Knights Hospitaller (religious order)

Motto:Pro Fide, Pro Utilitate Hominum (For the Faith and in Service of Humanity)

Formation: ca. 1113

Founders: Gerard; Raymond of Provence (Raymond de Puy)

The Knights Hospitaller is a very old religious military and pilgrim’s-assistance order. It originated in Jerusalem around the time of the city’s conquest by European Christian armies in 1099, during the First Crusade. Also known as the Order of Malta or the Knights of Malta, the Knights Hospitaller has been known by many names over its long history.

Its formal name since 1961 has been Sovereign Military and Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes, and of Malta. This formal title consolidates many of its earlier names. From 1834 until 1961, the order was called Knights Hospitaller of St. John of Jerusalem. From 1530 until 1798 it was the Sovereign and Military Order of the Knights of Malta. It was called the Order of the Knights of Rhodes from 1309 through 1522 and Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem from 1113 until 1309. Today the order is most often referred to as the Knights Hospitaller or the Knights of Malta.

Now headquartered in Rome, the Knights Hospitaller retains some of the traditions of their origins. However, the order is now involved in humanitarian roles and is not affiliated with any military functions. It is a Christian ecumenical organization with a particular focus on providing medicines and medical supplies throughout the world.

History

The precise origin of the Knights Hospitaller is vague. According to one tradition, the order is an outgrowth of a hospital in Jerusalem in the eleventh century. The hospital was established sometime around 1050 by Italian merchants from Amalfi to care for European Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land. When Christian Crusaders conquered Jerusalem in 1099, a monk named Gerard or Gerald was the hospital’s director. He also founded hostels along the route through Southern Europe to the Holy Land. Gerard’s family name and origins are unknown, but an official Papal missive of 1113 addresses him as the founder of a hospice that eventually led to the formation of the order.

The Catholic Encyclopedia notes that Raymond of Provence took over the leadership in 1120 and expanded the hospice into a true infirmary. It could be said that the Knights Hospitaller truly began with him. At first there was no mention of knights of any kind, only guidance for religious and medical missions. At some point around 1150 Raymond added an armed escort for pilgrims. Thus began the most ancient of the orders of religious knights. In a short time the Knights Hospitallers became a very powerful military force in the Holy Land.

Muslim armies recaptured Jerusalem in 1187, and the Knights Hospitaller retreated, ending up in the city of Acre in 1197. In 1291 Acre fell, and the Knights moved to Cyprus. They acquired the island of Rhodes in 1309, which became a sovereign principality under their rule. The Knights’ master (after about 1430, the leader was called the grand master) was elected for life, subject to confirmation by the pope. The order was then celibate and consisted of knights, serving brothers, and chaplains. For the next 200 years the Knights Hospitaller assailed Muslim trading ships in the eastern Mediterranean from their independent state on Rhodes.

In 1522 the ruler of the Ottoman Empire, Suleyman the Magnificent, laid siege to Rhodes. After six months the Knights negotiated their exit, and they sailed away forever on January 1, 1523. For the next seven years the Knights had no base. Finally, in 1530 the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V gave them the islands of Malta, southeast of Sicily in the center of the Mediterranean Sea. Among the tributes they owed the Holy Roman Empire was the annual gift of a falcon to the viceroy in Sicily.

War continued with the Ottoman Empire, and in 1565 Suleyman the Magnificent once again beseiged the Knights Hospitaller. Under the leadership of Grand Master Jean Parisot de la Valette, the Knights repelled every attack. In the end the battle was catastrophic for the Turks. In 1571 several European powers sent their navies to join the Knights of Malta in the Battle of Lepanto. The Turkish navy never recovered from the defeat.

The Knights Hospitaller built a new capital on Malta and named it Valletta after their victorious grand master. They built an impregnable fort and a huge hospital on the island of Malta. The Knights continued to maintain an independent state, but over the years they lost their military focus. They turned instead to medical care above all other pursuits.

The Knights lost Malta in 1798. Napoleon Bonaparte seized the islands on his way to Egypt. The 1802 Treaty of Amiens allowed the Knights to return, but after Napoleon’s second defeat, the 1814 Treaty of Paris ceded Malta to Great Britain.

The Knights then moved their headquarters to Rome, where they have remained ever since. In 1961 the order adopted a new constitution that specifically defines its religious and sovereign roles. The Knights Hospitaller no longer control or administer any territory, but it is recognized as a sovereign entity by the Papacy and other Roman Catholic states. The order issues passports, for example. Its main efforts involve medical care. Between 2012 and 2014, the Knights distributed some $60 million in medical aid worldwide.

Beliefs and Practices

The beliefs of the Knights Hospitaller are identical to those of the Roman Catholic Church. Some of their practices reflect the historical origins and traditions of the order. For example, Knights and Dames in the organization are basically part of an aristocracy. The leaders are "professed" knights of justice and chaplains who are able to prove the nobility of their four grandparents back over 200 years.

The main modern purpose of the Knights Hospitaller is to actively defend and support Christians wherever the faith is under attack. The support comes in two forms: the delivery of medicines and medical supplies, and outspoken defense of Christians and Christianity on international media.

Bibliography

Dafoe, Stephen. An Illustrated History of the Knights Hospitaller. London: Ian Allan, 2010. Print.

Nicholson, Helen. The Knights Hospitaller. Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer, 2013. Print.

Nicolle, David. Knight Hospitaller: 1306–1565. Vol. 2. Oxford: Osprey, 2001. Print.

Riley-Smith, Jonathan. The Knights Hospitaller in the Levant, c. 1070–1309. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012. Print.

Seward, Desmond. The Monks of War: The Military Religious Orders. 1972. London: Thistle, 2014. eBook.

Woodhouse, F. C. The Military Religious Orders of the Middle Ages: The Hospitallers, The Templars, The Teutonic Knights and Others. Seattle: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2013. Print.