After the fall of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the order split into two main branches – in Italy and in France (at the Château Royal de Boigny-sur-Bionne).

This was resisted by the larger part of the jurisdictions of the Order of Saint Lazarus, including those in France, Southern Italy, Hungary, Switzerland and England.

In 1608, King Henry IV of France, with the approval of the Holy See, the jurisdiction of the head of the Catholic Church, linked the French branch administratively to the Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel to form the Royal Military and Hospitaller Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem united.

It suffered the consequences of the French Revolution and went into exile along with its grand master, Louis-Stanislas-Xavier de Bourbon, Count of Provence (the future King Louis XVIII).

[12] The military order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem originated in a leper hospital founded in the twelfth century by crusaders of the Latin Kingdom.

[16][17] Hospitals dependent on the Jerusalem leprosarium were eventually established in other towns in the Holy Land, notably in Acre, and in various countries in Europe particularly in Southern Italy (Capua), Hungary, Switzerland, France (Boigny), and England (Burton Lazars).

Later, after the fall of Acre in 1291 the Knights of St. Lazarus left the Holy Land and moved first to Cyprus, then Sicily and finally back to Boigny, which had been raised to a barony in 1288.

The Ordinis Fratrum & Militum Hospitalis Leprosorum S. Lazari Hierosolymitani under Augustinian Rule was confirmed by Papal Bull Cum a Nobis Petitur of Pope Alexander IV in April 1255.

[18] As a result of that catastrophe, the leper hospital of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem disappeared, but its commanderies in Europe, together with their revenues, continued.

[citation needed] The order of Saint John pursued its claim to the French holdings but that was legally rejected by the Parlement of Paris in 1547.

In 1565, Pope Pius IV annulled the bulls of his predecessors and restored all possessions to the order so that he might give the grand magistry to a favorite, Giovanni de Castiglione.

By the time of Pope Clement VIII the order had two houses, one at Turin, was to contribute to combats on land, while the other, at Nice, had to provide galleys to fight the Turks at sea.

Today, it is granted to persons eminent in the public service, science, art, letters, trade, and charitable works.

This amalgamation eventually received formal canonical acceptance on 5 June 1668 by a bull issued by Cardinal Legate de Vendôme under Papal authority of Clement IX.