Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/42

 order to remedy this evil and to insure the punctual transmission of the rents of their numerous manors, it was determined to place over each a trusty member, who should act as a steward of the funds committed to his control. Establishments (at first called preceptories, but at a later date commanderies) were formed on a scale varying with the value of the properties they were intended to supervise, there being in many cases several members of the Order congregated together. The superintendents were taken from among the seniors, but were not confined to knights of justice, a certain number of chaplains and serving brothers being also nominated to the dignity. In such cases it was not unusual to find knights of justice attached to the preceptories subordinate to them.

The duties of these preceptories were not confined to the collection and transmission of revenue only. They at the same time became branch establishments, where postulants were professed and the various duties carried on in a precisely similar manner as in the parent convent at Jerusalem. Periodical drafts were collected, which were from time to time called to the East to recruit the ranks constantly being thinned by war and disease. When not required for this duty the knights were to be found rendering assistance in the warfare unceasingly waged against the Moors in Spain and in the south of Europe. Wherever the infidel was to be encountered, thither it was the duty of every true knight of St. John to hasten. They were, however, strictly forbidden upon any pretence whatever to interfere in warfare between Christian princes. So long as these establishments retained the title of preceptories, their chief was called preceptor; when they changed their names into commanderies, he became the commander—hence the origin of the term knight commander, which has been introduced into so many Orders of chivalry. The council reserved to itself the power of recalling a commander from his post at any time, and replacing him by another, he being merely considered the steward of the property. This right gradually fell into abeyance, and eventually a nomination to a commandery came to be regarded practically as a permanent gift, subject only to the payment of a fixed annual tribute to the public treasury under the title of responsions.