When the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem came
to Malta, in the year 1530, the Order had already
been in existence for five centuries. Some merchants of Amalfi, a town near Naples,
who were trading in the Holy Land, had erected, about the
year 1030, in the city of Jerusalem, a hospital for
the reception of Christian pilgrims. This was
attached to a Benedictine Monastery, and was
originally placed under the auspices of St. John
the Almoner, but the dedication was afterwards
changed to that of St. John the Baptist. The
Mohammedans, who then held Palestine, tolerated
the Christians, the pilgrims being, by the taxes
they paid, a profitable source of revenue; but
towards the end of the eleventh century the Seljuk
Turks, from beyond the Caspian, overran the Holy
Land, and by their cruelties to the pilgrims set on
foot in Western Europe the movement which led
to the Crusades.
When the Crusaders freed the holy places
from the hands of the Infidels, they established
the Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem, electing
Godfrey de Bouillon the first ruler. The works
of mercy of the pious merchants of Amalfi
had not in the meantime passed unnoticed: pilgrims and Crusaders on return to their Western
homes had told of the assistance the hospital
had given them, and had presented in acknowledgment donations of land and money.
Godfrey de Bouillon himself had endowed it with his
Manor of Montboise in Brabant for the Christian
services done, as the original deed runs, to 'les
povres foybles et malades.' The increasing wealth
of the hospital led the Rector, Peter Gerard,
to obtain Papal sanction for the formation of a
religious Order, whose members should observe, in
addition to the hospital work, the three monastic
vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience. The
Order now increased in fame and numbers, and
there were few provinces of Europe where it did
not stand possessed of manorial rights. With the
revenues of such properties the Brethren maintained in the seaports of the Mediterranean,
such
as Tarentum and Genoa, poor houses known as 'Hospitals of Jerusalem,' which,
besides being places of charitable relief, served as starting-points
for parties of pilgrims to the Holy Land; while
in the ranks of the Brethren were enrolled many
Crusaders whose religious fervour had been aroused
by their recent fight for the Faith.
The death of Gerard, in the year 1118, caused a
change in the organization of the fraternity.
Hitherto it had assumed merely a religious aspect,
differing little from the numerous monastic bodies
in Europe. The new Rector of the Hospital,
Raymond du Puy, found under his rule many
monks whose original profession had been a
military career, and to these the quietness of the
cloister or the works of the hospital wards must
have been extremely uncongenial. The new Rector
therefore proposed to convert his peaceful fraternity
into a band of warrior-monks, who, without abandoning the objects and vows of
the original institution, should add the further obligation of fighting
the enemies of the Faith. Papal sanction was
obtained, and the 'Rule of Raymond' was embodied
in a Papal Bull. This document was lost at the
Siege of Acre, but its contents are recapitulated in
a Bull of Boniface VIII., of which some extracts
may be of interest. There is in these original
precepts of the Order a simplicity and directness which reflect the quality of
the religion of those early days: For I, Raymond, the servant of Christ's poor,
and Master of the Hospital of Jerusalem, desire that all
those Brethren who here dedicate themselves to
the service of the poor shall, with Christ's assistance,
maintain inviolate the three promises which they
have made to Him namely, chastity; obedience,
which is to be understood to include whatever may
be commanded by the Master ; and to live without
any property of their own; because the fulfillment
of these three vows will be required of them by
God at the last judgment. Let them not seek for
or claim as due to them more than bread and water
or raiment, which things are promised them, and
let their raiment be humble, because our master,
the poor, whose servants we profess to be, appears
scantily and meanly clad, and it is not right that
the servant should be proudly arrayed whilst the
master is humble.
The Rule contained minute instructions as to the
mode and extent of alms-begging, religious exercises,
the visitation of the sick, and the daily life of the
fraternity. The Brethren are to eat only twice in
the day, and at table they were told: 'Let each
one eat his meals, as the Apostle directs, in silence, and let him not drink
after the completorium, and let all the Brethren keep silence in their
beds.'
Brethren who broke the Rule were subject to
severe punishment and sometimes expelled. The
fear of public scandal makes a quaint distinction
between offences, because we are told: 'If a Brother
has sinned in secret let him repent in secret, and
let him impose upon himself suitable penance. If,
however, his sin shall have been publicly discovered,
let him on the Sabbath day after Mass, when the congregation have left church,
be stripped in the
sight of all, and let him be scourged and beaten
most severely by thongs and rods by his Superior,
and let him be expelled from our institution.' A
Brother who absented himself without leave was
required to eat his meals on the ground for forty
days, and the internal peace of the establishment
was provided for, if one Brother disputed with
another, by a fast of seven days on the part of the
argumentative one.
