Tuesday, November 12, 2024

*** This is a rough transcript of today’s show ***

It is the 12th of November 2024. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

If someone introduced themselves to you as a “Grand Master” you might wonder if they are either really good at chess or in some dated secret society. You might expect a wand, maybe a cape…

And what if I told you that this “Grand Master” that we are remembering today was that of the “Knights Templar”, ooh the mid runs wild with Da Vinci Code style conspiracies and clandestine meetings.

I don’t want to burst any bubbles or best-selling ahistorical novel ideas, but in our case, Phillipe Du Plessis, who died on the 12th of November in 1209, was the head monk of an order designed to protect and serve pilgrims in the Holy Land. We are in the era of the Crusades, and so I will tease a Robin Hood connection.

Du Plessis was born in 1165 into a noble family in Anjou, France. This is right at the dawn of the age of Universities, and thus, Phillipe’s options would have been either in church work or as a knight. But what if he could do both?

He studied both theology and martial arts, horsemanship and chivalry. As the younger son, he would not inherit the family land, and thus, like many other younger sons, he heeded the call for the 3rd Crusade. This was one of the more successful of the Crusades- the “Kings Crusade.” It was led by Barbarossa of Germany, Phillip II of France, and Robin Hood’s own Richard the Lionheart.

This crusade ended with some Crusader victories, but Jerusalem was left in the hands of the Sultan, although diplomatic agreements allowed for Christian pilgrimages to the holy site. What most impressed the young Phillipe were the orders that went by the name “the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon.” Believing their headquarters in Jerusalem were on the Temple Mount where Solomon’s temple was, they became the “Templars”. They would be “Knights” in that they were a military order designed not only to pray and serve but to fight when necessary.

They would attract attention as amongst the wealthiest of orders, in part because European monarchs wanted to be seen as pious and “defending the Holy Land” and because the Knights Templar served as a kind of protection service and Medieval bank that could protect your money while you travelled.

Thus, the “Grand Master” (which was often a title given to the head of any religious order) was a position that garnered attention. Some Grand Masters hordes wealth while others courted European monarchs.  

Du Plessis would be known, especially, for two things during his time as the Grand Master from 1201-1209.

This first was his insistence on returning his men to the Rule of the Order. Like the “Rule of St. Benedict” or any set of “monastic orders” these were the particular codes for a monk that included general piety but also particular services and devotions.

With his focus on the piety of the order and its continued success in protecting pilgrims in the Holy Land, he was not impressed with the 4th Crusade. This was the Crusade that started as an attempt to take back Jerusalem but eventually was waylaid by the Venetians, who encouraged the sacking of Constantinople! It was a complete mess. Not only was Du Plessis villainized for not having his Templars involved, but he continued to side with those who wanted to keep the peace in the Middle East with treaties that favored the peace for religious pilgrims.

As you might expect, Du Plessis was not favored by Pope Innocent III, and while Phillipe’s reign was one of consistency for the Order, the Pope would begin to favor the Knights Hospitallers- another military order in the Holy Lands.

Du Plessis would die on this, the 12th of November in 1209, as the 13th Grand Master of the Knight’s Templar- but there is no real intrigue or mystery- he was a pious diplomat- the downfall of the order with its legends and lore was almost a century away.

 

The last word for today is from the daily lectionary, and Psalm 113 from the modern “Seedbed” Metrical Psalter available online:

Praise the Lord, sing hallelujah! Praise, O servants of the Lord;

Bless-ed be the Lord’s name ever—praise Him now and evermore.


From the rising of the sun to where it sets at end of day,


The Lord’s name is to be praised in ev’ry place the sun has sway.

For the Lord is high above the nations of earth everywhere,


And His glory is exalted o’er the heav’ns, none can compare.


Who is like the Lord our God—the One who sits enthroned on high?


He who stoops to look upon all on the earth from heaven high.

He does raise the poor from dust; lifts needy ones from the ash heap;


He seats them with princes, and with princes He their lives will keep.


He will give the barren woman joy in children all her days;


In a home she will abide—O to the Lord be joyful praise!

 

 

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 12th of November 2024, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by our own Grand Master Flash with more than a furious five- he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who reminds you that “it’s a jungle sometimes; it makes me wonder how I keep from going under.” I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.