View source for Knights of Saint Thomas

{{Short description|English military order (c. 1191–1538)}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2016}}
{{ref improve|date=March 2013}}
{{Infobox military unit
|unit_name= Knights of St Thomas<br /> <small>Hospitallers of St Thomas of Canterbury at Acre</small>
|image=Order_of_St_Thomas_of_Acre_cross.svg
|caption=
|dates= c. 1191–1538
|allegiance={{flag|Holy See}}<br/>{{flag|Kingdom of England}}
|type= [[Western Christianity|Western Christian]] [[Military order (society)|military order]]
|role=
|size= 
|command_structure=
|garrison=including: [[Acre (city)|Acre]], [[Nicosia]], [[Kilkenny]] and London.
|garrison_label=Locations
|nickname=
|patron=St. [[Thomas Becket]] of Canterbury
|motto=
|colours=
|colours_label=
|march=
|mascot=
|equipment=
|equipment_label=
|battles=The [[Crusades]], including:<br /> [[Fifth Crusade]]<br /> [[Siege of Acre (1291)]]
|anniversaries=
|decorations=
|battle_honours=
<!-- Commanders -->
|commander1=
|commander1_label=
|notable_commanders=

}}
The '''Hospitallers of St Thomas of Canterbury at Acre''', usually called the '''Knights of [[Thomas Becket|St Thomas]]''', was a Christian [[Military order (society)|military order]] of the [[Catholic Church]]. Membership was restricted to Englishmen.

The emblem of the order was a red cross with a white [[scallop]] in the centre and the Knights wore a white [[Religious habit|habit]].<ref name=badger>{{cite web|url=http://badger.cx/heraldry/militaryorders.html |title=Summary of Military Orders |author=Volodymyr Blahuciak |publisher=Brander Roullett |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080327112956/http://badger.cx/heraldry/militaryorders.html |archivedate=27 March 2008 }}</ref>

==History==
===Foundation===
It was established in 1191, at [[Acre, Israel|Acre]], after the capture of that city by [[Richard I of England]] and [[Philip II of France]]. After the [[Siege of Acre (1189–1191)|capture of the city]], William, Chaplain to the Dean of [[St. Pauls Cathedral]] at London, formed a small [[religious order]], its members taking vows of [[poverty, chastity and obedience]]. The purpose of the Order was tending to the sick and wounded, and burying the Christian [[knights]] who fell in battle in the [[Holy Land]]. To that, William, as [[Prior (ecclesiastical)|Prior]] of the Order, added the purpose of raising funds to ransom captives from the [[Muslim]] armies of [[Saladin]]. The success of the Order enabled it to establish a church and hospital which was dedicated to [[St Thomas Becket]], [[Archbishop of Canterbury]]. Becket had been murdered in 1170. He was declared a [[martyr]] and canonised in 1173.

===Property of the Hospital of St Thomas===
Like other religious orders, the Hospital of St Thomas acquired a range of properties including St Thomas's Mill, a [[watermill]] in the [[Bow Back Rivers]] area, [[Stratford, London|Stratford]]. Previously known as Fote's Mill, around 1245 the Hospital was recorded as paying an annual rent of 9s. 6d for the use of this mill.<ref name = "Ancient Mills">[https://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=42756 British History Online: Ancient Mills].</ref>

===Militarisation===
It was militarised by [[Peter of Roche]],  [[Bishop of Winchester]], during the [[Sixth Crusade]] 1227–1229.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tyerman |first1=Christopher |title=God's War: A New History of the Crusades |url=https://archive.org/details/godswarnewhistor00tyer |url-access=registration |date=2006 |publisher=The Belknap Press |location=Cambridge, MA |pages=[https://archive.org/details/godswarnewhistor00tyer/page/745 745]|isbn=9780674023871 }}</ref> According to [[Pope Gregory IX]] this was done thanks to the indulgence of the existing canons of the Hospital of [[Thomas Becket|St Thomas]] in [[Akko|Acre]]. Peter contributed to the defences of [[Jaffa, Israel|Jaffa]] and [[Sidon]]. In 1236, [[Pope Gregory IX]] granted Papal confirmation to the Order, which became known as the Knights of St Thomas Acon (Acre being Anglicised to Acon). It adopted the rule of the [[Teutonic Knights]]. 

For the next 100 years, the crusaders held and defended the city of Acre. During this period, about the year 1279, as the purposes of the Knights of St Thomas shifted from that of religious hospitallers to a more military role, the position of [[Prior (ecclesiastical)|Prior]], the Order's religious head, lost its pre-eminent position to the Masters of the Order who acquired property and privileges, and created a provincial organisation in the British Isles, with its headquarters in [[Cheapside]] London and a subordinate preceptory in [[Kilkenny]]. In 1257 Alexander IV noted that the foundation did not have adequate resources. By 1279 it appealed to [[Edward I of England|Edward I]] for funds, and  their financial problems seem to have prompted the proposal to merge with the [[Knights Templar]]. However, there was opposition to this from the knights both in the [[Levant]] and England. In 1316 members successfully appealed to Edward I against a Templar takeover and also opposed an attempt takeover by the convent of [[Bonhommes]] at [[Ashridge]]

