ABSTRACT
The Order of Saint John welcomed the transfer of the property at Buckland and accepted the implications regarding the sisters' segregation. The Order considered the sisters' proximity to the brothers as a risk, but that concern was not so great as to cause any challenge to the existence of female Hospitallers. Buckland's arrangement was one of various ways in which the Order of Saint John accommodated women's houses. At Sigena in Aragon a prioress governed both brothers and sisters. The Order continued therefore to have commanderies with a majority of brothers and a minority of sisters throughout the Middle Ages. The Hospitallers had to make special arrangements for the accommodation of their sisters, in particular when these sisters lived in single-sex houses such as Mynchin Buckland. The expenses given in the report of 1338 showed that the endowments of Mynchin Buckland were insufficient to support the large number of sisters.
