commandery
A landed estate or manor, or a group of manors, in charge of a knight of one of the medieval military orders, as the Knights of Malta or the Teutonic Knights; originally an in commendam benefice, i.e., one bestowed as a charge or trust. The order of Knights of Alcantara, c.1540, numbered 37 “Commanderies,” with 53 castles and villages. Later, the pension attached to a commandership of a knightly order was termed commandery; also a conventual priory of a non-military religious order, or the buildings pertaining thereto.
New Catholic Dictionary
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
Commandery
(commenda, a benefice), or Preceptory (praeceptio. a first share), is a cell of the Templars and Hospitallers for collecting demesne-rents, and a home for veteran members of those orders. The president paid himself first his own pension, and then accounted for the residue. These houses remain at Swing-field, Cliburn, and Worcester.