Master Sibrand

Master Sibrand (Meister Sibrand, Magister Sibrandus) was the founder of the hospital in Akkon, which was to become the nucleus of the Teutonic Knights. 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.

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 that 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 to Sibrand a house in the city, the Armenian hospital, where the German hospital found more permanent quarters.

In fiction

Sibrand is one of the assassination targets in the original Assassin's Creed video game, where he is depicted as excessively paranoid (due to the player's recent success). He is also depicted as an atheist, one of the main reasons for his paranoia.

References

Gerard Labuda, 'Die Anfänge des Deutschen Ordens: In Jerusalem oder in Akkon?', in: Neitmann and Neugebauer (eds.), Jahrbuch Fur Die Geschichte Mittel und Ostdeutschlands, Walter de Gruyter, ISBN 978-3-598-23201-5, pp. 153–172.

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