictional work is told in hindsight, narrated by our protagonist Richard, a Norman from England, who has found his way into one of the most conclusive battles of the 13th Century against the legendary Alexander Nevsky. How did he end up there is the crux of the narrative, as it is told in flashback by the aged and war weary Richard. His story begins with events in England and the reasons for his departure and eventual arrival in Lubeck. With a far from settled life, Richard is bound for Riga with the Sword Brethren.

Whilst the pace slowed in some places, I was overall engaged with the narrative (I did read it in one sitting), so much so that it had me reaching for my copy of Eric Christiansen's "The Northern Crusades" and flicking back to see that, yes, the Sword Brethren did actually exist! The Sword Brethren, however, were not the only Order battling away in the Baltic - there were many fingers in the pie, sometimes working together, oft times at odds with each other. It is a truly fascinating period of history, and one I am glad to see brought into the mainstream readership.

Looking forward to the continuation of Richard's narrative as the series progresses.

Review: The Knights Templar by Michael Kerrigan

Synopsis: The Templars, the Knights Hospitallers, the Teutonic Knights – the chivalric orders founded during the Crusades evoke romantic images of warrior monks who were fierce but spiritual, chaste and pious yet battle-ready. But what were they really like? How did their organisations form, rise and decline? And how much of what we think about them is myth?

The Knights Templar tells the stories of the major and minor military orders from the 11th century to – in the case of the surviving orders – the present day. Organised chronologically, the book follows the fates of orders, from the foundation of the Knights of St Peter in 1053 to the major crusading era in the Holy Land in the 12th and 13th centuries, from the Teutonic Knights in the Baltic to the Reconquista in Iberia and on to the Hospitallers’ later ventures in the Mediterranean and even in the Caribbean.

Full of surprising details, the book not only explores how the military and religious aspects of the orders were reconciled, but also looks more broadly at the orders’ work, from the Templars’ role in the development of modern banking to hospital, castle and cathedral building, from the Teutonic Knights’ treatment of non-believers to the Hospitallers’ battles against Barbary pirates. Illustrated with 180 colour and black-&-white photographs, artworks and maps, The Knights Templar is a fascinating history of about some of Europe’s most often misunderstood organisations.

Definitely aimed at the "commercial" market and the younger reader, and certainly not the advanced reader looking for a more scholarly tome.

Introduction is on the early knights, courtly love, Arthurian mythos, with a side tour to the world of the Benedictine monks. The focus is not just the Templars, but also the Hospitallers, Teutonic Knights, and other European knightly orders in both the Holy Land and Europe as centered mainly around the Mediterranean. Kerrigan also covers off the basics, and the usual myths and allegations.

There are plenty of maps, images, side text boxes and catchy headings which reminded me of the presentation style of the current popular "History" magazines (which I do buy myself - for the articles of course!).

Well below my reading level - and quite frankly, nothing new has been presented here.

Teutonic Knights In Lithuania

Crusade and Conversion on the Baltic Frontier 1150–1500, edited by Alan V. Murray

Between the late thirteenth and early fifteenth centuries ‘another Hundred Years’ War’ raged between the Teutonic Knights and Lithuania. According to the Teutonic Order’s chronicler Peter von Dursburg, the systematic war against the last pagans of Europe began in 1283, although there had been military encounters before. When the Grand Duke Jogaila of Lithuania (1377-86, king of Poland-Lithuania to 1434 as Wladsylaw II Jagiello) received baptism in 1386 in order to become king of Poland, the official reason for the war – the subjection of pagan Lithuania to Christendom and the defence of the church against pagan attacks – vanished. The Teutonic Knights, however, did not accept this development and fought on, claiming that Jogaila’s conversion had been only a sham and that the Lithuanians were still pagan. The Reisen, as the Order’s campaigns were called, reached a peak in the decade following Jogaila’s baptism. More members of the European nobility than ever before flocked to Prussia to take part in the famous expeditions against the heathen.

review by Axel Ehlers @ De Re Militari