The familiar costume of the Order, the black habit
and the white eight-pointed cross, now called the
Maltese cross, did not come into use until the
year 1259, by a decree of Pope Alexander IV.
This document, addressed to the 'Master of the Hospital,' shows the worldly wisdom
of the ecclesiastics of those days, for it reads: 'Since it has come to our knowledge
that amongst the Brethren of your Order there is no distinction
or diversity of dress (contrary to the usual custom of similar institutions), wherefore it comes to pass
that the love grows cold of those many Brethren
of noble birth who have cast aside the allurements
of the world and have chosen under the garb of
your Order to devote themselves to the defence
of the Holy Land. We therefore, being earnestly
desirous that your Order may still continue to be enriched by God's help with
fresh donations, and
may grow and increase in the votive offerings
it shall receive, grant you, by the authorities of
these letters, permission to decree that the Knights
and Brethren of your Order shall wear black
mantles, that they may be distinguished from
others; but in campaigns and in battles they
shall wear surcoats and other military decorations
of a red colour, on which there shall be a cross of
white, like that on your Standard, in order that
by the uniformity of signs the unanimity of your
spirits may be clearly apparent.'
In the Palace at Valletta paintings may be seen
of the Knights in these red robes, not so familiarly
associated with the Order as the black mantles, notably one by the Maltese Painter
Favray of Brother Baptista Free, a Grand Bailiff, in a gorgeous
uniform of red and gold.
Under this new organization of Raymond du Puy,
the Order was divided into two classes, first of
whom in rank and position were the Knights
of Justice. Admission to this grade was only
given to those who proved nobility of descent.
Every candidate must have already received the
accolade of knighthood from secular hands. The
second class comprised the strictly ecclesiastical
portion of the Convent, and was divided into
Conventual Chaplains who performed the religious functions of the Order within
the Convent and Hospital at headquarters, and Priests of Obedience
who carried on similar duties at the various stations
which came to be established throughout Europe.
The third class were called Serving Brothers,
admission to which, by the emoluments and
dignities it gave, was very advantageous to men of
the humbler ranks of society. To secure proper
management of the vast property of the Order,
Preceptories or Commanderies were formed in
different localities. At the head of these local
institutions was placed a Knight of the Order, who
was in consequence called a Knight Commander; and from this came the phrase now
familiar in other orders of Knighthood. A certain number of these
Commanderies formed a local Priory, and over each
collection of such Priories in the different countries
of Europe was placed a Grand Prior. In the
Commanderies the postulants were received and
professed, though at one time the novice was
required to present himself at the chef-lieu itself.
This military body created by Raymond du Puy
from the Order of the Hospitallers was sorely needed
in the Holy Land. The Christian Kingdom of
Jerusalem had met with ill success, for it was
merely a few isolated cities and some land in the
immediate neighbourhood of Jerusalem in the
hands of Christian princes whose dissensions allowed
them little time to defend their possessions from
the surrounding Infidel population. In the year
1291, by the siege and capture of Acre, the last
foothold of Christianity in Palestine was lost to
the rising Ottoman Power. John de Villiers was
now the Grand Master of the Order, the twenty-first in succession from Raymond
du Puy. The Knights of St. John, abandoning Jerusalem, retired
to Cyprus, and a Hospital was established by them
there. Some time was spent in looking for a
more suitable place of abode, and in the year 1310, Fulk de Villaret, the twenty-fourth
Grand Master, succeeded in effecting the capture of the island of
Rhodes. As soon as he had settled the Brotherhood there, he organized a fleet
of galleys for the protection of Christian commerce from the Corsairs
in the Levant and along the northern coast of
Africa. Before long the flag of St. John, waving
over a powerful fleet, became as much an object of
terror to the Infidel in the waters of the Mediterranean as it had been for the
two preceding centuries upon the sandy plains of Palestine.
Thus arose the naval power of the Order which
was maintained until the eighteenth century.
The Knights remained in possession of Rhodes for
220 years. They built, fortified, and adorned the
island with then own distinctive architecture
almost as much as they did Malta, and those who
know the two islands have remarked upon the
similarity of the buildings ; and in the former island
'The Street of the Knights' still recalls their occupation.
About this time the Order became divided into
Langues. Hitherto the natives of the various
countries, who sent members to the Order, existed
in no other division than the three classes of
Knights, Chaplains, and Serving Brothers. Now a new classification by nationality
was added, without disturbing these three grades. The Order was
divided into the seven Langues of Provence,
Auvergne, France, Italy, Aragon, England, and
Germany. An eighth was afterwards added, that
of Castile. In course of time the English Langue
was suppressed, with other monastic bodies in
England, by Henry VIII., and the vast properties
belonging to it confiscated by the Crown. In the
time of George III., with the King's consent, a
new Langue was formed in Malta, called the
Anglo-Bavarian, to be recruited, in part, from
English Catholics.
