KNIGHTHOOD. 



473 



':t- 



order. They were desirous to increase the antiqui- 

 ty of their order, even at the expcnce of making it 



'""".""'' Jewish rather than Christian. Hut the hospitallers 

 made light of this Jewish antiquity, and made bold to 

 reckon among their founders Abraham, Lot, and La- 

 ban ; for this last, although his character is none of the 

 best, was, notwithstanding, according to them, a good 

 knight hospitaller. 



A letter,* written by Maffei in the year 1712, was 



suppressed by papal authority, because that illustrious 



wrirer had succeeded in proving what he undertook, 



and had for ever put an end to all rational belief in the 



remote origin of orders of knighthood. The fable is, 



Conun- that Constantino the Great, after his defeat of Magen- 

 tius, received from heaven an express command to in- 

 stitute ail order of knighthood for the defence of the 

 Christian religion ; and as this command was brought 

 by an angel, who held in his hand a cross of gold, in- 

 scribed with the well known words i. i*vi* i*a, Con- 

 stantine gave his knights the title of Equiles angclici et 

 Aurrali. The only authority for the existence of Con- 

 stantine's order is that of a pretended antique a stone 

 dug up at Rome, which gives, moreover, a different ac- 

 count of its origin. On it appears Constantine seated 

 on his throne, giving a collar to several knights ; and 

 the inscription relates-, that the emperor, being cured of 

 the lenroty, and baptised f>y Pope Sylceiler, created, for 

 the defence of Christianity, Militet Ei/uitct aureatos. 

 The leprosy and the baptism by Sylvester are now gi- 

 ven up ou all hands ; and the use of the word milite* 

 has no great resemblance to the language of the fourth 

 century. The real founder of the Ordo Cuntlantiniaitut, 

 was without doubt the Emperor Isaac Angelas Comne- 

 nas, who took the idea of it from the Franks, and in 

 whose family the mastership to long remained. 



Orier of St. The knights of St. George are an order of great an- 

 tiquitjr, who have extended themselves from the east 

 to the west Their patron saint is now, however, sup- 

 posed to, be fabulous, as well as all their legends respect- 

 ing their own very remote origin and exploits. St. 

 George was, according to them, a Christian saint, who 

 suffered martyrdom in Persia during the reign of Dio- 

 cletian. But he is commonly confounded with that 

 famous Ariau bishop who was substituted in the room 

 of Athanaiius in the see of Alexandria. There is eve- 

 ry appearance that they are in fact the same person: 

 Both were born in Cappadocia, and both were called 

 George. George, taking possession of his bishopric, 

 entered Alexandria armed cap-a-pee, and on horseback ; 

 and the other ii represented as combating the devil, in 

 the shape of a dragon, on horseback also, and armed in 

 the Mine fashion George of Alexandria was massa- 

 liy the Pagans ; so he also has his claims to the 

 of a martyr. '1 ho entire* silence of all histo 

 is sufficient to negative all belief in the legends of 

 the order of St. George. These are not even in con- 

 cord with each other. Their patron ha* suffered death 

 in almost every possible way, and in each way upon 

 equally good authority. 



rarrrrr, or*. Me, ttmcnt,fntr,/rifon,JI*mmu, 

 Catjtmu CArirf MM i*cU U rf afmt. 



A martyr so exemplary could hardly have been omit- 

 ted by all the fathers. It is true that the Emperor 



Kniclu- 

 hood. 



John Cantacuzcnus made, as is recorded by himself, 

 some knights in the church of St. George nA<*j{t- 

 nn.t But the very .name of the saint is sufficient to *""/"" 

 prove that he had, nothing in common with either 

 George the champion of Cappadocia, or George the 

 bishop of Alexandria. Notwithstanding, it appears, 

 that the removal of some relics of this St. George the 

 Candian to Italy, after the Franks had obtained pos- 

 session of Constantinople, was the real origin of this 

 order, the ensign of which has since become so popular. 

 Of all these legends, we may well say 



SunJ tpitut, trietrquc et n quid viliut ittis. 



In order to discover the true origin of the orders of True origin 

 knighthood, we must come down to the time of the of orders of 

 crusades, during the I2lh century. The piety of some kn 'g luh <l. 

 merchants of Amain", who traded in Judea, induced Order of St. 

 them to build a church in Jerusalem, which long after J hn, A. D. 

 preserved its name of the Latin, originally conferred 110 *- 

 upon it on account of the language and rites of which 

 its founders had made use. Near to this church they 

 built an hospital, dedicated to St. John the Almoner, 

 for the reception of the sick and the pilgrims who fre- 

 quented the holy sepulchre. It is impossible to wish 

 any better authority for these facts, than that of Wil- 

 liam of Tyre, who wrote in the same century.* He as- 

 terts, that, as the founders had been Latin merchants, 

 the monastery still retained the name of the Latin. 

 lie asserts, what is now to our purpose, that these hos- 



Citallers, who had had so small a beginning, became 

 y degrees wealthy, and that their tirst step was to 

 withdraw themselves from the jurisdiction of the abbot 

 of the Monaslerium Lttlinum, till at length, their power 

 increasing to a great degree, the Roman church eman- 

 cipated them from the authority of the patriarch of Je- 

 rusalem. " Sic ergo de tarn raodico incrementura ha- 

 bentes predicts domus fratres prius e jurisdictione 

 Abbatis se substraxerunt, deinde, in immensuum mul- 

 tiplicates divitius, per ecclesiam Romanum a nianu et 

 potestate Domini Patriarchs sunt emancipati.'' 



When the princes of the west entered the Holy Land, 

 the hospitallers took up arms in their cause. Some 

 remained attached to the purposes of their institution, 

 and took care of the sick. Persons afflicted with le- 

 prosy were admitted into their body, that they might 

 undertake the care of others in a similar situation ; and 

 the rule was, that the grand master himself should be 

 a leper. But after all the sick persons in the hospi- 

 tal at Jerusalem had been massacred by the Infidels, 

 the order was obliged to retire into Italy, and received 

 from Innocent IV. a dispensation absolving them from 

 the obligations of their original oath, together with per. 

 mission to elect a grand-master of full and vigorous 

 health. Those who were inclined for war, distinguish- 

 ed themselves by actions of valour, which soon attract- 

 ed great reputation to their order. Such was the ori- 

 gin of the knights of the order of St. John of Jerusa- 

 lem, the most ancient of all; who afterwards, under 

 the names of knights of Rhodes, ( which island they 

 occupied from 1308 till A. D. 1522), more lately of 

 knights of Malta, were of such signal service in repress- 

 ing the progress of the Ottoman arms. 



The government which this order afterwards esta- 

 blished was a mixture of monarchy and aristocracy. 



v. , /, , 



Y Vide Johon. I'anuc. I. iii. I'oQUmi NoU id CoQUK. 



'. T)r. L. xviii c. 516. 

 VL. XII. FART II. 



init ConrtMlMMi, Sdplatii Mtfti Marctimii f{,M. Tigur. 171?. 



3o 



