Knight of the Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem, 1796 (engraving)

Knight of the Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem. Military and Hospitaller Order established in the Holy Land in the 12th century. The Order of the Hospitallers of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem was initially developed thanks to Roger Boyand (died around 1131), rector of the Jerusalem Hospital in 1120. Lazarus was the patron saint of lepers and the order played a role in eradicating the disease in Europe in the Middle Ages. Then he merged to the order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in 1608 by Henry IV (1553-1610). According to the Catholic encyclopedia, it was a purely hospital order whose members proclaimed themselves a knight without ever going to battle. Hand-coloured copper engraving, in “Images historiques des costumes des principaux peuples de l'Antiquite et du Middle Ages” by Robert Von Spalart, published in 1796.