During the period of theCrusades,turcopoles (also "turcoples" or "turcopoli"; from theGreek:τουρκόπουλοι, literally "sons of Turks")[1] were locally recruitedmounted archers andlight cavalry employed by theByzantine Empire and theCrusader states. A leader of these auxiliaries was designated asTurcopolier, a title subsequently given to a senior officer in theKnights Templars and theOrder of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem, in charge of the coastal defences of Rhodes and Malta.[2] In addition to the two Military Orders, the army of theKingdom of Jerusalem employedking's Turcoples under the direction of aGrand Turcopolier.[3]
The crusaders first encountered Turcopoles in theByzantine army during theFirst Crusade. Reference is made to 30 Turcoples being lent by theEmperor Alexius I to act as guides for one division of the Franks. These auxiliaries were of mixedByzantine andTurkic[4] origins.[5][6]
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.[7]
The term underwent a semantic evolution, extending tolight cavalryman, mainly equipped with bows, regardless of ethnic origins.[6]
Some Byzantine Turcopole units under the command of GeneralTatikios accompanied the First Crusade and may have provided a model for the subsequent employment of indigenous auxiliary light horse in thecrusader states.
It has been argued that, while Turcopoles certainly included light cavalry andmounted archers, the term was a general one also applicable to indigenous Syrian footmen serving as feudal levies in theKingdom of Jerusalem.[8] Evidence that Syrian levies, whether designated as turcoples or not, provided the bulk of theFrankish (Western European) led infantry of Outremer is not available but there are specific references to their participation in theSiege of Tripoli byRaymond de Saint-Gilles.[9]
The Turcopoles employed by the crusader states were not necessarily Turkish ormixed-race mercenaries. Many were probably recruited from ChristianizedSeljuqs, or fromSyrian Orthodox Christians living under crusader rule. By the second half of the 12th century the recorded names of individual Turcoples indicate that some werePoulains (Syrian-born Franks),[10] as well as European Franks.[11] 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.[12]
In theHoly Land, Turcopoles were more lightly equipped than theknights andsergeants (mountedmen at arms), being armed withlances andbows to help combat the more mobile Muslim forces. The Turcopoles served as light cavalry providingskirmishers, scouts, andmounted archers, and sometimes rode as a second line in a charge, to back up theFrankish knights and sergeants.[13] Turcopoles had lighter and faster horses than the western mounted troops and wore much lighter armour. Usually this comprised only a quiltedaketon or jerkin and a conical steel helmet.[14] 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.[15]
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.[16]
Turcopoles served in both the secular armies ofOutremer and the ranks of themilitary 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 theTemplars orKnights Hospitaller. In contrast to the unsalaried brother-knights and brother-sergeants of the fighting orders, Turcopoles were paid warriors.[17]
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.[18]
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.[19]
At the decisiveBattle of Hattin in 1187 theHistoria Regni Hierosolymitani records 4,000 turcopoles as being part of the defeated Christian army. However the historianSteven Runciman considers this number exaggerated, and notes that the Muslim light cavalry present were probably better armed than the Turcopoles.[20] The Turcopoles captured at Hattin were, as perceived renegades,[21] probably executed atSaladin's order.[22]
TheMamluks also considered Turcopoles to be traitors and apostates, killing all those whom they captured. The Turcopoles who survived theFall of Acre followed the military orders out of the Holy Land and were established onCyprus with theKnights Templar, plusRhodes andMalta with theKnights Hospitaller. TheTeutonic Order also called its own native light cavalry the "Turkopolen".
The Turcopoles had their own leaders called Turcopoliers who outranked ordinary sergeants, at least in battle. The senior office-holders of theKnights Templar included a Turcopolier who commanded both the mercenary cavalry recruited by the Order in the east and the sergeant-brothers.[23] The personal attendants of the Grand Master of the Temple included a Turcopole[24] - 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 ofconventual bailli (official in the Central Convent).[25] Since the establishment of theLangues of the Knights of St John in 1319, thePilier (head) of the Langue ofEngland (withWales,Scotland andIreland) was the order's Turcopolier;[26] and in charge of the coastal defences of Rhodes and Malta.[27]