A public hospital once stood near the place where Jesus was crucified. It offered free care to all and was staffed by salaried medical professionals who did morning and evening rounds. Patients were roomed by sickness, severity, and sex. In addition to 11 wards, there was an onsite library, orphanage, school, stable, and an ambulance service. The entire complex measured nearly four acres in size and was described by one Muslim eyewitness as “very beautiful.”*
A German pilgrim who visited Jerusalem during the rush of the Crusader period noted that 2,000 persons per day were treated in this state-of-the-art facility. The ill were serviced by men and women who belonged to a Christian order sworn to poverty and chastity. They operated under the ethos that hurting people (including Jews and Muslims) be regarded as Christ Jesus himself. The order was known as the Knights Hospitallers or the Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem.**
The entrance to the Muristan, a neighborhood inside the Christian Quarter of Jerusalem. The term muristan is based on the Persian word for “hospital.” The remains of the Crusader complex were found here. Note the silver dome of the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint John the Baptist up the street.
The vicissitudes of the conflict with Islam, however, pressed the values (and location) of the order. Their original mission of healing and hospitality—hence the name—became obscured. Measured in deeds alone, it is often difficult to distinguish the “more benevolent” Knights Hospitallers from their “more bellicose” brethren, the Knights Templars and the Teutonic Knights. All three of these groups operated as militants inside the Holy Land for approximately two centuries (1098-1291).
The fall of the stronghold at the coastal site of Acre (in Spanish, San Juan de Acre) where another Hospitaller complex was located, effectively marked the end of the Crusades. The Hospitallers fled the Levant. But they were not done. Their mission continued in Cyprus, Rhodes, Malta, Spain, and elsewhere.
The east window at St Andrew's at Temple Grafton, England, depicts the medieval orders of the Knights Templars (center left) and Hospitallers (center right). On the far left, a knight hosts a pilgrim with Jacobian hat, staff and gourd. On the far right, knights tend to the sick. This stained glass art is the work of Frederick Preedy and dates to 1875. This is a detail of an image posted here (accessed 11/26/2021).
In Iberia, the Hospitallers had received extensive land grants since the creation of the order. This was particularly true in the northeast and along the Camino Francés (which became a de facto boundary between Christian and Muslim Spain). The purpose of these grants was, in part, for the work of recruiting and raising resources (especially horses) for the larger international effort. Managing these properties meant that members of the Hospitallers were as likely to be found on estates as they were in castles, churches, or hospitals.*** With the accumulation of power and wealth and immunity—they were theoretically not accountable to any sovereign, save the pope—the Hospitallers became a challenge for the crown to manage (but not a splitting headache like the Knights Templars!). Hospitaller ineffectiveness (or distraction) meant that local orders (the Orders of Santiago, Calatrava, Alcántara, and Montesa) had to be created to spur the lingering Spanish reconquista. But that’s another story for another day.
I offer this context (with apology) as I have already mentioned sites (Sansol, Cizur Menor) where we encountered Hospitaller influence while walking the Camino Francés.
Hospitaller commanderies in Europe, ca. 1300. A commanderie is the basic unit of the order. Note the concentration of sites in NE Spain circled in green. Detail of image from here (accessed 11/27/2021).
Bob and I followed the marked trail around the reservoir of La Grajera. It was a lovely path. My new walking stick struck the ground rhythmically, tink—tink—tink. We mounted a rise and were treated to a vista of well-tended vineyards with folds of blue-green hills beyond.
We passed through the planted rows and followed a bridge over a modern highway. Just beyond, the knob occupied by the village of Navarrete swelled.
Approaching the knob of Navarrete. The province of La Rioja is famous for its wine.
My stomach reminded me of the need for a breakfast more serious than the bread and coffee of our Logroño hostel. The red roofs of Navarrete looked promising.
I was still thinking about flakey tapas when two structures caught my eye.
The first was a winery. Bodegas Corral (Don Jacobo) is a regular stop along the wine-tasting tour of the region. Many of the grapes from the surrounding fields undoubtedly met their fate here. It’s big wine country.
The second was the remains of a church in the grassy field fronting the winery. The wall stubs were low-slung. Recent restoration efforts were obvious.
The remains of the church as it appears today. The winery stands behind. That’s the front door (opening) on the right.
These foundations were all that remained of another hospital complex associated with the Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem, or the Knights Hospitallers. Even the place name was evocative. San Juan de Acre was the name given by Spanish-speaking Christians to coastal Acre, the last Crusader stop on their exit from the Heartland in 1291. The name was stuck to this place as well.
This hospital stood in the Spanish northeast for nearly 500 years, between the 12th and the 16th century. A report from the year 1568 names María Ramirez as the founder of the place, built for the support and care of peregrinos. The difference is that these pilgrims were not on the way to Jerusalem; they were on the way to Santiago de Compostela. This site gives testimony to the ongoing ministry of the Knights Hospitallers and to the memory of their Holy Land experience.
The hospital itself is long gone. Only the chapel remains. What survives evinces both Romanesque and Gothic styles. Archaeologists suggest it was built in the transition period, ca 1185. The footprint of the chapel is semi-octagonal, in the shape of a Greek cross (measuring about 17 x 10 meters). It is believed that the spindle staircase on one corner of the chapel did not provide access to a tower but a route to the adjoining hospital.**** The chapel stood as late as 1865 as the artwork below shows.
Left: Plan made at the end of the first season of digging in 1990. Image from “La Iglesia del Hospital de San Juan Acre (Navarette) by M.P.P. Mayoral (see below). Right: painting of the structure by Valentín Carderera as it appeared in 1865. The image on the right is from here (accessed 11/29/2021).
In a dangerous state of collapse, the chapel was demolished. But before this erasure, the portal and some of the windows were moved to the nearby cemetery where they now provide a noble entrance.
Bob and I took pictures then headed into Navarrete to find a second breakfast.
¡Buen Camino!
The rebuilt chapel façade is used today as a cemetery portal. Note the repeating ornamental arch-bands or archivolts. Image by Carmelo Peciña as posted here (accessed 11/29/2021).
*For more on the remains of this Jerusalem institution see the article here (accessed 11/27/2021). For an introduction to the medical care offered in this place, see the article here (accessed 11/27/2021).
**An excellent treatment of the Hospitallers in the Heartland is found in the work by J. Riley-Smith, The Knights Hospitaller in the Levant, c. 1070-1309. Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.
***Anthony Luttrell “The Aragonese Crown and the Knights Hospitallers of Rhodes: 1291-1350.” Pages 1-19 in The English Historical Review 76/298 (Jan 1961).
****A preliminary report of the archaeological work was published by María del Pilar Pascual Mayoral, “La Iglesia del Hospital de San Juan Acre (Navarrete).” Pp. 275-278 in II Semana de Estudios Medievales (1992).
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