The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and Malta, better known as the Sovereign Order of Malta, has a two-fold nature. It is one of the most ancient religious Catholic Orders, founded in Jerusalem in around 1048. It celebrated the 9th centennial of its official foundation in 1999. At the same time it has always been recognized by nations as an independent subject of international law.

 

HISTORY

 

The Knights Hospitaller (also known by such names as Knights of Rhodes, Knights of Malta, Cavaliers of Malta, and Order of St John of Jerusalem) is a tradition which began as a Benedictine nursing Order founded in Jerusalem, following the First Crusade, ca. 1100 AD, and soon became a Christian military order under its own charter, and was charged with the care and defense of pilgrims to the Holy Land.

Following the loss of Christian territory in the Holy Land, the Order operated from Rhodes, over which it was sovereign, and later from Malta as a vassal state under the King of Sicily. The medi涡l Order can be said to have come to an end following its ejection from Malta by Napoleon. The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta (abbreviated SMOM) is the main successor to this tradition.

FOUNDATION AND EARLY HISTORY

 

 

In 600, Abbot Probus was commissioned by Pope Gregory the Great to build a hospital in Jerusalem to treat and care for Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land. In 800, Charlemagne, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, enlarged Probus' hostel and added a library to it. About 200 years later, in 1005, Caliph El Hakim destroyed the hostel and three thousand other buildings. He made the Christians wear wooden crosses, half a meter long by half a meter wide, around their necks. Although Christians were not allowed to buy slaves, male or female, and had few other privileges, they were allowed to ride horses on the condition that they ride with wooden saddles and unornamented girths. In 1023, merchants from Amalfi and Salerno in Italy were given permission by the Caliph Ali az-Zahir of Egypt to rebuild the hospice in Jerusalem. The hospice, which was built on the site of the monastery of Saint John the Baptist, took in Christian pilgrims traveling to visit the cities and sites where Jesus was born by Benedictine Brothers.
The monastic hospitaller order was founded following the First Crusade led by Gerard, whose role as founder was confirmed by a Papal bull of Pope Paschal II in 1113. Gerard acquired territory and revenues for his order throughout the Kingdom of Jerusalem and beyond. His successor, Raymond du Puy de Provence, established the first significant Hospitaller infirmary near to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Initially the group just cared for those pilgrims who made it to Jerusalem but the order soon extended into providing an armed escort to pilgrims. The escort soon grew into a substantial force.
Together with the Knights Templar, formed in 1119, they became one of the most powerful Christian groups in the area. The order came to distinguish itself in battles with the Muslims, its soldiers wearing a black surcoat with a white cross. By the mid-12th century, the order was clearly divided into military brothers and those who worked with the sick. It was still a religious order and had useful privileges granted by the Papacy, for example, the order was exempt from all authority save that of the Pope, and it paid no tithes and was allowed its own religious buildings. Many of the more substantial Christian fortifications in the Holy Land were the work of either the Templars or Hospitallers, at the height of the Kingdom of Jerusalem the Hospitallers held seven great forts and 140 other estates in the area. The two largest of these, their bases of power in the Kingdom and in the Principality of Antioch, were Krak des Chevaliers, and Margat, both located near Tripoli. The property of the Order was divided into priories, subdivided into bailiwicks, which in turn were divided into commanderies.

KNIGHTS OF CYPRUS AND RHODES

 

 

 

The rising power of Islam eventually pushed the Knights out of their traditional holdings in Jerusalem. After the fall of the Kingdom of Jerusalem (Jerusalem itself fell in 1187), the Knights were confined to the County of Tripoli and when Acre was captured in 1291 the order sought refuge in the Kingdom of Cyprus. Finding themselves becoming enmeshed in the politics of that kingdom, their Grand Master Guillaume de Villaret created a plan of acquiring their own temporal domain, selecting Rhodes to be their new home. His successor Fulkes de Villaret executed the plan, and on August 15, 1309 after over two years of campaigning, the island of Rhodes surrendered to the knights. They also gained control of a number of neighboring islands, as well as the Anatolian ports of Bodrum and Castellorizon.

