The knights of St. John of Jerusalem
The order of the
knights of Saint John was founded in the 11th century
and initially was a religious order, their main objective being to
care for the wounded and sick crusaders.
They came to Rhodes
in 1309 and during the 200 year period of the knights, many and
frequent attempts were made by the Turks to capture the island and
they soon acquired military order. The members of the order came
from all the European Catholic countries and were divided into
classes based on their degree of nobility from their origin and the
services they could offer as soldiers, nurses or clerics.
They were then divided into 7 national groups which were Provence,
Auger gene, France, Italy, Germany, England and Spain, which was
later split into Aragon and Castile, bringing the groups to 8 in
number. The head of the order was called the Grand Master and had an
advisory group of leaders known as Bailiffs. The Official languages
were Latin and French. Each group had its own official headquarters
and lodging place - these were called Inns.
Throughout Rhodes they built or restored at
least 30 castles or strong points, but the main illustration of
their strength and military prowess came from within the Old Town,
enclosed by a 4 kilometer thick circuit of walls and a moat During
times of attack or siege each group was allotted to a section for
defense.
The island finally fell to the Turks in 1522 and The Knights of
Rhodes were allowed to depart; a large number of Rhodian
(4-5,000) went with them, moving onto Crete as a temporary measure,
and in the end they established themselves on Malta.
The present day St John's Ambulance Brigade is a continuation of the
order carrying on its Christian tradition of caring for the sick.
Made rulers of Malta , The Knights of Malta
(as the order came to be called) led a famous defense 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 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 centers, 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.
Knights Templar, members of a medieval
religious and military order officially named the Order of
the Poor Knights of Christ. They were popularly known as the
Knights of the Temple of Solomon, or Knights Templar,
because their first quarters in Jerusalem adjoined a building known
at the time as Solomon's Temple . The order developed from a small
military band formed in Jerusalem in 1119 by two French knights,
Hugh des Payens and Godfrey of Saint-Omer; its aim was to protect
pilgrims visiting Palestine after the First Crusade. Military in
purpose from its inception, the order differed in that respect from
the other two great 12th-century religious societies, the
Knights of St John of Jerusalem and the
Teutonic Knights, which began as charitable
institutions.
The Knights Templar obtained papal sanction for their order, and in
1128 at the ecclesiastical Council of Troyes they were given an
austere rule closely patterned on that of the monastic order of
Cistercians. The Knights Templar were headed by a grand master,
under whom were three ranks: knights, chaplains, and sergeants. The
knights were the dominant members, and they alone were allowed to
wear the distinctive dress of the order, a white mantle with a large
red Latin cross on the back. The headquarters of the Knights Templar
remained at Jerusalem until the fall of the city to the Muslims in
1187; it was later located successively at Antioch , Acre, Caesarea,
and in Cyprus .
Because the Knights Templar regularly transmitted money and
supplies from Europe to Palestine , they developed an efficient
banking system, on which the rulers and nobility of Europe came to
rely. The knights gradually became bankers for a large part of
Europe and amassed great wealth. After the last Crusades had failed
and interest had waned in an aggressive policy against the Muslims,
the Knights Templar were no longer needed to guard Palestine . Their
immense riches and power had aroused the envy of secular as well as
ecclesiastical powers, and in 1307 the impoverished Philip IV of
France , with the aid of Pope Clement V, arranged for the arrest of
the French grand master Jacques de Molay on charges of sacrilege and
Satanism. Molay and the leading officers of the order confessed
under torture, and all of them were eventually burned at the stake.
The order was suppressed in 1312 by Clement V and its property
assigned to the rival Knights Hospitaller, although most of it was
in fact seized by Philip and by King Edward II, who disbanded the
order in England .
The Grand Masters Palace
in the Old Town was built by the Grand Master de Villeneure in the
14th Century. Many rooms are open to the public and there are two
exhibitions, the Medieval Rhodes and the Rhodes 2400 years
Archeological Exhibition, with room plans and illustrations on sale.
Rhodes Colossus
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