Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/89

Rh during the most stirring times of war, had never been permitted to suffer neglect.

The ladies of the Order, unequal to cope with the hardships consequent on a further residence in the East, abandoned the Holy Land for ever, and divided themselves between their various branch establishments in Europe. Amongst other places they were possessed of a very extensive settlement at Bucklands, in Somersetshire, the gift of Henry II. to the hospital in the year 1180, and hither came a great number of the wandering sisterhood. The queen of Aragon had also shortly before erected a noble establishment for the ladies of St. John at the village of Sixenne near Saragossa. This also threw open its hospitable doors for the reception of all who sought its shelter. Here these pious devotees passed the remainder of their lives in the strictest seclusion, mourning the loss of their home, and bewailing the fate of those heroes who now lay mouldering beneath the sandy plains of Palestine.

The history of the Order throughout its residence in the East was so closely connected with that of the kingdom of Jerusalem, that it would have been difficult to trace the progress of the one without entering into some detail with regard to the other. Now, however, that we have reached the point where a fatal blow had been dealt at the fortunes of that kingdom the narrative of what followed may be told more briefly. It must, however, be borne in mind that in all the struggles with which that period was rife, the Order bore a noble part, and contended with unflagging zeal against ever-increasing obstacles. The incidents of the third Crusade are too well known to all students of history to call for more than a passing remark here. Boasting amongst its leaders no less than four crowned heads, the emperor of Germany, Richard of England, Philip Augustus of France, and Leopold of Austria, this expedition found Guy de Lusignan engaged in the siege of Acre. That city, the Ptolemais of the Romans, was the most important maritime post on the coast of Syria, and had opened its gates to the Saracen army without resistance after the disa.ctrous conflict of Tiberias. For three years did the crusaders besiege the town, and the defence was, throughout that interval, maintained with the most unflinching obstinacy. During the latter part of the time the attack was