11th Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller (1193–1202)
Geoffroy de Donjon (died 1202 in Acre), also known as or Geoffroy de Duisson, was the eleventhth Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller serving from 1193 through his death in 1202. He succeeded Garnier de Nablus who died in August 1192.
Biography.
It is not known if Geoffroy was from Picardie or Auvergne. His name is first mentioned for the first time in an act of April 1185 where he appears as a simple brother in the Holy Land, arriving with the Crusaders some time before that date. The second time was when he was elected Grand Master at the general chapter meeting held in Margat in January 1193.
A letter from him, undated, speaks of an earthquake in Syria. This event has been since identified as the 1202 Syrian earthquake happening in 20 May of that year. He was certainly present during the summer of 1202 at the side of the papal legate Soffredo Gaetani during the first trip to Antioch. They were attempting to reconcile the parties in the War of the Antiochene Succession concerning the Principality of Antioch. On 23 March 1203, the second voyage of Soffredo Gaetani to Antioch took place, but without Geoffroy de Donjon. He was replaced "ad interim" by the Grand Commander Pierre de Mirmande. They were accompanied by Philippe du Plessis, Grand Master of the Templars. These elements make it possible to situate the disappearance of Geoffroy between these two diplomatic trips.
His magisterium took place during a relatively calm period in the Holy Land. There were many disputes with the Templars, as the orders were jealous of each other. Under Geoffroy, several agreements were concluded. The independence of the Teutonic Order is such an arrangement. For a long time they had benefited from the kindness of the Hospitaller order, but the Teutonics wanted to acquire their independence. They had taken the rule of the Temple for clerics and knights and that of the Hospitaller for their own rules of hospitality. The Grand Masters of the Hospitallers and Templars attended the solemn ceremony, obliged by the circumstances, on 5 March 1198, curbing their pride and in the silence of their reprobation.
Geoffroy de Donjon increased the possessions of the Hospitallers by adding on 24 October 1197 the "Casalia" Hautefié which belonged to Juliana Grenier and her second husband Aymar de Lairon, the Lady and Lord of Caesarea. Aymar later became a brother in the Order, and Juliana was buried in a Hospitaller cemetery. They also obtained the castle of Digegie in May 1201 which belonged to Christine and Rohard of Jaffa. Geoffroy was succeeded by Fernado Afonso of Portugal.
References.
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