Knights Hospitaller

Knights Hospitaller
Sovereign Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta, Knights of Malta, Knights of Rhodes, and Chevaliers of Malta
Ordre des Hospitaliers, Ordni ta’ San Ġwann
SiegeOfAcre1291.jpg
The Hospitalier grand master Guillaume de Villiers or Guillaume de Clermont defending the walls of Acre, Israel, 1291, by Dominique-Louis Papéty (1815-1849) at Versailles.
Active c. 1099–present
Allegiance Papacy
Type Western Christian military order
Headquarters Jerusalem
Nickname Knights of Malta
Patron St. John the Baptist
Motto Pro Fide, Pro Utilitate Hominum
Colors Black & White, Red & White
Mascot Falcon
Engagements The Crusades, including:
Siege of Acre (1291)
. Also, the Siege of Malta (1565).
Commanders
Notable
commanders		 Jean Parisot de la Valette

The Knights Hospitaller (also known as the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta, Order of St. John, Knights of Malta, and Chevaliers of Malta; French: Ordre des Hospitaliers, Maltese: Ordni ta’ San Ġwann) was a Christian organization that began as an Amalfitan hospital founded in Jerusalem in 1080 to provide care for poor, sick or injured pilgrims to the Holy Land. After the Western Christian reconquest of Jerusalem in 1099 during the First Crusade it became a religious/military order under its own charter, and was charged with the care and defense of the Holy Land. Following the conquest of the Holy Land by Islamic forces, the Order operated from Rhodes, over which it was sovereign, and later from Malta where it administered a vassal state under the Spanish viceroy of Sicily.

When Napoleon captured Malta in 1798 the Knights ceased to be associated with any one place, and gave rise to successors in existence until the present including the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.

Contents

Foundation and early history

Grand Master and senior knights Hospitaller in the 14th century

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' hospital and added a library to it. About 200 years later, in 1005, Caliph Al Hakim destroyed the hospital and three thousand other buildings in Jerusalem. In 1023, merchants from Amalfi and Salerno in Italy were given permission by the Caliph Ali az-Zahir of Egypt to rebuild the hospital in Jerusalem. The hospital, which was built on the site of the monastery of Saint John the Baptist, took in Christian pilgrims traveling to visit the Christian holy sites. It was served by Benedictine Brothers.

The monastic hospitaller order was founded following the First Crusade by the Blessed Gerard, whose role as founder was confirmed by a Papal bull of Pope Paschal II in 1113.[1] 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 the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Initially the group cared for pilgrims in Jerusalem, but the order soon extended to providing pilgrims with an armed escort, which soon grew into a substantial force.

The Hospitallers and the Knights Templar, formed in 1119,[2] became 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.[3]
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 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 built by the Templars and the 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 the Krak des Chevaliers and Margat.[1] The property of the Order was divided into priories, subdivided into bailiwicks, which in turn were divided into commanderies. Frederick Barbarossa, the Holy Roman Emperor, pledged his protection to the Knights of St. John in a charter of privileges granted in 1185.

Knights of Cyprus and Rhodes

The Knights' castle at Rhodes
Further information: Siege of Rhodes (1480) and Siege of Rhodes (1522)

The rising power of Islam eventually expelled the Knights from 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 Cypriot politics, 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 15 August 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 and the Anatolian ports of Bodrum and Kastelorizo.

Rhodes and other possessions of the Knights Hospitaller of St. John.

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). Each was administered by a Prior or, if there was more than one priory in the tongue, by a Grand Prior. At Rhodes and later Malta, the resident knights of each tongue were headed by a Bailli. The English Grand Prior at the time was Philip Thame, who acquired the estates allocated to the English tongue from 1330 to 1358.

On Rhodes the Hospitallers, then also referred to as the Knights of Rhodes,[4] 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 the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II in 1480 who, after capturing Constantinople, made the Knights a priority target.

