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their property to those religious establishments, in which itmay be probable they had themselves found consolation andrelief; or many who were cured, in the grateful performanceof their vows, gave large portions of their property to thosesocieties. So that in Palestine the officers of religion wereenabled to erect houses upon a liberal scale, and with costlyaccommodations; much more so than were to be seen inEurope . Their efforts, therefore, in Palestine were consi-dered by European princes and wealthy persons, who visitedthem, as the model of perfection; who being desirous tohave similar foundations within their own kingdoms anddomains, occasionally brought some of the brotherhood overwith them; which in course of time were converted intoorders of knighthood. Instances of these circumstanceswill be found in Mbhsen’s History of the Sciences, and hiscollection might be easily increased. In the same authormay be seen an account of houses erected for the care ofpersons afflicted with cutaneous disorders, and of their con-version into pest-houses. Independent of the reliefafforded for those, whom these establishments were intendedto benefit, they also afforded a great relief to mercantilepeople, who, in the infancy, as it were, of modern commerce,generally travelled themselves with their goods for safety oftheir property.
However, Muratori asserts, and on good foundation, thatthe oldest hospitals were not meant for the sick or infirm,but rather for the healthy and sound : as far as the termhospital is now taken in its verbal sense, his assertion is un-questionably true. The oldest hospital on record, accordingto modern acceptation, was one founded by the famousLANFRANC, Archbishop of Canterbury , anno 1070, whocaused one to be built at Canterbury , and fitted up in sucha manner, os for one part of it to accommodate men, and theother women. This prelate, who was a native of Italy ,might, perhaps, have conceived the idea from something hehad seen in his own country.
After this establishment, numerous others in a variety ofplaces were built, purposely for the accommodation of thesick and afflicted of humanity: these generally were erectedin the vicinity of cathedrals, or collegiate abbeys and monas-teries. The bishops and heads of these houses were thefirst visitors, who generally, from the subsequent occupationof their time, intrusted the office to deacons. In process oftime, however, when similar establishments were founded bylaymen, they were built separate and distant from ecclesias-tical establishments. Here, however, the clergy still asserted
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