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A Fratres Clerici and Bene cia Ecclesiastica in the Medieval Hospitaller Priory of AlamaniaThe Hospitallers acquired possessions in Latin Europe during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries first through donations, later on also by purchase, in order to support their activities in the Levant. These acquisitions included parishes, hospitals and castles, although their maintenance necessitated expenditures that reduced the surpluses the Hospitallers could use for the Levant. At the same time parishes and other ecclesiastical benefices were restructured according to the concepts of ius patronatus and incorporation. As a consequence, episcopal supervision was strengthened even for those parishes and benefices which were owned by the Hospitallers and other religious orders. In general, fratres clerici were of lesser importance in the Order than fratres milites. Nevertheless, they were eligible to become commanders or to administer commanderies for absentee commanders, and they were indispensable both for services in the Order's parish churches and for prayers on behalf of the souls of the Order's members and benefactors. During the later Middle Ages their role was strengthened especially in Cologne and in the two new Hospitaller foundations at Straßburg in and Biel in / . After the Reformation the Order's priests received an exclusive right roughly one third of the commanderies. * Professor emeritus.

S pätm ittelalterliche O rden srefo rm en seien, so w ird vielfach angenom m en, erst d u rch das große abendländische Schism a 1378, die R eform konzi lien zu K onstanz oder Basel u n d P ä p ste wie M artin V. u n d E ugen IV. e n t scheidend vorangetrieben w orden 1. I n W irklichkeit hab en R eform b em ü h u n g en jedoch schon vor 1378 eingesetzt ; erin n ert sei an B en ed ik t X II. oder an B eschlüsse des IV. L ateran u m 1215 fü r die B enedik tiner. F ü r viele M ißstände w urde vielfach d er hohe A delsanteil in O rd en sh äu sern verantw ortlich gem acht 2. D en geistlichen R ittero rd en der Jo h an n iter d om inierte im 14. J a h rh u n d e rt d er A del, doch gerade bei den Jo h an n itern fan d en dam als R eform b estreb u n g en g roßen W iderhall, vielleicht aus F u rc h t, ein Prestigeverlust könne ih n en ein ähnliches Schicksal wie den 1312 aufgelösten T em p lern bereiten. N eben den P äp sten , von denen G regor X I. 1373 eine E n q u ête zu E in k ü n ften , A usgaben u n d Personalstand aller K om m en d en d u rc h fü h re n ließ 3, b e m ü h te n sich die Jo h an n iter selbst u m größere