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I The Hospitallers' Western Accounts, 1373/4 and 1374/51
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 December 2009
Extract
The military order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem had a Treasurer from the time of its early years in the mid-twelfth century; by 1268 he was employing two scribes at the Convent, the order's headquarters in Syria. A statute of 1283 provided for a monthly computum or audit to be held by the Master and a group of senior brethren. Fr Joseph Chauncey, who was Treasurer for some twentyfive years, was so competent that Edward I made him Treasurer of England in 1273. At Rhodes during the fourteenth century the Treasury apparently kept no budget showing the overall state of the Hospital's finances, though by about 1478 there was a lengthy list of the incomes of the Western priories and commanderies, of receipts from Rhodes and Cyprus, and of the Convent's expenses in the East. The dues or responsiones from the rich Commandery of Cyprus were received by the Treasurer at Rhodes and the Master issued a quittance for them. The Master had separate incomes of his own, and by 1365 these were being managed by the Seneschal of his household; the Master gave a receipt for them.
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References
page 2 note 2. Riley-Smith, J., The Knights of St. John in Jerusalem and Cyprus: c. 1050–1310 (London, 1967), 310–312CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Handbook of British Chronology, ed. E., Fryde et al. (3rd ed: London, 1986), 104.Google Scholar
page 2 note 3. Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, Ms. latin 13,824, fos. 75–96v, and London, British Library, Add. Ms. 17,319, fos. 20–38 (lacking the expenses); the date and contents await study. The archives of the Treasury at Rhodes do not survive.
page 2 note 4. The accounts for 1349/50 and 1350/1 are published in Luttrell, A., ‘The Hospitallers in Cyprus: 1310–1378,’ Kypriakai Spondai, 50 (1986), 178–179.Google Scholar
page 2 note 5. Valletta, National Library of Malta, Archives of the Order of St John, Cod. 319, fo. 265.
page 2 note 6. Nisbet, J., ‘Treasury Records of the Knights of St. John in Rhodes,’ Melita Historica, ii no. 2 (1957)Google Scholar; Nisbet lists the accounts of Procurators-General in the West between 1364/5 and 1396/9, publishing those for 15 April 1364 to 26 May 1365. No other such accounts have been published.
page 3 note 7. Malta, Cod. 16, nos. 46, 48.
page 3 note 8. Malta, Cod. 16, no. 9; on Ébrard, see Delaville le Roulx, J., Les Hospitallers à Rhodes jusqu’à la Mart de Philibert de Naillac: 1310–1421 (Paris, 1913), 144Google Scholar n. 2.
page 3 note 9. Malta, Cod. 16, no. 50.
page 3 note 10. Item solui notario scriptori negociorum Thesauri mecum commoranti xxv flor’ auri: Malta, Cod. 16, no. 53.
page 3 note 11. Malta, Cod. 16, no. 53: total calculated in Nisbet, 102. How this text was registered cannot be established as the register for 1376 is lost.
page 3 note 12. Malta, Cod. 23, no. 3.
page 3 note 13. Document dated at Rhodes on 30 September 1375: Malta, Cod. 23, no. 1.
page 4 note 14. See Luttrell, A., The Hospitallers in Cyprus, Rhodes, Greece and the West: 1291–1440 (London, 1978)Google Scholar, and idem, Latin Greece, the Hospitallers and the Crusades: 1291–1440 (London, 1982).Google Scholar
page 4 note 15. Luttrell (1982), XV 404–406; in Legras, 21–25, 35–37.
page 5 note 16. According to a statute of 1367: Delaville, 162 n. 5. All brethren owed spolia, while only those holding office paid mortuaries; numerous entries in the accounts for 1378/88 (Malta, Cod. 48) showed confusions between an officer's personal effects and liabilities, and the possessions and incomes of his office. Thus the commander's silver or animals could be paid as mortuaries after the deduction of his funeral expenses.
page 5 note 17. The Master and Convent could at moments of crisis temporarily be granted the revenues of vacant priories or commanderies, as in 1344 and 1357: texts in M. Barbaro di San Giorgio, Storia delta Costituzione del Sovrano Militare Ordine di Malta (Rome, 1927), 221–223Google Scholar. Nisbet, 96, without sources, and Waldstein-Wartenberg, B., Rechtsgeschichte des Malteserordens (Vienna, 1969), 114Google Scholar, citing the text of 1357 in Barbaro, 223, state that the vacancy was the income of the office in the financial year following that of the mortuary year, that is of the year in which the officer died; that is not, however, what the 1357 text stated. The accounts for 1373/4 and 1374/5 show that mortuaries were referred to a commander, vacancies to a commandery. These questions await clarification.
