"In May 1187, a small force of Templar knights charged headlong into overwhelming Muslim cavalry at the Springs of Cresson and were almost completely destroyed. The battle became more than a military disaster-it revealed a mindset in which martyrdom itself could be claimed as victory. The Templars and the Assassins both hated Saladin. After much bloodshed, the Assassins had come to an understanding with the sultan. But there could be no such truce for the Templars."
"In 1119, just as the Templar order was being born, another proto-military order, the elite 'confraternity of St. Peter', came to an abrupt end. The scene was a place known, in the endearingly brutal and literal way of the medieval world, as the Field of Blood - Ager Sanguinis. Like the Templars, they too were given the position of honour - the right of the line and the first into combat."
"On the Field of Blood, one eyewitness wrote that the confraternity crashed into the Muslim lines to their front, 'giving their horses their heads, brandishing their lances as they made haste to strike the cohort in their path violently and quickly' and succeeding in putting them to flight. But despite their initial success, the Frankish forces were hopelessly outnumbered and surrounded."
In 1119 the elite confraternity of St. Peter charged into Muslim lines on the Field of Blood and were nearly annihilated despite an initial rout. The confraternity held the honor position in battle and led the charge, routing enemy cohorts before becoming surrounded and slaughtered. In May 1187 at the Springs of Cresson a predominantly Templar cavalry force, largely knights and unsupported by infantry, attacked a Muslim raiding force many times their number and suffered catastrophic losses. The encounter reinforced a mindset that equated martyrdom with victory. The Assassins eventually reached an understanding with Saladin, but the Templars pursued uncompromising conflict.
Read at Medievalists.net
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