III. The Military Orders
i. Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem
The Hospitallers began in A.D. 1092 with the building of a hospital for pilgrims at Jerusalem. The original idea of the work of these knights was to provide for the needs of pilgrims visiting the Holy Land and to afford them protection on their way. They, too, followed a rule of life founded upon that of St. Augustine, and their dress was black with a white cross upon it. They came to England very shortly after their foundation, and had a house built for them in London in A.D. 1100. They rose in wealth and importance in the country; and their head, or grand prior as he was called, became the first lay baron in England, and had a seat in the House of Peers.
Upon many of their manors and estates the Knights Hospitallers had small establishments named commanderies, which were under the government of one of their number, called the commander. These houses were sometimes known as preceptories, but this was a term more generally used for the establishments of the other great Military Order, the Templars. An offshoot of both these orders was known as “The Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem.” There were a few houses of this branch in England, which was founded chiefly to assist and support lepers and indigent members of all the Military Orders. They are, however, usually regarded as hospitals. The Knights of St. John of Jerusalem had their headquarters at the Hospital of St. John, near Clerkenwell, to which were attached some fifty-three cells or commanderies.
GILBERTINE NUN
KNIGHT HOSPITALLER
ii. The Templars
The Military Order of the Templars was founded, according to Tanner, about the year A.D. 1118. They derived their name from the Temple of Jerusalem, and the original purpose of their institute was to secure the roads to Palestine, and protect the holy places. They must have come into England early in the reign of King Stephen, as they had several foundations at this time, the first being that in London which gave its name to the present Temple. They became too rich and powerful; and having been accused of great crimes, their Order was suppressed by Pope Clement V. in 1309: an act which was confirmed in the Council of Vienne in 1312. The head of the Order in England was styled the “Master of the Temple,” and was sometimes, as such, summoned to Parliament.
Upon their manors and estates the Templars, like the Hospitallers, frequently built churches and houses, in which some of the brethren lived. These were subordinate to the London house and were in reality cells, under the title of “Preceptories.” On the final suppression of the Order, their lands and houses, to the number of eighteen, were handed over to the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem. One house, Ferriby, in Yorkshire, became a priory of Austin Canons, and four other estates appear to have been confiscated. In all there were some three-and-twenty preceptories connected with the London Temple.