The Hospitallers.
The natural desire to visit places which have been the scene of
memorable actions, or the abode of distinguished personages, had from
a very early period drawn pious pilgrims from the east and the west to
view those spots which had been hallowed by the presence of the Son
of God. The toils and the dangers of the journey were unheeded, when
set in comparison with the bliss of pouring forth prayer on Calvary,
and bathing in the waves of Jordan, whose waters had consecrated the
Saviour to his holy office. And, accordingly, we find that, so early
as the ninth century, there was in the valley of Jehoshaphat, near the
church of the Holy Virgin, an Hospital composed of twelve dwellings,
for pilgrims from the west, which possessed corn lands, vineyards,
and gardens, and an excellent library, established by the bounty of
Charlemagne.
In the eleventh century, when the apprehension of the approaching end
of the world, and appearance of Christ to judge mankind, had once
more fanned the flame of pious pilgrimage which had been previously
dying away, and men were hastening to the land where they expected
to meet their Lord and Judge, there was built within the walls of
Jerusalem an Hospital for the reception of Catholic pilgrims. This
hospital stood within a very short distance of the church of the
Holy Sepulchre, and, by the favour of the Egyptian Khalif, a church,
dedicated to the Virgin, and afterwards called St. Maria de Latina, was
erected close by it; there an abbot and several monks, who followed
the rule of St. Benedict, received and entertained the pilgrims who
arrived each year from the west, and furnished such of them as were
poor or had been plundered by the roving Bedouins, with the means of
paying the tax exacted by the unbelievers. Decorum not permitting the
reception of female pilgrims, the brethren established without their
walls a convent, dedicated to Mary Magdalene, where a pious sisterhood
entertained the pilgrims of their own sex. The number of the pilgrims
still continuing to increase, the abbot and his monks erected a new
_Hospitium_ near their church, which they placed under the patronage
of St. John, the Patriarch of Alexandria, named Eleemon, or the
Compassionate. This last Hospital had no independent revenues, but
derived its income from the bounty of the abbot of the monastery of the
Holy Virgin, and the alms of the pious.[1]
When, in 1099, Jerusalem was invested by the Crusaders, the Hospital
of St. John was presided over by Gerhard, a native of Provence, a man
of exemplary piety, and of a spirit of mild and universal benevolence,
rarely to be found in that age; for while the city was pressed by the
arms of the faithful, who sought for future glory by the extermination
of those whom they deemed the enemies of God on earth, not merely the
orthodox Catholic, but the schismatic Greek, and even the unbelieving
Moslem, shared without distinction the alms of the good director of the
Hospital of St. John. When the city was taken, the sick and wounded of
the Crusaders received all due care and attention from Gerhard and his
monks. The general favour they enjoyed with Godfrey de Bouillon and
the other pilgrims now emboldened them to separate themselves from the
monastery of St. Mary de Latina; and to pursue their labour of love
alone and independent, they drew up a rule for themselves, to which
they bound themselves to obedience in the presence of the patriarch,
and assumed as their distinguishing dress, a black mantle, with a
white cross of eight points on the left breast.[2] They still remained
obedient to the abbot of St. Maria de Latina, and according to the law
of the church, they paid tythes to the patriarch.
This continued while the brotherhood was poor; but riches soon began
to flow in upon them. Godfrey, whose very name suggests the ideas
of virtue and piety, pure, if not always well-directed, struck with
their simple and unassuming charity, bestowed on them his domain of
Monboire, in Brabant, with all its appurtenances. His brother and
successor, Baldwin, gave them a portion of the booty gained from the
infidels; several pious princes and nobles followed these examples, and
the Hospital of St. John soon saw itself in possession of extensive
estates, both in Europe[3] and Asia, which were managed by members
of the society named Preceptors. Pope Pascall II, in 1113, relieved
the Hospitallers from the burden of paying tythes to the patriarch of
Jerusalem--confirmed by his Bull all donations made and to be made to
them--and gave them authority to appoint a successor on the death of
Gerhard, without the interference of any other secular or spiritual
authority. The society now counted among its members many gallant
knights who had come to the Holy Land to fight in the cause of their
Saviour; and there, actuated by a spirit more accordant to his, had
flung aside their swords, and devoted themselves to the attendance
on the sick and poor among the brethren of St. John. One of the most
distinguished of these was Raymond Dupuy, a knight of Dauphiné, who,
on the death of the worthy Gerhard, was chosen to succeed him in his
office.