The chief positions in the Order were allocated
to the Knights of Justice, each Langue having the
privilege of filling from its members one particular
office in the government of the Order at headquarters. Thus the Grand Commander
was always chosen from the Langue of Auvergne, the
Turcopolier or Commander of the Light Horse
was always chosen from the English Langue, the
Chancellor of the Order from Castile, and so forth,
all international jealousies in this way being removed.
These different dignitaries were called Conventual
Bailiffs, and formed a sort of privy council for the
Grand Master.
The office of Grand Master was filled by election. 'He is chosen,' wrote
Brydone from Malta in the
last days of the Order, 'by a committee of twenty-one; which committee is nominated
by the seven
nations, three out of each nation. The elections
must be over within three days after the death of
the former Grand Master, and during these three
days there is scarce a soul that sleeps in Malta: all
is cabal and intrigue; and most of the Knights are
masked to prevent their particular attachments and
connections being known. . . .'
The different Langues of the Order dwelt in
separate quarters, both at Rhodes and in Malta,
and these buildings, called Auberges, are perhaps
the most distinctive pieces of architecture the Order
have left behind them. When the British Government took possession of Malta,
these, with the other buildings of the Knights, became Crown property.
The Royal Engineers and Royal Artillery Officers
have their Mess in the Auberge de Castile, commenced in 1574, on the Upper Barracca,
perhaps the most stately of the seven; the Auberge d'ltalie
is now the Royal Engineers' Offices. Next the
Auberge de Castile is the Palazzo Parisio, where
Napoleon stayed during his short visit to the
island. Several British generals, amongst them Fox and Abercromby, have used
it as their headquarters. It is now used as the General Post
Office. The Union Club is now housed in the
Auberge de Provence, the famous ballroom being
originally the refectory of the Knights. The
Treasury of the Order is now the home of the
Casino Maltese. As we have mentioned these
Langues, we may be so bold as to warn our
readers against the mistake of the lady visitor,
who innocently asked if they were educational
establishments for the preservation of the Maltese
tongue!
In tracing briefly the early history of the Order
of St. John some mention may be made of its
connection with England. This arose in the year
1101, when Jordan Brissett founded a house for the
benefit of the 'Hospital' in Clerkenwell. This
became the nucleus of the Order in England, and was
enlarged by many donations. Heraclius, Patriarch
of Jerusalem, consecrated a church in Clerkenwell
in the year 1185, the crypt of which may be seen
today, and raised the institution to a Grand
Priory. Henry II., in the year 1180, founded a
Convent of the Ladies of the Order, in Bucklands
in Somersetshire, for we must remember there was
a Sisterhood as well. Commanderies of the Order sprang up in Scotland, David
I. founding a Priory, in 1124, at Torphichen, in Linlithgowshire. The
Earl of Pembroke introduced the Order into Ireland
in 1174, founding a Priory at Kilmainham, which is
known to-day as the Royal Hospital.
In the Record Office at Malta there is a document,
printed in 1857 by the Camden Society, which
presents an admirable picture of the power of the
Order and, incidentally, a glimpse of social life in
England in the year 1338, being a report of the
items of income and expenditure of the English
Langue for that year. From it we learn that
Commanderies, well endowed with lands and
revenues, existed in almost every county of
England and Wales. The King and many great
nobles enjoyed a right, called corrody, of dining at
the table of the Knights at Clerkenwell and elsewhere, and of this privilege
they frequently, it would appear, availed themselves, as the Grand
Prior greatly bewails in his report to Rhodes.
The original rule, indeed, of hospitality to all and
sundry seems to have been closely observed, if the
large expenditure upon such things as beer, made
apparently in two kinds, called melior and secunda,
and upon beef, is to be taken into account. Some
of the items in the accounts found in this document are innocent enough, but
certain sums to Judges of the High Court suggest illegal practices; the
salaries of the law officers of the Order and the fees
of standing counsel appear to have been 40 shillings a year.
We learn of the great retinue of servants, and of
such officials as the armiger, the claviger, the
ballivus, the messor, and the coquus, and the
amounts they received, giving a glimpse at current
wages a lotrix, or washerwoman, apparently being
employed in a Commandery at the princely wage
of 1 shilling a year.
Comino served as a place of imprisonment or exile for errant Knights of Malta.
Knights who were convicted of minor crimes were occasionally sentenced to the
lonely and dangerous task of manning St. Mary's Tower.
To return to Rhodes, the Order remained there,
holding it as the outpost of Christendom against
the Turks, until the year 1522. This danger from
the Ottoman Power, the yellow peril of its day,
was no unreal thing. It was no longer a question
of preserving the Holy Places from the Infidels, but
of saving the centres of civilization, Rome, Vienna,
and Venice, with the art and learning of Western
Europe. The Eastern Empire had yielded to the
attacks of the Turks when, in the year 1453, Constantinople fell into their hands.
