ABSTRACT
Few institutions can reflect the sociological reality of the Middle Ages better than the military orders. It is evident that the sergents of the military orders were armigeri, and appear clearly identified as such in the Latin version of the rule of Santiago. When the sergents refused to pay tithes to their commanders they were committing a notorious abuse which damaged the whole of the community of Santiago. Possibly the only way to define the ultimate profile of the sergents is by an in-depth examination of the meagre testimonies about them that have come to attention. Of course, the diffuse definition of the sergents is not a consequence of chance, but, in a contradictory way, underlines their social origin; an origin that, however, their own rule did not acknowledge. The heterogeneity of the sergents' social origin can be explained, to a certain extent, by the fact that their military functions were comparable to those of the freires.
