Thibaud Gaudin

Thibaud Gaudin, also Theobald Gaudin († April 16, 1292 ) was the twenty-second and penultimate Grand Master of the Knights Templar from summer 1291 until his death.

He probably came from the Spanish nobility ( French sources call it Blois or Chartres ). Beginning of 1260 he took part in an attack on the Muslim cities Tibnin and Tiberias as a knight of the Knights Templar. The attack was repulsed, Thibaud was taken prisoner and, after they had given the threat posed by the Mongols in mid 1260 a neutrality agreement with the Mamluks closed, released on ransom.

Since about 1281 Thibaud was Grand Commander of the Order. He fought at the siege of Acre by the Mamluks from 1291. As its predecessor, the Grand Master Guillaume de Beaujeu, had been mortally wounded on May 18, 1291, the Templars held their Grand Commander Thibaud to Sidon to send. He should evacuate the Order treasure and religious relics and organize the defense of Sidon. In Acre, the Marshal of the Templars Pierre de Sevry took command. On the same day Thibaud embarked on a Venetian galley to Sidon. A few weeks later, after Acre had fallen the end of May to the Mamluks, Thibaud was even elected to Sidon to the Grand Master.

The last possessions of the Crusaders in Syria were at this time in the hands of the Mamluks. Sidon was besieged and had to be vacated in July. The final positions of the Templars on the mainland, Tartus and Chateau Pelerin, had to be abandoned in August.

As Grandmaster Thibaud tried to give new tasks in Iberian Peninsula and in Morocco except moving to Cyprus to the Order after the loss of the mainland. This came across the internal resistance of the other Provinces, especially the French (Champagne, Auvergne, Bourgogne ). He died on 16 April 1292 without having put his goals into reality.

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