ABSTRACT
The earliest versions of the Hospital’s statutes survive in French, German, langue d’oc and Latin texts which date to the end of the thirteenth century or shortly after. They present numerous variations and divergences. Their chronology is highly confused, partly because decrees from successive chapters-general were recorded in groups of chartres which were confirmed only periodically, so that statutes may have been enacted many years before they were confirmed and entered into the legislative corpus in which they survived. That was particularly the case with the statutes normally ascribed to 1204/1206 and to 1262. As a result, the dating of certain developments often accepted by scholars may need considerable revision. The recent study of an early German translation of the statutes shows much variation from other versions and deserves further investigation and comparisons with other texts. The usances or customs and especially the esgarts or individual judgements are difficult to date and quite probably some were originally passed in chapters-general as statutes. A detailed comparison of all known manuscripts is therefore an important requirement.
