Gilbert d'Assailly

Quarterly: 1 and 4, gu a cross arg; 2 and 3, az semé of mullets arg debruised by a lion rampant of the same

Gilbert d'Assailly
Gilbertus Assaliensis/Salliensis
Girardus Assaby

Tenure

c.1165³-1169 Abdicated

Nationality

French or English

Birth

Death

c.1170

Notes

According to d'Avity, Fra Gilbert d'Assailly or de Sailly, was of excellent and kindly disposition, but inclined to prodigality, especially in relation to the military, to the point that he made borrowed excessively. Having exhausted the Order's entire treasury, he was compelled to take on a loan on the condition that he captured Pelusium [a town in Egypt], by beating the infidels, for acquisition of the Order. This was successfully carried out on 3 November 1168.¹
That year he held a Chapter General in Jerusalem; when he saw that the Order owed over 100,000 gold pieces, he brooded over the enormity of the debt and, filled with loathing that his plans were not passed, he abdicated from the office of Grandmaster in 1169.¹
To be fair on d'Assailly, Saladin was beginning his great onslaught on the Holy Land which was to culminate in the fall of Jerusalem itself within the next 20 years. According to Seward, the costly and disastrous outcome of the campaign against Saladin, almost bankrupted the Order with the result that d'Assailly suffered a nervous breakdown in 1170, abdicated and became a hermit. He later drowned crossing the English Channel.²
5. Frater Gilbertus Assaliensis aut Salliensis, qui excelso animo et tam liberalis fuit, ut in prodigalitatem inclinaret, praesertim erga milites, adeo ut magnos sumptus fecerit, et exhausto omni aerario Ordinis coactus fuerit pecunias mutuas sumere, hac conditione, ut si Pelusium, infidelibus pulsis, expugnaret, illud Ordini acquireretur, quod III. Novembr. MCLXVIII. feliciter est exsequutus. Eo anno generale Capitulum Ierosolymae habuit: cumque videret, se multum aeris alieni conflasse, et Ordinem plus quam centum aureorum milia debere, taedio affectus, quod sua consilia ex voto non succederent, officio magni Magistri se abdicavit, anno MCLXIX.
1. d'Avity III:33
2. Seward, p.49
3. Pauli, p.42 - Apr 1165 - Donation of two villages (casalia) by Walter, Lord of Galilee to Gilbert, Grandmaster on behalf of the Hospital
Sources:
Avity, Pierre d'; Gottfried, Johann Ludwig: Archontologiae Cosmicae, Liber III: Origo Ordinum Militarium, tam Regularium, Dissertatio de Ordine Equitum Melitensum, Frankfurt am Main, 1628
Pauli, Sebastiano: Codice diplomatico del sacro militare ordine gerosolimitano, Salvatore e Giandomenico Marescandoli, Lucca, 1733
Seward, Desmond: The Monks of War, Eyre Methuen, 1972.

Blazon

Quarterly: 1 and 4, gu a cross arg; 2 and 3, az semé of mullets arg debruised by a lion rampant of the same [R]

Engraving by Antonio F. Lucini of Matteo Perez d'Aleccio's fresco


Tenure	c.1165³-1169 Abdicated
Nationality	French or English

Birth
Death	c.1170
Notes	According to d'Avity, Fra Gilbert d'Assailly or de Sailly, was of excellent and kindly disposition, but inclined to prodigality, especially in relation to the military, to the point that he made borrowed excessively. Having exhausted the Order's entire treasury, he was compelled to take on a loan on the condition that he captured Pelusium [a town in Egypt], by beating the infidels, for acquisition of the Order. This was successfully carried out on 3 November 1168.¹ That year he held a Chapter General in Jerusalem; when he saw that the Order owed over 100,000 gold pieces, he brooded over the enormity of the debt and, filled with loathing that his plans were not passed, he abdicated from the office of Grandmaster in 1169.¹ To be fair on d'Assailly, Saladin was beginning his great onslaught on the Holy Land which was to culminate in the fall of Jerusalem itself within the next 20 years. According to Seward, the costly and disastrous outcome of the campaign against Saladin, almost bankrupted the Order with the result that d'Assailly suffered a nervous breakdown in 1170, abdicated and became a hermit. He later drowned crossing the English Channel.² 5. Frater Gilbertus Assaliensis aut Salliensis, qui excelso animo et tam liberalis fuit, ut in prodigalitatem inclinaret, praesertim erga milites, adeo ut magnos sumptus fecerit, et exhausto omni aerario Ordinis coactus fuerit pecunias mutuas sumere, hac conditione, ut si Pelusium, infidelibus pulsis, expugnaret, illud Ordini acquireretur, quod III. Novembr. MCLXVIII. feliciter est exsequutus. Eo anno generale Capitulum Ierosolymae habuit: cumque videret, se multum aeris alieni conflasse, et Ordinem plus quam centum aureorum milia debere, taedio affectus, quod sua consilia ex voto non succederent, officio magni Magistri se abdicavit, anno MCLXIX. 1. d'Avity III:33 2. Seward, p.49 3. Pauli, p.42 - Apr 1165 - Donation of two villages (casalia) by Walter, Lord of Galilee to Gilbert, Grandmaster on behalf of the Hospital Sources: Avity, Pierre d'; Gottfried, Johann Ludwig: Archontologiae Cosmicae, Liber III: Origo Ordinum Militarium, tam Regularium, Dissertatio de Ordine Equitum Melitensum, Frankfurt am Main, 1628 Pauli, Sebastiano: Codice diplomatico del sacro militare ordine gerosolimitano, Salvatore e Giandomenico Marescandoli, Lucca, 1733 Seward, Desmond: The Monks of War, Eyre Methuen, 1972.
Blazon	Quarterly: 1 and 4, gu a cross arg; 2 and 3, az semé of mullets arg debruised by a lion rampant of the same [R]