MK187
King & Country
As his crossbow comrades maintain a steady fire on the enemy this senior crossbowman shouts an order over the din of battle.
The Order of St. John of the Hospital of Jerusalem (or simply the Hospitallers) was not created as a result of the First Crusade in 1099. Instead it was previously established by a consortium of Italian merchants and noblemen from Amalfi in the mid 11th Century. Thanks to the financial support of this group volunteers and mercenaries came from all over Italy and beyond to join the order, which had already received the Papal blessing and set up its headquarters and training facility near Amalfi before leaving for The Holy Land.
As a consequence of the crusading movement ‘Hospitallers’ became recognized as one of the best disciplined and best-led of all the Crusader armies. On the battlefield their principal colors were ‘black’ and ‘blood red’. This release shows a range of Hospitaller Men-At-Arms in action wearing a variety of blood-red tunics and even some partially-red steel helmets.