A Fourtheenth-Century Hospitaller Account Book from Hispania

Abstract

The dissolution of the Order of the Temple in 1312 created a massive reorganization of former Templar properties throughout Europe. Most of the properties passed to the Order of the Hospital, which then had to reorganize its properties in Spain and France and surrender its lands in Valencia to the new Oder of Montesa. There is little evidence in the main Archives of the Order of the Hospital in Malta for this massive reorganization. But the recent discovery of an account book entitled Receptarum linguae hispania (Archive 2190) in the Malta archives provides new information about the organization and income of Hospitaller priories of St. Gilles in Languedoc and Catalonia immediately following the death of the Aragonese Master Juan Fernández de Heredia. Archive 2190 contains the accounts for yeafs 1397-1402 organized by senescalía, priories, and houses. A careful analysis of Archive 2190 suggests how the new Master, Philip de Naillac (former prior of Auvergne) dispersed the properties described in the book to remove Heredia's adherents and to collect responsions. Finally, it is a valuable source for the disposition of Templar properties within the priory system of the Hospital.