Knights+Hospitaller

=   Knights Hospitaller   =

The Knights Hospitaller, also known as the Order of St. John, were an influential and powerful military, religious and charitable order during the eleventh to fourteenth centuries. The Hospitaller's contribution throughout the religiously sanctioned series of military campaigns, the Crusades, was not only highly valued and led to increased fame, but was a crucial period of transformation that led the Hospitallers down a path of continuous adaptation that has led to the survival of the Order to the modern day.

Emergence
The Order emerged from a Jerusalem hospital, founded by Amalfian merchants around 1070, which acted as an infirmary and guest house for the sick and the poor, under the patron of St. John the Baptist. The facility provided accommodation, which was hard to find, food and infirmary wards for women, men and babies, in which the service was the best and most luxurious as the Hospitaller philosophy was that every man and woman was Christ, and thus, deserved it. The Hospitallers considered the poor as their lords, taking vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, and would dress just as humbly.



Transition to Military Order
The Hospitallers initial view of aiding the sick and the poor had gradually increased to included the view of protection of the poor, which led to the transformation of the Order to a military order without the abandoning its responsibilities for the sick and poor. The Hospitallers played an increasingly important role in the defence of the crusader states to the point where Muslims would rejoice at Hospitaller deaths due to their famed bravery and causing the Muslims ills, so much so that Saladin, the first sultan of Egypt and Syria, offered money specifically for Hospitallers and Templars. Hospitaller military prowess is further evident in Ibn al-Athir's description which described the Hospitallers as "a bone in the gullet of Muslims".

Pinnacle of Power
The Order's military and charitable contributions led the Order to obtain great influential power in terms of economic wealth and political influence. Initially the papacy granted the Order many privileges such as forbidding interdiction of their churches and granting them additional priests and churches, which led to the Order becoming more independent, taking initiative and acting without orders. Their political power continued to grow to the point where the Hospitallers could initiate war, negotiate truces and refuse to aid due to no authority made to limit the Order's independence, so much so that the pope worried about the refusal of his orders. In terms of wealth, the Hospitallers had 19,000 manors in comparison to the Templars who had 9,000 in 1244, and then at the dissolution of the Templars, the Hospitallers gained a large part of their wealth. The Hospitallers were so wealthy and politically powerful that they could, even while paying lip service to the ruling pope, afford to disregard the words that were issued in Rome.

Adaptation
After the defeat of the Christians in the Holy Land, the Hospitallers transitioned from land warfare to naval warfare in order to survive. The long and enduring success of the Order is attributed to their capacity to adapt themselves to the changing needs of the times, where even to this day the Order is still active. Although the Order has changed numerous times throughout the centuries their purpose is still the same, the service of mankind.

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