page_title: Order of Saint James of Altopascio
section_title: Expansion
hierarchical_section_title: Order of Saint James of Altopascio / History / Expansion
caption_attribution_description: English: Perspective view of Église Saint-Jacques-du-Haut-Pas (rue Saint-Jacques - Paris Ve arrondissement)
context_page_description: The Order of Saint James of Altopascio, also called the Knights of the Tau or Hospitallers of Saint James, was a military order, perhaps the earliest Christian institution to combine the protection and assistance of pilgrims, the staffing of hospitals, and a military wing. According to American historian Ephraim Emerton, who produced the first systematic study of the Order, "the fame of the house drew visitors, both well and sick, including women in childbirth and infants" from around Italy.
context_section_description: In time the Order came to be charged with safeguarding the roads and the bridges from brigands. The Order also had a bell named "La Smarrita" that was rung each night from a half hour before sunset to a half hour past to help guide any pilgrim wandering in the woods to safety. This custom was still reported in the time of Lami. They maintained a ferry service on the Arno River:
  in the territory of Florence and on the high road to Rome, where formerly a heavy tribute was exacted. This road has now been made free by members of the aforesaid Great Hospital and of other hospitals affiliated with it. So that at present all pilgrims and others freely pass there without payment.
   
  The lands from which the Order drew its income were found throughout Tuscany: in the Valdarno (bull of Anastasius IV of 1154), Valdinievole (bull of Alexander III of 1169), and Pistoia and Prato (aforementioned bull of Innocent III of 1198). Eventually the Order spread throughout Tuscany and Italy, reaching first Naples, Sardinia, and Sicily. The Order was eventually internationalised and had reached as far as the Rhône in Provence by the end of the twelfth century. It received endowments in Bavaria, Burgundy, the Dauphiné, England, Flanders, France, Germany, Lorraine, Navarre, Portugal, and Savoy. Each separate body was called a mansio (plural mansiones) on analogy with the Roman relay stations and hospitals abiding by the Order's rule were called obedientiae. Grants to the mansiones of money and land and, in the later Middle Ages, tithes were supervised by the grand master. The heart of the Order was always in Tuscany, however, as its close relationship with the great families of the Republic of Florence shows. There is evidence that in the sixteenth century the Order was exchanging lands in such a way as to build up a compact territory of holdings nearer Altopascio. 
  The church and hospital of Saint-Jacques-du-Hault-Pas in Paris, subject to the Great Hospital, was founded by Philip IV of France.
caption: The church of Saint-Jacques-du-Hault-Pas, the first Altopascian foundation in Paris.
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "SONY", "Image Model": "DSC-W5", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2008:04:01 16:51:21", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "256", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 51, 48, 48, 0, 0, 2, 0, 2, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Make": "SONY", "Thumbnail Model": "DSC-W5", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail DateTime": "2008:04:01 16:51:21", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "2484", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "14089", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/500", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2008:04:01 16:51:21", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2008:04:01 16:51:21", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "8", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "79/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1536", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2048", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "2278", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal"}