A bailiff (french: bailli, ) was a high official in the Knights Hospitaller who directed one of its

bailiwick A bailiwick () is usually the area of jurisdiction of a bailiff, and once also applied to territories in which a privately appointed bailiff exercised the sheriff's functions under a royal or imperial writ. The bailiwick is probably modelled on th ...

s abroad or one of the national associations (" tongues") at its headquarters.

History

Bailiff was the rank and title of the head of each of the

s of the Knights Hospitaller and also of the head, at Rhodes and Malta, of one of the seven, later eight, ''Langues'' (or ''tongues'') into which the members of the Knights Hospitaller were grouped once the Order was established on Rhodes and subsequently on Malta. The ''langues'' were Auvergne,

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to sou ...

(later split into Castile- Portugal and Aragon-

Navarre Navarre (; es, Navarra ; eu, Nafarroa ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre ( es, Comunidad Foral de Navarra, links=no ; eu, Nafarroako Foru Komunitatea, links=no ), is a foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, ...

), England, France, Germany, Italy, and Provence. Despite the seeming link to language, this organization was not strictly aligned with linguistic boundaries, but tended to combine the Order's knights and possessions in several nations or states; the German tongue, for instance, included Scandinavia, Hungary, Poland and Bohemia. Each ''tongue'' covered at least one Grand Priory. The Grand Prior and the Chapter, which comprised representatives of all bailiwicks and commandries, administered the individual tongues—including the Order's possessions, its charitable activities (hospitals etc.), parishes incorporated into the Order, and the financial contributions for the defense of Rhodes and later Malta and for the maintenance of the Order's naval forces in the Mediterranean. At the center, in Rhodes and subsequently Malta, each ''tongue'' had its own ''auberge'' (hostel) which served as its headquarters and where the members lodged and took their meals. Presiding over the auberge was the "pillar", who by virtue of his office was a Baliff of the Order and, typically, therefore also a member of the Order's Chapter-General representing his ''tongue''. The bailiffs ranked just below the Grand Priors and

Prior Prior (or prioress) is an ecclesiastical title for a superior in some religious orders. The word is derived from the Latin for "earlier" or "first". Its earlier generic usage referred to any monastic superior. In abbeys, a prior would be l ...

s. They commanded the knights of their ''tongue'' at the center, where each ''tongue'' was responsible for the maintenance and defense of a specific portion of the fortress defenses and had to man it with sufficient numbers of knights and soldiers.

References

{{Orders Knights Hospitaller Orders of chivalry

History

See also

References