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Primary Source 5.3

ANASTASIUS IV GRANTS PRIVILEGES TO THE KNIGHTS OF ST. JOHN (1154)1

In 1154, Anastasius IV granted a papal charter to the Knights of St. John, or the Knights Hospitaller. The charter gave the Hospitallers the right to keep the wealth and possessions they had gained through battle and from charity, though individual members were still expected to lead a life of poverty. The charter also exempted the order from the traditional Church tithe and other taxes, as well as made the order accountable only to the pope. In 1162, Alexander III granted the same privileges to the Templars, and the two orders became immensely wealthy and influential. The charter demonstrates how powerful the military- monastic orders created during the were, as well as the importance and respect granted to them and other crusaders by the pope. For the text online, click here.

. . . In accordance with your request, and following the example of our predecessors of blessed memory, Innocent [II, r. 1130–43], Celestine [II, r. 1143–44], Lucius [II, r. 1144–45], and Eugene [III, r. 1145–53], we take under the protection of St. Peter and of the apostolic see your hospital and house in Jerusalem, and all the persons and possessions belonging thereto. And we decree and command that all your goods and possessions, present and future, which are used for supplying the needs of the pilgrims and of the poor, whether in Jerusalem or in other churches or cities, from whatever source they may be acquired, shall remain unmolested in the hands of you and of your successors. You shall have the right to build houses and churches and lay out cemeteries on whatever lands may be given to your house in Jerusalem, provided that no damage is thereby done to neighboring monasteries and religious houses which already exist. And you may build chapels and lay out cemeteries for the use of pilgrims on whatever lands you may acquire. We further decree that your tax collectors shall be under the protection of St. Peter and of us, and wherever they may be no one shall dare attack them. We decree that if any member of your fraternity dies in a territory which is under the interdict,2 he shall not be denied a Christian burial unless he has been excommunicated3 by name. If any of your members, when sent out as tax collectors, come to a city, fortress, or village, which is under the interdict, they may, once a year, open the churches in such a place and hold divine services in them. Since all your possessions should be used only to supply the needs of the pilgrims and of the poor, we decree that no one, either lay or cleric, shall presume to levy tithes on the income which you receive from lands cultivated at your own expense. No bishop shall

1 Oliver J. Thatcher and Edgar Holmes McNeal, (Ed.), A Source Book for Mediæval History: Selected Documents Illustrating the History of Europe in the Middle Age (New : Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1905), 494-496. 2 An ecclesiastical order banning an individual or group from certain church rites while allowing them to remain members of the church. 3 An ecclesiastical order banning an individual or group from church rites and removing them from the church. 2 have the right to pronounce the sentence of interdict, suspension, or excommunication in your churches. If a general interdict is put on those lands in which you are living, you shall have the right to hold divine services in your churches, provided that all those who are excommunicated by name be excluded, the doors of the churches closed, and no bells rung. In order that nothing may be lacking for the care and of your souls and that you may have the advantages and blessings of the sacraments and divine services, we grant you the privilege of receiving into your mother house [at Jerusalem], as well as into all your dependent houses, all the clergy and priests who may ask for admission, provided that you first inquire into their character and ordination, and, secondly, that they are not already members of some other order. Even though their bishops do not give their consent, you have, nevertheless, our consent to receive all such clergy, and they shall not be subject to anyone outside of your order except the bishop of .4 You may receive laymen,5 provided that they are freemen, into your order to assist in caring for the poor. No man who has been received into your order, having taken its vows and assumed its dress, shall ever be permitted to desert and go back to the world. Nor shall any member be permitted to lay aside the dress of the order and go into another order or to any other place without the permission of the brothers and of the master of the order. No person, whether lay or cleric, shall have the right to receive and harbor any such deserters. You shall have your altars and churches consecrated, your clergy ordained, and your other ecclesiastical matters attended to by the bishop of the diocese6 [in which you may happen to be], provided that he is in the favor and communion of the Roman church, and he shall not wish to charge you anything for these services. Otherwise, you may secure the services of any bishop. When you, who are now the master of the order, die, the brothers shall have the right to elect your successor. We confirm all the possessions which the order has, or may acquire, on both sides of the sea [that is, in Asia and in Europe]. . . .

4 The pope. 5 Non-ordained members of the . 6 A district under the management of a bishop.