Pierre Gérard founds the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.--History of that Order.--The Siege of Rhodes.--History of the Order of the Knights Templars.--Order of the Knights of Calatrava.--Order of the Teuton Knights.--Order of the Knights of the Golden Fleece.--Order of St. Maurice and St. Lazarus.--Orders of the Star, of the Cosse de Geneste, of the Ship, of St. Michael, and of the Holy Ghost. One of our great modern historians remarks:--“The association of the Church and chivalry, of war and religion, culminated in the foundation of an institution hitherto entirely unknown, and owing its origin principally to the Crusades, namely, the institution of religious military orders.... “In nothing does chivalry show itself more worthy of admiration than in its religious military aspect; in that phase it accepted the sacrifice of all the affections, it abandoned the renown of the soldier and the repose of the cloister, and it exposed its votary to the hardships of both, by devoting him in turn to the perils of the battle-field, and to the labours attendant upon the succouring of the distressed. Other knights courted adventure for the sake of their honour and the lady of their love; these incurred it in order to help the unfortunate and to assist the poor. The Grand Master of the Knights Hospitallers was proud of the title of _Guardian of the Redeemer’s poor_; he of the order of St. Lazarus was of necessity always a leper; while the knight-companions termed the poor ‘our masters.’ Such were the admirable effects of religion, which, at a period when the sword decided every question, knew how to chasten the failings of valour, and make it forget the pride that generally accompanies it.” As early as the middle of the eleventh century some merchants of Amalfi had obtained from the Caliph of Egypt permission to build a hospital at Jerusalem, which they dedicated to St. John, and in which were received and sheltered the poor pilgrims who visited the Holy Land. Godefroy de Bouillon and his successors encouraged this charitable institution, and bestowed upon it several large donations. Pierre Gérard, a native of the Island of Martigues, in Provence, proposed to the brothers who managed the hospital to renounce the world, to don a regular dress, and to form an uncloistered monastic order under the name of the _Hospitallers_. Pope Pascal II. appointed Gérard director of the new institution, which he formally authorised, took the Hospitallers under his protection, and granted them many privileges. [Illustration: Fig. 137.--Knight of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, afterwards called the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. Fig. 138.--Knight of the Order of Rhodes. Fac-similes of Woodcuts by Jost Amman, in a work entitled “Cleri totius Romanæ ecclesiæ ... habitus:” 4to., Frankfort, 1585.]