"POOR FELLOW-SOLDIERS OF JESUS CHRIST " 19
thousand persons benefited from the bounty of the Hospital
every day, and many chroniclers praise the self-sacrifice of
the brethren. There is a legend that Saladin himself came
in disguise to the Hospital to test the generosity and humility
of its servants, and expressed himself as satisfied that rumour
had nc^t exaggerated the virtues of the Order.
At first the Hospital was entirely dependent upon the
gifts of the charitable and pious, and emissaries begged in
its name throughout Christendom. The institution, how-
ever, acquired a permanent source of income within a few
years of its establishment. The importance of the Hospital
was recognised by the Patriarch Dagobert, and soon after
his succession to office he bestowed properties in various parts
of the kingdom on the organisation to enable it to extend
its work. Baldwin I also endowed the Hospital with lands
as early as noo and again in the later years of his reign.
The example of the king and the Patriarch was followed by
nobles in Europe as well as Syria, and the permanent income
of the Order increased rapidly. The Holy See also
interested itself closely in the work of the brotherhood
organised by Gerard, but its interest was shown in a way not
very palatable to the Patriarch. For in 1113 Pope
Paschal II accorded the Hospitallers the privilege of electing
their rulers without reference to the Church in Jerusalem
and relieved the institution from certain obligations to the
Patriarch. It was the first step in the process of making the
Hospital free from all ecclesiastical authority except that of
the Pope himself.
The success of the Hospital inspired the foundation of the
Knights Templars. The pilgrims who reached Jerusalem
in need were now cared for at the Hospital, but no organisa-
tion existed to serve the Westerners during their long and
hazardous journey to the Holy City. Not until after the
Third Crusade did it become the practice for pilgrims to
travel from Europe to the ports of Palestine by sea 5 before