1900 THE PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS 167 



and less prevalent, the houses were used as general 

 hospitals and charitable institutions. 



I believe the majority of these lazar houses (at any rate 

 in the earHer days) were under the control of the Knights 

 of the Order of St. Lazarus, a very ancient off-shoot from 

 the great body of the Knights Hospitallers.* They were 

 a most interesting Order, and took their name from the 

 belief that Lazarus was a leper. For many years the 

 Rule of the Order was that the Superior must be a leper. 

 The knights were accorded many privileges, and at one 

 time were possessed of great wealth and influence. Their 

 chief station in England was at Burton Lazars, in Leicester- 

 shire, the richest and one of the most important of English 

 Lazarettos. In Henry VHL's time its revenues were 

 valued at £260. In 1608 Henry IV. of France united 

 the Order of St. Lazarus to those of Notre Dame and 

 Mount Carmel, and the candidates for this united knight- 

 hood were obliged to swear upon the Holy Evangelists, 

 m^er alia, " to exercise charity and works of mercy to- 

 wards the poor and particularly lepers." 



Members of the Order appear to have been specially 

 numerous in Scotland and France. 



As far as can be ascertained, the first Lazaretto was 

 established in the Frankish Kingdom about . . . 800 

 The first estabhshed in Ireland (Innisfallen) . . 869 



„ „ in Spain 1007 



„ in England 1050 



„ ,, in Scotland (Aldnestun) . . 11 70 

 „ in Norway 1266 



The Lazarettos were sometimes called " Mesellaria " 

 and the lepers '" Mesels," a word derived from " Misellus," 

 the diminutive of " Miser," miserable. 



Next to Burton Lazars the most important Lazaretto in 

 England was at Sherburne in Durham. f The diet roll of 



* Simpson, I., Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, pp. 303, 317. 

 t Surtee's History of County Durham. 



