Jean de Ronay (died 11 February 1250, Mansurah, Egypt) was knight of the

Order of Saint John of Jerusalem The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), is a Catholic military order. It was founded in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century and had headquarters there u ...

who was appointed Grand Commander of the

Knights Hospitaller The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), is a Catholic military order. It was founded in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century and had headquarters there ...

by the Grand Master Guillaume de Chateauneuf in 1243 or 1244. He served as interim Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller from 1244 to 1250 during the captivity of de Chateauneuf. He died in battle during the

Seventh Crusade The Seventh Crusade (1248–1254) was the first of the two Crusades led by Louis IX of France. Also known as the Crusade of Louis IX to the Holy Land, it aimed to reclaim the Holy Land by attacking Egypt, the main seat of Muslim power in the Nea ...

Biography

In is unknown when de Ronay was born or when he joined the Order. It is known that he was a senior knight in good standing in 1245 when he assumed the position of interim Grand Master during the captivity of Guillaume de Chateauneuf. He died in battle on 11 February 1250, eight months before the release of de Chateauneuf. The Knights Hospitaller were left leaderless with the capture of de Chateauneuf on 18 October 1244. De Ronay, being the next highest ranking Hospitalier, took the responsibility of the Grand Master ''ad interim''. He was confirmed in this functions, until the return from captivity of the titular superior, by the conventual general assembly of the Hospitallers in 1245. De Ronay served in as interim Grand Master through the

, led by Louis IX of France. He was killed in the line of duty at the final encounter of Louis' Crusade, on 11 February 1250 prior to the Battle of Fariskur.

Battle of La Forbie

After the siege of Siege of Jerusalem of 15 July 1244 destroyed the Holy City, the

Kingdom of Jerusalem The Kingdom of Jerusalem, also known as the Crusader Kingdom, was one of the Crusader states established in the Levant immediately after the First Crusade. It lasted for almost two hundred years, from the accession of Godfrey of Bouillon in 1 ...

planned a counterattack. Together with the Hospitaller,

Knights Templar The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, mainly known as the Knights Templar, was a Military order (religious society), military order of the Catholic Church, Catholic faith, and one of the most important military ord ...

and Knights Teutonic, the allied with the Transjordanian troops of

al-Mansur Ibrahim Nasir ad-Din al-Malik al-Mansur Ibrahim bin Asad ad-Din Shirkuh, better known as al-Mansur Ibrahim, ( d. June 28, 1246) was a Kurdish ruler, the ''emir'' ("governor") of the Homs principality from 1240 to 1246 under the Ayyubid dynasty. He held H ...

and an-Nasir Dā’ūd. This army was placed under the command of Walter IV of Brienne and moved to fight the

Ayyubids The Ayyubid dynasty (), also known as the Ayyubid Sultanate, was the founding dynasty of the medieval Sultanate of Egypt established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt. A Sunni Muslim of Kurdish ori ...

and Khwarezmians commanded by

Baibars Al-Malik al-Zahir Rukn al-Din Baybars al-Bunduqdari (; 1223/1228 – 1 July 1277), commonly known as Baibars or Baybars () and nicknamed Abu al-Futuh (, ), was the fourth Mamluk sultan of Egypt and Syria, of Turkic Kipchak origin, in the Ba ...

, future sultan of Egypt. On 17–18 October 1244, the Crusader troops, which included approximately 1,000 cavalry and 6,000 foot soldiers, engaged in the

Battle of La Forbie A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force co ...

, were decisively defeated by Baibars. The approximately 800 prisoners included Walter IV of Brienne and Guillaume de Chateauneuf. Only 280 horsemen (including 33 Templars, 27 Hospitallers, 3 Teutonics and the Lord of Tyre, Philip of Montfort) and a thousand soldiers survived the defeat which marked the end of Christian military power in the Holy Land.Burgtorf, Jochen (2006). ''Forbie, Battle of (1244)''. In The Crusades–An Encyclopedia. p. 449.