The Knights Templar were dissolved in 1312 and much of their property was given to the Hospitallers.

The holdings were organized into eight tongues (one each in Aragon, Auvergne, Castile, England, France, Germany, Italy, and Provence).

The English prior at the time was Philip Thame, who acquired the estates allocated to the English tongue from 1330 to 1358.
On Rhodes, now known as the Knights of Rhodes they were forced to become a more militarized force, fighting especially with the Barbary pirates. They withstood two invasions in the 15th century, one by the Sultan of Egypt in 1444 and another by Mehmed II in 1480, who after the fall of Constantinople made the Knights a priority target.

However in 1522 an entirely new sort of force arrived when 400 ships under the command of Suleiman delivered 200,000 men to the island. Against this force the Knights had about 7,000 men-at-arms, and the walls of the city. The resulting siege lasted six months, at the end of which the survivors were allowed to leave Rhodes and retreated to the Kingdom of Sicily. In exchange, the knights promised to leave Suleiman's minions in peace. It would not be a promise they would keep.

THE KNIGHTS OF MALTA. 1565 Pgs. 141-159
Activity of Maltese galleys, 141--Fortifications of Malta, 142--Description of Malta, in 1565, 143--The Turkish forces, 144--Jean de la Valette, 145--Arrival of Dragut, 146--Siege of Fort St. Elmo, 147--Fall of St. Elmo, 149--Death of Dragut, 149--Siege of Fort St. Michael, 150--Ten assaults, 155--A false alarm, 157--Last assault, 158--Arrival of relieving army, 158--The survivors of the siege, 159.

KNIGHTS OF MALTA

 

After seven years of moving from place to place in Europe, the Knights were re-established on Malta in 1530 by the order of Pope Clement VIII and King Charles I of Spain, with the consent of their feudal landlord the King of Sicily.

Their annual fee for the island was a single Maltese falcon, which they had to give annually on All Souls Day to the Viceroy of Sicily, who acted as the King's representative. (This historical fact was used as the plot hook in Dashiell Hammett's famous book The Maltese Falcon.)

It was from here that the renamed Knights of Malta continued their actions against piracy, their fleet targeting the Barbary pirates. Although they had only a small number of ships, they nevertheless quickly drew the ire of the Ottomans who were less than happy to see the order resettled. Accordingly, they assembled another massive army in order to dislodge the Knights from Malta, and in 1565 invaded, starting the Great Siege of Malta. At first the battle looked to be a repeat of the one on Rhodes. Most of the cities were destroyed and about half the Knights died in battle. But things changed dramatically when a relief force arrived from Spain. In the ensuing retreat the Ottomans lost some 30,000 men, enough to secure the island for a time. The siege is portrayed vividly in the frescoes of Matteo Perez d'Aleccio in the Hall of St. Michael and St. George, also known as the Throne Room, in the Grandmaster's Palace, Valletta. Four of the original modellos, painted in oils by Perez d'Aleccio between 1576 and 1581, can be found in the Cube Room of the Queen's House, Greenwich, London. After the siege a new city had to be built -- the present city of Valletta, so named in memory of its valiant grand master Jean de la Vallette who had sustained this siege.

In 1571, the growing Ottoman fleet decided to give challenge once again, but this time were met at sea by a huge modern Spanish-Venetian fleet under the command of Don Juan de Austria, son of Emperor Charles V. The Ottomans were outgunned, outmanuvered and outrun, and by the end of the day almost the entirety of their fleet was destroyed or captured in what is now known as the Battle of Lepanto. In 1607 its Head of state, the Grand master, was granted the status of Reichsfú³´ ¨Prince of the Empire, even though their territory was always south of the empire), and in 1630 awarded ecclesiastic equality with the cardinals and the unique hybrid style His Most Eminent Highness, reflecting both qualities qualifying him as a true Prince of the church.