At the [[Siege of Acre (1291)|fall of Acre]], 12 May 1291, the Master and nine knights of the Order were killed. Following the battle, the [[Holy Land]] was lost to the [[Saracen]]s, the Order of St Thomas, along with the Order of [[Knights Templar]], moved their [[Priory]] to the island of [[Cyprus]] where they erected the beautiful St. Nicholas Church at [[Nicosia]]. (The ruins of the Church are still standing and have been recently restored.) However divisions arose between the master in Cyprus and the master of the London headquarters. By 1320, with a deteriorating situation in the Levant, Henry of Bedford, the master in Cyprus, came to London and ousted the incumbent master there. When he then appointed a deputy to handle the situation in Cyprus, the brothers there resisted this move. Although this resistance was overcome, within a few years control of the organisation had once more reverted to Nicosia. However the financial situation continued to deteriorate with reports of the London premises being reported as being in ruins by 1330 and the order ceased to be a viable military organisation with nothing more being heard of the master in Nicosia after 1360.

===The end and dissolution===
Having abandoned a military role, they also abandoned the rule of the Teutonic Knights, adopting that of the [[Augustinians|Augustinian]]s and carrying out charitable work and running a grammar school. Links developed with the [[Worshipful Company of Mercers|Mercers]] [[livery company]] at this time – Becket's father, Gilbert had been a mercer. The latter became their patrons, holding meetings there and using the chapel for prayers. The Order was [[Dissolution of the Monasteries|dissolved]] in 1538, along with other [[monastic orders]] in England, by [[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]].

===The Worshipful Mercers' Company of London===
After the dissolution of the Order, the King offered the hospital and chapel for sale. It was purchased by the [[Worshipful Company of Mercers|Mercers]]. But the buildings were destroyed in the [[Great Fire of London]] in 1666. The Mercers Company is the premier [[livery company]] of London, ranking first in the [[order of precedence]] of the "Great Twelve City Livery Companies".

The second hall, opened in 1676, was destroyed in 1941 during [[the Blitz]]. The present-day Mercer's Hall and Chapel, opened in 1958, are built on the site. It incorporates some of the fixtures, 17th-century woodwork and Victorian [[stained glass]] from the second hall. All that remains of the original Chapel is the recumbent statue of Christ which lies at the entrance to the Mercer's Chapel. The Worshipful Company of Mercers is one of the few London Livery Companies to have its own private chapel.

==Bibliography==
* Forey, Alan J. ''The Military Order of St Thomas of Acre'', "English Historical Review", 92 (1977), pp.&nbsp;481–503.
* Vincent, N. ''Peter des Roches: An Alien in English Politics, 1205–1238'', Cambridge, 1996.
* [[John Watney|Watney, J.]] ''Some Account of the Hospital of St. Thomas of Acon, in the Cheap, London, and of the Plate of the Mercers' Company'', London, 1892.
* King, E. J. ''Official History of the British Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem'', pg. 32 (1934).
* Demurger, Alain ''A Brief History of Religious Military Orders – Hospitallers, Templars, Teutonic...'', Tiralet (1997).
* Bartlett, W. B. ''God Wills It! – An Illustrated History of the Crusades'', Gloucestershire (1999).
* [[Meron Benvenisti|Benvenisti, Meron]] ''The Crusaders in the Holy Land'', New York (1970).
* Cross, Peter ''The Knight in Medieval England, 1000–1400'', Gloucestershire (1993).
* Payne, Robert ''The Dream and the Tomb: A History of the Crusades'', New York (1984).
* Riley-Smith, Jonathan ''The Atlas of the Crusades'', New York (1991), pp.&nbsp;106–107.
* [[Tyerman, Christopher]] ''The Invention of the Crusades'', Toronto (1998).
* Upton-Ward, J. M. A translation of ''The Rule of the Templars'', Suffolk (1992).
* Walsh, Michael ''Warriors of the Lord: The Military Orders of Christendom'', Cambridge (2003), pg. 203.

==See also==
* [[Catholic Church in England and Wales]]

==External links==
*[https://www.knights-saint-thomas.org/ The Hospitallers of Saint Thomas of Canterbury]
*[http://www.the-orb.net/encyclop/religion/monastic/st._thos.html The Order of St. Thomas of Acre, by Dr. Alan J. Forey]
*[http://www.mercers.co.uk/ Worshipful Company of Mercers, London]
*[https://osta.org.au/ An Order of St Thomas of Acre, founded in 2005 and using the same n]

==References==

{{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knights Of Saint Thomas}}
[[Category:1191 establishments]]
[[Category:Religious organizations established in the 1190s]]
[[Category:Organizations disestablished in the 16th century]]
[[Category:1538 disestablishments in England]]
[[Category:Orders of chivalry of the United Kingdom|Thomas, Knights of Saint]]
[[Category:Military orders (monastic society)|Thomas]]
[[Category:Catholic orders of chivalry]]
[[Category:Catholic Church in England and Wales]]
[[Category:Thomas Becket]]