page 5 note 18. In 1372/5 a florin de camera was worth 28 sous of Avignon; a florin current, 24 sous; a florin de sententia, 27½ sous; 6 florins correntes were worth 5 francs; etc. Except that in 1373/4 the accounts calculated the florin de sententia at 27⅔sous, the equivalencies in the 1373/5 accounts coincided with those in the papal documents: Schäfer, K., Die Ausgaben der apostolischen Kammer unter Johann XXII. nebst der Jahresbilanzen von 1316–1378 (Paderborn, 1911), 54*, 59*Google Scholar. Florins correntes were apparently equivalent to, or identical with, those of Provence current in Avignon: Rolland, H., Monnaies des Comtes de Provence: XII–XIV Siècles (Paris, 1956), 153–154, 164Google Scholar. Twelve denarii made one sou; one groat or grossus, a silver coin, was apparently worth 2 sous. Sums in the tables are given correct to the nearest florin; brackets indicate calculated or corrected sums; in the notes grossi are converted into sous.
page 6 note 19. Based on details in Nisbet, 102–104.
page 6 note 20. Luttrell, in Legras, 36–37, notes some accounting anomalies in these years.
page 6 note 21. Malta, Cod. 319, fos. 3v–4.
page 6 note 22. Malta, Cod. 16, nos. 46, 48.
page 6 note 23. An extremely detailed account book for the Western incomes and expenditures from 1378 to 1389 is in Malta, Cods. 48 and 55. In 1371/3 Fr Aimery de la Ribe, Procurator-General in the West, paid 4½ florins pro uno libro empto ad copiandum ibidem bullas vel alia negotia Thesauri: Malta, Cod. 16, no. 53.
page 7 note 24. Luttrell (1978), VII 180; VIII 322, 325.
page 7 note 25. Luttrell (1978), V 199; (1982), I 259.
page 7 note 26. Malta, Cod. 320, fos. 32–32v.
page 7 note 27. Piquet, J., Des Banquiers au Moyen Âge: Les Templiers (Paris, 1939).Google Scholar
page 7 note 28. King, P., The Finances of the Cistercian Order in the Fourteenth Century (Kalamazoo, 1985).Google Scholar
page 10 note 1. In the transcription flor.’, sol.’, drs.’ and gros.’ are left in those forms, while “7” is normally transcribed as et, y as ny, ayo as anyo, nich’ as nichil, and s. de p. as summa de priorado or pagina spelling and punctuation follow the original, but proper names are capitalised.
page 10 note 2. Ms. “m”, but “ij”, making 2,000 florins, is almost precisely the equivalent of 2,030 florins de sentencia; furthermore, on 29 August, 11 September and 11 October 1374 the Master gave Fernández de Heredia quittances for 6,000 florins of responsiones and 2,000 florins of taille from the Priory of France which the Master had received directly from the collector of that priory: Malta, Cod. 23, no. 4; Cod. 320, fos. 2, 11v, 44v–45.
page 10 note 3. Fr Guillaume de Chauconnin, the Hospitaller of Rhodes, who apparently died in Avignon in June or July 1374: Legras, 417.
page 11 note 4. The correct total is 10,528 (not 9,528) florins.
page 11 note 5. The figures amount to 1,312 florins 12 sous (not 2,670 florins, which was the total for the previous entry for Aquitaine).
page 11 note 6. Total from the page in the account book being copied.
page 11 note 7. The figures amount to 2,500 (not 2,510) florins.
page 11 note 8. The figures amount to 7,385 florins 23 sous (not 7,396 florins 22 sous).
page 11 note 9. This entry of 9,893 florins 20 sous represents the combined totals for Saint Gilles and Toulouse.
page 11 note 10. Ms: v.
page 11 note 11. Castellania d'Amposta: the Priory of Aragon.
page 11 note 12. Ms. repeats dela dita Castellania.
page 11 note 13. Ms. omits nichil.
page 12 note 14. 7,819 florins 8 sous 5 drs.’ is the total for Catalunya and Amposta.
page 12 note 15. This entry for Castile, which paid nothing, results from adding Castile and Navarre.
page 12 note 16. Fr Milano Farina: unindentified.
page 12 note 17. 1,498 florins 15 sous is the total for Rome and Pisa.
page 12 note 18. xxvj sol.’ should read xxxvj sol.’
page 12 note 19. Scambi d'Alif: the Commandery of Alife in the Kingdom of Naples.
page 12 note 20. Naples and Santa Eufemia were Commanderies, not priories.