Following the naval victory at Lepanto the Knights continued to attack pirates, and their base became a center for slave trading, selling captured Africans and Turks and conversely freeing Christian slaves. Malta remained a slave market until well into the eighteenth century. It required a thousand slaves to equip merely the galleys of the order.

The group lost a number of its European holdings following the rise of Protestantism but survived on Malta. The property of the English branch was confiscated in 1540. In 1577, the German Bailiwick of Brandenburg became Lutheran, but continued to pay its financial contribution to the Order, until the branch was turned into a merit Order by the King of Prussia in 1812. The "Johanniter Orden" was restored as a Prussian Order of Knights Hospitaller in 1852.

The Knights of Malta had a strong presence within the Imperial Russian Navy and the pre-revolutionary French Navy. When De Poincy was appointed Governor of the French colony on St. Kitts in 1639, he was a prominent Knight of St. John and dressed his retinue with the emblems of the order. The Order's presence in the Caribbean was eclipsed with his death in 1660. He also bought the island of Saint Croix as his personal estate and deeded it to the Knights of St. John. In 1665, St. Croix was bought by the French West India Company, ending their exploits in the Caribbean.

In 1789, France erupted in revolution and anti-aristocratic furor, forcing many French knights and nobles to flee for their lives. (This would be repeated in Russia a century later.) Many of the Order's traditional sources of revenue from France were lost permanently. Adding insult to injury, the French Revolutionary Government seized the assets and properties of the Order in France in 1792.

The loss of Malta

Their Mediterranean stronghold of Malta was captured by Napoleon in 1798 when he made his expedition to Egypt. As a ruse, Napoleon asked for safe harbor to resupply his ships, and then turned against his hosts once safely inside Valletta. Grand Master Ferdinand von Hompesch failed to anticipate or prepare for this threat, provided no effective leadership, and readily capitulated to Napoleon. This was a terrible affront to most of the Knights desiring to defend their stronghold and sovereignty. The Order continued to exist in a diminished form and negotiated with European governments for a return to power. The Emperor of Russia gave the largest number of Knights shelter in St. Petersburg and this gave rise to the Russian tradition of the Knights Hospitaller and recognition within the Russian Imperial Orders. In gratitude, the Knights declared Ferdinand von Hompesch deposed and Emperor Paul I was elected as the new Grand Master. Following Paul's murder in 1801, in 1803 a Catholic master was restored to the Order in Rome.

By the early 1800s, the Order had been severely weakened by the loss of its Priories throughout Europe. Only 10% of the Order's income came from traditional sources in Europe, with the remaining 90% being generated by the Russian Grand Priory until 1810. This was partly reflected in the government of the Order being under Lieutenants, rather than Grand Masters in the period 1805 to 1879, when Pope Leo XIII restored a Grand Master to the Order. This signalled the revival of the Order's fortunes as a humanitarian and ceremonial organization. In 1834, the revived Order established a new headquarters in Rome. The revived organization is known as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, which is discussed further.

Order of St. John

REVIVAL IN ENGLAND AS THE ORDER OF ST. JOHN OF JERUSALEM

The property of the Order in England was confiscated by Henry VIII because of a dispute with the Pope over the dissolution of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, which eventually led to the dissolution of the monasteries. Although not formally suppressed, this caused the activities of the English Langue to come to an end. A few Scottish Knights remained in communion with the French Langue of the Order. In 1831, a revived British Order was founded by French Knights and became known as the Most Venerable Order of St. John of Jersualem in the British Realm. It received a Royal Charter from Queen Victoria in 1888 and spread across the United Kingdom, the British Commonwealth, and the United States of America. However, the Most Venerable Order of St John of Jerusalem was only recognized by the Sovereign Military Order of Malta in 1963. Its most well-known activities are based around St. John Ambulance.

Protestant Continuation in Continental Europe

Following the Protestant Reformation, most German chapters of the order declared their continued adherence to the Order while accepting Protestant theology. As the Balley Brandenburg des Ritterlichen Ordens Sankt Johannis vom Spital zu Jerusalem, the order continues today, gaining increasing independence from its Catholic mother order. The Protestant branch spread into several other protestant countries (i.e. Hungary, the Netherlands, and Sweden). These sub-branches are now independent too.

