Page:The Book of Orders of Knighthood and Decorations of Honour of All Nations.djvu/63

Rh above all the Secular and Spiritual Princes whose dignity dates subsequent to the foundation of the Teutonic Order.

9. Though by their vows, monks, the Knights may remain in the enjoyment and free disposal of their private property, except in gifts amounting to more than 300 ducats, when the consent of the head must first be obtained.

10. No member is to be security or guardian for other persons, without special dispensation from the head.

11. Wills and legacies by the members must bear the sanction of the head, without which they are void.

12. If the head or a member should die intestate, his personal property falls to the Order, without its being obliged to pay his debts.

13. Only in matters strictly belonging to the Order, the members are to be under the jurisdiction of its legitimate authorities, while in every other respect they stand under the civil authorities of their local districts or provinces.

The insignia (Plate 6. Tab. III. No. 20) are worn round the neck, or (No. 19) as a cross, with silver embroidery, upon the breast. On solemn occasions, the Knights wear a white mantle decorated with a similar, or even larger cross.

THE ORDER OF MALTA (ST. JOHN).

This famous Institution, the predecessor of the Teutonic Order, occupies in history a far more important page. Its origin falls in the time when Jerusalem was still in the hands of the Mahometans, A.D. 1048. A number of merchants from Amalfi, by consent and gift of the Khalifs, founded, not far from the Holy Tomb, a Benedictine cloister, consecrated to the Holy Virgin, with a chapel in honour of St. John the Baptist, and a hospital for the reception of pilgrims, which they confided to