Knights Hospitaller

• 1. Foundation And Early History

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  In 1099, Christian forces captured Jerusalem during the First Crusade. A hospital dedicated to John the Baptist stood within the city walls. Merchants from Amalfi in southern Italy had established this facility earlier in the century. They cared for sick and poor pilgrims traveling to the Holy Land. Blessed Gerard became its head when it was formally organized. Pope Paschal II issued a papal bull on the 15th of February 1113 that recognized the group as a distinct order. This document granted them protection and confirmed their properties across Europe and Asia. The hospital could accommodate up to 2,000 patients who came from all religious groups. Jewish patients received kosher food while they were treated there. It also served as an orphanage where children often became Hospitallers when adults.

• 2. Militarization And Crusades

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  The Order of Saint John began hiring knights or foot soldiers after the First Crusade ended. These men provided security for pilgrims before the order formed its own military organization. Raymond du Puy succeeded Gerard as master of the hospital in 1120. He decided some time before 1136 that Hospitallers could fight to defend the kingdom. In 1130, Pope Innocent II gave the order its coat of arms, a plain silver cross in a field of red. One of the first battles fought by the Knights Hospitaller was the Siege of Ascalon in 1153. King Baldwin III of Jerusalem wanted to withdraw after Templars were killed inside the fortress. Raymond convinced him to continue until the fort surrendered on the 22nd of August 1153. By 1180, the Hospitallers held 25 castles including Krak des Chevaliers and Margat in Syria. They undertook construction projects to build new castles or repair existing ones. The statutes of Roger de Moulins from 1187 dealt only with service of the sick. The first mention of military service appeared in the statutes of Fernando Afonso of Portugal about 1200.

• 3. Island Strongholds And Naval Power

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  After Acre fell in 1291, the knights sought refuge in Cyprus. Guillaume de Villaret created a plan to acquire their own temporal domain. On the 15th of August 1310, Rhodes surrendered to the knights after more than four years of campaigning. They gained control of neighboring islands and the Anatolian port of Halicarnassus. In 1334, they fought an attempted invasion by Andronicus and his Turkish auxiliaries. The knights took over defense of nearby Smyrna in 1374 but lost it when Timur besieged the city in 1402. Grand Master Philippe Villiers de L'Isle-Adam led the order during the Siege of Rhodes in 1522. Sultan Suleiman deployed 400 ships carrying as many as 100,000 men against the island. The knights had only about 7,000 men-at-arms available for defense. The siege lasted six months before surviving Hospitallers withdrew to Sicily. After seven years of displacement, Pope Clement VII reached an agreement with Charles V in 1530. This provided Malta, Gozo, and Tripoli as permanent quarters for the order.

• 4. The Great Siege Of Malta

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  In 1565, Suleiman sent an invasion force of about 40,000 men to besiege Malta. The defenders numbered only 700 knights and 8,000 soldiers. Most cities were destroyed and about half the knights killed during the initial assault. On the 18th of August, the position became desperate as numbers dwindled daily. Grand Master Jean Parisot de Valette refused suggestions to abandon Birgu and Senglea. The Viceroy of Sicily hesitated to send help due to unclear orders from Philip II of Spain. On the 23rd of June, skilled commander Dragut died, which was a serious blow to Ottoman forces. Turkish commanders Piali Pasha and Mustafa Pasha neglected communications with the African coast. Many Ottoman troops fell ill over terrible summer months while ammunition and food ran short. On the 1st of September, the Ottomans made their last effort but morale had deteriorated seriously. They heard of Sicilian reinforcements arriving in Mellieħa Bay and broke off the siege on the 8th of September. When the Ottomans departed, Hospitallers had but 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.

• 5. Reformation And European Turmoil

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  The property of the English branch was confiscated in 1540 during the Reformation. The German Bailiwick of Brandenburg became Lutheran in 1577 then more broadly Evangelical. It continued paying financial contributions until 1812 when King Frederick William III turned it into an order of merit. In 1852, his son restored the Johanniterorden as the chief non-Roman Catholic branch. The decree of the French National Assembly in 1789 abolishing feudalism also abolished the Order in France. The French Revolutionary Government seized assets and properties of the Order in France in 1792. The Knights of Malta maintained a strong presence within the Imperial Russian Navy and pre-revolutionary French Navy. Phillippe de Longvilliers de Poincy governed Saint Kitts starting in 1639. He dressed his retinue with emblems of the Order. In 1651, knights bought islands including Sainte-Christophe, Saint Martin, and Saint Barthélemy from Compagnie des Îles de l'Amérique. They sold these Caribbean possessions to the French West India Company in 1665.

• 6. Napoleonic Displacement And Decline

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  Malta was captured by Napoleon in 1798 during his expedition to Egypt. Grand Master Ferdinand von Hompesch zu Bolheim allowed only two foreign ships at a time. Bonaparte ordered cannon fire against Malta immediately after receiving this refusal. French soldiers disembarked at seven points on the morning of the 11th of June and attacked. After several hours of fighting, western Maltese forces surrendered. Hompesch left Malta for Trieste on the 18th of June and resigned as Grand Master on the 6th of July 1799. Emperor Paul I gave shelter to refugee knights in Saint Petersburg. This action created the Russian tradition of the Knights Hospitaller. The refugees elected Tsar Paul as their Grand Master until Hompesch abdicated. Paul created a Russian Grand Priory containing no fewer than 118 Commanderies. His election was never ratified under Roman Catholic canon law. By the early 19th century, only 10% of income came from traditional European sources. The remaining 90% was generated by the Russian Grand Priory until 1810. The government operated under Lieutenants rather than Grand Masters between 1805 and 1879.

• 7. Modern Humanitarian Legacy

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  In 1834, the order settled in Rome where hospital work became its main concern again. Activities undertaken during World War I were greatly intensified and expanded in World War II under Grand Master Fra' Ludovico Chigi Albani della Rovere who served from 1931 to 1951. The Sovereign Military Order of Malta maintains diplomatic relations with 112 countries and official relations with six others plus the European Union. It has permanent observer missions to the United Nations and specialized agencies. The organization issues its own passports, currency, stamps, and vehicle registration plates. A permanent presence exists in 120 countries with 12 Grand Priories and Sub-Priories. There are 48 national Associations along with numerous hospitals and medical centers. Its 13,500 members and 95,000 volunteers operate alongside over 52,000 medical personnel dedicated to caring for the poor and sick. The Most Venerable Order of Saint John received a royal charter from Queen Victoria in 1888. Today its best-known activities include the St John Ambulance Brigade and the Saint John Eye Hospital in Jerusalem.