Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/49

 1118—1187.

precise date at which the changes related in the last chapter took place is more or less a matter of dispute, there being no record that can be positively adduced on the subject. This is somewhat strange, considering the importance of the alterations effected, involving, as they did, the complete reconstruction of the institution.

That time cannot, however, be very well fixed later than the first year of the accession of Raymond du Puy to the office of Master, which is generally presumed to be the year 1118. The two leading historians of the Order differ but little in the date they assign for this event, the abbé Vertot giving it as 1118, and the chevalier Boisgelin 1120. Other historians, however, amongst whom may be mentioned Boissat, Baudoin, and the abbé Roux, place the accession of Raymond as late as 1131, accounting for the interval between Gerard's death in 1118 and that time by the insertion of a second rector named Roger. The authority for this interpolation is stated to be a deed of gift of certain lands from Atton, count of Abrussa, to Roger, the governor of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem. The date of this deed is stated as 1120, but there is no record of it now