Off the Shelves at St John's Gate

New Discoveries and Hot Topics: Your Questions Answered!

In a new episode Stephen Mossman and Simone Monti answer the questions that listeners have sent in after the first series of Off the Shelves at St John’s Gate, and reveal exciting discoveries made in the Museum’s historic library over the past year. We take questions about devotional life, the Order’s history in England, and the role of women as owners and producers of texts and books across the ages. You can explore the library for yourselves here: https://museumstjohn.org.uk/research/the-library-of-the-museum-of-the-order-of-st-john/

Histories

A short look at three key monuments in the historiographical tradition of the Order of St John: works by which it came to understand its past and present its history to the wider world.

The Chancellor

A short look at some of the works in the Library from the pen of the Order’s outstanding literary figure: its vice-chancellor Guillaume Caoursin, the great propagandist of the Rhodiot cause in the late fifteenth century.

Ritual

A short look at four items off the library’s shelves that illuminate the liturgical ritual of the Hospitaller brethren: the songs they sang, the texts they chanted, and the processions they led.

Our Lords the Sick

Stephen Mossman and Rebecca Raven discuss the caritative impulse at the heart of the Hospitaller mission: the care for the sick. How did the sisters and brothers of the Order of St John realize that mission? What were their hospitals like, and who did they serve? What else did they do for the poor and the sick of medieval and early modern Europe? And what was their role in providing the medieval equivalent of a food bank? We would love to hear from our listeners! We will be recording a special podcast at the end of the series to answer your questions. If you want to ask anything about the history of the Order, the books themselves, the Museum or anything else – or you have any other feedback for us – then please write to us at museum@sja.org.uk [museum@sja.org.uk]. We’ll do our best to answer!