and Hospitalers being
taken as the model for the new order, Henry de Walpot being the first
master. This appears to have happened about 1190, though some
authorities maintain that it was not till 1191 or even later. While,
therefore, the three great orders had much in common, there was this
difference in their original foundation. The Hospitalers were at first
a nursing order, and gradually became military; the Templars were
always purely and solely military; while the Teutonic Knights were
from the first both military and nursing.

Contemporary chroniclers compare the Teutonic Knights with the mystic
living creature seen by Ezekiel, having the faces of a man and of a
lion, the former indicating the charity with which they tended the
sick; the latter, the courage and daring with which they met and
fought the enemies of Christ.

The Teutonic Knights continued their care of the sick soldiers till
Acre was taken in July, 1191, by the united forces of Philip Augustus,
King of France, and Richard Coeur de Lion, King of England. After the
capture of Acre by the Christian army, Henry de Walpot purchased a
site within the city, and built a church and hospital for his order,
the first that it possessed. To these buildings were gradually added
lodgings for the members of the order, for pilgrims, and for the
soldiers which were enlisted to assist the knights in the field.

All this cost a large sum of money; but, as many wealthy Germans had
enrolled themselves as knights, means were not wanting as the occasion
for them occurred and the requirements of the order developed. Among
the greatest of the earlier benefactors was Frederick, Duke of Swabia,
who contributed money and aided the progress of the order by his
influence, and, when he died at Acre, was interred in the church of
the knights. Contemporary writers speak in the highest terms of his
virtues, saying that he lived a hero and died a saint.

At this period and for the rest of its history, the constitution of
the Teutonic order embraced two classes of members--the knights and
the clergy--both being exclusively of German birth. The knights were
required to be of noble family, and, besides the ordinary threefold
monastic vows, took a fourth vow, that they would devote themselves to
the care of the sick and to fight the enemies of the faith. Their
dress was black, over which a white cloak with a black cross upon the
left shoulder was worn. The clergy were not necessarily