Why were the Hospitallers called that? Ioannites are Hospitallers. Great Siege of Malta
The Order of Saint John is the oldest crusader order, which was founded in 1099. Initially, it was a Christian organization whose purpose was to provide assistance to sick and wounded pilgrims and pilgrims in the Holy Land, after the Pope built a fairly large hospital with a library back in 600. Speaking of the hospital, the unofficial, but more familiar name of the Order of St. John is “Hospitaliers”, it is not difficult to notice the word “hospital” hidden here, hospitalis - in Lat. "Hospitable". The Hospitallers became a knightly order thanks to Gerard the Blessed immediately after the first Crusade, which ended with the capture of Jerusalem by Christians.
The new knightly order became a serious force in the region. Their symbol was (and is) a white cross, which was sewn onto a black tunic. Despite their great military potential, they still remembered their true purpose, now helping the pilgrims not only medically, but also providing armed protection, and the order itself began to be divided into “brothers - knights” and “brothers - healers”.
After the defeat of the crusaders in the 12th century, the order had to retreat from Jerusalem, but the crusaders did not want to give up their holy mission. They settled on the island of Rhodes, where they built an impenetrable fortress, inside which there was a very cozy hospital. The fortress on Rhodes was a real stronghold of Catholicism in the East. The Knights, who began to call themselves Rhodes, still helped Christian pilgrims, giving them comfortable conditions, thanks to the funding of the order by Christian states. The knights continually made forays in Asia Minor, plundering Muslim villages and driving infidels into slavery. Muslims also actively attacked Rhodes, wanting to crush the Crusader bastion in the East. There were two major invasions, but all attacks ended in failure; the few knights, as if God himself was protecting them, always drove out the invaders, covering their names with shame.
But the order's success could not last forever. By the first half of the 16th century, the hegemony of the Ottoman Empire in the East began. The Ottomans were able to capture the Roman Empire, Western countries were afraid to confront them on equal terms, and what could the knights, possessing an army of several thousand people, do? The fortress was besieged by more than two hundred thousand Turks. Rhodes was able to hold out for 6 months, after which the surviving crusaders retreated to Sicily.
In 1530, the Hospitallers were given the island of Malta, which also began to be used as a headquarters against the Muslims. The 16th century was not the best years for the crusaders, the orders of the crusaders were disbanded and ceased to exist, knights became an obsolete type of army, and swords began to be replaced with firearms. But the Hospitallers, who had already become known as the Order of Malta, still saw the expulsion of Muslims from Africa and the East as the meaning of their existence. The Ottomans, extremely irritated by this, began the siege of Malta. Ottoman troops of 40 thousand people against 8000 knights believing in victory. At first, the position of the crusaders was hopeless, half of the knights were killed, and most of the city was destroyed. The King of Sicily refused to send reinforcements until the last moment. Nevertheless, after a series of attacks, reinforcements did arrive from Sicily, and the Ottomans, exhausted by heat and disease, had to retreat. This was the last major victory of the knights in world history; out of 40 thousand Turks, only 15 returned back.
Soon the Hospitallers began to experience moral and economic decline. The European powers ceased to see the meaning in the idea of returning the holy land, and therefore the meaning of the Order of the Crusaders, which is why their funding, thanks to which the knights lived, was sharply reduced. Looking for a way to make money, the order began to plunder pirate and Turkish ships, and they also passed a law according to which any cargo from the Ottoman Empire must be confiscated and resold. This improved the financial situation of the order, but many members, chasing wealth, ended up enlisting as privateers, in particular in France. This directly contradicted the order’s charter, according to which the crusaders could not enter the service of European monarchs in order to avoid participation in wars between Christians. But in the end, this practice became widespread, the order had to come to terms with it, and France became the patron of the last crusaders. The financial position of the order improved greatly, but its old principles were forgotten, the order even signed a formal truce with the Ottoman Empire, because. France did the same.
At the end of the 18th century, Malta was captured by the French and the order was dispersed. The Crusaders spread throughout Europe in search of a new base. Some of the crusaders found shelter in St. Petersburg, and even made Emperor Paul I the new master of the order, although the Catholic Church did not accept this.
In the mid-19th century, Pope Leo XIII restored the moral integrity of the order, entrusting the Knights of Malta with their old responsibility - humanitarian and medical assistance, but now far beyond the pilgrims traveling to Jerusalem. The newly found meaning of their existence, the knights provided medical care to soldiers and civilians during the First and Second World Wars. The residence of the order settled in Rome, where they became a dwarf state within a dwarf state. Modern crusaders have their own currency, postage stamps and passports. Today the order has diplomatic relations with 107 countries, 13,000 people consider themselves members of the order, and the volunteer base consists of 80 thousand people. More recently, the Maltese government gave the ancient fortress into the ownership of the knights for a period of 99 years and restoration is now underway there.
History of the Order of the Knights of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem.
Pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Hospital in Jerusalem.
From the beginning of the 4th century, Palestine and Jerusalem became a place of pilgrimage. Streams of pious Christians from all over Europe flocked to the Holy Land to venerate the holy places - the places where, according to the Gospel, Jesus Christ spent his last days.
For some, such a journey was the result of his pious spiritual impulse, for others it was an act of repentance, cleansing from sins. In any case, the road was long and difficult: in addition to sea navigation from European ports to Palestinian ones, it was necessary to travel by carts or on foot, often under the scorching sun, along winding rocky roads, sometimes without any opportunity to replenish their supplies of water and food. The distance and difficulty of the journey meant that many pilgrims arrived in Jerusalem seriously ill. Small hospitable houses and monasteries took care of them.
In the middle of the 6th century. Pope Gregory the Great sent Abbot Probus to the Holy Land with the goal of restoring old and building new hospice houses for pilgrims, the flow of whom to Jerusalem had increased significantly.
The pilgrimage did not stop during the Arab conquest of the Middle East. At first, the Arabs were tolerant of the religious manifestations of pilgrims from Europe, which could not be said about the Seljuk Turks.
