karl borchardt was dangerous, the Master Fr. Philibert de Naillac ordered in 1420 that brethren who served on ships had to confess and to make adespropriamentumeach year, quod clausum et sigillatum in manibus prioris ecclesie seu eius locumtenentis deponatur.20 Most known Hospitaller despropriamentaconcerned high-ranking officers. Among them was the Master Fr. Antoni Fluvià in 1437 who left 10,000 florins for a new hospital in Rhodes. Fluvià had been a pirate, as were many other leading Hospitallers. With personal funds they outfitted ships to attack and plunder Muslim vessels.22 Another well-known example was Fr. John Kendal from England, Turcopolier on Rhodes from 1477 to 1489, and then prior of England until his death in 1501.23 According to his dispropriamentumFr. Raymond Ricardi, known as prior of Saint-Gilles from 1450 to 1479, left 950 écus in 1463, which were used to send Marco de Monte to study in Paris;24 in 1475 Marco became archbishop of Rhodes.25 But no account books and no despropriamenta were saved in 1522 when Rhodes surrendered to the Turks. So unfortunately many of these important sources are today missing. But the procedure continued in early modern Malta: On 19 February 1636 the Grandmaster Fr. Antoine de Paule composed his despropriamentum, and on 4 March 1636 he died.26 Such large despropriamenta were just the tip of the iceberg. The spolia of less important and less wealthy Hospitallers are rarely extant. Anthony Luttrell recently found and edited adespropriamentummade by Fr. Barras de Barras, a Hospitaller knight from Provence. The text was copied at Ragusa (Dubrovnik) into the town’s register of wills and dated 30 December 1396.27 Fr. Barras fell ill at Ragusa and died there soon afterwards. 20 Stabilimenta (2007), pp. 216, 375 (III de fratribus c.32). 21 Sarnowsky (2011a), no. 20, pp. 5–7, translated from: Das Vermächtnis des Meisters in den geistlichen Ritterorden, in: Herrscher- und Fürstentestamente, ed. Brigitte Kasten (2008); idem (1993) = idem (2011a) no. 19, pp. 205–15; Borchardt (2001 [2002]), pp. 47–95. 22 Sarnowsky (2008) = idem (2011a) no. 14, pp. 41–56. 23 O’Malley (2005), pp. 153 note 241, pp. 155–56. 24 Roger, (2012), p. 340 note 114; Sarnowsky (2001), p. 677. 25 Sarnowsky (2001), pp. 458–59 with notes 17 and 22. 26 Williams (2008), pp. 60–61. 27 Luttrell (2021), pp. 341–47. 109
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