campaign which would do credit to a much more enlightened age. Special communities also isolated and nursed cases of erysipelas known as St. Anthony's fire, St. Francis's fire, etc. But the most important event in the history of hospitals in the period we must now consider, the middle ages, was the foundation of the order of the Holy Ghost, resulting, as it did, in a golden age of hospital building extending from the thirteenth to the fifteenth century and not equaled again till the hospital renaissance of the nineteenth century.
In the middle of the twelfth century Guy of Montpellier established the Hospital of the Holy Ghost in the city of his name. Montpellier was at that time the medical mecca of Europe and attracted students from remote cities. Not only the reputation of the hospital, but the order itself spread rapidly through France, building and managing hospitals.
Innocent III., the great militant pope, who did so much to strengthen the temporal power of the pontiff, had recently builded a hospital in Rome. It was characteristic of his genius that he foresaw the need of hospitals and the great work they might accomplish. He determined to promote their building not only in Rome and the Papal states, but also wherever his influence extended. To this end he summoned Guy to Rome and gave him charge of the new hospital of Santo Spirito. Visitors from all parts of the world were shown this hospital and encouraged to establish similar ones in their own communities. The object lesson served such a useful purpose that very soon hospitals were arising in every city of importance in Europe. The "Benificienza Romana" of Querini gives the names of thirty hospitals founded in Rome itself from the eleventh to the fifteenth century.
The part played by the crusades and the military and hospital orders in the evolution of hospitals can not be overlooked. Disease and pestilence were more potent in defeating the crusaders than the swords of the Saracens, and the military hospital orders found abundant employment. The Knights of St. John, an order founded to care for the sick and wounded, maintained after the conquest a hospital at Jerusalem said to accommodate 2,000 patients. Many priories were established in various parts of Europe while the order flourished. At first the knights acted as nurses and physicians to the sick crusaders; the military features of the order developed later. The organization became very rich and powerful in the course of time, and, swerving from its original purpose, degenerated and finally fell into disrepute. The Teutonic order, an organization of German knights banded together for labor in the Holy Land, did splendid work in building and managing hospitals. Many German hospitals were under its control and, unlike the Knights of St. John, it adhered closely to its original purpose. War and consequent financial reverses caused its dismemberment.
