Jean de Ronay

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Fra ' Jean de Ronay (Latin: fratis Joannis de Ronay ; † February 11, 1250 in the Battle of al-Mansura ) was a knight of the order of the Hospital of St. John in Jerusalem , a Hospitaller order , and as its vice-master the de facto order leader between the years 1244 and 1250. His family origins are unclear, possibly he came from the Champagne region or he was a member of a knightly family of the same name who lived in Acre in the early 13th century .

In 1241 Ronay was the commander of St. John in Tripoli . The devastating defeat of the Christians in the Battle of La Forbie (October 18, 1244) brought the Order of St. John to the brink of collapse. In addition to the loss of a large number of knights, the order also lost its Grand Master Guillaume de Châteauneuf in the captivity of the Sultan of Egypt . As a preceptoris generalis , Ronay was thereafter the highest-ranking knight of the order in the Holy Land, and was therefore appointed vices magistri gerentis at the convent in 1245 and was entrusted with the management of the order on behalf of the absent Grand Master. In the following four years Ronay was busy with the reorganization of the order, for which he asked, among others, King Alfonso X of Castile and Emperor Frederick II for support. The Order of St. John was traditionally closely associated with the latter, but in 1248 Pope Innocent IV issued instructions to the orders of knights in the Holy Land to recognize the deposition of the Emperor and his son Conrad II as King of Jerusalem .

In the autumn of 1248 Ronay joined the crusade of King Louis IX with a small contingent of orders in Cyprus . of the Saint of France against Egypt ( Sixth Crusade ). After the capture of Damiette (June 1249), most of the knights of the order stayed behind to secure the city, while Ronay took part in the advance of the army to Cairo with a small retinue . During the battle for al-Mansura , the Johanniter and the Templars were part of the vanguard under the command of Count Robert von Artois and consequently took part in the fateful attack on the city on February 8, 1250. According to an anonymous Templar report, only one Johanniter survived this failed attack. This should have been Ronay, since according to Joinville it was he who informed the king of the death of his brother.

Jean de Ronay was killed in the subsequent battle in front of al-Mansura on February 11, 1250, as was the Templar Grand Master Guillaume de Sonnac .

literature

  • Jochen Burgtorf: The central convent of Hospitallers and Templars: history, organization, and personnel (1099 / 1120-1310) , In: History of warfare , Volume 50 (BRILL, 2008)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Registres d'Innocent IV , ed. Berger, n.4107
  2. ^ The Templar's letter was transcribed by Matthew Paris . Chronica Majora Liber Additamentorum , ed. by Henry R. Luard in: Rolls Series (RS) 57.6 (1882), pp. 191-197
  3. ↑ Joinville , II, §24, ed. by Ethel Wedgwood (1906); Joinville mistakenly called him "Henri de Ronay"
  4. ↑ Matthäus Paris, Chronica Majora , VI, pp. 191–197
personal data
SURNAME Jean de Ronay
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Joannis de Ronay
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Vice-Master of the Order of St. John
DATE OF BIRTH 13th Century
DATE OF DEATH February 11, 1250
Place of death al-Mansura