Discovering a Military Order of the Crusades: The Hospital of St. Sampson of Constantinople

Abstract

When the Crusaders captured Constantinople in 1204, they converted a Byzantine hospital, the xenon of St. Sampson, into a Western hospitale, a hostel for poor and/or sick pilgrims, which was soon organized as the basis of a military order, attracting numerous donations. Prominent among them was the property given in Douai (Flanders) by the Latin archbishop of Thessalonica, aiming to create a daughter institution that would serve the local poor. This house flourished throughout the thirteenth century, then faced serious problems that led to its incorporation into the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. When the Byzantines recaptured Constantinople in 1261, the brothers of St. Sampson fled to Corinth, where they built another hospital. This structure has been recently excavated, revealing a multi-purpose unit wherein people received medical care, while the house served the public in numerous (including commercial) ways.