All four branches are in loose alliance with the British order in the Alliance of Orders of St John of Jerusalem.

THE MODERN SOVEREIGN MILITARY ORDER OF MALTA

The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta, better known as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta or SMOM, is a Catholic lay order that claims to be a sovereign entity and has permanent observer status at the United Nations. SMOM is considered to be the most direct successor to the medieval Knights Hospitaller, also known as the Knights of Malta, and today operates as a largely charitable and ceremonial organization.

Name and motto

The full official name is Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta (in English) or Sovrano Militare Ordine Ospedaliero di San Giovanni di Gerusalemme di Rodi e di Malta (in Italian). Conventionally, they are also known as the Order of Malta. The order has a large number of local chapters around the world but there also exist a number of organizations with similar-sounding names that are unrelated, including several fraudulent orders seeking to capitalize on the name. The Order's motto is Tuitio Fidei et Obsequium Pauperum (Latin for Defence of the faith and assistance to the poor).

International status of the Order

The exact nature of the entity is somewhat nebulous and subject to controversy: it claims to be a traditional example of a sovereign entity other than a state. Its two headquarters in Rome, namely the Palazzo Malta in Via dei Condotti 68 (where the Grand Master resides and Government Bodies meet), and the Villa Malta on the Aventine (which hosts the Grand Priory of Rome, the Embassy of the Order to Holy See and the Embassy of the Order to Italy), are granted extraterritoriality. However, unlike Vatican City, SMOM has no sovereign territory. The United Nations does not classify it as a "non-member state" but as one of the "entities and intergovernmental organizations having received a standing invitation to participate as observers." For instance, while the International Telecommunication Union has granted radio identification prefixes to such quasi-sovereign jurisdictions as the United Nations and the Palestinian Authority, SMOM has never received one. For awards purposes, amateur radio operators consider SMOM to be a separate "country," but stations transmitting from there use an entirely unofficial callsign starting with the prefix "1A0".

Although some legal scholars accept a claim to sovereign status, leading experts in international law, notably Dr. Ian Brownlie, and Dr. Helmut Steinberger, and Dr. Wilhelm Wengler, do not. Even taking into account its ambassadorial status among many nations, such a claim is rejected. Specifically Professor Dr Wilhelm Wengler, a German Professor of International law, takes up this specific point in his book "Volkerrecht", and rejects the notion that recognition of the Order by some states can make it a subject of international law. The Holy See in 1953 proclaimed "in the Lord's name" that the Order of Malta was only a "functional sovereignty" - due to the fact that it did not have all that pertained to true sovereignty, such as territory.

SMOM has formal diplomatic relations with 94 states (many of which are non-Catholic), and has official relations with another 6 countries, non-state subjects of international law like European Union and International Committee of the Red Cross, and a number of international organizations. Its international nature is useful in enabling it to pursue its humanitarian activities without being seen as an operative of any particular nation. Its claimed sovereignty is also expressed in the issuance of passports, licence plates, stamps, and coins. The latter are appreciated more for their subject matter rather than for use as postage or currency. Starting in 2005, SMOM issues stamps with the Euro as the unit of postage, while Scudo (pl. Scudi) remains the SMOM's official currency.

Government of the Order

The proceedings of the Order are governed by its Constitutional Charter and the Order's Code. It is divided internationally into various territorial Grand Priories, Priories, and Sub-Priories.

The supreme head of the Order is the Grand Master, who is elected for life by the Council Complete of State. Voters in the Council include the members of the Sovereign Council, other office-holders and representatives of the members of the Order. The Grand Master is aided by the Sovereign Council, which is elected by the Chapter General, the legislative body of the Order. The Chapter General meets every five years; at each meeting, all seats of the Sovereign Council are up for election. The Sovereign Council includes six members and four High Officers: the Grand Commander, the Grand Chancellor, the Grand Hospitaller and the Receiver of the Common Treasure. The Grand Commander is the chief religious officer of the Order and serves as "Interim Lieutenant" during a vacancy in the office of Grand Master. The Grand Chancellor is responsible for the administration of the Order. The Grand Hospitaller coordinates the Order's humanitarian and charitable activities. Finally, the Receiver of the Common Treasure is the Order's financial officer.

