Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The Knights of Malta

Episode Date: March 8, 2023

In the early 11th century, a group of merchants from the Amalfi Coast of Italy received permission from the Caliph of Egypt to rebuild a church and hospital in Jerusalem to care for pilgrims to the Holy Land.  They called themselves The Order of St. John of Jerusalem.  Fast forward almost one thousand years later, and this group still exist. Not only do they still exist, but they have a unique status in the world of international diplomacy. Learn more about the Knights of Malta and their thousand-year history on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Subscribe to the podcast!  https://link.chtbl.com/EverythingEverywhere?sid=ShowNotes -------------------------------- Executive Producer: Charles Daniel Associate Producers: Peter Bennett & Thor Thomsen   Become a supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/everythingeverywhere Update your podcast app at newpodcastapps.com Discord Server: https://discord.gg/UkRUJFh Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everythingeverywhere/ Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/EverythingEverywhere Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/everythingeverywheredaily Twitter: https://twitter.com/everywheretrip Website: https://everything-everywhere.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the early 11th century, a group of merchants from the Amalfi Coast of Italy received permission from the Caliph of Egypt to rebuild a church and hospital in Jerusalem to care for pilgrims to the Holy Land. They called themselves the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. Fast forward almost a thousand years later, and this group still exists. Not only do they still exist, but they have a unique status in the world of international diplomacy. Learn more about the Knights of Malta and their thousand-year history on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. What if your perceptions about the past were wrong? ThruLine is a podcast that takes you back in time to uncover the parts of the story that may have gone unnoticed.

It effectively turned day into night. And how it shaped the world now. Time travel with us every week on the ThruLine podcast from NPR. There are very few organizations that can claim a lineage of almost a thousand years. Most countries aren't even that old. Yet there is one organization that can make that claim. They are officially known as the sovereign military hospitaler order of St. John, of Jerusalem, of Rhodes, and of Malta.

The origins of this order date back to the 11th century, almost 50 years before the start of the First Crusade. I point this out because Christian monastic military orders are strongly associated with the Crusades. However, the hospitalers were founded well before the Crusades began. The first hospital in Jerusalem was constructed. in the year 603 by the order of Pope Gregory I. Its purpose was to take care of pilgrims to the Holy Land. And a hospital at this time was more than just a medical building, but an entire compound with churches, housing, and commercial quarters. Emperor Charlemagne expanded it in the year 800,

adding a library and other structures. However, in 2009, it was destroyed by the Fatimid Caliph, Al-Hakim Bir Amir Allah. However, in the year 1020, the new Fatimid Caliph, Ali Aziz, gave permission to a group of merchants from the Amalfi Coast to rebuild the hospital. Monks of the Benedicting Order managed the day-to-day affairs of the hospital, and they named their order after St. John the Baptist, and became known as the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. In 1080, a monk by the name of Gerard de Martig, known to history as Blessed Gerard, became the rector of the facility, and under his guidance, the order became independent of other monastic orders. With the start of the First Crusade in 1096, the hospital took on in his own.

increased importance. More Christians and pilgrims began flooding into the Holy Land, which were in need of service. The early 12th century saw the rise of other monastic military orders in Jerusalem, including the Knights Templar and the Teutonic Knights, both of which will be the subject of future episodes. In 1113, Pope Pascal II issued a papal bull titled P. P. Postulatio Voluntatus, which established the order as a military monastic order directly under the authority of the Pope, and allowed them to elect their own leaders. It also effectively made them independent of all local church authorities. Over the next several years, the order grew in scope and size. They established hospitals all over the Holy Land and throughout Europe. With the fall of Ocker in 1291, the Crusaders were removed

from the Holy Land, and with them went the Order of St. John. They briefly moved its headquarters from Jerusalem to Cyprus before moving to Rhodes in 1310. The mission of the order changed now that they were evicted from Jerusalem. They were still to protect Christian travelers, but now had to do so at sea, so they constructed a naval fleet. And they now went by the name, the Knights of Rhodes. The order was organized by groups which were known as tongues. The primary divisions of the order around Europe were by language, so French, German, Spanish, Italian, etc. The leader of the order was now also the Prince of Rhodes, and the order became very independent, having its own military, coinage, and diplomatic relations with other states. This was the foundation of the

order being considered a sovereign entity, a subject I'll be discussing more in a bit. The order's time in Rhodes lasted a little over 200 years. In 1522, the island was conquered by the Ottoman Sultan Suleimane the Magnificent. The Knights of Rhodes, now without Rhodes, spent several years in the wilderness before they were given the islands of Malta by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V in 1530. The The former Knights of Rhodes, formerly the Knights of Jerusalem, were now the Knights of Malta. The condition upon which they were granted Malta was known as the tribute of the Maltese falcon. One of the several conditions was that the knights had to pay tribute every year to Charles V and his mother, Queen Joanne of Castile, who was the sovereign of Sicily. In addition to money, every year on All Saints Day, they had to provide one falcon.