In the second half of the 11th century. (according to some sources in 1070) a merchant named Mauro, originally from the Italian city-republic of Amalfi, who traded with Asia Minor port cities, received from the Egyptian Caliph Bomensor, ruler of Palestine, not far from the Holy Sepulcher - the temple that was built on the site where Jesus Christ accepted martyrdom on the cross - permission to open a hospital in Jerusalem (Latin gospitalis - guest) - a hospitable home for pilgrims traveling to the Holy Places. Initially, during its early development, the hospice house was dedicated to the Patriarch of Alexandria, St. John Eleimon, who lived in the 7th century. Pilgrims from Europe called this hospital the “Hospital of St. John the Merciful.” Later, St. became the patron saint of the Johannites. John of Jerusalem (Baptist). This is where the name of the brotherhood that cares for the poor and sick pilgrims and shows mercy and compassion for those in need comes from - the Johannites or Hospitallers.
Brotherhood of St. Hospital John. Fra Gerard.
After some time (according to indirect estimates - until 1080), together with the Benedictine monks, a small brotherhood was created in the newly created hospitable house, which helped the needy Poloniki who came from Europe to venerate the Holy Sepulcher, and the hospital itself turned into a small monastery with hospitals, a church St. Mary of Latin and the Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene. And all this is just a stone's throw from the Holy Sepulcher.
Fra Gerard (Gerard) de Thorne was elected the first rector of the hospice house. Under his leadership, a church in the name of St. John the Baptist and a new large hospital were built, consisting of two separate buildings: for men and for women. Benedictine monks served in the Church of St. John. The Nativity of John the Baptist becomes a particularly revered holiday among members of the new brotherhood.
The first brother monks began to be called the Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem. The example of Gerard and his comrades inspired many contemporaries, who joyfully took upon themselves the monastic vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, and took the oath of the “poor brothers of the hospital of St. John”: “To serve as slaves and servants of their masters and masters, which are all the weak and sick ".
The influence of the Crusades on the brotherhood of St. John.
In October 1096, in the small French town of Clermont, the Pope issued an appeal to all Christian believers in Europe to go on a campaign against the Saracens in order to free the Holy Sepulcher from the hands of the infidels. When the Crusades began, the importance of the Brotherhood of St. John's Hospital was difficult to overestimate. The sick and wounded arrived in huge numbers; many required treatment, care, and often Christian burial.
Creation of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.
After the First Crusade, the brotherhood naturally needed the protection and patronage of the Christian rulers who conquered Jerusalem from their Saracen enemies. When visiting the St. John's hospice, the first king of Jerusalem (also Duke of Lower Lorraine) Godfried of Bouillon donated the village of Salsola, located near Jerusalem, for the maintenance of the hospital. Four crusader knights from the king's retinue - Raymond de Puy, Dudon de Comps, Conon de Montagu, Gastus - voluntarily stayed with Gerard de Thorne, taking monastic vows of the Benedictines. In 1099, after the first crusade and the founding of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, pilgrims needed not only treatment and care, but also protection, and therefore the Brotherhood of Johannites was transformed into an Order, the first head of which was Gerard de Thorne. At the same time, long black clothing with an eight-pointed white cross sewn on it, symbolizing the eight beatitudes of Christ, came into use for members of the Order. At first, members of the Order cared for the sick and wounded, and from the first half of the 12th century they began to participate in the war with the Saracens and protect pilgrims who arrived in Palestine in two ways - by land through Asia Minor and Byzantium or along the Mediterranean Sea. The Brotherhood began to accept knights as members, obliging them to protect pilgrims on the way. Researcher of medieval monasticism L.P. Karsavin noted: “The ascetic ideal influenced not only the spiritual strata. It also influenced the laity, and from its merging with the ideal of chivalry, a unique form was obtained - knightly orders. Not yet being ascetic, and not yet merging with the monastic, the knightly ideal was already a Christian ideal. Knights were, according to ideologists, defenders of the weak and unarmed, widows and orphans, defenders of Christianity against infidels and heretics, the mission of protecting pilgrims to the Holy Land, helping those who were sick or poor. , (1119) they needed it, the protection of the Holy Sepulcher from the infidels stemmed from the ideal of Christian chivalry, thanks to the dominance of the ascetic worldview, it was combined with the taking of monastic vows, and this is how knightly orders arose."
Almost at the same time, in 1118, nine knights led by Hugh de Payen (a vassal of the Count of Champagne) founded the Order of the Templars or Templars, and later (1198) the Teutonic Order of Knights was created.
The first orders of chivalry - the three most famous orders of the Holy Land and the three Spanish orders - arose as the purest embodiment of the medieval spirit in a combination of monastic and chivalric ideals, at a time when the battle with Islam was becoming a reality.
The spirit of the Crusades was mainly military and religious, so it gave birth to monastic knighthood, which is the best expression of the mood and interests of the era when Christianity was forced to repel the armed propaganda of Islam by force of arms.
Almost at the same time, some monks began to wear a sword over their cassock, and some knights put on a monastic cassock over their chain mail. In 1104, King Baldwin I of Jerusalem, heir and brother of Godfrey of Bouillon, once again recognized and confirmed the privileges of the Hospitaller brotherhood as a military-spiritual Order. And in 1107 he allocated a plot of land to the Order (from that time on, the Knights Hospitallers began to acquire land in other European countries). In 1113 Pope Paschal II approved the brotherhood of the Hospital of St. with his Bull. John, took them under his protection and ensured the right to freely elect their superiors, without the interference of any secular or ecclesiastical authorities. The Pope also gave the right to address questions concerning the Order directly to him. Thus, from 1070 a small brotherhood caring for sick and wounded pilgrims who came from Europe to venerate the Holy Sepulcher; by 1113 a real spiritual knightly Order had already been formed.
Grand Master Raymond de Puy.
In 1120, the first rector of the Jerusalem hospital, Gerard de Thorne, died and the hero of the storming of Jerusalem, Raymond de Puy, from the noble family of Dauphinees, was elected in his place. From that time on, the head of the Order began to be called the Grand Master.
While preserving the famous hospital, the Johannites considered the military protection of pilgrims on the roads of the Holy Land leading to Jerusalem to be an equally important task for themselves.
For this purpose, the members of the Order were divided into three classes: knights, who were required to be of noble birth and perform both military and ministerial duties; chaplains (brother priests), who were responsible for the religious activities of the Order, and squires (employees who were supposed to serve representatives of the first two groups).