Prior to the 1990s, all officers of the Order had to be of noble birth, i.e armigerous for at least 100 years. This remains the case. However, Knights of Magistral Grace [i.e. those without noble proofs], may make the Promise of Obedience and may, at the discretion of the Grand Master and Sovereign Council, enter the novitiate to become professed Knights of Justice.

The Order's finances are audited by a Board of Auditors, which includes a President and four Councillors, all elected by the Chapter General. The Order's judicial powers are exercised by a group of Magistral Courts, whose judges are appointed by the Grand Master and Sovereign Council.

Mimic Orders

Following the end of World War II, and taking advantage of the lack of State Orders in the Italian Republic, an Italian had given himself an identity of a Polish Prince, and did a brisk trade in Maltese Crosses as the Grand Prior of the fictitious "Grand Priory of Podolia". Others followed suit such as the Grand Prior of the Holy Trinity of Villeneuve. The former was successfully prosecuted for fraud, and the latter gave up after a police visit. However, the latter organisation resurfaced in Malta in 1975, and then by 1978 in the USA, where it still continues.

The large passage fees (alleged in some cases to be in the region of $50,000) collected by the American Association of "SMOM" in the early 1950s may well have tempted a man named Charles Pichel to create his own "Sovereign Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Knights Hospitaller" in 1956. Pichel avoided the problems of being an imitation of "SMOM" by giving his organization a mythical history by claiming the American organization he led was founded within the genuine Russian tradition of the Knights Hospitaller in 1908, a spurious claim, but which nevertheless misled many including some academics. In truth, the foundation of his organisation had no connection to the genuine Russian tradition of the Knights Hospitaller. Once created, the attraction of Russian Nobles into membership of Pichels Order lent some credence to his claims.

These organizations have led to scores of other mimic Orders. Two offshoots of the Pichel Order have been successful in gaining the backing of exiled Monarchs, the late King Peter II of Yugoslavia, and King Michael of Romania.

In the 19th century, when Orders of Chivalry were a popular thing among many classes, the English Language, or Tongue, of the Order was revived in England (having been eliminated in the time of Henry VIII and the following monarchs).

This is the part of the history where I have come across many different interpretations, as this was at the time when the Order was least organised, having been driven from Rhodes by Napoleon. The current Sovereign Military Order of Malta is probably the most valid direct descendant of the original order, but this is the time where there is the most doubtful continuity. The English Langue was revived in the authority of a French group who claimed authority over the Sovereign Order at the time, but the Lieutenant Master later refused the acceptance of the proposed Protestant Priory in the Catholic Order. So, not being accepted as part of the international order, an English order of chivalry was formed independently in Britain, using the symbols of the order dating back to the crusades.

The British order was later granted a royal charter by Queen Victoria, and the Monarch of England became the Sovereign Head of the Order.
This lead to the addition of the lions and unicorns (the Queen's beasts) to the eight-pointed cross badge, 
and the addition of the Queen's Crest to first quarter of the white cross on red flag.

In the meantime, the Order had been working to continue the tradition of the Hospitallers, who had also had a focus on Hospitals, as well as being a military order, and had established the St. John's Ambulance Association (teaching first aid), Brigade (doing first aid as an organised brigade) and established a hospital in Jerusalem, focusing on ophthalmology. The Order's full name is now "The Grand Priory of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem".
The work of the Order and it's foundations, particularly the Association and Brigade spread throughout the British Realm. The Association and Brigade (in Australia since 1987 called the Training Branch and Operations Branch) continued to use the Maltese Cross with lions and unicorn badge, whereas the white cross on red (with Queen's Crest) flag remains a symbol of the Order itself (which also now has Priories in many, mainly Commonwealth, countries). In Australia, the Ambulance services in general have taken up the eight-pointed cross, and so most people would associate it with ambulance services, and possibly with first aid. It is not surprising that the state ambulance services use the "Ambulance Cross", since the ambulance service is actually run by St. John in Western Australia and the Northern Territory, and were at one stage in NSW and South Australia. I have also heard, but have my doubts, that the Tasmanian service is now run by St. John. Jonathan Dixon, 26 June 2001

