| Abstrakt: |
Within the geography of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, the predominant role of the Mezzogiorno emerges from the Bull Pie postulatio (1113) through which Pope Pasquale II took the Order under his protection, sanctioning its official birth. This contribution aims to investigate the origins of the three hospitaller priories present in Southern Italy and founded in Barletta, Capua and Messina, with a marked preference for seaside towns. We have tried to reconstruct the role and functions of the prior, essentially as an administrative link between the central seat and the peripheral structures, represented by the preceptories, also in furnishing a chronotaxis. Comparison with other realities in Western Europe has allowed us to establish how the birth and subsequent affirmation of priories in the Norman-Swabian Mezzogiorno was rather early, most likely due to the geographical position of this region, but also to the conspicuous support that the Order received from the kings of Sicily. |