To fulfill the order's tasks, Grand Master Raymond de Puy drew up the first Charter of the Order - the Rules of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. In 1120, Pope Calistus II approved this Charter.
As already mentioned, members of the Order were divided into 3 groups: knights, chaplains and squires. Only a hereditary nobleman could become a knight. The inclusion of novice sisters in the Order was also encouraged. All members of the Brotherhood of Hospitallers were expected to faithfully serve religious and spiritual ideals. People whose parents were engaged in trade or banking were not accepted into the order.
During the rite of admission into the Order, new members took an oath of allegiance to the Grand Master, vows of chastity, poverty and obedience.
On the banner of the Order, approved in 1130 by Pope Innocent II, a white eight-pointed cross was embroidered on a black background. The Seal of the Order depicted a lying patient with a cross at his head and a candle at his feet. The black cloth clothes of the Johannites were made after the example of the clothes of John the Baptist, made of camel hair, the narrow sleeves of which symbolized the renunciation of secular life, and the white linen eight-pointed cross on the chest - their chastity. The four directions of the cross spoke of the main Christian virtues - prudence, justice, fortitude and abstinence, and the eight ends meant the eight beatitudes that were promised by Christ to all the righteous in paradise in the Sermon on the Mount *.
Having turned into a powerful military alliance, the Order began to be called: “Knights Hospitallers of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.” As the Order's fame and merits grew, more and more aristocrats and knights from all over Europe joined it. During the 30-year management of the Order by Grand Master Raymond de Puy, the tasks of this brotherhood far outgrew the local scale of activity. Selfless and bloody armed defense of the Holy Land from the Saracens, who for several centuries had been trying to expand their borders and enter the European Mediterranean. Let us also note the independence of the Order, separated from all other states from the very beginning, based on papal institutions, as well as the generally recognized right to have an army and conduct military operations. The popes constantly gave privileges to the Johannites, excluding them from subordination to local temporal and spiritual authorities and giving them the right to collect church tithes in their own favor. The priests of the Order reported only to the Chapter and the Grand Master. In 1143, Pope Innocent II issued a special bull, according to which the Order of St. John did not submit to either ecclesiastical or secular authorities - only directly to the Pope himself. In 1153 Pope Anastasius IV, by the bull “Christianae Fidei Religio,” divided the members of the Order into knights, who dressed in red semi-monastic-semi-military clothes with a black cape, and squires. The hierarchy of the Order of St. John - knights, priests and brothers hospitallers - was approved by the Pope later, in 1259. Further privileges were granted to the Order by Popes Adrian IV, Alexander III, Innocent III, and Pope Clement IV awarded the head of the Order the title: "Grand Master of the Holy Hospital Jerusalem and Abbot of the Host of Christ."
Hospitaller fortresses.
Pilgrims from Europe were provided with security, treatment, housing and food in numerous hospitable homes and hospitals. The second main task of the Knights of St. John - the fight against infidels - also assumed the participation of the Order in all military campaigns and the defense of the crusader states formed in the East. The castles of the Johannites in Palestine and their unparalleled defense became legendary.
In 1136 Count Raymond of Tripoli entrusted the Johannite Knights with the defense of the fortress of Bet Jibelin, which covered the approaches to the port city of Ascalon in southern Palestine. The knights successfully passed the test and the count handed over several more of his fortresses to the Johannites.
Within a few years, the Order of the Johannites had about five thousand members, who successfully defended more than fifty fortresses in the Levant alone. In many coastal cities of the East, Byzantium and Western Europe, the Johannites opened hospice houses and hospitals. Ioannite fortresses were located on almost all pilgrim roads - in Acre, Saida, Tortosa, Antioch - from Edessa to Sinai. The main fortresses of the Order of the Johannites in the north of Palestine were Krak des Chevaliers and Margat, in the south - the castles of Belvoir and Bet Gibelin.
The Johannites built their fortresses on elevated places, and they dominated the entire surrounding area, allowing them to control the entire territory within a radius of several kilometers. An Arab author, describing the Belver fortress, compared it to an eagle's nest. In fortresses and castles, the Johannites, as a rule, always built a second line of fortifications.
The Krak des Chevaliers fortress, located on the slope of the Lebanese mountains, was handed over to the Johannites by Count Raymond of Tripoli in 1144 and had powerful double walls built by knights with high towers and a ditch cut into the rocks. Inside the fortress (with a total area of about three hectares) there were residential buildings: barracks, the Grand Master's chamber, grain barns, a mill, a bakery, an oil mill, and stables. An aqueduct was built into the fortress, through which drinking water was constantly supplied, sufficient for a garrison of two thousand. But no matter how reliable the defense of the fortress and the courage of the Ioannites were, the enemy forces were so significant that sometimes their numbers outnumbered the Ioannites tens of times. But not a single fortress was surrendered without a fight! The castle of Bet Jibelin fell in 1187, the castle of Belver in 1189 after a siege by the troops of Salah ad-Din (who, by the way, shortly before this (10/2/1187) captured Christian Jerusalem, which had previously been captured by the crusaders (1099). Krak des Chevaliers from 1110 to 1271 withstood twelve sieges, and only in 1271 was it captured by the troops of the Mameluke Sultan of Egypt, Baybars.
The fortress of Margat was handed over to the Hospitallers by Count Raymond III of Tripoli in 1186. This fortress was located south of Antioch, 35 kilometers from the sea, and was built of basalt rock with double walls and large towers. Inside there was a large underground reservoir. The reserves of the fortress allowed the thousand-strong garrison to withstand a five-year siege. For a long time, the Margat fortress was one of the main residences of the Order. The Margat Charters adopted in it are known (in which for the first time knights began to be divided according to nationality into “Languages” or “Nations”). Margat fell after a brutal Mameluke siege of Baybars' successor, Kelawn, in 1285.
Crusades II to VIII.
Already in 1124, with the help of the Johannite knights, the Arab siege was lifted from the main port of the Kingdom of Jerusalem - Jaffa, and Tyre - one of the richest cities in the Eastern Mediterranean - was taken.
