RRR: Correspondence/envoy
1489
year: 1201
initiator: Gaufridus de Donjon, master of the Hospital
recipient: Prior Anglie of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem
institution: Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem
text: Dec. 24 1200 - early summer 1201. [270] The magister Hospitalis Jerusalem informs the prior Anglie of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem that the bishop of Acre, many pilgrims and many Hospitallers on their way to the West on the business of the Holy Land perished in a shipwreck off Biblium on the coast of Tripoli during the last passagium. Other ships carrying Hospitaller messengers from Acre were forced by storm damage to seek refuge in Tripoli. He reports that in the Muslim world the lord of Damascus, Sephadinus [al-‘Adil], has become master of Cairo [Babilon], expelling his nephew and others and is in a tense relationship with the sultan of Aleppo and many others. The Nile has failed to flood, leading to famine and the loss of livestock in Egypt, and a host of Egyptians have descended, like locusts, on the Holy Land. A young low-born Saracenus has been preaching an evangelical Christian campaign and has converted and baptized 2000. With the threat posed to the Latin East by the union of Damascus and Cairo, he appeals for help to the prior and to the king of England. He adds that in the invasion of Sicily by the Germans and Lombards the Hospitaller commandery [domus] of Barletta has been abandoned and that since the prior Anglie himself left the East no provisions have been received from the kingdom of Sicily, leading the Order to great expense in supplying its commanderies [domus] and castles. He needs money from the western Hospitaller communities. He asks for help to be sent on the next passagium in March.
Dec. 24 1200 - early summer 1201. [270] The magister Hospitalis Jerusalem informs the prior Anglie of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem that the bishop of Acre, many pilgrims and many Hospitallers on their way to the West on the business of the Holy Land perished in a shipwreck off Biblium on... more
sources: Delaville Le Roulx, Cart Hosp 2:1-2, no. 1131 (RRH no. 787)
RRR: Correspondence/envoy
2435
year: 1243
initiator: Emperor Frederick II
recipient: Thomas de Aquino regis Iherosolimitani balius et sacri imperii in partibus transmarinis legatus
institution: Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem
text: Aug. 31. Melfi. Frederick, dei gracia Romanorum imperator semper augustus Iherusalem et Sicile rex, records under seal that frater Goffridus Balianus, representing the magister and brothers of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem, came into his presence and asked that the castle of Ascalon be committed to the Order’s care and that it be repaid any necessary expenses. Mindful of the support the Order has given him overseas, Frederick agrees to this request. He has written to Thomas de Aquino regis Iherosolimitani balius et sacri imperii in partibus transmarinis legatus, ordering him to estimate first, by means of the testimony of one or two suitable subjects, what the expenses are, and then to commit the custody of the castle to the magister and brothers, with the commitment to repay the expenses, on his behalf and on that of his son Conrad, Romanorum in regem electus semper augustus et regni Iherosolimitani heres. If the Hospitallers of St John should lose the castle after an assault and long siege, and not through blame or negligence, their costs will be repaid.
Aug. 31. Melfi. Frederick, dei gracia Romanorum imperator semper augustus Iherusalem et Sicile rex, records under seal that frater Goffridus Balianus, representing the magister and brothers of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem, came into his presence and asked that the castle of Ascalon be... more
sources: Mayer, UKJ 3:1180-4, nos. 691-2 (RRH no. 1112)