In 1494 they created a stronghold on the peninsula of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum). They used pieces of the partially destroyed Mausoleum of Maussollos, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, to strengthen Bodrum Castle.[5]

In 1522 an entirely new sort of force arrived: 400 ships under the command of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent delivered 200,000 men to the island.[6] Against this force the Knights, under Grand Master Philippe Villiers de L'Isle-Adam, had about 7,000 men-at-arms and their fortifications. The siege lasted six months, at the end of which the surviving defeated Hospitallers were allowed to withdraw to Sicily.

Knights of Malta

Arms of the Knights Hospitaller, quartered with those of Pierre d'Aubusson, on a bombard ordered by the latter. The top inscription further reads: "F. PETRUS DAUBUSSON M HOSPITALIS IHER".

After seven years of moving from place to place in Europe the Knights became established in 1530 when Charles V of Spain, as King of Sicily, gave them Malta,[7] Gozo and the North African port of Tripoli in perpetual fiefdom in exchange for an annual fee of a single Maltese falcon, which they were to send on All Souls Day to the King's representative, the Viceroy of Sicily.[2] (This historical fact was used as the plot hook in Dashiell Hammett's famous book The Maltese Falcon.)

The Hospitallers continued their actions against the Muslims and especially the Barbary pirates. Although they had only few ships they quickly drew the ire of the Ottomans, who were unhappy to see the order resettled. In 1565 Suleiman sent an invasion force of about 40,000 men to besiege the 700 knights and 8000 soldiers and expel them from Malta.[7]

At first the battle went as badly for the Hospitallers as Rhodes had: most of the cities were destroyed and about half the knights killed. On 18 August the position of the besieged was becoming desperate: dwindling daily in numbers, they were becoming too feeble to hold the long line of fortifications. But when his council suggested the abandonment of Il Borgo and Senglea and withdrawal to Fort St. Angelo, Grand Master Jean Parisot de la Valette refused.

The Viceroy of Sicily had not sent help; possibly the Viceroy's orders from Philip II of Spain were so obscurely worded as to put on his own shoulders the burden of the decision whether to help the Knights at the expense of his own defences. A wrong decision could mean defeat and exposing Sicily and Naples to the Ottomans. He had left his own son with La Valette, so he could hardly be indifferent to the fate of the fortress. Whatever may have been the cause of his delay, the Viceroy hesitated until the battle had almost been decided by the unaided efforts of the Knights, before being forced to move by the indignation of his own officers.

Re-enactment of 16th century military drills conducted by the Knights. Fort Saint Elmo, Valletta, Malta, 8 May 2005.

On 23 August came yet another grand assault, the last serious effort, as it proved, of the besiegers. It was thrown back with the greatest difficulty, even the wounded taking part in the defence. The plight of the Turkish forces, however, was now desperate. With the exception of Fort St. Elmo, the fortifications were still intact.[8] Working night and day the garrison had repaired the breaches, and the capture of Malta seemed more and more impossible. Many of the Ottoman troops in crowded quarters had fallen ill over the terrible summer months. Ammunition and food were beginning to run short, and the Ottoman troops were becoming increasingly dispirited at the failure of their attacks and their losses. The death on 23 June of skilled commander Dragut, a corsair and admiral of the Ottoman fleet, was a serious blow. The Turkish commanders, Piyale Pasha and Mustafa Pasha, were careless. They had a huge fleet which they used with effect on only one occasion. They neglected their communications with the African coast and made no attempt to watch and intercept Sicilian reinforcements.

On 1 September they made their last effort, but the morale of the Ottoman troops had deteriorated seriously and the attack was feeble, to the great encouragement of the besieged, who now began to see hopes of deliverance. The perplexed and indecisive Ottomans heard of the arrival of Sicilian reinforcements in Mellieħa Bay. Unaware that the force was very small, they broke off the siege and left on 8 September. The Great Siege of Malta may have been the last action in which a force of knights won a decisive victory.[9]

Aerial view of Valletta, showing post-siege Fort Saint Elmo

When the Ottomans departed the Hospitallers had 600 men able to bear arms. The most reliable estimate puts the number of the Ottoman army at its height at some 40,000 men, of whom 15,000 eventually returned to Constantinople. 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 Grand Master's Palace in 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 at Greenwich, London. After the siege a new city had to be built – the present city named Valletta in memory of the Grand Master who had withstood the siege.

