In the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

, a commandery (rarely commandry) was the smallest administrative division of the

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

an landed properties of a military order. It was also the name of the house where the knights of the commandery lived.Anthony Luttrell and Greg O'Malley (eds.), ''The Countryside Of Hospitaller Rhodes 1306–1423: Original Texts And English Summaries'' (Routledge, 2019), p. 27. The word is also applied to the emoluments granted to a commander. They were the equivalent for those orders to a

monastic grange Monastic granges were outlying landholdings held by monasteries independent of the manorial system. The first granges were owned by the Cistercians and other orders followed. Wealthy monastic houses had many granges, most of which were largel ...

. The knight in charge of a commandery was a

commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain ...

Etymology

The word derives from French ''commanderie'' or ''commenderie'', from mediaeval

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

''commendaria'' or ''commenda'', meaning "a trust or charge", originally one held '' in commendam''. "commandery , commandry, n." OED Online, Oxford University Press, December 2018, https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/36962. Accessed 9 December 2018. Originally, commandries were benefices, particularly in the Church, held ''in commendam''. Mediaeval military orders adopted monastic organizational structures and commandries were divisions of the

Order of Knights of St. John of Jerusalem The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic Church, Catholic Military ord ...

, and later the Order of Teutonic Knights and other knightly orders were organized along similar lines. The property of the order was divided into "priorates" (or priories), subdivided into "bailiwicks," which in turn were divided into "commanderies" or "''commendæ''"; these were placed in charge of a "''commendator''" or

. The word is also applied to the emoluments granted to a commander of a military order of knights. A commandry of the Teutonic Knights, each headed by a ''Komtur'', was known as a ''Komturei'' or ''Kommende''. The equivalents among the

Knights Templar The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon ( la, Pauperes commilitones Christi Templique Salomonici), also known as the Order of Solomon's Temple, the Knights Templar, or simply the Templars, was a Catholic military order, o ...

were " preceptor" and "preceptory". In 1540, the possessions in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

of the

Knights Hospitaller The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headq ...

- the commanderies to which the English term first referred - were seized as crown property.

Usage

Modern

* A territory of the Venerable Order of Saint John * A division of the

, found within the York Rite of

Freemasonry Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

. * A chapter of the Military Order of Foreign Wars.

Medieval

In the Near East and throughout Europe: *A territory of the Order of St John of Jerusalem, the Knights Hospitallers *A territory of the Order of Teutonic Knights and other orders * The Commandery, an historic building in the city of Worcester, England probably built by Knights Hospitallers

References

Citations

Sources

* {{Authority control Feudalism in Europe Orders of chivalry