Editing Turcopole

{{Short description|Recruits by the Byzantines and crusaders}}
[[File:Turcopole, 12th century.jpg|thumb|A 12th century turcopole, historical re-enactment]]
During the period of the [[Crusades]], '''turcopoles''' (also "turcoples" or "turcopoli"; from the {{langx|el|τουρκόπουλοι}}, literally "sons of Turks")<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803105058363|title=Tourkopouloi}}</ref> were locally recruited [[mounted archers]] and [[light cavalry]] employed by the [[Byzantine Empire]] and the [[Crusader states]]. A leader of these auxiliaries was designated as '''Turcopolier''', a title subsequently given to a senior officer in the [[Knights Templars]] and the [[Order of Saint John|Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem]], in charge of the coastal defences of Rhodes and Malta.<ref>Whitworth Porter, ''History of the Knights of Malta, or The Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem'', p.287[https://books.google.com/books?id=bR9aAQAAQBAJ&dq=John+Pavely+Turcopolier&pg=PA287]</ref> In addition to the two Military Orders, the army of the [[Kingdom of Jerusalem]] employed ''king's Turcoples'' under the direction of a '''''Grand Turcopolier'''''.<ref>{{cite book |first=David |last=Nicolle |page=47 |title=Hattin 1187. Saladin's Greatest Victory |date=28 January 1993 |publisher=Bloomsbury USA |isbn=978-1-85532-284-4}}</ref> 

== Byzantine origins ==
The crusaders first encountered Turcopoles in the [[Byzantine army]] during the [[First Crusade]]. Reference is made to 30 Turcoples being lent by the [[Alexios I Komnenos|Emperor Alexius I]] to act as guides for one division of the Franks. These auxiliaries were of mixed [[Byzantine Greeks|Byzantine]] and [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]]<ref>The term "Turkic" refers to populations such as the [[Pechenegs]], [[Oghuz Turks]], [[Uzes (people)|Uzes]], [[Cumans]] and [[Bulgars]].</ref> origins.<ref>{{cite book|first=Ian|last=Health|pages=23 & 39|title=Byzantine Armies 886-1118|date=5 July 1979|publisher=Bloomsbury USA |isbn=0-85045-306-2}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Halfond |first=Gregory I. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yIC1CwAAQBAJ&dq=Turcopole+ethnic+background&pg=PA181 |title=The Medieval Way of War: Studies in Medieval Military History in Honor of Bernard S. Bachrach |date=2016-03-09 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-02419-4 |pages=181 |language=en}}</ref>
 
[[Raymond of Aguilers]] writes that they were called Turcopoles because they were either reared with Turks or because their fathers were Turks and their mothers Christians. [[Albert of Aix]] writes that their fathers were Turks and their mothers Greeks. From the 12th century, evidence suggest that non-Turks fighting in the Turkish fashion were also included in the Turcopoles, for example, in the 14th century Turcopoles who were employed by the Catalan company included Greeks who shaved their heads like the Turks in order to be employed in this capacity.<ref>{{Cite book |author=Ian Heath  |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7VOSDwAAQBAJ |title=Armies and Enemies of the Crusades |date=2019-03-03 |isbn= 9780244474881 |pages=15 | publisher=Lulu.com |language=en}}</ref>

The term underwent a semantic evolution, extending to [[light cavalry]]man, mainly equipped with bows, regardless of ethnic origins.<ref name=":0" />

Some Byzantine Turcopole units under the command of General [[Tatikios]] accompanied the First Crusade and may have provided a model for the subsequent employment of indigenous auxiliary light horse in the [[crusader state]]s.

== Composition ==
It has been argued that, while Turcopoles certainly included light cavalry and [[mounted archers]], the term was a general one also applicable to indigenous Syrian footmen serving as feudal levies in the [[Kingdom of Jerusalem]].<ref>{{cite book |first=R. C. |last=Small |title=Crusading Warfare 1097–1193 |date=27 October 1994 |pages=111–112 |isbn=978-0-521-48029-1 }}</ref> Evidence that Syrian levies, whether designated as turcoples or not, provided the bulk of the ''Frankish'' ([[Western Europe]]an) led infantry of Outremer is not available but there are specific references to their participation in the [[Siege of Tripoli]] by [[Raymond de Saint-Gilles]].<ref>Ian Heath, page 6 "Armies and Enemies of the Crusades 1096-1291", Wargames Research Group Publication</ref>

