Hospitaller Care of Chivalric Orders

This diploma thesis deals with the hospitaller care of three selected chivalric orders - Order of St. John (Knights Hospitaller or Maltese knights), Teutonic Order and the Order of St. Lazarus, and aims to observe its hospitaller care from the foundation of the said orders until the present time, analyse its scope and quality and above all explain, why Order of St. John has in the area of hospitaller care at present the greatest international prestige and recognition. The thesis observes the development of hospitaller care of the chivalric orders in different time periods and locations of their operation, from the foundation of the orders in the Holy land, through their care in the headquarters of the orders and their European commanderies after the fall of Acre in 1291 until the current situation and form of the orders hospitaller and medical care. The thesis is divided in several chapters according to these periods of orders operation, together with the introduction, brief history of the observed orders and conclusion. Final analysis of the orders hospitaller care emanates from the official preserved order sources (rules, statutes and hospitaller procedures of the individual orders), reports of eye-witnesses of the orders care and professional literature of recognized authors dealing with..