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Article THE KNIGHTS HOSPITALLERS. ← Page 2 of 3 →
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The Knights Hospitallers.
but as their spiritual superior . On their return to their homes in Europe , they obtained lands , and instituted Lodges in the various countries to which they belonged , aud these were called Commanderies . They seem to have been a sincere and honest bod y , ancl to this we may mainly attribute the circumstance that they were allowed to exist in England long after the ambition of their brethren , the Templars , had taught monarchs the dangers arising from the recognition of large and
secret societies responsible to their own tribunals alone , and had brought down upon them as a matter of mere state policy their utter extermination . In many instances the houses of the suppressed Templars were handed over to the Hospitallers , and became Commanderies . Maltbyin-the-Marsh ( Lincolnshire ) , formerly a preceptory of Templars , was given to the Knights of St . John in this manner . The manor of the Mere alsoin the neighbourhood of Lincolnaffords another instance
, , of this transference from the Temple to the Hospital . " The central Lodge ofthe Hospitallers was in London , near Clerkenwell ; its gateway has long formed the vignette on the cover of the Gentleman ' s Magasine , and much of the building is still in existence . The Knights of St . John attended personally to the cases of the sick and wounded , as medical men do at the present day . Their course of education could neither be very elaborate nor very perfect , * but some
knowledge of medicine was a very knightly accomplishment , and a very necessary one in those days , when many blows were giving , and there was no distinct medical profession . They treated their patients with decoctions of herbs , simple applications , magical or talismanic charms , mystical words , numbers , & c . In old romance they are represented as curing wounds by sympathy , i . e . by letting them alone , and applying their inestimable balm to the weapon that made them . This is what modern surgeons call 'union by the first intention' always the
, safest and best practice , ancl no doubt the most agreeable to those unlucky persons , the patients of the middle ages , who must otherwise have undergone something of the handling a horse or cow might expect in these degenerate days . * * * * * " The laws of the Hospitallers are voluminous ; ancl may be seen at length in Dugdale ' s Monasticon . Before I leave the subject , I may mention that when the Saracens repossessed themselves of Jerusalem ,
the main body of the Hospitallers migrated to Rhodes , ancl assumed the title of Knights of that island ; they subsequently retired to Malta , and enjoyed a sort of sovereignty there , building a splendid cathedral , and amassing great wealth . In the very commencement of the present century , the Knights of Malta and their last Grancl Master were dispossessed by Napoleon Buonaparte , after showing a more craven heart than could have been expected in the knightly descendants of Godfrey of Bouillon .
" The Hospitallers of St . John of Jerusalem gave the first idea of the hospitals of this country , which were originally ' stranger houses , ' and built as much for the healthy traveller as for the sick . They stood in fact in the place of inns , at a time when every thing was rude and semi-barbarian , and in a country where population was so thinly scattered , that the occupation of Boniface as yet existed not . It is curious to see how a diametrically opposite state of society has revived the principle of the old Stranger Hospital , or Xenodochium , in the ' Refuge for the Houseless Poor , ' so happily and so humanely established of recent years in our vast , luxurious , and enormously wealthy
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Knights Hospitallers.
but as their spiritual superior . On their return to their homes in Europe , they obtained lands , and instituted Lodges in the various countries to which they belonged , aud these were called Commanderies . They seem to have been a sincere and honest bod y , ancl to this we may mainly attribute the circumstance that they were allowed to exist in England long after the ambition of their brethren , the Templars , had taught monarchs the dangers arising from the recognition of large and
secret societies responsible to their own tribunals alone , and had brought down upon them as a matter of mere state policy their utter extermination . In many instances the houses of the suppressed Templars were handed over to the Hospitallers , and became Commanderies . Maltbyin-the-Marsh ( Lincolnshire ) , formerly a preceptory of Templars , was given to the Knights of St . John in this manner . The manor of the Mere alsoin the neighbourhood of Lincolnaffords another instance
, , of this transference from the Temple to the Hospital . " The central Lodge ofthe Hospitallers was in London , near Clerkenwell ; its gateway has long formed the vignette on the cover of the Gentleman ' s Magasine , and much of the building is still in existence . The Knights of St . John attended personally to the cases of the sick and wounded , as medical men do at the present day . Their course of education could neither be very elaborate nor very perfect , * but some
knowledge of medicine was a very knightly accomplishment , and a very necessary one in those days , when many blows were giving , and there was no distinct medical profession . They treated their patients with decoctions of herbs , simple applications , magical or talismanic charms , mystical words , numbers , & c . In old romance they are represented as curing wounds by sympathy , i . e . by letting them alone , and applying their inestimable balm to the weapon that made them . This is what modern surgeons call 'union by the first intention' always the
, safest and best practice , ancl no doubt the most agreeable to those unlucky persons , the patients of the middle ages , who must otherwise have undergone something of the handling a horse or cow might expect in these degenerate days . * * * * * " The laws of the Hospitallers are voluminous ; ancl may be seen at length in Dugdale ' s Monasticon . Before I leave the subject , I may mention that when the Saracens repossessed themselves of Jerusalem ,
the main body of the Hospitallers migrated to Rhodes , ancl assumed the title of Knights of that island ; they subsequently retired to Malta , and enjoyed a sort of sovereignty there , building a splendid cathedral , and amassing great wealth . In the very commencement of the present century , the Knights of Malta and their last Grancl Master were dispossessed by Napoleon Buonaparte , after showing a more craven heart than could have been expected in the knightly descendants of Godfrey of Bouillon .
" The Hospitallers of St . John of Jerusalem gave the first idea of the hospitals of this country , which were originally ' stranger houses , ' and built as much for the healthy traveller as for the sick . They stood in fact in the place of inns , at a time when every thing was rude and semi-barbarian , and in a country where population was so thinly scattered , that the occupation of Boniface as yet existed not . It is curious to see how a diametrically opposite state of society has revived the principle of the old Stranger Hospital , or Xenodochium , in the ' Refuge for the Houseless Poor , ' so happily and so humanely established of recent years in our vast , luxurious , and enormously wealthy