A common model for hospital assistance in the Middle Ages: The Knights Hospitallers and their charitable activities in the Iberian Peninsula (12th and 13th centuries)

GREIF, ESTEBAN

Heidelberg

Conferencia; Großes und Kleines Mediävistisches Kolloquium (Jaspert): Wintersemester 2023/2024; 2023

Historisches Seminar. Universität Heidelberg

The assistance to the poor and sick, truly “lords” of the Order, was the fundamental ideal that structured the life and work of the Hospitaller. This ideal was developed by the brothers of St John since their origin in Jerusalem and defined their character not only in the Holy Land during the Latin domination of the Syrian-Palestinian territory, but also in the commanderies and monasteries that the Order held in the West. Some studies described the medical activities of a few particular priories of the military orders in the West and a certain number of investigations address the question of their medical activities in the Holy Land. Nevertheless, not many of them explored in greater detail the possible constitution of a common background of the medical activities of the Hospitallers in the East and West. Therefore, in order to deepen our knowledge of the healthcare history of the Hospitallers, in this communication it will be compared the information provided by the sources on the assistance activity of the Order in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem with that of the priories of Castilla y León, Navarra, and the Castellanía de Amposta for Aragón and Cataluña. The results of this comparison will reveal the existence of the afore mentioned common background and, above all, will bring light to some of the characteristics of the medical-care and assistance activities of the Order in the Iberian Peninsula during the 12th and 13th, mainly those related with the funeral services.