Negotiation and conflict: the Templars’ and Hospitallers’ relations with diocesan bishops in Britain and Ireland

It is a commonplace of medieval history that diocesans and metropolitans were in constant conflict with the exempt religious orders of the Church. From the second decade of the twelfth century onwards, a succession of papal privileges exempted the military religious orders from the authority of the diocesan bishops, as a means of enabling these orders to increase their income and allow them to discharge their functions more effectively. The Templars’ and Hospitallers’ exemptions in particular have attracted some detailed study. This chapter will focus on these privileged orders in Britain and Ireland, considering how they used the privileges granted by the papacy to achieve power and authority and how this led them into conflict with diocesan bishops. Nevertheless, the interests of these two groups did not necessarily conflict with each other; positive, constructive relations also existed