Eudes de Saint-Amand

Grand Master's coat of arms Eudes' de Saint-Amand

Eudes de Saint-Amand or Odo von St. Amand , also Odon († 1180 ) was the eighth Grand Master of the Templar Order .

Life

Eudes came from a family from Coly-Saint-Amand in what was then the English part of western France . In the Holy Land he was Marshal of Jerusalem from 1155 to 1156 and later, around 1160, Vice Count and Castellan , from 1164 to 1167 butcher . In April 1171 he was elected Grand Master of the Templar Order.

He confidently stood up for the interests of his order, which thereby aroused both hatred and admiration. An example has come down to us from 1172: When a Knight Templar, Gauthier von Le Maisnil , was accused by King Amalrich I of murdering a Muslim dignitary, Eudes refused to extradite him, citing a papal bull, according to which the Templars alone Subject to the jurisdiction of the Holy See .

During his time as Grand Master, Eudes took part in several skirmishes. In the battle against the Muslims his Templar usually formed the spearhead and could thus in Nablus , Jericho and Jerasch but famous brilliant victories. Perhaps its greatest highlight was the Battle of Montgisard on November 25, 1177 , when its knights were involved in destroying a numerically superior army of Saladin . His victories were also useful to the order in that they helped him to solicit donations of money and supplies of men and material in his European homeland.

It was not until the summer of 1179 that Saladin dared to invade the Kingdom of Jerusalem again , this time from Damascus . On June 10, 1179 it came between him and an army of crusaders to the battle of Marj Uyun . The crusader army consisted of the contingents of King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem , Count Raimund III. of Tripoli , the Hospitallers under Roger de Moulins and the Templars under Eudes de Saint-Amand. After the crusaders had already defeated a large group of Muslims and believed themselves victorious, they were in turn surprised and taken by surprise by Saladin's regrouped main army. Eudes was taken prisoner, King Baldwin barely escaped.

Eudes finally died in one of Saladin's dungeons in 1180. His release in exchange for a nephew of Saladin had still been negotiated, but the agreement came too late for him. Already in October 1179 Arnaud de Toroga was elected as his successor as Grand Master of the Templar Order.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ See Bernard Hamilton: The Templars, the Syrian Assassins and King Amalric of Jerusalem. In: Karl Borchardt, Nikolas Jaspert , Helen J. Nicholson (Eds.): The Hospitallers, the Mediterranean and Europe. Festschrift for Anthony Luttrell. Ashgate, Aldershot et al. 2007, ISBN 978-0-7546-6275-4 , pp. 13-25.

literature

• Alain Demurger: The Templars. Rise and fall. 1120-1314. 50–55 Thousand. CH Beck, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-406-52367-0 .
• Marie Luise Bulst-Thiele : Sacrae Domus Militiae Templi Hierosolymitani Magistri. Investigations into the history of the Templar Order 1118 / 19-1314 (= Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen. Philological-Historical Class. No. 86). Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, Göttingen 1974, ISBN 3-525-82353-3 , pp. 87-98.

predecessor	Office	successor
Philippe de Milly	Grand Master of the Knights Templar 1171–1179	Arnaud de Toroge
Sado	Marshal of Jerusalem 1155–1156	Joscelin III. from Edessa