eBook

The Knights Hospitaller of the English Langue 1460-1565

O'Malley, Gregory

2005

Overview

This book examines the English-speaking branch, or langue, of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem, a military order devoted to the care of the sick and defence of the Latin East and based successively, in this period, in Rhodes and Malta. The order's houses in Britain and Ireland, governed from priories at Clerkenwell and Kilmainham, supported these activities with men and money, and also provided spiritual and other services to the local population. This work examines the recruitment of British and Irish members of the order and their family ties and career structure as well as their relationship with society at large, mediated through their provision of spiritual services outside the parish network as well as through their offer of vicarious participation in the defence of the faith through the offer of confraternity. The administration of the order's estates by its members and their servants and families is analysed, and its despatch of resources to the east investigated. The support of the governing authorities of Britain and Ireland was crucial to the latter, and the Hospital was a significant component of the later medieval political order, so there is extended discussion of the order's relationship with the English and Scots' crowns and the Irish nobility. Finally, the activities of the langue in the Mediterranean are examined, attention being given to the careers of its members in the east, its role in the defence of Rhodes and Malta, and the position and functions of its chief officer, the turcopolier.

• Publisher: Oxford University Press,Oxford University Press, Incorporated
• Subject: British Isles / Early Modern History (1500 to 1700) / History / History of Medicine / History of Religion / Knights of Malta / Medieval and Renaissance History (500 to 1500) / Military History / Military religious orders
• ISBN: 9780199253791, 019925379X