AQA A-Level History AS Component 1 (1A), June 2025: Question 1

25 marks · Hard difficulty · Extended Response

Assess which extract provides the more convincing interpretation of the establishment of the Military Orders by 1149.

Practise this question

Question

Question text

01 With reference to these extracts and your understanding of the historical context, which

of these two extracts provides the more convincing interpretation of the establishment

of the Military Orders by 1149?

[25 marks]

Section B

Answer either Question 02 or Question 03.

Either

Mark scheme

Show the mark scheme

Section A

01 With reference to these extracts and your understanding of the historical context, which of

these two extracts provides the more convincing interpretation of the establishment of the

Military Orders by 1149?

[25 marks]

Target: AO3

Analyse and evaluate, in relation to the historical context, different ways in which aspects of the

past have been interpreted.

Generic Mark Scheme

L5: Answers will display a good understanding of the interpretations given in the extracts. They will

evaluate the extracts thoroughly in order to provide a well-substantiated judgement on which

offers the more convincing interpretation. The response demonstrates a very good

understanding of context. 21–25

L4: Answers will display a good understanding of the interpretations given in the extracts. There will

be sufficient comment to provide a supported conclusion as to which offers the more convincing

interpretation. However, not all comments will be well-substantiated, and judgements may be

limited. The response demonstrates a good understanding of context. 16–20

L3: The answer will show a reasonable understanding of the interpretations given in the extracts.

Comments as to which offers the more convincing interpretation will be partial and/or thinly

supported. The response demonstrates an understanding of context. 11–15

L2: The answer will show some partial understanding of the interpretations given in the extracts.

There will be some undeveloped comment in relation to the question. The response

demonstrates some understanding of context. 6–10

L1: The answer will show a little understanding of the interpretations given in the extracts. There will

be only unsupported, vague or generalist comment in relation to the question. The response

demonstrates limited understanding of context. – – A – 1–5

Nothing worthy of credit. 0

Indicative content

Note: This content is not prescriptive and students are not obliged to refer to the material

contained in this mark scheme. Any legitimate answer will be assessed on its merits according

to the generic levels scheme.

Students must assess the extent to which the interpretations are convincing by drawing on contextual

knowledge to corroborate and challenge the interpretations/arguments/views.

In their identification of the argument in Extract A, students may refer to the following:

• the extract argues that the Military Orders, in particular the Templars, were formed due to the need for

pilgrims to have protection to travel to religious sites in the Holy Land

• the extract argues that the Military Orders helped defend Outremer because many people went home

after the First Crusade whereas they stayed, they enabled castles to be defended and field armies to

be created.

• the extract argues that the local population could not be relied on for military support hence the need

for the Military Orders.

In their assessment of the extent to which the arguments are convincing, students may refer to

the following:

• in support of the interpretation of the argument, although Jerusalem and several ports had been

captured during and in the immediate wake of the First Crusade, the roads and highways in between

these towns and cities were unsafe for pilgrims due to bandits and robbers, therefore, they required

protection. The Knights Templar were founded in 1119 by Hugh De Payens in order to help protect

these and the Knights Hospitaller also developed a military role alongside their prior role of caring for

sick pilgrims

• in support of the interpretation of the argument, as the military role of the Orders grew they were relied

on by the Kings of Jerusalem and Crusaders increasingly to manage castles and lead their armies.

For example, Louis VII, after his disaster at Mount Cadmus in 1147, placed the leadership of his army

under the control of the Templars in order to get them safely to Antioch

• in challenge to the interpretation of the argument, there were not enough members of either the

Templars or the Hospitallers to be effective as a military force on their own, they needed the support of

other powers, either the local nobility in the Crusader States or Crusade leaders to be effective.

In their identification of the argument in Extract B, students may refer to the following:

• the extract argues that the Military Orders were established due to a change in religious thinking

brought about by the Papacy’s justification for Christians being able to participate in holy war

• the extract argues that people accepted the Orders as it built on the principles of feudalism that

already existed in Western society

• the extract argues that ideas about militant piety had fused with contemporary ideas about

monasticism.

