Jean de Villiers

Jean de Villiers was the twenty-second Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller, serving from 1285 until 1293. He was elected Grand Master after the death of Nicolas Lorgne. De Villiers was Prior of France beginning in 1282 and he remained in France to deal with existing problems of the Order. Jacques de Taxi became Grand Master ad interim, perhaps through 27 June 1286, while awaiting the arrival of the newly elected Grand Master in the Holy Land. De Villiers was present at the Siege of Acre in 1291, but escaped just before the city fell to the Mamluks. He was succeeded by Odon de Pins. Biography Jean de Villiers appeared for the first time on 6 July 1269 when he went to the Holy Land at the request of Grand Master Hugues de Revel. He was made Commander of Tripoli on 4 April 1277, and then Prior of France in 1282. He was elected Grand Master in the summer of 1285. He remained in France to deal with the many problems of the Order. On 21 August 1286 he was in Puymoisson in Provence to try to mobilize help for the Christian cause, but these efforts were mostly futile. He sold some of his possessions to the Order of Malta, some to the Marmoutier Abbey, and stayed in France to obtain financing. He was successful in this endeavor he went to the Holy Land with important subsidies. It was Jacques de Taxi, who was Grand Commander at Acre, who then became Lieutenant of the Order ad interim, perhaps on 27 June 1286, while awaiting the arrival of the Grand Master. Grand Master of the Order De Villiers arrived in the East in the fall of 1286. On 28 October 1288, he presided over a general chapter in Acre.