The province “Alemannia“ in the middle ages. History, structure and possessions

Abstract

Beyond non-existing states, the common language was the connecting element of the medieval commanderies of the Order of Lazarus. The nine German-speaking houses were loosely united in the province of Alemannia including properties in today’s Germany and Switzerland. The oldest documented foundation is the Hospital of Mary Magdalene in Gotha (Thuringia). The Landgrave himself established it in 1223, continuously supported by his mother, St Elizabeth. During the same years the house of Seedorf near Zurich was founded, according to legend already by King Baldwin IV. But except of Gotha, the founding documents of all houses are partly imitated or not preserved. The houses had developed with territorial expansion due to donations, exchanges, acquisitions or division of accumulated properties. The order had regionally extended land ownerships, numerous ecclesiastical privileges, support of the local upper class and was sometimes bearer of feudal rights. Nevertheless, the possessions were often badly managed and were in debt. Even sales and indulgences did not lead to long-term success. The houses acted semi-independent because of internal disputes, so regional preceptors were established to strengthen the religious and common discipline. By the end of the 13th century the Swiss houses were increasingly turning into women’s monasteries, which were the only remaining Lazarites in the last decades. In Switzerland the plague and Reformation led to the dissolution. In Thuringia, the Order lost its properties through amalgamation with the Order of St John by the papal bull “Nos igitur”.