Knights of St John of Jerusalem

Knights of St John of Jerusalem (in full, The Sovereign Military Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes, and of Malta), historically, the protectors of a hospital built in Jerusalem before the First Crusade. Known in short as Hospitallers or Knights Hospitallers, the community was established in 1099 under the leadership of Master Gerard, and later, after the formation of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, was officially approved by Pope Paschal II in 1113 and again by Pope Eugene III in 1153. The order’s brothers were sworn to poverty, obedience, and chastity and to assist in the defence of Jerusalem. Gerard, the first leader, was called rector; later heads of the order were called grand masters. Of necessity, the order became a military one and its armed knights were of noble birth. They formed a community under the Rule of St Augustine. At first devoted to the care of pilgrims and Crusaders, the order left the Holy Land with the collapse of the Crusader states.

After 1309 the order had its headquarters on the island of Rhodes. It formed a territorial state and its navy kept the eastern Mediterranean Sea free of Muslims (see Islam). The properties of the Knights Templar were given to the order in 1312. The Knights of Rhodes, as they came to be called, formed national units of the order elsewhere; they were called Tongues (French Langues). Forced to leave Rhodes when it was seized by Suleiman I, ruler of the Ottoman Turks, in 1522, the knights had no home until 1530, when they were ceded the island of Malta.

Made rulers of Malta, the Knights of Malta (as the order came to be called) led a famous defence of the island against an Ottoman invasion fleet in 1565. The order figured in European history until well into the 19th century. As the Knights of Malta, it lost its English and German properties during the Reformation and its French holdings during the French Revolution. The Russians granted the order protection, but the French under Napoleon I seized Malta. The convent was moved to Trieste in 1798 and to Rome in 1834. By this time the Russians had confiscated all properties held by the order in Russian territories.

The Knights of Malta, as recognized by Pope John XXIII in 1961, form a religious community and an order of chivalry. Organized in five grand priories and a number of national associations, they carry on diplomatic relations with the Vatican and with individual countries. As a religious community, they maintain hospitals, first-aid centres, and facilities to care for war casualties and refugees. They wear a black cloak on which an eight-pointed Maltese cross is applied (also the symbol in Britain of the St John Ambulance Service). The grand master is titled prince and holds a Church rank equal to that of a cardinal. In December 1998 the government of Malta gave the Hospitallers a 99-year lease on their original Fort St Angelo premises in Malta, in celebration of the 900th anniversary of the order's formation.