Today the order has about 12,500 members; 80,000 permanent volunteers; and 20,000 medical personnel including doctors, nurses, auxiliaries and paramedics. The goal is to assist the elderly, handicapped, refugeed, children, homeless, those with terminal illness and leprosy in five continents of the world, without distinction of race or religion.^[6] In several countries—including France, Germany and Ireland—the local associations of the Order are important providers of first aid training, first aid services and emergency medical services. Through its worldwide relief corps—Malteser International—the Order is also engaged to aid victims of natural disasters, epidemics and armed conflicts.

The Knights Hospitaller

Ocklynge Manor Eastbourne. East Sussex. BN21 2PG.
Ocklynge Manor is built on the site of a Commandery of the Knights of St. John, from which it takes its name the Manor of St. John of Jerusalem, Ocklynge (meaning oak line) Rushlake and Swine's.

The knights were a religious body, whose exploits are catalogued extensively during the Ottoman crusades in the middle Eastern empires. Their occupation of this site from theTemplarius middle of the 11th century until the suppression of the monasteries in 1540, links this isolated area of Sussex with world history. A Roman font was found on the site and is now at the Towner Art Gallery. The resident monks would have been able to see the Norman invasion of 1066 from these walls. The site would have had a 360 degree view of surrounding lands, the coast line and approaching visitors.
Ocklynge Manor was a small community of the Knights Hospitallers, or Knights of the Order of St. John of Jerusualem, one of 95 in England and an off-shoot of the larger preceptory of Poling. sealhospThe establishment of this order and the Knights Templar, was connected with the first crusade to the Holy Land. Godfrey de Bouillon is recorded as staying at the commandery and then went on to capture Jerusalem. For the safe-guarding of the Holy City and the entertainment of the numerous pilgrims who soon flocked to Jerusalem in great numbers, he established the two orders of military monks. The business of the Templar Knights was to defend the Saviour's tomb and guard Palestine, while the Knights Hospitallers, besides fighting, were to tend the sick and wounded and provide for the welfare of Christian travellers. Each order created special monasteries in all European provinces.

A return of the property of the Knights Hospitallers in England, made in 1338 gives the following particulars of their possessions at Ocklynge in Sussex:
"There is at Okelyng one messuage which is worth yearly 12d. And there are 52 acres of land, value per acre 12d., and they are worth 52s. Also there are 3 acres of meadow, value per acre 18d., and they are worth 4s. 6d. Also pasture there is common for 200 sheep, which is worth yearly 16s 8d. And please and perquisities of courts worth 6. 8d."
After 1540, the property reverted to the crown until the reign of Charles 11 when, it was offered for sale. Eventually it became the home of the Hurst family, who remained for over four generations. Until 1894, there were 32 acres of land including the chapel and St. John's windmill. Documents detailing the history of Ocklynge Manor, can be found at the Museum of the Order of St. John, St. John's Gate, Clerkenwell, London, EC1M 4DA.

The Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem has origins shrouded in legend. A WORK CALLED THE MIRACULA TIES THE ORIGINS OF THE ORDER TO THE PUNISHMENT OF A JEWISH PRIEST FOR VIOLATING THE TOMB OF KING DAVID. AS PENANCE, THE PRIEST WAS TO CREATE A HOSPICE NEAR THE TOMB TO CARE FOR THE SICK AND POOR. THE STORY GOES ON TO LINK THE HOSPICE WITH JOHN THE BAPTIST (THE ORDER'S PATRON SAINT) AND EVENTUALLY CHRIST.The story obviously represents an attempt to give legitimacy and authority to the Order through historical means a feature found in many different groups of the Medieval period and today. More likely, the Order was actually founded by a group of merchants from Amalfi sometime between 1014 and 1071 (the exact date is unknown). The Caliph of Egypt (who ruled the area) generously granted these merchants a parcel of land in the Christian quarter of Jerusalem near the Holy Sepulcher. A monastery was constructed by the merchants and dedicated to Mary. As pilgrimages to the Holy Land increased, the monastery built a hospice, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, on its grounds to help needy and sick Christians.