In their assessment of the extent to which the arguments are convincing, students may refer to

the following:

• in support of the interpretation – the members of the Military Orders had to take monastic vows of

poverty, chastity and obedience and were modelled on monastic houses at the time and were a

product of the wave of religious enthusiasm sweeping western Europe at that time–ASHISTORY–7041/1A –

• in support of the interpretation – new theological ideas were created by the First Crusade that you

could earn spiritual award by performing your job as a knight, solving the knightly dilemma that many

knights faced. They served God as a spiritual overlord similar to how they served their secular lords in

the feudal system. 5

• in challenge to the interpretation – the donations of land and money that the Orders received were

arguably more important than the monastic vows taken by the members. Without them, the Orders

would have been unlikely to be able to afford the arms and armour that made them an effective

fighting force; spiritual belief would have only taken them so far.

In arriving at a judgement as to which extract provides the more convincing interpretation, students might

conclude that Extract A is more convincing as the Orders gained importance from the military role they

provided, helping the pilgrims that went to the East in the aftermath of the First Crusade. However, they

may argue that Extract B is more convincing as the spirituality that allowed the Orders to form also gave

rise to the contemporary enthusiasm for pilgrimage, therefore, the Orders would have not existed without

this change in context.

How to answer it

Establishment of the Military Orders by 1149

AQA AS Level History • Component 1 / 2 • Extract Evaluation

What This Question Tests

This is an AO3 compulsory interpretation question worth 25 marks. It tests your ability to:

Analyse and evaluate two historical extracts presenting differing interpretations of why and how the Military Orders (Knights Templar and Knights Hospitaller) were established and grew by 1149.
Deploy precise historical knowledge to corroborate (support) and challenge (limit) each extract's line of argument.
Compare convincingness by weighing pragmatic/military needs against spiritual, ideological, and socio-economic motivations to deliver a sustained, justified final verdict.

Mark Scheme & Performance Bands (AO3: 25 Marks)

Understanding the standard required for Level 5

Level	Marks	Descriptor Summary
L5	21–25	Comprehensive evaluation: Deep understanding of both interpretations; precise, detailed contextual deployment to corroborate and challenge both; reaches a substantiated, comparative judgment.
L4	16–20	Good evaluation: Understands arguments of both extracts; uses sound contextual knowledge to support and limit claims; supported judgment provided, though one side may be more developed.
L3	11–15	Reasonable evaluation: Identifies interpretations; contextual knowledge applied to comment on convincingness, but comments are partial, thin, or unevenly supported.
L2 / L1	1–10	Weak/Paraphrased: Paraphrases content without evaluating interpretation; treats extracts as contemporary sources (provenance bias); vague, generalized historical context.

🧠 Exam Technique: Structuring AO3

Adopt a balanced 3-part structure:

Extract A: Identify core thesis → corroborate with context → challenge/qualify with context → mini-verdict on convincingness.
Extract B: Identify core thesis → corroborate with context → challenge/qualify with context → mini-verdict on convincingness.
Comparative Conclusion: Directly contrast their explanatory power. Which captures the fundamental catalyst versus the sustaining factor?

❌ Critical AO3 Pitfalls

Treating extracts as primary sources: Never analyse provenance (e.g. "Author A was not there at the time..."). These are secondary historical interpretations!
Information dumping: Writing a generic narrative of the Crusades rather than using facts directly to validate or contest the author's argument.
No challenge: Only explaining why an extract is correct. Top marks require identifying where an interpretation is incomplete or over-stated.

Extract A: The Pragmatic & Military Imperative

Argument: Practical necessity, defense of pilgrims, and critical manpower deficits in Outremer

💡 Extract A Core Theses

Orders formed to protect pilgrims travelling insecure routes from ports to Holy sites.
Filled a dangerous vacuum: crusaders went home after 1099, leaving a chronic shortage of Western soldiers.
Provided standing garrisons for border castles and disciplined cores for field armies.
Local Syrian and indigenous populations were viewed with suspicion and could not provide military security.

