Hereditary knighthood (Malta)

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Cavaliere Ereditario (Hereditary Knight Bachelor) is a hereditary distinction for Maltese citizens and their descendants of both sexes.

This rank is quite similar to a British baronetcy but much older. However, it does not, as is commonly believed, have any direct connection to the medieval rank of the enfeoffed knight.

Most Cavalieri Ereditari descend from the younger sons of peers or from historically untitled families ennobled with this form of knighthood in the fifteenth or sixteenth centuries in Malta, Sicily, Sardinia and some parts of mainland Italy.

A related precedent is that of Grand Master Jean de Lascaris-Castellar (1636-1657) granting an hereditary knighthood to the Vicomte d'Arpajon for assisting in checking a Turkish attack on Malta.

Writing in 1925, Francesco San Martino de Spucches speculated that, at least in theory, hundreds of Sicilians entitled to no other hereditary honour could lawfully succeed to particular hereditary knighthoods which were long-dormant for lack of claimants.

The status of these hereditary knights is not related to the status of Hereditary Commanders of the Order of Malta.

[edit] References

  • Said Vassallo, C.M., Unpublished research papers.
  • Said Vassallo, C.M.,Charles Said-Vassallo's Research site and Maltese Nobility web site.
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  • Burkes Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage of the UK.- 1914 ed.
  • Cassar Desain, Marchese L.A., " Genealogia della famiglia Testaferrata di Malta." Malta, 1880.
  • Gauci,C.A.," The Genealogy and Heraldry of the Noble Families of Malta", Gulf Publishing Ltd, Malta, 1981.
  • Gauci,C.A.," The Genealogy and Heraldry of the Noble Families of Malta, Volume Two", Publishers Enterprises Group (PEG) Ltd, 1992.
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