Master Sibrand
{{Short description|Teutonic knight (1157–1191)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Master Sibrand
| image = Coat of arms of the Teutonic Order.png
| caption = Coat of arms of the Teutonic Order
| order = Grand Master of the Teutonic Order
| term_start = September 1190
| term_end = 1191
| successor = Heinrich Walpot von Bassenheim
| birth_date = 1157
| death_date = 1191
| death_place = {{flagicon|Kingdom of Jerusalem}} Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem
| battles = Crusades
}}
Master Sibrand (Meister Sibrand, Magister Sibrandus) was the founder of the hospital in Akkon, which was to become the base of the Teutonic Knights.{{cite book |last=Pringle |first=Denys |title=The Churches of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem: A Corpus: L-Z- |volume=2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RYzrAAAAMAAJ |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2009 |page=132|isbn=9780521851480 }} For this reason, he is sometimes considered the "first grand master" of that order, even if it was only given recognition in 1192, and transformed into a military order in 1198.{{cite book |last=Barba |first=Rick |title=Assassin's Creed: A Walk Through History (1189-1868) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4zqnCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA19 |publisher=Scholastic Inc. |date=25 October 2016 |page=19 |isbn=9781338099157}}
Sibrand had travelled to Outremer in 1188, in the Third Crusade of Frederick Barbarossa, as a follower of Adolf III of Holstein.
Sibrand is mentioned as the founder of a hospital in a document by king Guy of Lusignan dated to September 1190.
The field hospital was operated for German troops during the siege of Akkon. Such a hospital had been set up and operated by merchants of Bremen and Lübeck, near the cemetery of St. Nicholas, using a sail for shelter. After the conquest of Akkon, Guy gave Sibrand a house in the city, the Syriac hospital, where the German hospital found more permanent quarters.
After the Fall of Acre in July 1191, the hospital was moved into the city and evolved into the permanent base of the Teutonic Kings. With the help of donations made by the faithful, a garden for the hospital was financed and created in front of the gate of St Nicholas.
In fiction
Sibrand is one of the assassination targets in the original Assassin's Creed video game, where he is depicted as a both the Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights and as a secret member of the Knights Templars. He is shown to be excessively paranoid due to Altaïr's recent assassinations of other Templars.{{cite journal |last=Nichols |first=Derek |title=History Behind the Game – Assassin's Creed Characters |url=https://venturebeat.com/community/2013/09/27/history-behind-the-game-assassins-creed-characters/ |date=September 27, 2013 |access-date=December 12, 2017 |journal=VentureBeat}} He stays in the port of Acre,{{cite journal |author=Rédaction |title=Dossier Assassin's Creed - Partie 3 - Un premier épisode prometteur |url=https://playerone.tv/news/v/2548/dossier_assassin_s_creed_partie_3_un_premier_episode_prometteur.html |date=March 19, 2013 |access-date=December 12, 2017 |journal=Player One |language=fr}} using ships he acquired to form a blockade around the city, though he is eventually slain by Altair.
References
{{reflist}}
Bibliography
- {{cite journal |first=Gerard |last=Labuda |author-link=Gerard Labuda |title=Die Anfänge des Deutschen Ordens: In Jerusalem oder in Akkon? |editor=Neitmann and Neugebauer |journal=Jahrbuch für die Geschichte Mittel und Ostdeutschlands |year=2007 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=978-3-598-23201-5 |pages=153–172}}
Category:Members of the Teutonic Order