Yet for a little longer the Knights of St. John held the Turk at
bay in Rhodes. At length a great onset was made
by Mohammed II. upon Rhodes, and by the famous
Palasologus Pasha it was besieged for two months, the numbers of the fleet 160
vessels with 80,000 men on board showing the organized power of
the Turks ; yet the Knights were victorious, routing
the besiegers with fearful losses. Peter D'Aubusson,
the Grand Master, was rewarded with a Cardinal's
hat by the Pope, and the fame of the Order
increased. The English Langue was well represented on this occasion, and we find
familiar names like Lumley, Grand Prior of Ireland, and the
Knights Kendall and Boswell, mentioned for deeds
of daring in the annals of the siege.
This triumph of the Order was short-lived. The
Turks under Solyman the Magnificent undertook a
fresh enterprise against Rhodes, and gathered a
vast armament of 400 sail and an army of 140,000
Turks, with 60,000 peasants of Wallachia and
Bosnia to execute siege operations. Mustapha, a
soldier who appears an important personage later
on in the great siege of Malta, commanded the
army.
Philippe de Villiers de L'Isle-Adam had now succeeded
to the Grand Mastership. The Knights in full
force were summoned by him from the Commanderies throughout Europe, and 600 Brethren,
with 4,500 troops, were present at Rhodes; but it
was impossible to hold out any longer against the
thousands of the Turks, and after prolonged defence Rhodes was taken. Here the
English were not unrepresented, and we find the familiar names of
Sheffield, Hussey, Weston, Baron, and Buck in
the ranks of the Knights, one Roberts, a Knight,
writing an account to the Earl of Surrey in England,
in a letter that is still preserved, 'touching the
distructione and taking of the Rodes' and the
mighty deeds of 'the gret turk.' Though the island
fell, the defence was so valiant that it was remarked
by Charles V. that 'nothing was so well lost in
the world as Rhodes.'
On January 1, 1523, L'Isle Adam and the
Knights quitted Rhodes. For seven years they
wandered in search of a chef-lieu, stopping for a
time at Candia, Messina, Cumas, Viterbo, and elsewhere. At this time L'Isle Adam
visited Charles V. of Spain and Emperor of Germany, then holding
prisoner at Madrid the French King Francis L, the
latter having fallen into his hands after the battle of
Pavia. Through the intervention of L'Isle Adam,
who looked for aid from the Spanish Court for
his impoverished Order, Francis I. was liberated,
and a treaty arranged between the two sovereigns.
As a reward for his diplomacy, L'Isle Adam
was offered the islands of Malta and Gozo by
Charles V. It was as yet uncertain whether the Order would accept the offer.
L'Isle Adam desired to recapture Rhodes, and was trying to organize
a subscription for that purpose, and he shortly
left the Court at Madrid and proceeded to
France for funds. While there, he was told that
Henry VIII. of England was much piqued at the
fact that the Grand Master had not visited the
English as well as the French Court. L'Isle Adam,
on learning this, journeyed to London. The Commander Bosio arranged matters with
Cardinal Wolsey for an interview with the King, who
directed that the Grand Master should be received
with honour, and so public celebrations were
arranged for the visit of the hero of Rhodes. The Grand Master stayed some days
at the Priory at Clerkenwell, and then presented himself at St.
James's Palace. Henry VIII., to assist him in his
design of the recapture of Rhodes, promised him
20,000 crowns, a gift which he afterwards presented
in the form of artillery. L'Isle Adam then returned to Rome to solicit the Pope's
assistance, but the troubled state of the Eternal City decided
him to abandon his projected expedition. The
previous offer of Charles V. of the islands of
Malta and Gozo was in consequence accepted
by the Order, with the added responsibility of guarding the city of Tripoli,
and a deed was signed in which these islands passed to the
Knights upon the condition of an annual payment
of a falcon in recognition of the feudal tenure of
the donation. This document is still preserved in
the Armoury at the Palace in Valletta, signed by
the hand of the Emperor Charles V.
The donation was confirmed by a Papal Bull,
upon receipt of which the Grand Master, L'Isle
Adam, proceeded to Malta, and assumed, on
October 26, 1530, sovereignty of the island.
>>
Next - Malta under the Knights
The Knights Hospitaller, also known as the Order of Hospitallers or simply
Hospitallers, were a group of men attached to a hospital in Jerusalem that was
founded by Blessed Gerard around 1023 out of which two major Orders of Chivalry
evolved, the Order of the Knights of St. Lazarus and the Order of the Knights
of St. John, later to be known as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.