In 1137, the troops of the Byzantine emperor John Komnenos briefly captured Antioch, and in December 1144, the troops of the Seljuk emir Imad ad-din defeated the Principality of Edessa - after the appeal of the ambassadors of Christian states in the East to the Pope, Eugene III, in the summer of 1147, the II Crusade, in which the Johannites also took part. An army of seventy thousand crusaders led by the French king Louis VII and the German king Conrad III of Hohenstaufen, after the unsuccessful siege of Damascus, returned home to Europe with nothing - the Second Crusade ended unsuccessfully.
In 1153, the Johannites took part in the capture of Ascalon, an important Egyptian city, and in 1168, in the unsuccessful siege of Cairo. By the end of the 12th century, there were more than 600 knights in the Order of St. John.
In 1171, power in Egypt was seized by the Egyptian vizier Yusuf Salah ad-din, called Saladin in Europe, who for several years united Syria and Mesopotamia under his control. A fierce struggle between the Mamelukes and the Crusaders began. In 1185, the king of Jerusalem and Salah ad-Din signed a peace treaty for four years. But at the beginning of 1187, the owner of two fortresses - Kerak and Krak de Montreal - Baron Rene of Chatillon attacked the caravan of Salah ad-Din, traveling from Cairo to Damascus. Among those captured was the sister of the ruler of Egypt. The Sultan demanded an explanation, but Rene replied that he had not signed the agreement and did not comply with it. Salah ad-Din declared a holy war on the crusaders - Jihad.
The sixty-thousand-strong Mameluke army led by Salah ad-Din invaded the land of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and took Tiberias on July 1, 1187. On July 5, near the same Tiberias, located between Lake Tiberias and Nazareth, the crusaders were completely defeated by the army of Salah ad-Din - the King of Jerusalem Guy de Lusignan, the Grand Master of the Templars and many knights were captured. After the defeat of the crusader army near Hittin, more than 30 knights were executed; Rene of Chatillon was personally beheaded by Salah ad-Din. The defeat of the Crusaders at Tiberias had catastrophic consequences for the Kingdom of Jerusalem. The kingdom lost the most combat-ready part of its army, if not its entire army. At the same time, roads were opened to all castles, fortresses, cities, city ports and Jerusalem itself! The existence of the Kingdom of Jerusalem was under threat.
After Tiberias, Salah ad-Din's troops took the ports of Acre, Toron, Sidon, Beirut, Nazareth, Jaffa and Ascalon - the kingdom of Jerusalem was cut off from Europe. In mid-September 1187, Salah ad-Din's army besieged Jerusalem. It was useless to defend Jerusalem and on October 2, after several negotiations, the city surrendered: Jerusalem opened the gates. Residents of Jerusalem could leave the city only by paying a ransom - 10 gold dinars for a man, 5 for a woman and 1 for a child; anyone who could not do this became a slave. 3,000 poor people were released just like that.
The Crusaders still had Belfort, Tire, Tripoli, Krak des Chevaliers, Margaret and Antioch.
In May 1189, the Third Crusade began, led by the German Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, the French King Philip II Augustus and the English King Richard the Lionheart. Johannite knights also took part in the campaign. On the way, King Richard took the island of Cyprus, separated from Byzantium, whose king was the former head of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, Guido de Lusignan. On July 11, 1191, the crusaders stormed Acre, where the main residence of the Order of St. John was located. The residences of the Johannites were also located in Tire and Margat. Richard the Lionheart wanted to take Jerusalem, but could not besiege the city - on September 2, 1192, a peace was concluded with Salah ad-Din, according to which Jerusalem remained with the Mamelukes, and the crusaders retained only a narrow coastal strip from Tire to Jaffa. Plus, Richard had urgent business in his kingdom, in England, and he wanted to sail there as soon as possible. The capital of the Kingdom of Jerusalem was moved to Acre.
The Johannites also took part in the IV Crusade, which began in 1199. The troops under the leadership of the Italian margrave Boniface of Montferatti and Baldwin of Flanders on the Venetian ships Enrico Dandolo instead of fighting with Egypt at the request of the contender for the imperial throne, the Byzantine prince Alexios Angelos, son of Emperor Isaac Angelos, had just overthrown from the throne by his brother, they were seduced by the huge money that Alexei promised to pay them if, with their help, his father would be restored to the throne, and approached Constantinople. Isaac was put back on the throne, but he did not have enough money to pay the debt. Protracted negotiations began, in which Isaac asked to defer the payment of the debt. The Crusaders did not want to wait: the Holy Land was waiting for them. Meanwhile, a prince from the Duki family appeared in Constantinople, who began to preach the hatred of the Greeks towards the crusaders, and to top it all off, he also made a sortie against the crusaders, which decided the fate of the empire. The people unanimously supported this prince (his name was Murzufl) and he was proclaimed emperor in the Cathedral of St. Sophia. In addition, he imprisoned the heir to the throne, Alexei Angel, and killed him there. He also wanted to get rid of the leaders of the crusaders: to lure them into a trap by inviting them to a “feast,” but he failed. The next day, the Byzantine army itself took hostile action against the crusaders, attempting to set fire to their ships. The war has begun. Constantinople was besieged from almost all sides. After a short siege, the crusaders took Constantinople by storm on their second attempt. Murzufl fled. The enormous wealth of Constantinople at that time was plundered! According to rough estimates, their value was then estimated at 1,100,000 silver marks. The city's residents were spared. Count Baldwin IX of Flanders was elected emperor of the new Latin Empire on May 9. The Crusaders captured and divided among themselves the lands of Thrace, Macedonia, Thessaly, Attica, Boeotia, Peloponnese and the islands of the Aegean Sea. At the same time, with the participation of the Johannites, the Principality of Morea was formed on the Peloponnesian Peninsula.