Once again, the Ottomans attacked the knights as they did in Rhodes and tried to take Malta. From May to September of 1886, the Ottomans conducted what became known as the Great Siege. This time, on Lichen Roads, the Knights managed to defend the island successfully. The Knights managed to rule Malta for 268 years, and under their rule, Malta became a prosperous little country in the middle of the Mediterranean. However, the Protestant Reformation and changes in Europe weakened and reduced the size of the order. Chapters in many countries closed, and some just flat out converted. There was some expansion in the United States.

to the New World. In 1651, they purchased the islands of St. Barts, St. Kitts, St. Croix, and St. Martin from the French, and they ruled them for 14 years. The rule of the Knights of Malta over Malta ended in 1798 when the islands were invaded by Napoleon Bonaparte. The knights were overwhelmed and surrendered the island and the French expelled all the knights. In 1799, the Grandmaster of the order resigned in disgrace. This put the Knights of Malta in a very unusual position. They were a sovereign military order. They ruled a country, issued their own currency, and had diplomatic relations with other countries. Now, however, they had no country, but they still had their diplomatic status. For years, the order floundered in limbo. They were given refuge in Russia for which they elected

Russian Tsar Paul I, as their order's grandmaster. They were offered the island of Gotland in Sweden as a replacement for Malta, but they rejected the offer because it would require renouncing their claims to Malta. In the 19th century, the order continued to contract with prior re-closing across Europe. The order didn't even have a Grandmaster from 1805 to 1879. The order was run by lieutenants of the order. In 1835, the order formally moved their headquarters to Rome, in particular two buildings, the Palazzo Malta on the Viacundati and the Magistral Villa on the Aventine Hill. Both of these buildings are still in use by the order today. The Magistral Villa on the Aventine Hill is the location of one of the

the most iconic photos of Rome. The keyhole of the main door lines up perfectly with an arch in the garden and the dome of St. Peter's Basilica. In 1879, Pope Leo the 13th reestablished the Grandmaster of the Order and put them on a new footing. The 19th century saw great changes to the order. Having no territory of their own anymore, they shifted the focus of the order back towards their original mission of helping those in need. The entire organization was reorganized, replacing the tongues with national chapters. While the word military remained in the title of the organization, they no longer had an actual military force.

Their only involvement in military affairs is serving as medical units during conflicts. Despite all the changes, the sovereign military order of Malta still has the word sovereign. Sovereignty is a very tricky concept. It's usually defined as being the supreme authority, and the ultimate test case for this are the Knights of Malta. The Knights of Malta haven't controlled any territory of their own for over 200 years. However, the sovereignty they had from controlling that territory never quite disappeared.

Today, the sovereign military order of Malta has diplomatic relations with 112 countries and official relations with five others. They also have observer status in the United Nations General Assembly, UNESCO, the United Nations High Commission on Refugees, the World Health Organization, the Council of Europe, and many other international bodies. They issue their own stamps and passports, and even have their own currency, the Scudo, which was the currency when they controlled Malta. The coins they issued today are mostly four collectors. Their buildings in Rome have been granted extraterritoriality, which means that they have the same status as an embassy.

Extraterritoriality is also extended to Fort San Angelo in Malta. Today, the sovereign military order of Malta is primarily engaged in humanitarian operations. The closest comparison would be the International Red Cross, although the organizations are run very, very differently. The Knights of Malta are still a religious order. There are three different classes of knights with 13,500 members worldwide. They also have 80,000 volunteers and over 25,000 people on staff, most of whom are medical professionals. They provide disaster relief, help refugees, and send food shipments to war zones. In many countries, most people are familiar with the Order of Malta as they run the ambulance service. They also manage hundreds of medical centers, 20 hospitals, and over 100 homes for the elderly.

They're far more active in Europe than they are in North America, so Europeans listening to this are probably far more familiar with them than would be Americans or Canadians. The sovereign military hospitaler order of St. John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes, and of Malta is a unique institution in the world. Its thousand-year history, its unique international status, and its humanitarian mission makes the Knights of Malta quite unlike anything else. The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The associate producers are Thor Thompson and Peter Bennett. I just want to thank everyone, including the show's producers, who support the show over on Patreon. If you'd like to support the show, just head over to patreon.com, which is currently the only place where you can get show merchandise.

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