Philippe de Mézières, born of poor nobility, was at first a soldier of fortune in Italy, serving Lucchino Visconti, lord of Milan, and then Andrew of Hungary, in Naples.

Joining the Crusade led by Humbert II, he had been knighted after defending Smyrna (modern Izmir, Turkey) against Turkish assault in 1346.

When Humbert's army disbanded, he had made his way to Jerusalem, arriving in 1347.

Realizing the advantage which the discipline of the Saracens gave them over the disorderly armies of the West, he has conceived the idea of a new order of knighthood, Ordre de la Passion (Order of the Passion), whose members will be spiritually distant from worldly preoccupations and devoted to conquering the holy places.

Although he will later draw up a prospectus for this order, it never becomes a reality.

Mézières had gone in 1347 goes to Cyprus, where he had found a kindred spirit in the son of the king of Cyprus, the future Pierre I.

He now returns to France, again as a soldier of fortune.