onks which began
about the same time; but I must not omit to say that the Crusades gave
rise to what are called _military orders_, of which the first and most
famous were the Templars and the Hospitallers, or Knights of St. John.
These orders were governed by rules which were much like those of the
monks; but the members of them were knights, who undertook to defend the
Holy Land against the unbelievers. The Hospitallers were at first
connected with a hospital which had been founded at Jerusalem for the
benefit of pilgrims by some Italian merchants, and took its name from
St. John, an archbishop of Alexandria, who was called the Almsgiver.
They had a black dress, with a white cross on the breast, and, from
having been at first employed in nursing the sick and relieving the
poor, they became warriors who fought against the Mussulmans.

The Templars, who wore a white dress, with a red cross on the breast,
were even more famous as soldiers than the Hospitallers. The knights of
both these orders were bound by their rules to remain unmarried, to be
regular and frequent in their religious exercises, to live plainly, to
devote themselves to the defence of the Christian faith and of the Holy
Land; and for the sake of this work emperors, kings, and other wealthy
persons bestowed lands and other gifts on them, so that they had large
estates in all the countries of Europe. But as they grew rich, they
forgot their vows of poverty and humility, and, although they kept up
their character for bravery, they were generally disliked for their
pride and insolence.

We shall see by and by how it was that the order of the Temple came to
ruin. But the Hospitallers lasted longer. When the Christians were
driven out of the Holy Land, the knights of this order removed first to
Cyprus, then to Rhodes, and, last of all, to Malta, where they continued
even until quite late times.

Other military orders were founded after the pattern of the Templars and
the Hospitallers. The most famous of them were the Teutonic (or German)
knights, who fought the heathens on the shores of the Baltic Sea, and
got possession of a large country, which afterwards became the kingdom
of Prussia; and the order of St. James, which belonged to Spain, and
there carried on a continual war with the Mahometan Moors, whose
settlement in that country has already been mentioned.[77]

[77] Page 170.

CHAPTER XI.

ST. BERNARD.

A.D. 1091-1153.

PART I.

St. Ber