Sometimes, contrarian that I am, I just can’t help myself.
Despite being a pacifist at heart, the military Orders in medieval Europe have long fascinated me. I find it difficult to understand how a faith that says forgiveness is its base could ever justify violence. Yet there they were: Brother Knights and Brother Sergeants charging into battle.
Although the Templars have gotten much press, they never thrilled me much. So enter the Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, commonly called the Hospitallers. I found them so interesting, I had to make the Order a central part of my latest mystery, Wild Justice, set in thirteenth century Somerset.
They began as a charitable and healing Order. Even during their military days, the bulk of the money raised by their European priories (often called commanderies) was sent to their renowned hospital, first in Jerusalem (until the Christians were expelled) and then in Acre. The religious were required to give up their own beds if the sick needed them. Physicians took tents to the battlefield as an early type of field hospital. Once treated, the wounded were transported to the hospital by a form of ambulance. Even knights were expected to surrender their horses if needed for ambulance service.
But what surprised and delighted me most was the care given in their hospital. The Hospitallers treated everyone, regardless of religion or gender. They even had a kitchen which not only prepared food for those with digestive disorders but also cooked meals according to the dietary needs of any Jewish or Muslim patients. Patients had individual feather beds, frequently changed with clean linen. Fresh meat, fruit, and vegetables were provided. If a patient needed assistance to go to the bathroom, someone was there to help. Patients were bathed. Most touching was the maternity ward where a tiny wooden crib was placed next to the bed of the new mother.
After the Christians were defeated in the Holy Land, the Order moved, first to Rhodes and then to Malta, where they eventually reverted to their original purpose of being “serfs of the poor” and providing medical care. For additional funding, they built ships for the commercial trade. They were also the only military Order to survive in some form to the present day. St John Ambulance, especially famous, is a modern non-denominational descendant.
For the setting of my Prioress Eleanor/Brother Thomas mystery, I chose the only priory of Hospitaller nuns in England, called Mynchen Buckland. Next to it was a very small house of monks in the Order, but the nuns significantly outnumbered them (and were not under their rule) which caused some friction over questions of who paid for what. This detail, of course, had to become a plot point.
I confess that I regretted setting a murder at Mynchen Buckland, because I gained much respect for this Order, but their tale was too compelling not to use them and integrate details of their charitable and military work into the formation of my characters and the story.
Priscilla Royal, March 12, 2018
