Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/559

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SAINT JOHN OF JERUSALEM 535 traveller, brother of the preceding, born in London, Aug. 9, 1822, died there, Aug. 1, 1859. His chief works are: "Adventures in the Libyan Desert ;" " Manners and Politics in the Ottoman Empire;" "Two Years' Resi- dence in a Levantine Family;"'" Views in the Oasis of Siwah " (fol.) ; " The Subalpine King- dom," containing some curious documents on the life of Rousseau; "Purple Tints of Paris: Sketches and Manners;" "The Turks in Eu- rope " (1853) ; " The Louvre, or Biography of a Museum " (1855) ; " Legends of the Christian East " (1857) ; and " Montaigne the Essayist " (1857). IV. Spenser, brother of the preceding, born in London, Dec. 22, 1826. He studied the Malay language, and was for several years consul general in Borneo. In 1861 he became charge d'affaires and subsequently minister to Hayti. He has published " Life in the Forests of the Far East" (London, 1862). V. Horace Roscoe, brother of the preceding, born in Nor- mandy in 1830. He was editor for a time of the " London Leader," and with his brothers Bayle and Percy for a short time conducted the " Utopia." He has published " Life of Columbus" (London, 1850), "History of the British Conquests in India " (2 vols., 1852), and " The Indian Archipelago " (2 vols., 1853). His wife has published "Audubon, the Natu- ralist in the New World " (1856), " English Women and the Age" (1860), and "Masani- ello of Naples " (1865). SAINT JOHN OF JERUSALEM, Knights Hospitallers of the Order of (also called knights of Rhodes and knights of Malta), a religious and military order which originated in the middle of the llth century. In 1048 permission was granted to a few merchants from Amalfi to build a chapel for Latin pilgrims near the holy sepul- chre, and to connect with it two hospitals or hostelries, one for men and the other for wo- men. The chapel, common at first to both sexes, was called St. Mary of the Latins; a second chapel attached soon afterward to the female hospital 'was called after St. Mary Mag- dalen. The hospital for men bore the name of St. John the Almoner, a native of Cyprus and patriarch of Alexandria (died about 616), who had sent money and provisions to Jerusalem in 614, after it had been sacked by Chosroes II. The service in the hospitals was performed by a confraternity of pilgrims of both sexes, under the direction of Gerard (called also Bienheu- reux Pierre Gerard and Gerard the Blessed), the whole establishment as well as the con- fraternity being called after St. John the Al- moner. They displayed such heroic charity on the occasion of the capture of Jerusalem by the crusaders, July 15, 1099, that several noble knights, among them Raymond du Puy or del Puich, joined them as hospitallers. Godfrey de Bouillon bestowed on them the lordship of Montboire in Brabant, and other princes imi- tated his example. When peace was restored to the city, Gerard and his associates bound themselves to labor for ever in the hospitals " as the servants of the poor and of Christ," and the members of both sexes assumed for their distinctive habit the black robe of the Augustinians, with a white linen cross of eight points on the left breast. The order was ap- proved by Pope Paschal II., Feb. 15, 1113, under the appellation of " Brothers Hospital- lers of St. John in Jerusalem." Extensive additions were made to the original establish- ments, and a magnificent new church was erected to St. John the Baptist on the tradi- tional site of his parents' abode. Gerard then took the title of guardian and provost of the order, and built for the accommodation of pil- grims hospitals in the chief maritime towns of western Europe, which afterward became coni- manderies of the order. Gerard died in 1118, and was succeeded by Raymond du Puy, who, to protect the Christians of Jerusalem and the bands of pilgrims against the Moslems, armed himself and his former brother knights among the hospitallers. This met with general appro- bation in Palestine and in Europe, and attracted to the order the 61ite of the young nobility. To their original and common monastic vows the hospitallers now added a solemn vow of bearing arms in defence of Christendom, and of defending all Christians from insult and wrong. Raymond du Puy divided the order into knights, priests, and brothers servants. There also grew up a numerous intermediate class of sergeants (old Fr. serf gents, serving men) or half knights, who rendered important services in the field and the infirmary, and were in course of time assigned separate com- manderies. As the new church of St. John the Baptist quite eclipsed the former modest chap- el, the order under its new organization was called after St. John the Baptist. Raymond exchanged the title of guardian for that of master ; the title of grand master was first as- sumed by Hugues de Revel in 1267. Raymond du Puy drew up constitutions based on the Au- gustinian rule, which together with the other changes in the order were approved by Pope Calixtus II. in 1120. The great influx of mem- bers caused the order to be divided according to nationalities or "languages," there being at first seven languages, those of Provence, Au- vergne, France, Italy, Aragon, Germany, and England, to which were added subsequently the languages of Castile and Portugal. Du Puy during his period of office delivered from the Moslems the principality of Antioch, raised the siege of Jaffa, and aided powerfully in the fall of Tyre, besides driving the enemy from Coele-Syria and Phoenicia, and contributing to the fall of Ascalon in 1153. The fame of these services brought them numerous valuable gifts, which soon proved detrimental to their efficiency. In 1168 the grand master Gil- bert d'Assalit and a majority of the knights were bribed by Amaury, king of Jerusalem, to engage in an expedition against Egypt, in violation of a solemn treaty. In 1187 the order was nearly annihilated by Saladin in the battle