IILSTORY AND ETHNOLOGY. 107 



1. The Order of the Knights of St. John. As early as the year 1048, 

 some merchants of Amalfi, in Lower Italy, bad erected near the Holy 

 Sepulchre a hospital for the reception of sick and destitute pilgrims. The 

 hospital was placed under the protection of St. John the Baptist ; hence the 

 name of the association, Knights of St. John, though the monks were 

 also called Hospitallers. In connexion with this order was established that 

 of the Dames of St. John of Jerusalem {pi. 35, fig. 11, sister of this 

 order). 



By liberal donations wealth poured in from every quarter upon the Knights 

 and Dames of St. John, and tliey consequently rose to a distinguished 

 position. 



After the conquest of Jerusalem, in 1118, the order of St. John was di- 

 vided into three classes : knights, clergy, and serving brethren. The knights 

 protected the pilgrims against the Saracens ; the clergy performed divine ser- 

 vice ; while the serving brethren administered to the suifering pilgrims. This 

 order resisted for a long time the attacks of the Saracens. The Turks, how- 

 ever, finally triumphed, and the Christians lost the Holy Land, when the Hos- 

 pitallers settled on the island of Cyprus, w^hence, however, they were soon 

 driven by the Turks. They then went to the Island of Rhodes (1310). They 

 could not, however, permanently guard the place against the ferocious attacks 

 of the Turks. They at length evacuated it, and removed to Malta, which the 

 emperor Charles V. had given them, in 1530. From this period they took 

 the name of Knights of Malta. In the year 1798 Napoleon captured Malta, 

 but two years afterwards it was recovered by the English. It was not, how- 

 ever, restored to the knights, whose order answered no practical purpose in 

 this ao;e ; and since then it has only existed as a title to wear certain deco- 

 rations. 



The costume adopted by the Knights of St. John consisted of a black man- 

 tle, on which was fastened an eight-pointed cross of white linen. During war 

 they wore a red tabard, Vvith a white cross Avithout points, on the breast and 

 back ; more recently a red uniform, with white trimmings, and a single cross 

 upon the breast. The knights of the present day wear in the button-hole a 

 golden, white enamelled cross upon a black ribbon. PL 34, fig-. 8, grand 

 master of the Order of ^lalta : Jig. 9, Knight of the Grand Cross ; Jig. 10, 

 Knight of Malta Avith his mantle. 



2. The Order of the Knights Templars. This society originated after 

 the conquest of Jerusalem in 1118, and was established by nine knights, 

 who pledged themselves to conduct the pilgrims through Palestine, and 

 protect them against the infidels. Baldwin, king of Jerusalem, assigned 

 them a location near the site of Solomon's Temple, whence their name of 

 Templars. By the aid of rich legacies and donations, the order soon rose 

 to rank and importance. They probably numbered more French than any 

 other knights in their ranks. Their ruin was caused by Philip lY. (the Fair) 

 of France, in 1307. He arrested all the Templars in his dominions, sub- 

 jected them to a painful imprisonment, and accused them of unparalleled 

 atrocities. By means of torture he forced them to confess crimes of which 

 they were innocent, and ordered many to be buried alive. In 1312 Pope 



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