page 13 note 21. Santa Trinita di Venosa in Puglia: a commandery, not a priory.
page 13 note 22. San Stefano Monopoli in Puglia: a commandery not a priory.
page 13 note 23. The whole entry for Barletta is repeated.
page 13 note 24. The missing total is 1,210 florins 10 sous.
page 13 note 25. This sum of 1,210 florins 10 sous is the total for Venice.
page 13 note 26. The total for Alamania is 1,355 florins 18 sous.
page 13 note 27. Ms: Ixx.
page 13 note 28. 26,541 florins 16 sous were paid to the Master.
page 13 note 29. The Hospital's cardinal Protectors were Guillaume de Chanac (Mende), Aycelin de Montaigu (Thoroana), Pietro Corsini (Florença) and Pierre Flandrin (S. Eustati).
page 14 note 30. Fr Raymond Adizam, later styled presbiter bacallarius in decretis, who was here pensioned as the Master's procurator in the curia. He was possibly the earliest Hospitaller with legal qualifications to hoid such a position: cf. Luttrell (1978), XVI 453. His pension was augmented on 20 October 1374: Malta, Cod. 320, fo. 50.
page 14 note 31. The servientes armorum seu masserii, the pope's sergeants-at-arms or noble guard: Guillemain, B., La Com pontificate d'Avignon, 1309–1376: Etude d'une Société (Paris, 1962), 419–421.Google Scholar
page 14 note 32. Alessandro d'Antella, advocatus in the curia: ibid., 573 n. 69, 606–607.
page 14 note 33. Francesco Bruni, papal secretary: ibid., 297–299, 568 n. 40, 571, 712.
page 14 note 34. Jacopo da Ceva, papal advocatus fiscal: ibid., 607.
page 14 note 35. Fr Pierre Boysson, chaplain and familiarius of the Master, a procurator of the Hospital at the curia in 1370, and by 18 March 1379 Prior of the Convent at Rhodes: Delaville, 151, 164, 212, 214–215, 299; Luttrell (1978), XVI 453.
page 14 note 36. Ferry Cassinel, doctor in theology and professor of law, a kinsman of the new Master Fr Robert de Juilly, his procurator in the Priory of France, and in 1374 his procurator at the curia; Delaville, 197; Luttrell (1978), XVI 453.
page 14 note 37. Fr Aimery de la Ribe, Commander of Raissac, nominated Procurator-General in the West on or shortly before 2 February 1372: Delaville, 144 n. 2; supra, 3.
page 14 note 38. Ramon Bernat: unidentified.
page 14 note 39. Matteo Sobolini, notary: unidentified.
page 14 note 40. Pensions and 25 florins for scripturas amounted to 2,570 florins.
page 14 note 41. Tommaso de Bosolasco, OP: Luttrell (1982), XV 407 n. 68.
page 14 note 42. Bartolomeo Cherrazio, OFM: ibid., XV 407 n. 68.
page 15 note 43. Fr Hesso Schlegelholtz, Commander of Freibourg-im-Breisgau: Delaville, 185; Luttrell (1982), XV 407–408.
page 15 note 44. Fr Bertrand Flotte, Commander of Naples until December 1374 or a little later, who became Grand Commander of the Convent on 6 May 1375: Delaville, 150 n. 1; Luttrell (1982), XV 407–408.
page 15 note 45. Giovanni Corsini, brother of Cardinal Pietro Corsini, acted for the pope in crusading negotiations at this time: Luttrell (1982), XII 286; XV 400, 407, and Papi, A. Benvenuti, ‘Corsini, Giovanni,’ Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, xxix (Rome, 1983), 638–640.Google Scholar
page 15 note 46. Michele di Ridolfo, Luigi di Filippo Marino, Raffaele Spinola: Genoese.
page 15 note 47. The Constantinople mission expended 5,479 florins 12 sous plus 728 florins in the 1374/5 accounts, a total of 6,207 florins 12 sous; amend Luttrell (1982), XV 467 n. 68, which gives 6,677 florins. Pera was the Genoese suburb of Constantinople.
page 16 note 48. enel Regno: to the Kingdom of Naples.
page 16 note 49. Ferry Cassinel: supra, note 36.
page 16 note 50. Amount omitted.
page 16 note 51. valcho?
page 16 note 52. Matteo de Vita of the Alberti Antichi was received by the Master as a confrater of the Hospital at Beaucaire on 22 October 1374: Malta, Cod. 320, fo. 49v.
page 16 note 53. en dat.’:in credit.
