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July 28. Viterbo. Pope Alexander IV writes to the preceptors and all brothers of the hospital of St Mary of the Teutonics, relating that many of the brothers of their order have been cruelly killed at the hands of the infidels in the Holy Land and areas of Livonia and Prussia (Pruscia) in defense of the catholic faith, as he has learned, so the order is known to be in need of more men so that with new brothers it is restored and made stronger in the service of the Cross. For the obvious utility and necessity of this, and in answer to the prayers of Master Johannes de Capua, papal notary, the pope grants that they can receive free and absolved clerics and laymen and give them their habit without delay. He also establishes that those who join the order cannot return to the world or join another order against the will of or without consulting the brothers or the master. If anyone goes against and dares to abandon their habit, the order’s priests shall pronounce a sentence of excommunication against him that shall not be relaxed until he returns humbly to the order and their habit.