In the
Middle Ages, a commandery (rarely commandry) was the smallest administrative division of the
European
landed properties of a
military order Military order may refer to:
Orders
* Military order (religious society), confraternity of knights originally established as religious societies during the medieval Crusades for protection of Christianity and the Catholic Church
Military organi ...
. It was also the name of the house where the knights of the commandery lived.
[Anthony Luttrell and Greg O'Malley (eds.), ''The Countryside Of Hospitaller Rhodes 1306–1423: Original Texts And English Summaries'' (Routledge, 2019), p. 27.] The word is also applied to the
emoluments granted to a commander. They were the equivalent for those orders to a
monastic grange. The knight in charge of a commandery was a
commander
Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain.
...
.
Etymology
The word derives from French ''commanderie'' or ''commenderie'', from mediaeval
Latin ''commendaria'' or ''commenda'', meaning "a trust or charge", originally one held ''
in commendam
In canon law, commendam (or ''in commendam'') was a form of transferring an ecclesiastical benefice ''in trust'' to the ''custody'' of a patron. The phrase ''in commendam'' was originally applied to the provisional occupation of an ecclesiastical ...
''.
["commandery , commandry, n." OED Online, Oxford University Press, December 2018, https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/36962. Accessed 9 December 2018.]
Originally, commandries were benefices, particularly in the Church, held ''in commendam''. Mediaeval
military orders adopted monastic organizational structures and commandries were divisions of the
Order of Knights of St. John of Jerusalem
The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic Church, Catholic Military ord ...
, and later the
Order of Teutonic Knights and other knightly orders were organized along similar lines.
The property of the order was divided into "priorates" (or
priories
A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or nuns (such as the Dominicans, Augustinians, Franciscans, and Carmelites), or monasteries of monk ...
), subdivided into "bailiwicks," which in turn were divided into "commanderies" or "''commendæ''"; these were placed in charge of a "''commendator''" or
commander
Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain.
...
. The word is also applied to the emoluments granted to a commander of a military order of knights.
A commandry of the Teutonic Knights, each headed by a ''Komtur'', was known as a ''Komturei'' or ''Kommende''. The equivalents among the
Knights Templar
, colors = White mantle with a red cross
, colors_label = Attire
, march =
, mascot = Two knights riding a single horse
, equipment ...
were "
preceptor
A preceptor (from Latin, "''praecepto''") is a teacher responsible for upholding a ''precept'', meaning a certain law or tradition.
Buddhist monastic orders
Senior Buddhist monks can become the preceptors for newly ordained monks. In the Buddhi ...
" and "preceptory". In 1540, the possessions in
England of the
Knights Hospitaller - the commanderies to which the English term first referred - were seized as crown property.
Usage
Modern
* A territory of the
Venerable Order of Saint John
* A division of the
Knights Templar
, colors = White mantle with a red cross
, colors_label = Attire
, march =
, mascot = Two knights riding a single horse
, equipment ...
, found within the
York Rite of
Freemasonry.
* A chapter of the
Military Order of Foreign Wars.
Medieval
In the Near East and throughout Europe:
*A territory of
the Order of St John of Jerusalem, the
Knights Hospitallers
*A territory of the
Order of Teutonic Knights and other orders
*
The Commandery, an historic building in the city of
Worcester, England probably built by Knights Hospitallers
See also
*
Commandaria
*
In Commendam
In canon law, commendam (or ''in commendam'') was a form of transferring an ecclesiastical benefice ''in trust'' to the ''custody'' of a patron. The phrase ''in commendam'' was originally applied to the provisional occupation of an ecclesiastical ...
*
Encomienda
The ''encomienda'' () was a Spanish labour system that rewarded conquerors with the labour of conquered non-Christian peoples. The labourers, in theory, were provided with benefits by the conquerors for whom they laboured, including military ...
References
Citations
Sources
*
{{Authority control
Feudalism in Europe
Orders of chivalry