He was used to the rough furnishings of a Norman hall, where crude oak coffers, travelling beds stuffed with straw, and long simple tables were all designed so as to be easily transportable if the lord of the house decided to move to one of his other domains. In Outremer the furniture which had evolved through Greek and Moorish taste was designed with elegance and comfort in mind. The houses sparkled with beautiful glass (early examples of which, when they reached England, seemed so astonishing that they were thought to be the work of fairies). Feather beds, comfortable cushions, stuffed pillows, tapestries and silks all reached western Europe from the crusaders’ contact with the East. Exquisite faience had long been a product of Syria, and Egyptian glassware had been famous for centuries. Even articles from the Far East like porcelain sometimes reached the Levant through the Arabic trade across the Indian Ocean. The rough woollen clothes worn in the north were replaced by silks. The settlers adopted the burnous and the turban when at home, whether in castle or town house. On campaigns they wore a white surcoat made of linen over their chain mail, and an Arabic kerchief or keffiyeh over their helmets.

All this was eminently sensible and practical, but it seemed shocking to the visitor fresh from Europe. Some of the cities still had public baths, a relic from Roman days, but in the private houses of the rich or the nobility baths were almost a commonplace. Like their husbands the Latin ladies adopted the clothing of the East, wearing long silk dresses over which went a brief, heavily embroidered tunic. Jewellery of a quality unknown in Europe for centuries sparkled on wrists, fingers and hair, while the perfumes of Syria and the incenses of Egypt added to their and their homes’ attractions.

The castles of the great military Orders like St John were certainly more austere than those of the married nobility, but even here life was more gracious than in the palaces of their monarchs back in Europe. Part of the success of the Hospital in Jerusalem, and later in Acre, was also undoubtedly due to the fact that the Hospitallers had acquired an awareness of sanitation and hygiene that had disappeared from their homelands with the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The idea of serving the sick off silver dishes undoubtedly originated during these years, for silver and gold were not outstanding luxuries in the Levant. Of inestimable value to the Hospitallers in their treatment of the sick was the fact that—in Syria especially—the traditions of Greek medicine had survived the centuries. The works of Galen were to provide the physicians of St John with an excellent backbone for their study and practice of medicine.

The induction of a new member into the Order was a moving and deeply serious event. It was the crowning moment in a man’s life; a moment which divided him from being an ordinary secular Christian into a servant of God. From now on he was dedicated first of all to the care of the poor and the sick, and secondly to their defence. It has been said that the campaigns in which the Order took part were more often offensive than defensive, and this was often true. On the other hand, while they were attempting to preserve Jerusalem and the Holy Places and keep the pilgrimage routes open, it was not enough merely to wait until they were attacked. If they made a foray into Egypt, for instance, in company with the Templars, it was with the object of checking at source what would undoubtedly have grown into an even greater threat to the Latin kingdoms. Their later activities in Rhodes and in Malta may be read in a different light, but certainly in the centuries in the East it needed little casuistry to justify their militance.

No records exist as to the exact form that the induction of a new candidate took in this period of history. It probably did not vary much from that of later centuries. An aspiring brother came before the Chapter of a convent and, as Riley Smith writes,

 

asked the Master or the brother presiding for membership of the Order. The president asked his Chapter if it was agreeable, because no one could be received without the assent of the majority of the brethren present. He then addressed the candidate: ‘Good friend, you desire the company of the House and you are right in this, for many gentlemen earnestly request the reception of their children or their friends and are most joyful when they can place them in this Order. And if you are willing to be in so excellent and so honourable company and in so holy an Order as that of the Hospital, you are right in this. But if it is because you see us well clothed, riding on great chargers and having everything for our comfort, then you are misled, for when you would desire to eat, it will be necessary for you to fast, and when you would wish to fast, you will have to eat. And when you would desire to sleep, it will be necessary for you to keep watch, and when you would like to stand on watch, you will have to sleep. And you will be sent this side of the sea and beyond, into places which will not please you, and you will have to go there.