The Turcopoles employed by the crusader states were not necessarily Turkish or [[mixed-race]] mercenaries. Many were probably recruited from Christianized [[Seljuqs]], or from [[Syrian Orthodox]] Christians living under crusader rule. By the second half of the 12th century the recorded names of individual Turcoples indicate that some were ''Poulains'' (Syrian-born Franks),<ref>A twelfth century term designating Latin Christian settlers in the [[crusader states]] of the Middle East. Poulains in this context were the Frankish descendants of those original crusaders who had remained in Palestine after the capture of Jerusalem in 1099.</ref> as well as European Franks.<ref>Ian Heath, page 7 "Armies and Enemies of the Crusades 1096-1291", Wargames Research Group Publication</ref> In addition to indigenous Christians and converted Turks, the Turcopoles of Outremer may at various dates have included contingents from the west trained to serve as mounted archers.<ref> J. Richard, ''Les Turcoples au service des royaumes de Jerusalem et de Chypre: Musulmans converted ou Chretiens orientaux?'', Melanges Dominique Sourdel/Revue des estates islamiques</ref>

== Equipment ==
In the [[Holy Land]], Turcopoles were more lightly equipped than the [[knights]] and [[sergeants]] (mounted [[men at arms]]), being armed with [[lance]]s and [[Bow and arrow|bow]]s to help combat the more mobile Muslim forces. The Turcopoles served as light cavalry providing [[skirmisher]]s, scouts, and [[mounted archers]], and sometimes rode as a second line in a charge, to back up the ''Frankish'' knights and sergeants.<ref>{{cite book |first=David|last=Nicolle|title=Knights Hospitaller (1) 1100-1306|date=25 July 2001|page=40|isbn=978-1-84176-214-2 }}</ref> Turcopoles had lighter and faster horses than the western mounted troops and wore much lighter armour. Usually this comprised only a quilted ''[[aketon]]'' or jerkin and a conical steel helmet.<ref>{{cite book |first=Terrence |last=Wise |title=The Knights of Christ |date=22 November 1984 |page=34 |isbn=0-85045-604-5 }}</ref> Regulations of the Hospitallers made a clear distinction between the heavy war saddles of the knights of the military order and the "Turkish saddles" issued to the Syrian Turcoples who served with them.<ref>{{cite book |first=David|last=Nicolle|title=Knights Hospitaller (1) 1100-1306|date=25 July 2001|page=30|isbn=978-1-84176-214-2 }}</ref>

== Specialist roles ==
As lightly armed and mobile auxiliaries the Turcopoles were of particular value when scouting and raiding expeditions were undertaken. On such occasions the heavily armoured and relatively slow moving horsemen of the western armies were at a disadvantage. Accordingly this was the sole occasion when Turcopoliers (Turcopole commanders) could issue direct orders to accompanying knights.<ref>{{cite book |first=David |last=Nicolle |page=48 |title=Hattin 1187. Saladin's Greatest Victory |isbn=978-1-85532-284-4}}</ref>

== Employment by military orders ==
Turcopoles served in both the secular armies of [[Outremer]] and the ranks of the [[Military order (society)|military orders]]. In the latter, Turcopoles had lower status than the Frankish sergeants and were subject to various restrictions. These included having to eat at a separate table from the other mounted soldiers of the [[Templars]] or [[Knights Hospitaller]]. In contrast to the unsalaried brother-knights and brother-sergeants of the fighting orders, Turcopoles were paid warriors.<ref>{{cite book |first=Alan |last=Foley |page=5 |chapter=Paid Troops in the Service of the Military Orders during the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries |title=The Crusader World }}</ref>

An indication of the approximate numbers of Turcopoles available to the military orders is given by a pledge made by the Hospitallers in 1186, when an invasion of Egypt was being planned. Of a total Hospitaller contingent of 1,000 men, half were to be Turcopoles.<ref>{{cite book |first=David |last=Nicolle |page=52 |title=Hattin 1187. Saladin's Greatest Victory |isbn=978-1-85532-284-4}}</ref>

== Funding ==
A perennial problem for the Christian states of Outremer was the limited quantities of Frankish manpower, horses and weapons available. To a certain extent this weakness was redressed through the employment of locally recruited Turcopoles, riding indigenous horses and using the same equipment as their opponents. The cost of paying the mercenary element amongst the Turcopoles was one of the specific reasons for repeated cash donations being sent to the crusader states from Europe.<ref>{{cite book |first=Jonathan |last=Riley-Smith |page=[https://archive.org/details/crusades00jona/page/79 79] |title=The Crusades |year=1987 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=0-300-04700-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/crusades00jona/page/79 }}</ref>