The Blessed Gerard is generally regarded as the first leader of the Order. He was present when the armies of the First Crusade laid siege to the city of Jerusalem in 1099. By 1113, under Gerard's leadership, the independence of the Order had been recognized by the pope. In 1120, Gerard died and Raymond du Puy took leadership of the Order. It was under Raymond that the Hospital began to take on military aspects. Raymond du Puy also wrote the Regula, the rules and codes that governed the actions of the Order's members.

 

THE ARMY
AND THE NAVY
HOSPITALLERS HAD FULLY TAKEN ON MILITARY ACTIVITIES

By 1160, the Hospitallers had fully taken on military activities in addition to their care of the poor and sick. No clear date, however, can be identified as to when military affairs began to take precedence in the obligations of the order. Under Grand Master Roger des Moulins (elected in 1177) the Hospital also became increasingly involved with the politics of the Latin Kingdom. Like the Templars, the Knights Hospitaller acted as tactical and political advisors to the Kings of Jerusalem, visiting crusader kings, and the nobility of the Holy Land. The Hospitallers would play a key role in garrisoning fortresses that defended the frontier of the Holy Land against Muslim incursions.

Drawing on vast resources in Europe, the Hospitallers were able to provided a small but permanent fighting force in the Holy Land and were involved in almost every major military action undertaken before 1291.

When Acre fell in 1291, the Hospitallers, along with the other refugees of the Holy Land, fled to Cyprus where they briefly established themselves. Here the Order was once again involved in the political affairs of the island nation. In 1306, under Grand Master Villaret, the Hospitallers attacked and captured the island of Rhodes with intentions of making it their new home and base of operations. Rhodes fell to the Turks in 1522, however, and the Order was forced to surrender the island.

After wandering for several years, Emperor Charles V offered the Order the island of Malta in 1530. Afterwards, being known as the Knights of Malta (as well as the Hospitallers), the Order beautified and fortified the island until it was expelled by Napoleon in 1798.

During their stays on Cyprus, Rhodes, and Malta, the order developed its own naval forces, which defended the Mediterranean against the Turks. Like their land forces during the Crusades, the Hospitaller navy was not large enough to conduct full-scale naval operations on its own. Instead, the small fleet of the Knights was considered an elite squadron that attached itself to the naval expeditions of other countries. The naval operations that the Knights did conduct by themselves were typically small raids.

The Hospitallers exist today, but in many different forms. The Catholic Order, called the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, still exists as an order of chivalry. There are several Protestant branches of the Order, the largest of which is the British Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John. All the manifestations continue their 900-year-old tradition of helping the sick and poor.

The long history of the Knights Hospitaller has created a vast array of literature. This is aided by the fact that the Hospitaller archives are still primarily intact and accessible to scholars. Unlike the Templars, works concerning the Hospitallers cover a diversity of topics. There are no particular themes which are consistently written on in Hospitaller literature. This, however, could cause problems for the beginning researcher who wishes a general overview of the Order. The reader is therefore encouraged to start with the books of Riley-Smith, Bradford, or Sire. These two texts cover the gamut of Hospitaller history and may lead the researcher to a narrower topic if they wish. As with the other Orders, there is an extensive amount of material written before 1960 and in other languages.

A note should be made about web sites involving the Hospitallers. Many charitable groups have taken on the name of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. Web sites involving the modern versions of the order are, therefore, numerous. These sites often provide a brief history of the Order that can be trusted up until their discussions of Napoleon's conquest of Malta. One should keep in mind that discussions on the Order after 1800 by these groups may refer to completely different regional organizations.