In 1607 the Grand Master of the Hospitallers was granted the status of Reichsfürst (Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, even though the Order's territory was always south of the Holy Roman Empire). In 1630 the Grand Master was awarded ecclesiastic equality with cardinals, and the unique hybrid style His Most Eminent Highness, reflecting both qualities qualifying him as a true Prince of the Church.

Corsairs with Crosses - 16th and 17th centuries

Following the Knight's re-establishment on Malta they had found themselves devoid of their initial reason for existence; their initial raison d'etre of assisting and joining the crusades in the Holy Land was now an impossible mission for reasons of military and financial strength along with geographical position. With dwindling revenues from European sponsors no longer willing to support a costly and meaningless organisation, the Knights turned to policing the Mediterranean from the increased threat of piracy, most notably from the threat of the Ottoman endorsed Barbary Corsairs operating from the North African coastline. Boosted towards the end of the 16th century by an air of invincibility following the successful defence of their island in 1565 and compounded the Christian victory over the Ottoman fleet in the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, the Knight's set about protecting Christian merchant shipping to and from the Levant and freeing the captured Christian slaves that formed the basis of the Barbary Corsair's piratical trading and navies. This became known at the 'corso'.[10]

A 'Tartana' galley ship, as used extensively by the Order

Yet the Order soon struggled on a now reduced income. By policing the Mediterranean they augmented the assumed responsibility of the traditional protectors of the Mediterranean, the naval city state of Venice. Further compounding their financial woes; over the course of this period the exchange rate of the local currencies against the 'scudo' that were establised in the late sixteenth century gradually became outdated, meaning the knights were gradually receiving less at the merchant factories.[11] Economically hindered by the barren island they now inhabited, many Knights went beyond their call of duty by raiding Muslim shipping.[12] More and more shipping was being plundered from which many Knights lived a life of idle luxury off the profits, taking local women to be their wives and enrolling in the navies of Frances and Spain in search of adventure, experience and yet more money.[13] All of which was in direct contrast to their monastic vows of poverty and chastity they swore upon admittance to the order. The changing attitudes of the Knights was coupled with the effects of the reformation and counter-reformation and the lack of stability from the Catholic church. This hit the Knights hard as the 16th and 17th centuries saw a gradual decline in the religious attitudes of many of the people of Europe and thus the importance of a religious army, and thus their regular tributes form European nations.[14] That the Catholic Order persued the readmittance of England as a member state - previouly dissolved along with the monastories under Henry VIII - upon the succession of the Protestant Queen Elizabeth I ably demonstrates the new religious tolerance within the Order.[15] The Order even possessed a German tongue which was equal parts Protestant and Catholic.

The perceived moral decline that the Knight's underwent over the course of this period is best highlighted by the decision of many Knights to serve in foreign navies and become "the mercenary sea-dogs of the 14th to 17th centuries", with the French navy proving the most popular destination.[16] This decision went against what the Knights stood for most, in that by serving for a European power they faced the very real possiblity that they would be fighting against another Christian force, as in the few Franco-Spanish naval skirmishes that occurred during their period.[17] The biggest paradox when studying this is the fact that for many years the French remained on amicable terms with the Ottoman Empire, the Knight's biggest foe and proported sole purpose of existence, signing many trade agreements and agreeing an informal (and ultimately ineffective) cease-fire between the two states during this period.[18] That the Knights associated themselves with the allies of their sworn enemies shows their moral ambivalence and the new commerical driven nature of the Mediterranean. Serving in a foreign navy, in particular the French, gave the Knights the chance to serve the church and for many their King, to increase their chances of promotion in eitherh their adopted navy or in Malta, to receive a far better pay, to stave their boredom with frequent cruises, to embark on the highly preferable short cruises over the long caravans favoured by the Maltese, and if the Knight desired, to indulge in some of the pleasures of a traditional debauched sea-port.[19] This decision shows the Kinght's growing lack of allegiance both to their Order and to their religion. In return the French gained a quickly assembled and experienced navy to show stability to their subjects and stave off the threat of the Spanish. The shift in attitudes of the Knights over this period is ably outlined by Paul Lacroix who states:

"Inflated with wealth, laden with privileges whic gave them almost sovereign powers ... the order at last became so demoralised by luxury and idleness that it forfot the aim for which it was founded, and gave itslf up for the love of gain and thirst for pleasure. Its covetousness and pride soon became boundless. The Knights pretended that they were above the reach of crowned heads: they seized and pullaged without concern of the property of both infidels and Christians"[20].

