Passage fee explained

Passage fee is a donation given by a newly dubbed knight in celebration of his investiture into the knighthood. During the Crusades, passage fees, known as droit de passage, were used to cover the cost of travel to the Holy Land. In the medieval era, the passage fee for the Knights Hospitaller was around 360 Spanish pistoles.^[1] The passage fee is still present in some modern knighthoods and damehoods, such as the Order of Saint John (Bailiwick of Brandenburg) and Order of the Holy Sepulchre, and its purpose is used to support the charitable and evangelistic aims of the chivalric orders.^{[2] [3]}

Notes and References

1. Book: Mifsud, A.. Knights Hospitallers of the Ven. Tongue of England in Malta. 1914. AMS Press. English. 62.
2. Web site: Glossary of Chivalric and Nobiliary Terms. Order of Malta Studies. 17 November 2013.
3. Web site: Frequently Asked Questions . . 22 October 2024 . en . Virtually all orders of knighthood or chivalry levy membership fees (“oblations”) and advancement or passage fees. . . . Fees collected are for the Order’s modest administration costs, with any surplus being available for charitable purposes..