It was Raymond who organized the order of the Hospitallers, and
established the discipline of the order. His regulations afford a
specimen of the manners and modes of thinking of his time; and some
of them require to be noticed here, on account of their similarity
with those of the Templars, shortly to be mentioned. The usual monkish
duties of chastity and obedience were strictly enjoined; the brethren,
both lay and spiritual, were directed to wear at least a linen or
woollen shirt, but no expensive dress of any kind; above all, no furs;
when they went to collect alms, they were, for fear of temptation,
never to go alone, but always in parties of two or three; they were
not, however, to select their companions, but to take such as the
director should appoint them; wherever there was a house belonging to
their order, they were to turn in thither, and nowhere else, and to
take whatever was given them, and ask for nothing more; they were also
to carry their lights with them, and wherever they passed the night,
to set these burning before them, lest the enemy should bring on them
some deadly danger. When the brethren were in the church, or in a
private house, in the company of women, they were to take good heed to
themselves and avoid temptation; for the same reason, they were never
to suffer women to wash their head or feet, or to make their bed. If
a brother had fallen into carnal sin, and his offence was secret, a
silent penance was deemed sufficient; but if it had been public, and
he was fully convicted of it, he was on Sunday, after mass, when the
people were gone out of church, to be stript of his clothes, and there,
by the director himself, or such of the brethren as he appointed,
severely beaten with thongs or rods, and then expelled the order. Any
brother possessed of money or valuables, who concealed them from the
master, was severely punished, the money which he had secreted was hung
about the offender's neck, and he was scourged by one of the brethren,
in the presence of all those belonging to the house; he had then to do
penance for forty days, during which time, on Wednesdays and Fridays,
he had nothing but bread and water to support him. These regulations
were made by Raymond, in the year 1118; a circumstance to be attended
to, as some similar rules have been since made a ground of accusation
against the Templars.
It is uncertain whether Raymond had any ulterior design of making
the order of the Hospitallers a military one, but if such was his
intention, he was anticipated. The kingdom of Jerusalem, over which
Baldwin II. now ruled, had been in a very extraordinary state from the
date of its conquest. It lay between two enemies, the Egyptians on
the south, and the Turks on the north; and these Moslems, though of
opposite and hostile sects, agreed in hatred of the Christians, and a
desire to take Jerusalem--which was to them also the Holy City--out of
the hands of the western infidels; the independent Arabs of the desert
were also inimical to the Christians, and as fond of plunder as they
have been at all periods of their history. Hence, the Holy Land was
continually infested by predatory bands, who robbed and plundered all
who fell in their way; the pious pilgrim who disembarked at Joppa or
Acre, was fortunate if he reached the ultimate object of his journey
in safety; and when he had visited all the consecrated places within
the sacred walls, new perils awaited him on his way to bathe in the
purifying waters of the Jordan, or to pluck in the gardens of Jericho
the palm branch which he was to suspend in the church on his return.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: THE TEMPLARS.]
[Illustration]
"And on his brest a bloodie crosse he bore,
The deare remembrance of his dying Lord,
For whose sweete sake that glorious badge he wore,
And dead, as living, ever him ador'd;
Upon his shield the like was also scor'd,
For soveraine hope, which in his helpe he had.
Right, faithfull, true he was in deede and word:
But of his cheere did seeme too solemne sad;
Yet nothing did he dread, but ever was ydrad."
[Illustration: JACQUES DE MOLAY. GRANDE MAITRE DE L'ORDRE DU TEMPLE.]
[Illustration]