With the Knight's exploits growing in fame and wealth, the European states became more complacent about the Order, and more unwilling to grant money to an institution that was perceived to be earning a healthy sum on the high seas. Thus a vicious cycle occurred, increasing the raids and reducing the grants received from the European nation states to such an extent that the balance of payments on the island had become dependent on conquest.[21]. That the European powers lost interest in the Knights as they focused their intentions inland during the Thirty Years War. In February 1641 a letter was sent from an unknown dignitary in Valletta to the Knight's most trustworth ally and benefactor, Louis XIV of France, stating the Order's troubles:

"Italy provides us with nothing much; Bohemia and Germany hardly anything, and England and the Netherlands for a long time now nothing at all. We only have something to keep us going, Sire, in your own Kingdom and in Spain."[22]

It is important to note that the Maltese authorities would neglect to mention the fact that they were making a substantial profit policing the seas. The authorities on Malta immediately recognised the importance of corsairing to their economy and sent about encouraging it, as despite vows of poverty the Knights were granted the ability to keep a portion of the 'spoglio', which was the prize money and cargo gained from a captured ship, along with the ability to fit out their own galleys with their new wealth.[23] Along with a slave market in Valletta to rival the Barbary Corsairs, the Order was establishing itself alongside the rest of the Mediterranean as a capitalist market.

The great controversy that surrounded the Knight's 'corso' was their insistence on their policy of 'vista'. This enabled the Order to stop and board all shipping suspected of carrying Turkish goods and confiscate the cargo to be re-sold at Valletta, often the ship's crew who were by far the most valuable commodity on the ship. Naturally many nations claimed to be victims of the Knight's over-eagerness to stop and confiscate any goods remotely connected to the Turks.[24] In an effort to regulate the growing problem, the authoritise in Malta established a judicial court, the Consiglio del Mer, where captains who felt wronged could plead their case, often successfully. The practice of issuing privateering licenses and thus state-endorsement, which had been in existence for a number of years, was tightly regulated as the island attempted to haul in the unscrupulous Knights and appease the European powers and limited benefactors. Yet these were not all successful as the Consiglio del Mer contains numerous accounts from 1700 of complaints of Maltese piracy in the region. Ultimately, the rampant over-indulgence of the Mediterranean was to be Knight's downfall in this particular chapter of their existence as they turned from military outpost to another albeit limited nation state in a commercially-orientated continent soon to be overtaken by the trading nations of the North Sea, themselves adept at piracy.[25]

Turmoil in Europe

The Order lost many of its European holdings following the rise of Protestantism and French Egalitarianism, but survived on Malta. The property of the English branch was confiscated in 1540.[26] 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.[26] 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 the Order's presence in the Caribbean.

The decree of the French National Assembly Abolishing the Feudal System (1789) abolished the Order in France: V. Tithes of every description, as well as the dues which have been substituted for them, under whatever denomination they are known or collected (even when compounded for), possessed by secular or regular congregations, by holders of benefices, members of corporations (including the Order of Malta and other religious and military orders), as well as those devoted to the maintenance of churches, those impropriated to lay persons and those substituted for the portion congrue, are abolished (...) (The Decree Abolishing the Feudal System, August 11, 1789, J.H. Robinson, ed., Readings in European History 2 vols. (Boston: Ginn, 1906), 2: 404-409) The French Revolutionary Government seized the assets and properties of the Order in France in 1792.

The loss of Malta

Count Vassiliev, a 19th century Knight Commander

Their Mediterranean stronghold of Malta was captured by Napoleon in 1798 during his expedition to Egypt.[8] 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 zu Bolheim failed to anticipate or prepare for this threat, provided no effective leadership, and readily capitulated to Napoleon, arguing that the order's charter prohibited fighting against Christians. In 1799, in disgrace and under pressure from the Austrian court, he resigned his office and retreated into obscurity.

