Knights Templar and Knights Hospitaller

Ormond Historical Society talk next Tuesday

The Ormond Historical Society’s final talk of the 2023-’24 season takes place in the Abbey Court Hotel on Tuesday, March 12, next.

Patrons, please note that to facilitate the speaker, this talk is on a Tuesday not the usual Monday. The topic is ‘Soldiers of Christ: The Knights Templar and Knights Hospitaller in Medieval Ireland’, and the speaker is Br Colmán Ó Clabaigh, OSB, Glenstal Abbey.

The Knights Templar and Knights Hospitaller were two military orders founded in the 12th Century as Christian Europe responded to the threats and opportunities posed by its Muslim and non-Christian neighbours. Both orders arrived in Ireland with the first Anglo-Norman settlers and were granted large landholdings and other sources of income to support their activities in Palestine and the Middle East.

The talk will explore the impact of the two orders on the agricultural, economic, political and religious life of Ireland from their first arrival in the late 12th Century up to their suppression as part of the dissolution of the monasteries in the 16th Century. Colmán Ó Clabaigh is a monk of Glenstal Abbey and specialises in the history of religion and monasticism in Medieval Ireland. He is the author of several books and articles including ‘Art and Devotion in Medieval Ireland’ (2006) and ‘The Friars in Ireland’ (2010). His most recent work includes ‘Brides of Christ: Women and Monasticism in Medieval and Early Modern Ireland’ (2023) and chapters in ‘The Cambridge History of Ireland’ and ‘The Cambridge History of Monasticism in the Medieval Latin West’.

Colmán Ó Clabaigh is an accomplished and entertaining speaker who carries his learning lightly and his talk will have wide appeal. The talk begins at the usual time of 8pm on Tuesday, March 12.