What was the Significance of Lay Support for the Success of the Military Orders During the Crusades?

This dissertation explores the importance that the laity played in relation to the Templars and Hospitallers. Until recently this aspect of the military orders has largely been ignored. Instead preference has been given to large scale studies on the wider history of the military orders both in the East and West. Yet this has changed in recent years with a few monographs dedicated to the exploration of the laity, and this dissertation seeks to build on these studies. The chapters that follow engage in different themes that reflect origins, forms and motives of both the military orders and laity. Looking at the context of how and why the military orders were formed, provides crucial background information as to how the Templars and Hospitallers became established and why they were so highly regarded by the laity. Alongside this, upon their formation they adopted many traditions of their monastic counterparts, including a close relationship to the laity. This relationship could take many forms and different lay people, men and women from across the social spectrum, held different motivations for their associations. This dissertation contends that the laity were crucial to the success and survival of the Templars and Hospitallers.