The Grand Master, Peter de Montaigu, was succeeded by Brother HERMANN DE PERIGORD.[269] Shortly after his accession to power, William de Montserrat, Preceptor of Antioch, being "desirous of extending the christian territories, to the honour and glory of Jesus Christ," besieged a fortress of the infidels in the neighbourhood of Antioch. He refused to retreat before a superior force, and was surrounded and overwhelmed; a hundred knights of the Temple and three hundred cross-bowmen were slain, together with many secular warriors, and a large number of foot soldiers. The _Balcanifer_, or standard-bearer, on this occasion, was an English Knight Templar, named Reginald d'Argenton, who performed prodigies of valour. He was disabled and covered with wounds, yet he unflinchingly bore the Beauseant, or war-banner, aloft with his bleeding arms into the thickest of the fight, until he at last fell dead upon a heap of his slaughtered comrades. The Preceptor of Antioch, before he was slain, "_sent sixteen infidels to hell_."[270] [Sidenote: A. D. 1237.] As soon as the Templars in England heard of this disaster, they sent, in conjunction with the Hospitallers, instant succour to their brethren. "The Templars and the Hospitallers," says Matthew Paris, "eagerly prepared to avenge the blood of their brethren so gallantly poured forth in the cause of Christ. The Hospitallers appointed Brother Theodore, their prior, a most valiant soldier, to lead a band of knights and of stipendiary troops, with an immense treasure, to the succour of the Holy Land. Having made their arrangements, they all started from the house of the Hospitallers at Clerkenwell in London, and passed through the city with spears held aloft, shields displayed, and banners advanced. They marched in splendid pomp to the bridge, and sought a blessing from all who crowded to see them pass. The brothers indeed uncovered, bowed their heads from side to side, and recommended themselves to the prayers of all."[271] [Sidenote: A. D. 1239.] Whilst the Knights Templars were thus valiantly sustaining the cause of the cross against the infidels in the East, one of the holy brethren of the order, the king's special counsellor, named Geoffrey, was signalising his zeal against infidels at home in England, (A. D. 1239,) by a fierce destruction and extermination of the Jews. According to Matthew Paris, he seized and incarcerated the unhappy Israelites, and extorted from them immense sums of money.[272] Shortly afterwards, Brother Geoffrey fell into disgrace and was banished from court, and Brother Roger, another Templar, the king's almoner, shared the same fate, and was forbidden to approach the royal presence.[273] Some of the brethren of the order were always about the court, and when the English monarch crossed the seas, he generally wrote letters to the Master of the Temple at London, informing him of the state of the royal health.[274]