Knights Hospitallers

The Order known as Knights Hospitallers dates back to 1043, when some benevolent merchants obtained permission to build two hospitals (one for men and one for women) in Jerusalem, where they might take care of the sick pilgrims. The services in the hospitals were performed by a brotherhood and a sisterhood of pilgrims, under the direction of Pierre Gerard, or Gerard the Blessed. It was this Order of the Hospital that rendered such great service to the wounded and dying after the capture of Jerusalem by the Crusaders. So heroic were the efforts of the brotherhood, that Godfrey of Bouillon, first king of Jerusalem, bestowed upon them their first foreign possession, the estate of Montbaire, in Brabant. His example was imitated by other princes, and the brothers of the Hospital soon found themselves possessed of ample means. After the establishment of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the Order took a permanent character, and "the brothers" bound themselves by a vow to labor forever in the hospitals. They were to be henceforth the "Servants of Christ and his poor." They chose as their distinctive garb the black robe of the monk, and to this added a white linen cross of eight points, worn on the left breast. The Order was approved by Pope Paschal II. on the 15th of February, 1113, under the name of the "Brothers Hospitallers of Saint John of Jerusalem."

After five years of faithful service, Gerard died and was succeeded by Raymond du Puy. He gave a military cast to the Order, that they might protect the Christians in Palestine from insult and injury at the hands of the Moslems. The movement was approved by the age; and so rapidly did the Hospitallers extend their membership, that they were able to build hospitals for the accommodation of pilgrims in all the seaport towns in Western Europe. Before the middle of the twelfth century, the Hospitallers had become a powerful military factor in the East.

After the Holy Land again fell into the hands of the Mohammedans (1291 A.D.), the Knights retired to the island of Cyprus and made it their headquarters. The Order then became a great maritime power, having its own fleets. In the fourteenth century it seized the island of Rhodes and defied the Turks for more than two hundred years.

In 1522, the Knights were driven from this stronghold and took refuge first in Crete, then in Messina, then on the mainland of Italy, until 1530, when the Emperor, Charles V., gave them the island of Malta. This they converted into a fortress, and in spite of the most strenuous efforts on the part of the Turks, they held the island until 1798, when it was taken by Napoleon Bonaparte, and the ancient Order of the Knights Hospitallers (under their last title, the Knights of Malta) was disbanded after an existence of 755 years.

(See Teutonic Knights.)

Frederick Barbarossa, son of Duke Frederick II. of Suabia, was elected Emperor of Germany in 1152. For twenty-four years he was at war with his Italian subjects, who, aided by Pope Alexander III., endeavored to free themselves from Germany. Venice held aloof for some years, but she finally abandoned her neutrality and espoused the cause of the Lombard league. She received the Pope, who had fled to her in disguise, as an honored guest, and dispatched an embassy to Frederick, requiring him to desist from hostilities and acknowledge the spiritual dominion of the Roman Pontiff. The haughty Barbarossa made answer: "Return, and make known to your Prince and Senate that I, the Roman Emperor, demand from them a fugitive and a foe. Unless they straightway deliver him up to me in chains and as a captive, I denounce war against them. I declare them the enemies of my empire," etc. The Republic of Venice, undaunted by these threats, resolved to support the pontiff. The battle which followed resulted in a terrible defeat of the imperial forces at Legano, which so reduced them that Barbarossa was obliged to sue for peace (A.D. 1176). A congress met at Venice to adjust the claims of the Lombard cities and the sovereignty of the pontiff. Frederick in his despair assented to everything, and a truce of six years was agreed upon. He then expressed a desire to ratify it by a personal visit to the Pope. The meeting took place in Venice. On the 23d of July, 1177, the Emperor landed at the Piazetti di San Marcoe. The following day he was escorted to the Cathedral of St. Mark (San Marco) by the Doge, the Senate, and the nobles, with all the splendor which Venice could command. Within the temple porch the triumphant Pope sat enthroned, wearing the triple crown. The Emperor uncovered his head, cast aside the purple mantle, and flinging himself upon the tessellated pavement, crawled onward to kiss the Pontiff's feet. They had been the bitterest enemies; each had, to the extent of his power, persecuted, dishonored and dethroned the other; a price had been set upon the head of each. Elate with the consciousness of victory, Alexander beheld his enemy crawling in the dust; the temptation to celebrate the triumph both of himself and of the Church was too great; he planted his foot on the neck of the prostrate Emperor, and repeated the words of David, "Thou shalt go upon the lion and adder; the young lion and the dragon shalt thou tread under thy feet" (Ps. XCI.). "It is not to thee, but to St. Peter, that I kneel," murmured the indignant prince. But the Pope, planting his foot the second time more firmly upon the Emperor's neck, exclaimed, "Both to me and to St. Peter!" Nor did he relax his pressure until the Emperor appeared to acquiesce; the Pope then taking him by the hand, raised him and blessed him and led him within the church. The vaulted roof echoed with the strains of the Te Deum, in which the vast assembly of prelates and people joined, and the reconciliation was complete. On leaving the cathedral the Emperor conducted the Pope to his horse, and held the stirrup while he mounted. The spot where this ceremony took place is marked in the pavement by a slab of red and white marble; on this same spot the Doge Dandolo, gray-headed, blind, and bent with age, offered himself as leader of the Venetian host, in the fourth Crusade, 1202; and here, in 1304, beside the prince of the Republic, sat the poet Petrarch, and witnessed a tournament of surpassing splendor.