“The adoption of this role seems to have been a response to the deteriorating military situation in the East. By the 1230s though, the order was now being mentioned alongside the Templars, Hospitallers, and Teutonic Knights as one of the military orders defending the kingdom. There is no mention of them fighting in battle in the 12th century, but individual lepers certainly did - Baldwin IV led the kingdom in battle numerous times. How they became a distinct military order of knights is not exactly clear. In fact they soon had more than one house, including one on the Mount of Olives and one within the walls of Jerusalem. Leprosy was endemic in the Near East and numerous crusaders are known to have had the disease, including one of the kings of Jerusalem, Baldwin IV, so the royal family of Jerusalem as well as the church were especially concerned with supporting the leper hospitals. The Hospitallers probably predated the crusades and may have already run a hospital in Jerusalem before the crusaders arrived in 1099, but they were soon reorganized into a military order in the decades following the foundation of the crusader kingdom in Jerusalem.Īt first there was no separate order, just a separate leper hospital governed by the Hospitallers, but apparently it was considered a separate “house” by the mid-12th century, if not a completely independent order. People with leprosy and other diseases were cared for the Knights Hospitaller. Leper hospitals were sometimes called a “Lazaret” or a “Lazarium”. The Bible doesn’t actually say how either of them died but the medieval tradition was that they were lepers, and the two stories were kind of conflated sometimes, so “Lazarus” in general became the patron saint of lepers.

The Order was named after Lazarus in the Bible…but there are actually two of them, Lazarus of Bethany (the dead guy that Jesus resurrected) and the poor man from the story of Lazarus and the Rich Man. Augustine, but like the other orders they were also knights and participated in battles. They were a monastic order of monks following the Rule of St. There was a military Order of Saint Lazarus, which was the same idea as the other military orders, most famously the Knights Templar, Knights Hospitaller, and Teutonic Knights (among others). It’s true although maybe not quite for the reasons you’re remembering. Previous AMAs | Previous Roundtables Featuresįeature posts are posted weekly. May 25th | Panel AMA with /r/AskBibleScholars Please Subscribe to our Google Calendar for Upcoming AMAs and Events To nominate someone else as a Quality Contributor, message the mods. Our flaired users have detailed knowledge of their historical specialty and a proven record of excellent contributions to /r/AskHistorians. Please Read and Understand the Rules Before Contributing. Report Comments That Break Reddiquette or the Subreddit Rules. Serious On-Topic Comments Only: No Jokes, Anecdotes, Clutter, or other Digressions. Provide Primary and Secondary Sources If Asked. Write Original, In-Depth and Comprehensive Answers, Using Good Historical Practices. Questions should be clear and specific in what they ask, and should be able to get detailed answers from historians whose expertise is likely to be in particular times and places.

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Leper knights