The knights were now dispersed, though the order continued to exist in a diminished form and negotiated with European governments for a return to power. The Russian Emperor, Paul I, gave the largest number of knights shelter in St. Petersburg, an action which gave rise to the Russian tradition of the Knights Hospitaller and the Order's recognition among the Russian Imperial Orders.[27] The refugee knights in St Petersburg proceeded to elect Tsar Paul as their Grand Master – a rival to Grand Master von Hompesch until the latter's abdication left Paul as the sole Grand Master. As Grand Master Paul I created, in addition to the Roman Catholic Grand Priory, a "Russian Grand Priory" of no less than 118 Commanderies, dwarfing the rest of the Order and open to all Christians. Paul's election as Grand Master was, however, never ratified under Roman Catholic canon law, and he was the de facto rather than de jure Grand Master of the Order.

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 renewal of the order's fortunes as a humanitarian and religious organization. Hospital work, the original work of the order, became once again its main concern. The Order's hospital and welfare activities, undertaken on a considerable scale in World War I, were greatly intensified and expanded in World War II under the Grand Master Fra' Ludovico Chigi della Rovere Albani (Grand Master 1931-1951).

The Sovereign Military Order of Malta recently established a mission in Malta, after signing an agreement with the Maltese Government which granted the Order the exclusive use of Fort St. Angelo for a term of 99 years. Today, after restoration, the Fort hosts historical and cultural activities related to the Order of Malta.[28] The Venerable Order of Saint John has had a presence on Malta since the late 19th century.

Sovereign Military Order of Malta

Main article: Sovereign Military Order of Malta
Flag of the Order of Malta

In 1834, the Order established a new headquarters in Rome.[29] The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta, better known as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), is a Roman Catholic religious order. Its sovereign status is recognized by membership in numerous international bodies and observer status at the United Nations and others.[30] The Order maintains diplomatic relations with approximately 100 countries, with numerous ambassadors. It issues its own passports, currency, stamps and even vehicle registration plates. The Grand Master of the Order serves as a Papal Viceroy, providing Vatican diplomats with procedural support for making motions, proposing amendments and requiring votes in the sphere of international diplomacy.[31] Its claim to sovereign status is disputed by some scholars.[32]

Revival in Britain as the Venerable Order of St. John of Jerusalem

Main article: Venerable Order of Saint John

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 British Order was founded by Frenchmen claiming (possibly without authority) to act on behalf of the Order in Italy.[33] Eventually became known as the Most Venerable Order of St John of Jerusalem 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, it was only recognized by the Sovereign Military Order of Malta in 1963. Its most well-known activities are based around St. John Ambulance, and the St. John Eye Hospital in Jerusalem.[34]

Protestant continuation in continental Europe

Main article: Order of St. John (Protestant 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 (Brandenburg Bailiwick of the Knights' Order of the Hospital of St John in Jerusalem), the Order continues in Germany today, gaining increasing independence from its Catholic mother order.

From Germany this Protestant branch spread into several other countries (i.e., Hungary, the Netherlands, and Sweden). These sub-branches are now autonomous as well. All four branches are in loose alliance with the British order in the Alliance of Orders of St John of Jerusalem.

Mimic orders

Following the end of World War II, and taking advantage of the lack of State Orders in the Italian Republic, an Italian called himself a Polish Prince and did a brisk trade in Maltese Crosses as the Grand Prior of the fictitious "Grand Priory of Podolia" until successfully prosecuted for fraud. Another fraud claimed to be the Grand Prior of the Holy Trinity of Villeneuve, but gave up after a police visit, although the organisation resurfaced in Malta in 1975, and then by 1978 in the USA, where it still continues.[35]

The large passage fees 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.[35] Pichel avoided the problems of being an imitation of "SMOM" by giving his organization a mythical history, claiming that the American organization he led had been 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 Pichel’s 'Order' lent some plausibility to his claims.