The Order gradually became a major land owner. Firstly, he received possessions both in Palestine (in the conquered lands) and in Europe as a reward for military exploits and services provided to the monks. Secondly, knights of honor (or “knights of justice”), who took all vows (including the vow of poverty), donated their property and real estate to the order. Thirdly, the Order inherited the lands of its dead knights (Raymond de Puy’s Rules prescribed that a knight setting out on a journey should “make a spiritual will or other disposition,” and very often the knights declared the Order as their heir). Each individual possession of the Order was called a commandery, and, as was its custom, in each such possession (both in Palestine and in Europe) the Order established a hospital in honor of St. John of Jerusalem. During the Crusades, there were several Johannite states (the Johannite state in Akkon with its capital in Acre was the last Crusader state in Palestine after the fall of Jerusalem).
During the Fifth Crusade of 1217-21. The Johannites took part in the unsuccessful siege of the Tabor fortress (77 towers), and during the campaign against Mameluke Egypt, they took part in the long siege and capture of the Damista (Damietta) fortress. In 1230, the Johannites established contacts with the Assassins, a secret Muslim organization-state formed at the end of the 11th century in Iran and which had fortresses and castles in Syria and Lebanon.
In August 1244, Jerusalem was taken by the troops of the Egyptian Sultan al-Salih. On October 17, 1244, the united army of the Kingdom of Jerusalem was defeated at Harbshah by the troops of the Egyptian Sultan Baybars (Bibars). Of the 7,000 knights, only 33 Templars, 3 Teutons and 27 Johannites remained alive; about 800 knights were captured. In 1247, the Egyptians also captured part of Galilee and the city of Ascalon, which was defended by the Johannite knights.
In 1265, Sultan Baybars (Bibars) took Caesarea and Arsuf, in 1268 - Jaffa, and, worst of all, Antioch, one of the most powerful fortresses in the Middle East, a fortress that the crusaders besieged for 7 months and lost half of their army under it. armies! This is how the chronicles describe the misfortune of Antioch, which Bibars took: “Since the Count of Tripoli, the ruler of Antioch, fled from it, the Sultan notified him in writing of his victory. “Death,” he wrote, “came from all sides and along all paths; we killed all those whom you chose to guard Antioch; if you saw your knights trampled under the feet of horses, the wives of your subjects sold by auction, overturned crosses and church pulpits, sheets of the Gospel scattered and scattered in the wind, your palaces engulfed in flames, the dead burning in the fire of this world, then, You would probably exclaim: “Lord! Let me too turn to dust!’” Baibars also took the powerful fortress of the Teutonic Order of Montfort. In 1271, the Krak des Chevaliers fortress in Syria, which belonged to the Hospitallers, was taken.
In 1270, the last Crusade took place - the eighth. On July 17, crusader troops led by the French king Louis IX landed in Tunisia, where the king died of fever. The campaign ended without results, peace was signed - the crusaders were unable to turn the situation in their favor. In 1285, the troops of Sultan Baybars took Margat, in 1287 - Latakia, in April 1289 - Tripoli.
In 1291, despite all the valor and heroism of the Knights of the Red Cross (Templars) and the Knights of the White Cross (Hospitaliers), who fought side by side, there were 7 Muslims per Christian, the battles continued every day and Acre (Ptolemais) was lost in the face of overwhelming numerical superiority of Muslim troops, holding out for about two weeks. The fall of Acre had enormous political and military significance - it meant the destruction of the last stronghold of Christians and their expulsion from the Holy Land. With the fall of Acre, the Kingdom of Jerusalem ceased to exist. The fall of Acre also ends the history of the Crusades.
Leaving the Holy Land. Cyprus.
At the end of the 13th century. The Johannites moved to Cyprus, captured back in 1191. troops of the English king Richard the Lionheart and sold to the Templars, who then ceded the island to the king of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, Guy de Lusignan (this dynasty held the island until 1489). Through the efforts of the Grand Master of the Hospitallers, Jean de Villiers, the Hospitallers in Cyprus already had castles in Nicosia, Kolossi and other places. The retreat to Cyprus was quite combative: “Grand Master Jean de Villiers and his knights cut their way onto the order’s galley, while from the deck the archers covering their valiant retreat rained down hails of arrows on the enemy, who was trying to destroy the last surviving heroes of the Great Christian War The armies, defeated and wounded, but not subjugated or broken, the knights landed in Cyprus, where King Guy de Lusignan greeted them in a friendly manner and became a vassal of the King of Cyprus and received from him the fief of Limassol (Limisso) as a fief.
Expelled from Jerusalem, the Order of St. Samson merged with the Order of the Hospitallers, and this union became known as the “Knights of Cyprus.” In 1291 King Henri II of Lusignan of Cyprus gave the knights the city of Limisso (which was approved by Pope Clement V), where the Order's residence was then for eighteen years.
The General Chapter was held at Limiss, so that since the founding of the Order there had not been such a crowded meeting. Some of the cavaliers advised the Grand Master to move to Italy, but he and the other senior cavaliers, having the goal of ever returning the Promised Land, rejected the proposal of the first, and decided to stay in Limiss for a while. Here the Grand Master founded an inn for the poor and strangers, ordered the cavaliers to arm the ships on which they arrived in Cyprus, and use them to protect the pilgrims, who, even after their final loss by Christians
Jerusalem did not stop visiting the Holy Places. Soon after this, the cavaliers set out to sea, where, gathering strangers, escorted them to their fatherland and fighting for them with the corsairs, they received great booty, thereby increasing the armament of the Order so that in a short time many ships left the harbor, and the flag of the Order of St. John on of all seas was in great respect. Due to the inconstancy of the King of Cyprus, his constant disagreements with the cavaliers continued, which is why the Grand Master decided to change his place. He turned his gaze to the island, which was then owned by Leon Gallus, who had fallen away from the Greek emperor. Gall, having gathered the Turks and Saracens, armed himself and resisted the cavaliers in the complete conquest of the island for more than two years. The islands of Nissaro, Episcopia, Colchis, Simia, Tilo, Leros, Kalalu and Kos also swore an oath of allegiance to the Grand Master.
In accordance with medieval feudal law, the Order, although it retained a certain freedom in deciding its own affairs, was forced to be in a certain dependence on its lord, which was expressed, in particular, in the payment of tribute and military service. But Grand Master Guillaume de Villaret’s relationship with the lord de Lusignan did not work out, and the proud knight began to look for another place.
Relocation to Rhodes.
