Note I. See De Vogüé, p. 302. We first find it mentioned in La Citez de Jhérusalem, under the name of 'Porte douloureuse.' "When you have gone a little further on" (after crossing the Street of Jehoshaphat, on the way from S. Stephen's Gate) "you come to a place where two streets cross: that which comes from the left comes from the Temple and goes to the Sepulchre. At the commencement of this street is a gate, on the Temple side, which is called 'Porte douloureuse:' by it Jesus passed when he was taken to Calvary to be crucified; and therefore it is called the gate of mourning."
Note II. "The Sultan, on his return to Jerusalem, increased the endowment of the school which he had there founded. Before the occupation by the Mohammedans it had been known as the Church of S. Ann, the mother of S. Mary; whose tomb is said to have been found there. Under the Mohammedans it had been turned into a school, before the Franks made themselves masters of the city. They had restored the church to its former position, but the Sultan, having conquered the Franks, again changed it into a school, whose management and revenues he entrusted to Bohaddin, son of Sieddad." Abulfeda, Annales Moslemici, from Reiske's translation.
Note III. The Church of the Holy Cross is superior to that of S. Ann in the simplicity of its ornamentation, answering to the description of M. de Vogüé (p. 241): "Some persons have thought they saw in the poverty and simplicity of the ornamentation a proof of Byzantine influence. I would rather attribute it partly to the want of sculptors, and partly to the influence of the Cistercians, which seems to have been brought to bear on the foundation and building of the monastery." The latter statement he illustrates by a note which I will also quote: "S. Bernard took a lively interest in all that occurred in the Holy Land, and exercised much influence thereon by his letters. He was in constant correspondence with Queen Milisendis (1130-1150), with the Patriarch, and with the Templars—the rules of whose order he helped to draw up. It was well known how sternly he had denounced the excessive adorning of churches, and how rigorously the Cistercian order applied his principles. The connexion of S. Bernard with Milisendis, who was the chief benefactress of the Convent of S. Ann, leads me to suppose that his views may have been followed in the building of the Church of S. Ann, and of the monastery. See in M. de Verneuil's L'Architecture Byzantine en France (Plate XIII.), the design of the Cistercian Abbey at Boschaud, built in 1154. The general form is not the same with that of S. Ann, but the style is identical. Further there are also the pilasters of the binding joists ending in corbelling." I would gladly assent to M. de Vogüé's hypothesis—but I cannot; for in S. Bernard's correspondence there is no mention at all of the building of the Church of S. Ann. I allow that the style is identical with that of the Cistercian Abbey: but certainly the form changes a good deal, because this is not a trapezium like that of S. Ann.
Note IV. Some idea may be formed of the position which the Franciscans hold in respect of the local government, from the conditions to which they were required to submit before they received permission to take up a residence within the walls of Jerusalem. The following are some of them: that they would give presents every year to the Kadi, the governor, and to all the members of the Divan: that, when one of them died, they should not be allowed to carry his body out to burial in the sight of the Mohammedans, but that he should be wrapt in a carpet, and carried outside the walls and buried there: that they should never buy any property in Jerusalem, under pain of its being confiscated and given to the Mosque of Omar: that the friars should not shew themselves too frequently in the streets of the city: that the monastery occupied by them should be inspected every three years by the Kadi, the governor, and his architect, to see whether any changes had been made in the building. These conditions were rigorously enforced every time that the local governor was pleased to extort money from the brotherhood, who, of course, were always in the wrong. (These facts are drawn from the papers found in the Registry of the Convent of S. Saviour.)
Note V. It is sometimes supposed that the Franciscans carry on a trade in the articles that are made in the workroom of S. Saviour; but it is quite a mistake. The friars have these articles made by poor workpeople, and so give them the means of supporting themselves by their industry; and any profits that may accrue from the sale are applied to the support of widows and orphans, as in every other work of charity, which is constantly carried on by the society.