page 16 note 54. Couriers, bulls and 70 florins in exchange expenses apparently amounted to 671 florins 12 sous, making an apparent total of expenses for 1374/5 of 35,263 florins 4 sous. A quittance issued by the Master on 11 October 1374 before he left Avignon showed he had received 35,500 florins for the year: Malta, Cod. 23, no. 4. The version registered in Cod. 320, fos. 44v–45, was full of errors with some figures being changed to match those in Cod. 23, no. 4, but with others being left unaltered so that the totals no longer added correctly. The 1374/5 accounts commence at this point.
page 16 note 55. Ms: daquamas.
page 17 note 56. Ms: aquellos ximxl, perhaps for Mii.cxl, but the arithmetic gives approximately 1,084 florins. After aquellos is a sign which is repeated in the margin, perhaps to indicate some doubt; the passage is evidently garbled.
page 17 note 57. Exceptionally, the accounts listed the vacancies of four French commanderies: Hainaut, Sainte Vaubourg, Orléans and Mont-de-Soissons.
page 17 note 58. Fr Guillaume de Huillac: unidentified.
page 17 note 59. The figure given amount to 1,296 florins 4 sous (not 1,375 florins 4 sous 11 drs’.).
page 17 note 60. ie. Priory of Catalunya.
page 18 note 61. Ferry Casinell, the Master's procurator, took the incomes of the magistral camere which are not in the accounts.
page 18 note 62. The Grand Commander of the Convent was Fr Bertrand Flotte nominated on 6 May 1375: Delaville, 150 n. 1; supra, note 44.
page 19 note 63. The Prior of Barletta at least between 25 November 1373 and about 30 October 1375 was Fr Raymond de Sabran: Lettres Secrètes et Curiales du pape Grégoire XI (1370–1378) relatives à la France, ed. L. Mirot—H. Jassemin (5 fascs., Paris, 1935–57), nos. 3137, 3779. The Grand Commander apparently pledged to pay the 2,000 florins.
page 19 note 64. The pagina contained the 9,885½ florins (to be corrected to 9,732½ florins) for Alamania, Bohemia, Hungary, Venice and Barletta, which had been assigned to the Grand Commander, who was probably charged to collect them in Italy; the monies from Alamania and Bohemia were normally sent to Venice.
page 19 note 65. Venosa had paid its dues (supra) and can scarcely have owed two sets of only three florins; the copyist must have erred, and 300 florins may well have been the sum owed.
page 19 note 66. This perhaps meant that Santa Eufemia owed 600 plus 204 florins each year for two years.
page 19 note 67. Fr Riccardo Caracciolo,Commander of Cicciano in the Priory of Capua: Delaville, 249.
page 19 note 68. Fr Lop Sanchez de Somoza, destituted in 1375 for his refusal to pay: ibid., 195–196.
page 20 note 69. These 24,500 florins appeared above as 26,541 florins 26 sous, and the 3,064 florins of charges listed here probably included interest on money loaned; the ‘ir’ is supplied.
page 20 note 70. Antonio notario: unidentified.
page 20 note 71. Mons. Anchelet, possibly the papal scribe Ancelin Martin: Guillemain, 342, 366.
page 20 note 72. Francesco Bruni, papal secretary.
page 20 note 73. Matheo, advocatus in the audientia litlerarum contradictarum.
page 20 note 74. One of the Hospital's procurators, magister Matteo de Lucha, was confirmed as procurator in the curia on 10 October 1374: Malta, Cod. 320, fo. 45. The total for pensions was 1,795 florins.
page 21 note 75 Lodovicus Tailleburgui, inhabitant of Avignon, was granted a life pension of 30 florins a year by the Master on 22 October 1374: Malta, Cod. 320, fo. 50v. He was a campsor or moneychanger: Cod. 16, no. 53.
page 21 note 76. Couriers, bulls and Tailleburgui's pension amounted to 186 florins 2 sous.
page 21 note 77. These expenses included 4 florins lost, 11,415 florins in repayments of monies advanced at Rhodes, and 728 florins to the two friars who went on the Constantinople mission; the total of sums as given was 34,277 florins 22 sous (not 34,228 florins).
page 21 note 78. These 17,765 florins do not seem to be ‘written above’ (suso scriptas) since the three sums listed as having been advanced to the Grand Commander amounted to 10,726 florins, and this entry remains somewhat inexplicable; the 17,765 florins probably represented a hypothetical balance between incomes and expenses, since 34,278 plus 17,765 amounts to 52,043 florins while incomes would apparently have amounted to 53,441 florins if monies said to be owing were added to those paid.