== Battle of Hattin ==
At the decisive [[Battle of Hattin]] in 1187 the ''Historia Regni Hierosolymitani'' records 4,000 turcopoles as being part of the defeated Christian army. However the historian [[Steven Runciman]] considers this number exaggerated, and notes that the Muslim light cavalry present were probably better armed than the Turcopoles.<ref>{{cite book |first=Steven |last=Runciman |title=A History of the Crusades - The Kingdom of Jerusalem |date=January 1952 |pages=489–490 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0-521-06162-8 }}</ref> The Turcopoles captured at Hattin were, as perceived renegades, <ref>{{cite book |first=David |last=Nicolle |page=78 |title=Hattin 1187. Saladin's Greatest Victory |date=28 January 1993 |publisher=Bloomsbury USA |isbn=978-1-85532-284-4}}</ref> probably executed at [[Saladin]]'s order. <ref>{{cite book |first=Jean |last=Richard |page=207 |title=The Crusades c1071-c1291 |date=16 September 1999 |isbn=0-521-625661}}</ref>

== Later history ==
The [[Mamluk]]s also considered Turcopoles to be traitors and apostates, killing all those whom they captured. The Turcopoles who survived the [[Siege of Acre (1291)|Fall of Acre]] followed the military orders out of the Holy Land and were established on [[Cyprus]] with the [[Knights Templar]], plus [[Rhodes]] and [[Malta]] with the [[Knights Hospitaller]]. The [[Teutonic Order]] also called its own native light cavalry the "Turkopolen".

== Turcopoliers and attendants ==
[[File:Thomas Docwra by William Rogers.jpg|thumb|Sir [[Thomas Docwra]] (c.1458-1527), Turcopolier of the [[Knights Hospitaler|Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem]] 1499-1501]]
The Turcopoles had their own leaders called Turcopoliers who outranked ordinary sergeants, at least in battle. The senior office-holders of the [[Knights Templar]] included a Turcopolier who commanded both the mercenary cavalry recruited by the Order in the east and the sergeant-brothers.<ref>[[Helen Nicholson (historian)|Helen Nicholson]]: ''The Knights Templar - a New History'', p. 118, {{ISBN|0-7509-3839-0}}</ref> The personal attendants of the Grand Master of the Temple included a Turcopole<ref>[[Piers Paul Read]]: ''The Templars'', p. 133, {{ISBN|1-84212-142-1}}</ref> - possibly as an interpreter or orderly. The Hospitallers included in their rank-structure a Turcopolier, who originally was probably a sergeant-brother but who in 1303 was accorded the senior status of ''conventual bailli'' (official in the Central Convent).<ref>{{cite book |first=David|last=Nicolle|title=Knights Hospitaller (1) 1100-1306|date=25 July 2001|page=16|publisher=Bloomsbury USA |isbn=978-1-84176-214-2 }}</ref> Since the establishment of the ''[[Langues]]'' of the Knights of St John in 1319, the ''Pilier'' (head) of the Langue of [[England]] (with [[Wales]], [[Scotland]] and [[Ireland]]) was the order's Turcopolier;<ref>Francesco Balbi (1568): The Siege of Malta</ref> and in charge of the coastal defences of Rhodes and Malta.<ref>Whitworth Porter, ''History of the Knights of Malta, or The Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem'', p.287[https://books.google.com/books?id=bR9aAQAAQBAJ&dq=John+Pavely+Turcopolier&pg=PA287]</ref>

==See also==
* [[Varangian Guard]], another foreign mercenary force in the Byzantine Empire.

==References==
<references/>

==Further reading==
*Michael Haag, "The Templars: History and Myth", p.&nbsp;158, Profile Books, London 2009. {{ISBN|978-1-84668-153-0}}
*Jean Richard, "Les turcoples au service des royaumes de Jérusalem et de Chypre: musulmans convertis ou chrétiens orientaux?", in idem, ''Croisades et Etats latins d’Orient Points de vue et Documents'' (Aldershot, Ashgate, 1992) (Variorum Collected Studies Series: CS383),

[[Category:Byzantine army]]
[[Category:Cavalry]]
[[Category:Christians of the Crusades]]
[[Category:Army reconnaissance units and formations]]