Appointment as interim Grand Master

It was then that de Ronay was appointed as the interim Grand Master, as he was the Grand Tutor of the Hospital during the Battle of Forbie. Only the castles of

Safed Safed (), also known as Tzfat (), is a city in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. Located at an elevation of up to , Safed is the highest city in the Galilee and in Israel. Safed has been identified with (), a fortif ...

and

Ascalon Ascalon or Ashkelon was an ancient Near East port city on the Mediterranean coast of the southern Levant of high historical and archaeological significance. Its remains are located in the archaeological site of Tel Ashkelon, within the city limi ...

had defended themselves against the onslaught. Ascalon, guarded by the Hospitallers, resisted Baibars' attack. The Khwarezmians continued to attack Acre and Jaffa. In the fall of 1245, it was the capture of Damascus by Egyptian troops aided by the Khwarezmians that which put Egypt and Syria in the hands of

as-Salih Ayyub Al-Malik as-Salih Najm al-Din Ayyub (5 November 1205 – 22 November 1249), nickname: Abu al-Futuh (), also known as al-Malik al-Salih, was the Ayyubid ruler of Egypt from 1240 to 1249. Early life As-Salih was born in 1205, the son of Al-Kamil ...

. In 1246, Muslim troops began unsuccessful sieges of Ascalon, Acre and the Templar stronghold of

Château Pèlerin Château Pèlerin (Old French: Chastel Pelerin; ), also known as Atlit and Magdiel, is a Crusades, Crusader fortress and fortified town located about north of the modern Israeli town of Atlit (modern town), Atlit on the northern coast of Israel, ...

, but

Tiberias Tiberias ( ; , ; ) is a city on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel. A major Jewish center during Late Antiquity, it has been considered since the 16th century one of Judaism's Four Holy Cities, along with Jerusalem, Heb ...

was captured on June 16, 1247, and finally Ascalon fell.

The Seventh Crusade and death

Help was to come from

Louis IX of France Louis IX (25 April 1214 – 25 August 1270), also known as Saint Louis, was King of France from 1226 until his death in 1270. He is widely recognized as the most distinguished of the Direct Capetians. Following the death of his father, Louis VI ...

, who took the cross in December 1244, beginning the

. He went to sea from

Aigues-Mortes Aigues-Mortes (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Gard Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region of southern France. The medieval Ramparts of Aigues-Mortes, city walls surrounding th ...

on 25 August 25, 1248, disembarking in Cyprus on 17 September 1248. He arrived with the queen

Margaret of Provence Margaret of Provence (; 1221 – 20 December 1295) was Queen of France by marriage to Louis IX of France, King Louis IX. Early life Margaret was born in the spring of 1221 in Forcalquier. She was the eldest of four daughters of Ramon Berenguer ...

and his brothers, the count of Artois and the count of Anjou. At Cyprus awaited them

Henry I of Cyprus Henry I of Cyprus, nicknamed the Fat (; 3 May 1217 – 18 January 1253 at Nicosia) was Kingdom of Cyprus, King of Cyprus from 1218 to 1253. He was the son of Hugh I of Cyprus and Alice of Champagne. When his father Hugh I died on January 10, 1218 ...

and the representatives of the military orders, the lieutenant of the Hospitallers ''ad interim'', Jean de Ronay, and the Grand Master of the Templars,

Guillaume de Sonnac Guillaume de Sonnac (died 6 April 1250) was Grand Master of the Knights Templar from 1247 to 1250. Personal life Sonnac was born to a noble family in the French region of Rouergue. No date of birth survives for the Grand Master. He was describe ...

. After landing in Egypt, the Crusader force met with initial successes at the Siege of Damietta on 6 June 1249 and at the Battle of Mansurah on 8 February 1250, and it was in the fighting after the latter battle had been decided that de Ronay was killed. It was at the Battle of Fariskur on 6 April 1250 that disaster struck. Louis and many other were captured. Guillaume de Chateauneuf was released eight months later, on 17 October 1250 upon payment of his ransom, and thence returned to the leadership of the Hospitallers.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

* Jean de Ronay. French Wikipedia. * Liste des grands maîtres de l'ordre de Saint-Jean de Jérusalem. French Wikipedia. *Eugène Harot
Essai d’armorial des Grands-Maîtres de l’Ordre de Saint Jean de Jérusalem

Seals of the Grand Masters
Museum of the Order of St John. *Charles Moeller, Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem. ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' (1910) 7. New York: Robert Appleton Company. * Knights of the Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem, ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. 20. (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 12–19.
Coat of armsWith picture of his seal
{{s-end 1250 deaths Christians of the Seventh Crusade Knights Hospitaller Grand masters of the Knights Hospitaller Military personnel killed in action Year of birth unknown 13th-century French people