ABSTRACT
The famous hall known as the crypt of St John nearby is likely to date from before the fall of Acre to Saladin in 1187. The sensational results of recent excavations have revealed that an extravagant building campaign was begun on this site around 1200, creating a large courtyard to the north of the crypt of StJohn, with impressive structures to the east and west and huge storehouses along the northern side, close to the original city wall. Guy of Lusignan's charter, which is original and sealed, survives in the National Malta Library as Malta Arch 4 no.36. Professor Hans Mayer has pointed out that it is written in a beautiful late twelfth-century hand, with similarities to papal chancery script. Mistakes of such magnitude in a governmental document of this significance are rare, but in this case they can be explained. The charter was supposedly drawn up in Acre, but the city was in chaos.