Twenty years in Cyprus allowed the Order to regain its strength. The treasury was filled with numerous receipts from Europe, as well as spoils from naval victories over corsairs and Turks. The influx of new knights from Europe increased. The Order regained its former power. While the Templar and Teutonic orders, after the loss of the Holy Land, moved to the home countries of their knights and, despite their importance, ended up depending on their lords, the knights of the Order of St. John did not want to have a lord and decided to conquer the island of Rhodes . In 1307-1309, the Hospitallers conquered the island of Rhodes and subsequently founded a powerful fortress and hospital there. And in 1310 The headquarters of the Order was officially moved to Rhodes. The first concern of the knights was the strengthening of the old Byzantine fortifications of the island and the construction of a hospital.
The renovation of defensive fortifications was not an empty precaution. Just two years after the knights settled in Rhodes, the Turks made an attempt to take possession of the island of Amorgos, which lay one hundred miles northwest of Rhodes. Grand Master Fulk de Villaret threw all the available forces of the Order to defeat the Turks. In a naval battle off the coast of Amorgos, the Turks lost their entire fleet.
Military operations against the Turks, which were carried out almost continuously until the last quarter of the 15th century, gave birth to their heroes. One of them was Dieudonné de Gozon, who was elected Grand Master in 1346. Under the leadership of de Gozon, the knights won an impressive victory over the Turkish fleet off the coast of Smyrna. This city remained their outpost in Asia Minor until it fell to the armies of Timur in 1402.
The second half of the 14th century was marked by Europe's last attempts to take revenge for the defeat of the Crusaders. In 1365, Pope Urban V called for a new crusade against the infidels. Preparations for it were led by King Peter I of Cyprus. In the summer of 1365, an armada of sailing ships, galleys and transport ships, on board which were knights and warriors from different European countries, gathered off the coast of Cyprus. There were also galleys of the Order of St. John. The Turks had no doubt that the main blow would be delivered to Syria. However, the crusader ships headed towards Alexandria, which remained one of the most beautiful and richest cities in North Africa. The city was taken by storm, plundered, and put to fire and sword. The Crusaders exterminated civilians with merciless barbarity, making no distinction between Muslims, Christians and Jews. When the crusader ships, overloaded with rich booty, returned to Cyprus, it became clear that any attempt to build on the first success was doomed to failure. Most of the crusader army deserted. However, the Arabs and Turks long remembered the merciless massacre carried out by the crusaders in Alexandria. After 60 years they captured and devastated Cyprus. With the fall of Cyprus, the last Latin kingdom disappeared from the map of the eastern Mediterranean. The Order of St. John was left alone with the growing power of the Ottoman Turks.
Two years after the sack of Alexandria, the Hospitallers undertook a successful naval expedition to the shores of Syria. The landing party, landed from the order's galleys, returned with rich booty. From then on, sea raids on the cities of the Levant, Egypt and Asia Minor began to be carried out regularly. The knights realized that the best way to fight an enemy outnumbered was a surprise attack.
At the end of the 14th century, the Order of St. John took part in the last attempt of medieval Europe to revive the spirit of the Crusades. An army of one hundred thousand, under the command of the eldest son of the Duke of Burgundy, set out on a campaign, intending to oust the Turks from the territories they occupied beyond the Danube. The crusaders cherished the hope of repeating the success of the first crusade, passing through Anatolia to Jerusalem. Together with the Genoese and Venetians, the Hospitallers were supposed to provide support from the sea. The Order's fleet under the command of Grand Master Philibert de Nayac entered the Black Sea through the Dardanelles and the Bosporus and anchored at the mouth of the Danube. However, he did not have to participate in hostilities. The huge, but poorly organized and extremely undisciplined army of the Crusaders was completely defeated by the light cavalry of the Turks near the city of Nicopolis. “The campaign against Nicopolis was the largest and last of the crusades. Its sad outcome repeated with depressing accuracy the history of the previous crusades, which was extremely unfavorable for Europe,” wrote the famous English historian Stephen Runciman.
The capture of Baghdad by Timur's troops in 1392 complicated the situation in the Levant to the limit. In 1403, the Hospitallers, who never hesitated before concluding temporary alliances with their yesterday's enemies against a new powerful enemy, agreed on joint actions with the Egyptian Mamluks. According to the terms of the agreement, the Order receives the right to open its representative offices in Damietta and Ramla and restore its old Hospital in Jerusalem. The agreement with the Mamluks brings the Order almost four decades of peaceful respite. Nevertheless, work on the construction of new fortifications in Rhodes continues, and galleys regularly go to sea from the port of Mandracchio.
By the middle of the 15th century, the balance of power in the eastern Mediterranean had changed not in favor of the Hospitallers. The capture of Constantinople in 1453 by the victorious troops of Sultan Mehmet II sounded a signal of mortal danger for the Order. Mehmet II was a skilled commander, an educated man, knew several languages, and the conquest of Rhodes was only a matter of time for him. Mortal danger looms over the Hospitallers...
Mehmet II sent a 70,000-strong army to conquer the Hospitaller citadel. The Grand Master of the Order was then Pierre D'Aubusson. He could oppose the power of the Turkish army with only 600 knights, including squires, and from 1.5 to 2 thousand people of mercenary foreign troops. The local population also fought on the side of the knights, to whom weapons were distributed. In those days, no one took into account the number of slaves who also participated in hostilities.
In mid-July, the enormous numerical superiority of the Turks and the power of their artillery began to affect the progress of the siege. The southern walls of the city, surrounding the so-called Jewish quarter, were practically destroyed. The defenders of Rhodes were on the verge of defeat. On July 27, when the Bashi-Bazouks - the vanguard of the Turkish army - went on the attack, it seemed that nothing could save the Hospitallers. The few knights remaining in the ranks fought desperately in the openings of the dilapidated walls. D'Aubusson personally led the defenders in the most dangerous direction. In a fierce battle, he was wounded four times, but continued to fight until he fell, pierced by a Janissary spear.
The unparalleled courage of the Hospitallers decided the outcome of the battle. The demoralized bashi-bazouks rolled back in panic, crushing the approaching reinforcements. An unimaginable battle began, in which the Turks lost at least 5 thousand people. Fearing complete defeat, the commander-in-chief of the Turkish troops, Misak Pasha, was forced to give the signal to retreat. The next morning the Turks boarded the waiting ships and departed for their home. On the way, Misak Pasha died of dysentery.