These organizations have led to scores of other mimic, or self-styled, Orders. Two offshoots of the Pichel Order were successful in allegedly gaining the patronage of the late King Peter II of Yugoslavia, and King Michael of Romania.[35] The former Order, based in California, gained a substantial following under leadership of the late Robert Formhals, who for some years, and with the support of historical organisations such as The Augustan Society, claimed to be a Polish prince of the Sangusko family.[35]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Knights Of Malta - unofficial website".
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Malta History 1000 AD - present". Carnaval.com. Retrieved on 2008-10-12.
  3. ↑ "Knights Of Malta - unofficial website<".
  4. ↑ "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Knights of Malta". Newadvent.org. Retrieved on 2008-10-12.
  5. ↑ "Bodrum.com".
  6. ↑ (G. Veinstein). "Süleymān : Encyclopaedia of Islam : Brill Online". Brillonline.nl. Retrieved on 2008-10-12.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Malta History". Jimdiamondmd.com. Retrieved on 2008-10-12.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Knights of Malta". Knightshospitallers.org. Retrieved on 2008-10-12.
  9. ↑ http://www.zum.de/whkmla/military/16cen/malta1565.html accessed September 14, 2007
  10. ↑ Peter Earle, Corsairs of Malta and Barbary, (London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1970); p. 107
  11. ↑ Hoppen, 'The Finances of the Order of St John of Jerusalem' p. 106
  12. ↑ Peter Earle, Corsairs of Malta and Barbary, (London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1970); p. 109
  13. ↑ Peter Earle, Corsairs of Malta and Barbary, (London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1970); p. 97
  14. ↑ Herny Kamen, Early Modern European Society, (London: Routledge, 2000); p. 17
  15. ↑ D F Allen, 'Charles II, Louis XIV and the Order of Malta', The Historial Journal, 33(4), 1990, p. 326
  16. ↑ Paul Walden Bamford, 'The Knights of Malta and the King of France 1665-1700', French Historical Studies, 3, 1964; p. 432
  17. ↑ Paul Walden Bamford, 'The Knights of Malta and the King of France 1665-1700', French Historical Studies, 3, 1964; p. 434
  18. ↑ D F Allen, 'Charles II, Louis XIV and the Order of Malta', The Historial Journal, 33(4), 1990, p. 324
  19. ↑ Paul Walden Bamford, 'The Knights of Malta and the King of France 1665-1700', French Historical Studies, 3, 1964; pp. 423-433
  20. ↑ Paul Lacroix, Military and Religious Life in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, (New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing, 1964); p. 188
  21. ↑ Peter Earle, Corsairs of Malta and Barbary, (London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1970); p. 97
  22. ↑ D F Allen, 'Charles II, Louis XIV and the Order of Malta', The Historial Journal, 33(4), 1990, p. 338
  23. ↑ Desmond Seward, The Monks of War, (London: Penguin, 1972); p. 274
  24. ↑ Peter Earle, Corsairs of Malta and Barbary, (London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1970); p. 109
  25. ↑ Molly Greene, 'Beyond the Northern Invasion: The Mediterranean in the 17th Century', Past and Present, 2002 (174), p. 46
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 "History - Order of Malta in the UK". Orderofmalta.org.uk. Retrieved on 2008-10-12.
  27. ↑ "FOCUS on MALTA - History". Focusmm.com. Retrieved on 2008-10-12.
  28. ↑ "Sovereign Order of Malta - Official site". Orderofmalta.org. Retrieved on 2008-10-12.
  29. ↑ "Sovereign Order of Malta - Official site". Orderofmalta.org. Retrieved on 2008-10-12.
  30. ↑ "Organisations granted Observer Status in the General Assembly".
  31. ↑ "Sovereign Order of Malta - Official site". Orderofmalta.org. Retrieved on 2008-10-12.
  32. ↑ "The Legitimacy Of Orders Of St" (PDF). Retrieved on 2008-10-12.
  33. ↑ Desmond Seward, The Monks of War: The Military Orders (London 2000), 270-85.
  34. ↑ "St John Eye Hospital". Stjohneyehospital.org. Retrieved on 2008-10-12.
  35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 35.2 35.3 "Self-Styled "Orders of Saint John" II". Chivalricorders.org. Retrieved on 2008-10-12.

See also

Further reading

External links