The Heraldry and development of the Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem

Abstract

In this paper, we review and present the heraldic development of the Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem, one of the smaller Crusader Orders, and deal with some of the debates surrounding the Order’s history. The documentary origins of the Order of Saint Lazarus in Jerusalem have been lost through the ravages of time. While a leprosarium known as the “Lazorum in Hierosolymorum eremo (agro) sanctae Mariae in Monte Olivarum”2 is known to have existed outside the walls of Jerusalem prior to the First Crusade, the Fratres hospitalis Sancti Lazari Hierosolimitani were probably only established after the foundation of the Kingdom of Jerusalem at the turn of the 11th century. The earliest definite mention in the recorded cartulary of the leprosarium institution in Jerusalem is in a charter document given by King Henry I of England to the leprosis Sancti Lazari de Jerusalem.