Grand Master d'Aubusson survived. The skilled surgeons of the Order Hospital managed to heal his wounds, including a through wound to the chest that touched the right lung.
When news of the Order's victory reached the royal houses of Europe, a flood of financial and military aid poured into Rhodes. Pierre d'Aubusson immediately launched extensive work to restore the destroyed fortifications of Rhodes. He understood that sooner or later the Order would have to face a decisive battle with the Turks.
After the death of Mehmet II, he had 2 sons - Cem and Bayezid, each of whom claimed power. Bayezid won. Bayezid intended to make many campaigns in various directions against Europe, but due to his lazy and inactive nature, there was no success in the war with Europe. “He was an insignificant man who neglected the worries of war for the pleasures of the seraglio.” - This is what Philippe de Comines wrote about him.
The real threat followed the accession of Selim, the son of Bayazid. Having shaken the power of the Mamluks, Selim took possession of Palestine, and the crescent banner was hoisted on the walls of Jerusalem. And Selim, following the example of Omar, desecrated the shrine of the Holy Sepulcher with his presence. Selim, the conqueror of Persia, the ruler of Egypt, was preparing to direct all his forces against the Christians. When Europe learned that Jerusalem was in the power of the Turks, it seemed to it that the holy land had for the first time fallen under the yoke of the infidels, and very little was then left to awaken the spirit of the ancient crusades in Europe.
At the 5th Lateran Council, Pope Leo X began to preach a crusade against the Turks and sent legates to all European countries capable of fighting back. He also proclaimed a truce between all European states for 5 years, because... The situation at that time in Europe was unstable. And the pope threatened to excommunicate those sovereigns who would not observe the truce. European monarchs did not resist such harsh behavior of the pope and gave him consent. A crusade was preached throughout Europe, taxes and donations were intensively collected, and spiritual processions were held. Finally a war plan was drawn up. But all these preparations were in vain - the peace between the Christian monarchs was soon broken and each used the armies that were sent against the Turks for their own purposes. Finally, the rivalry between Charles V and Francis I brought the war to Europe and everyone stopped thinking about the crusade. The “crusade” of Leo X only aroused the militant fanaticism of the Turks against Christians. Selim's successor, Suleiman, captured Belgrade and again sent Ottoman forces to Rhodes.
In June 1522, a Turkish fleet of 700 ships, carrying a 200,000-strong army, headed for the shores of Rhodes. The Sultan personally led a huge army, which was supposed to put an end to the troublemakers of the Ottoman Empire. They alone could not withstand the siege and turned to the West for help. There was no help. All they had to do was confront the enemy with their small army and courage. For 6 months they heroically held the island, besieged by hordes of troops of the Ottoman Empire! The knights showed miracles of heroism, but the army of Suleiman the Magnificent was too numerous. In an effort to avoid the wholesale extermination of the knights, Grand Master Philippe Villiers de Lisle Adam decided to enter into negotiations with the Sultan, who proposed that the Hospitallers make peace on honorable terms. On January 1, 1523, the Hospitallers left Rhodes forever. The Hospitallers held Rhodes for more than 200 years, repelling various attacks and actively fighting pirates and Turks.
And when these remnants of Christian chivalry were driven out of the island, and sought refuge in Italy, tears flowed from the eyes of the pope and bishops when the Hospitallers told them about their disasters suffered at Rhodes. But this compassion of the shepherds of the Christian Church was not enough to deliver to the knights what they asked from the European sovereigns, namely: a corner of the earth, some deserted island in the Mediterranean Sea, where they could continue to fight the Turks.
Tripoli and Malta.
The path of the Hospitallers from Rhodes to the shores of Europe was long and difficult. Their fleet consisted of 50 ships of all shapes and sizes, including 17 transports leased from the Rhodians. There were about 5 thousand people on board, including the sick and wounded. A gala reception was given to the Hospitallers on the island of Candia. However, the knights behaved with restraint. They remembered that the Venetians, who owned the island, refused to help them during the siege of Rhodes. Two months passed for ship repairs. Only in March 1523 did the Hospitallers continue their journey. Two months later they were in Messina. However, failure awaited the knights here too. Plague raged on the coast of southern Italy. For six months, the Hospitallers, fleeing the epidemic, moved from Naples to Vitterbo, from Vitterbo to Villa Franca, until they finally settled in Nice, which was at that time in the possession of the Duke of Savoy.
European monarchs paid tribute to the courage shown by the Hospitallers during the defense of Rhodes. However, no one was in a hurry to come to the aid of the errant knights. France and Spain, for example, were at war. The “most Christian” king of France, Francis I, who was captured in Madrid, was looking for ways of reconciliation with the Magnificent Porte. In this environment, the Hospitallers, bearers of the long-extinguished spirit of the Crusades, looked like a medieval anachronism.
It is difficult to say how the future of the Order would have developed if not for the outstanding diplomatic talent of Grand Master de Lisle Adam. The Viceroy of Sicily made it clear to the Grand Master that the Order could count on his patronage if it agreed to choose Tripoli, the new North African possession of the Spanish crown, as its seat. The Viceroy made it clear that the capture of Tripoli in Madrid was considered as the first step towards the conquest of Egypt.
The idea of going to North Africa was met with little enthusiasm by the Hospitallers. Tripoli, known for its harsh living conditions, of course could not compare with Rhodes. However, in October 1523, another proposal was made. This time it came personally from Charles V. As compensation, the king offered the knights the islands of the Maltese archipelago. At the end of June 1524, eight knights, representing each of the languages of the Order, visited Malta and Tripoli to familiarize themselves with the conditions there. The Hospitallers did not like the harsh rocky island at first sight, but the sight of Tripoli plunged them into even greater disappointment. The report they submitted stated that Tripoli, with its weak fortifications, was unthinkable to defend for a long time by the forces of the Order. The Chapter of the Order rejected the proposal of the Spanish king.