✅ Corroborating Context

Easter 1119 Massacre: c. 300 pilgrims killed and 60 bearing slavery near the River Jordan; proved urgent need for policing roads.
Hugh de Payens (1119): Founded the Templars explicitly to safeguard routes between Jaffa and Jerusalem.
Field Armies & Castles: Hospitallers militarised in 1130s; granted frontier castles (e.g. Bethgibelin in 1136 by King Fulk) to counter Fatimid raids from Ascalon.
Mount Cadmus (1147): Louis VII handed command of his disorganised Second Crusade army to the Templars, proving their military professionalism.

📐 Challenging Extract A (Limitations)

Initially Tiny Scale: For its first decade (1119–1129), the Templars numbered only around nine knights and lacked broader military capability.
Dependence on Secular Armies: The Orders alone could never field enough knights to defeat Muslim counter-offensives without the feudal host of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and Western reinforcements.

Examiner Benchmark: A Level 5 response recognizes that while Extract A accurately explains the immediate catalyst (pilgrim policing), it fails to explain how poor, isolated knights secured the vast wealth and institutional legitimacy needed to build an international military machine.

Extract B: Ideological & Religious Transformation

Argument: Militant piety, theological revolution, and feudal sanctification

💡 Extract B Core Theses

The Orders emerged from a papal revolution in theology: sanctification of defensive holy war.
Fused two historically contradictory lifestyles: monastic asceticism and knightly violence.
Fit seamlessly into Western feudal society by framing God as the ultimate spiritual overlord.
Offered a profound spiritual solution to the "knightly dilemma" (saving one's soul without abandoning martial identity).

✅ Corroborating Context

Monastic Rule: Bound by vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience; Templar rule formulated at the Council of Troyes (1129) based on the Cistercian model.
Bernard of Clairvaux: Authored In Praise of the New Knighthood (c. 1130s), legitimizing killing pagans not as homicide (murder) but as "malicide" (slaying of evil).
Papal Endorsement: Pope Innocent II issued the papal bull Omne Datum Optimum (1139), exempting Templars from local tithes, answering directly to the Pope.

📐 Challenging Extract B (Limitations)

Materiality over Ideology: Monastic theology was useless without immense economic foundations; Western estates (Commanderies/Preceptories) were granted to extract cash and horse supplies.
Pre-existing Hospitaller Roots: Knights Hospitaller began purely as a charitable hospital (c. 1070s/1080s) to nurse the sick; ideological holy war was retrofitted onto an existing medical foundation.

Examiner Benchmark: Top-band answers point out that theological approval was an enabling mechanism—without monastic legitimacy, secular rulers would not have donated the Western lands that financed their castles in the Levant.

Developing the Overall Judgment

Which extract offers the more convincing interpretation?

🧠 How to Reach a Level 5 Conclusion

Avoid saying "both are equally valid." Instead, evaluate which extract identifies the root cause versus the accelerator:

Extract A is more convincing on the operational realities: The physical insecurity of Outremer created the functional demand. Without the slaughter of pilgrims in 1119 and the retreat of Western crusaders, no military order would ever have been conceived.
Extract B is more convincing on long-term institutional survival: Practical need alone could not sustain them. Countless secular knightly bands dissolved; the Military Orders survived and dominated because monastic reform and papal theology allowed them to recruit nobles and raise vast revenues across England, France, and Iberia.

✅ Model Concluding Stance

"Overall, Extract B provides the more convincing interpretation of their establishment and permanence. While Extract A accurately pinpoints the immediate defensive crisis of 1119 as the practical spark, pragmatic need alone was insufficient to sustain a standing force in Outremer. It was the radical ideological revolution described in Extract B—specifically the synthesis of monastic vows and knightly identity championed by Bernard of Clairvaux at Troyes (1129)—that enabled the Orders to overcome their initial insignificance. This spiritual legitimacy unlocked unprecedented Western patronage and papal privileges, transforming a localized road-patrol into the indispensable military bedrock of the Crusader States by 1149."

Topics

1A The Age of the Crusades, c1071–1204 · The foundation of new states and the Second Crusade, c1099–1149

Question and mark scheme from the AQA A-Level History examination, AS Component 1 (1A), June 2025. QuestionVault is an independent revision resource; questions remain the copyright of the awarding body.