Peire de Montagut

Pedro de Montaigu, also Pierre de Montaigu and Peter de Monteacuto († January 28, 1232 ) was the fifteenth Grand Master of the Knights Templar.

Pedro came from Montaigut -en- Combraille in the Auvergne. Between 1206 and 1212 he was Großpräceptor of the Order in Aragon and Provence, and then masters of this world's ocean ( magister citra mare ). 1212 he participated in the victorious battle of Las Navas de Tolosa.

Pedro took the Fifth Crusade in part (1217-1221) and reached the Holy Land, probably in May 1218 with a German fleet that had helped the previous autumn at the siege and capture of Alcacer do Sal and wintered on the Iberian Peninsula. The crusade army besieged from 1218 the Egyptian city of Damietta. Pedro was a close confidant of former Templar Grand Master Guillaume de Chartres. During the siege of Damietta Guillaume had been wounded and eventually died from an infection. Soon after his death in 1219 Pedro was elected Grand Master of the Knights Templar and took over the command of the troops of the Templars. During the siege of the Sultan of Egypt gave the Crusaders a peace treaty and the return to Jerusalem. The papal legate of the Crusade, Cardinal Pelagius of Albano refused, however, from certain of victory, to negotiate with the Muslims, said he was encouraged by Pedro. Damietta was captured in November 1219. The fighting in Egypt withdrew two years back, until the Crusaders were eventually driven back.

At the same time his brother Guerin de Montaigu was Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller. This favors entertained the two knightly orders in the following years close relationships. His brother Eustorgue de Montaigu was from 1217 Archbishop of Nicosia.

On the second attempt of the Fifth Crusade (1228-1229) under Emperor Frederick II took this opportunity after the 1219 award, and achieved the restoration of Jerusalem from the Muslims.