The Order of Aubrac was a

military order Military order may refer to: Orders * Military order (religious society), confraternity of knights originally established as religious societies during the medieval Crusades for protection of Christianity and the Catholic Church Military organi ...

and hospital (''

hôtel-Dieu In French-speaking countries, a hôtel-Dieu ( en, hostel of God) was originally a hospital for the poor and needy, run by the Catholic Church. Nowadays these buildings or institutions have either kept their function as a hospital, the one in Paris b ...

'') chartered in the twelfth century. It operated in the

Rouergue Rouergue (; ) is a former province of France, corresponding roughly with the modern department of Aveyron. Its historical capital is Rodez. It is bounded on the north by Auvergne, on the south and southwest by Languedoc, on the east by Gévaudan ...

to protect and care for pilgrims on the Way of Saint James and the ''

Via Francigena The Via Francigena () is an ancient road and pilgrimage route running from the cathedral city of Canterbury in England, through France and Switzerland, to Rome and then to Apulia, Italy, where there were ports of embarkation for the Holy Land. It w ...

''.Goyau 1912. The headquarters of the order was the monastery and hospital called the Dômerie d'Aubrac in the town of

Aubrac Aubrac is a small village in the southern Massif Central of France. The name is also applied to the surrounding countryside, which is properly called L'Aubrac in French. The Aubrac region has been a member of the Natura 2000 network since August 200 ...

in the

Diocese of Rodez The Diocese of Rodez (–Vabres) ( la, Dioecesis Ruthenensis (–Vabrensis); French: ''Diocèse de Rodez (–Vabres)'') is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in France. The episcopal see is in Rodez. The di ...

. According to later tradition, it was founded in 1031 by Adalard, viscount of

Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, ...

, who was beset by brigands while passing through the

County of Rouergue This is a list of the counts of Rouergue. * Sigisbert c. 790 – c. 810 or 820 * Fulcoald c. 810 or 820 – c. 836 or 849 * Raymond I c. 836 or 849 – 864 * Fredelo c. 836 or 849 – 852 (associated with Raymond) * Bernard the ...

on his way to the shrine of Saint James in Compostela. If this later story is accurate, then the Order of Aubrac is a unique example in the eleventh century of a military order in the style of the later

Knights Templar , colors = White mantle with a red cross , colors_label = Attire , march = , mascot = Two knights riding a single horse , equipment ...

and

Knights Hospitaller The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic Church, Catholic Military ord ...

.Crawford 2016, p. 178, who cautions that "institutional mythology" often created "pasts of greater antiquity than the facts justified" in the Middle Ages. The Order was chartered in 1120 or 1122Crawford 1993, p. 69. and adopted the Augustinian rule with the approval of Bishop Peter of Rodez in 1162. The Order's statutes from that year survive. They were revised several times in the later Middle Ages. The Order included priests, knights, lay brothers, noblewomen and lay sisters. Satellite hospitals, called "

commanderies In the Middle Ages, a commandery (rarely commandry) was the smallest administrative division of the European landed properties of a military order. It was also the name of the house where the knights of the commandery lived.Anthony Luttrell and Gr ...

", were established at

Bozouls Bozouls ( oc, Boason) is a Communes of France, commune in the Aveyron Departments of France, department in southern France. It is located on Route Maquis de Jean Pierre (D20) thirty minutes from Rodez, one hour from the Gorges du Tarn, two hou ...

, Milhau, Najac, and

Rodez Rodez ( or ; oc, Rodés, ) is a small city and commune in the South of France, about 150 km northeast of Toulouse. It is the prefecture of the department of Aveyron, region of Occitania (formerly Midi-Pyrénées). Rodez is the seat of the ...

. Though never large, the

failed in several attempts to annex it and it remained independent and operational until the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

, when it disappeared.Walsh 2003, p. 193. Paul Crawford in his 1993 study of military orders, classifies Aubrac as one of the "hospitaller orders which may have had military functions" alongside

Order of Saint James of Altopascio The Order of Saint James of Altopascio ( it, Ordine di San Giacomo d'Altopascio or ''Ordine dei Frati Ospitalieri di San Jacopo''), also called the Knights of the Tau (''Cavalieri del Tau'') or Hospitallers of Saint James, was a military order, per ...

and the Order of Saint Anthony of Vienne, while noting that it is the only one of the three that seems definitely to have had a military status.

Footnotes

References

*Anderson, R. Warren; Hull, Brooks B. 2017
"Religion, Warrior Elites, and Property Rights."
''Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion'', 13, Article 5. *Bom, Myra Miranda. 2012. ''Women in the Military Orders of the Crusades''. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. *Brodman, James William. 2009. ''Charity and Religion in Medieval Europe''. Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press. *Crawford, Paul F. 1993. ''Militia Christi: A Categorization and Assessment of the Military Orders of the Middle Ages''. MA thesis. University of Wisconsin-Madison. *Crawford, Paul F. 2016. "Gregory VII and the Idea of a Military-Religious Order". In Susan B. Edgington and Helen J. Nicholson (eds.), ''Deeds Done Beyond the Sea: Essays on William of Tyre, Cyprus and the Military Orders Presented to Peter Edbury''. New York and London: Routledge, pp. 171–180. *Goyau, Georges. 1912

''The Catholic Encyclopedia''. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved 22 February 2009 from ''New Advent''. *Jugnot, Gérard. 1978. "Deux fondations augustiniennes en faveur des pèlerins Aubrac et Ronceveaux". In Marie-Humbert Vicaire (ed.), ''Assistance et charité''. Cahier de Fanjeaux, 13. Toulouse: E. Privat, pp. 321–341. *Le Grand, Léon (ed.). 1901
''Status d'hotels-Dieu et de léproseries''.
Paris: Alphonse Picard et fils. *Walsh, Michael. 2003. ''Warriors of the Lord: The Military Orders of Christendom''. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing. . {{coord, 44.6219, N, 2.9861, E, source:wikidata, display=title

1162 establishments in Europe 1160s establishments in France Catholic Church in France