The sequel will be ready soon
note 1
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when they revile you and persecute you and slander you in every way unjustly because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for great is your reward in heaven.
approx. Information taken from various sources
The ancient chronicler of Tire noted that “The Latins changed the Greek name of St. John to John Lemonier (“Merciful”); the name of the Johannites allegedly came from him.
So the Johannites received a more significant heavenly patron without changing their name.
Administration(Adminsitration) The Order consists of eight Bailiffs, responsible for specific areas of the Order's activities:- Chief Commander(Grand Commander), who, together with the Treasurer, manages the general property, controls the Accounts committee, acts as Master of the Artillery and appoints some priests.
- Marshal(Marshal), later Grand Marshal, who acts as the chief of the military staff and deals with all military matters.
- Hospitaller(Hospitaller) or Grand Hospitaller, who manages the work of hospitals and clinics.
- Drapier(Drapier), since 1539 the Chief Guardian (Grand Conservator), who is responsible for the supply of the armed forces of the Order and is responsible for the maintenance of some formations.
- Admiral(Admiral), or Chief Admiral (Grand Admiral), a position created when the Order left the Holy Land and which commands the galleys.
- Turcopolyer(Turcopolier or Turcopilier), who commands the Turcopoles (Turcopoles), i.e. hired soldiers from the local population in Palestine and Rhodes and Malta, and is responsible for the coast guard.
- Chief Chancellor(Grand Chancellor), who signs all government orders, puts official seals and monitors the implementation of all decrees and decrees.
- Chief Bailiff(Grand Bailiff) from 1428, responsible in Rhodes for protecting the defense of the Castle of Saint Peter and later the island of Gozo.
Each of the Langis was controlled by one of the eight highest leaders of the order:
- Provence(Provence) - Grand Commander,
- Avignon(Auvergne) - Marshal,
- France- Hospitaller,
- Italy- Admiral,
- Aragon(Aragon) - Drapier (later Grand Conservator),
- England- Turcopilier,
- Germany- Grand Bailiff (a post invented to satisfy the Germans)
- Castile(Castille) - Portugal - Grand Chancellor.
We praise our names
But the poverty of idle talk will become obvious,
When to raise your cross for ramen
We will not be ready these days.
Christ, full of love, is for us,
He died in the land that was given to the Turks.
Let's flood the fields with a stream of enemy blood,
Or our honor is forever disgraced!
Conan de Bethuis. Translation by E. Vasilyeva
Typically, Western European knights defeated Muslims on the battlefield, and not only when they fought bravely and decisively - these were the qualities for which chivalry has always been famous - but also acted in an organized manner. But it was precisely organization that the knights most often lacked. The reason was that every feudal knight depended on little on anyone, since his peasants were engaged in subsistence farming, and the society itself was distinguished by non-economic forms of forced labor. Moreover, in personal valor he could easily surpass both the duke and the count, and even the king himself! Suger, abbot of Saint-Denis, in his treatise “The Life of Louis VI, nicknamed Tolstoy,” spoke in detail about how in 1111 he planned to punish Hugh du Puizet, since he was engaged in robbery, and besieged his castle in Beauce. Although the king’s army suffered heavy losses, he still took Hugo’s castle, but he treated Hugo himself very gently: he just sent him into exile, although he could have hanged him. Then Hugo returned, declared that he had repented, and Louis VI forgave him. Then Hugo again built the donjon and... took up robbery and other outrages, so that the king was simply forced to go on a campaign against his obstinate vassal again. And again Hugo’s dungeon was burned, and Hugo himself was punished, and then, when he repented once again, they were pardoned again! But then he repeated the same thing for the third time, and it was then that the king became seriously angry: the donjon burned him, and Hugo himself was sent to the Holy Land to atone for his sins before God. He never returned from there, and only after that the inhabitants of Bose were able to breathe easy.
Crusader warrior 1163 – 1200 Fresco on the wall of the chapel of Cressac-Saint-Genis (Charente). The most famous are the frescoes painted on the northern wall. The top row of images tells of the battle with the Saracens that took place in 1163 at the foot of the Krak des Chevaliers castle, when Emir Nureddin, who besieged the castle, was completely defeated by a surprise attack by the Frankish cavalry.
Many other knights were distinguished by the same, if not greater, arbitrariness in that era. And it would be nice in peacetime! No, and on the battlefield they behaved in an equally inappropriate manner! And if some proud knight, before the rest, rushed to the enemy camp in order to be the first to rob it, or fled from the enemy when it was necessary to stand steadfastly in one place and fight the enemy, the king could well lose even the most successful battle!
Making sure that knights were disciplined was what many military leaders dreamed of, but no one could achieve this for many years. Everything changed when the “expeditions” to the East began. There, having become closely acquainted with the Eastern culture, which was completely different for them, the leaders of the West decided that the church itself could become the “basis” of knightly discipline. And all you need to do for this is... make monks out of the knights and at the same time hint that in this way they will get closer to their cherished salvation!
Knights-Crusaders of Palestine: from left to right - Knight-Crusader of the Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem (founded in 1099); Hospitaller; Templar, knight of the Order of St. Jacob of Campostela, Teutonic Knight of the Order of St. Mary of Teutonia.
And so the spiritual knightly orders of the crusader knights appeared, created in distant Palestine. But they were only copied from very similar “organizations” among Muslims! After all, it was there, in the East, at the end of the 11th – beginning of the 12th century that such military-religious orders as Rahkhasiyya, Shuhainiya, Khaliliyya and Nubuwiyya appeared, some of which in 1182 were united by Caliph an-Nasir into one large and united spiritual order for all Muslims. knightly order of Futuwwa. Members of this order had a purely knightly rite, when the entrant was girded with a sword, after which the candidate drank “sacred” salt water from a special bowl, put on special trousers and even, as in Europe, received a blow with the flat side of the sword or hand on the shoulder. That is, chivalry itself, as such, came to Europe from the East, which, by the way, is also mentioned in Ferdowsi’s poem “Shahnameh”!
Although, who was the first and from whom to borrow the very idea of a spiritual knightly order is also, in general, unknown - or rather, this is a very controversial issue! After all, long before these events, in the lands of Africa, namely in Ethiopia, there already existed... the ancient Christian order of St. Anthony, and historians quite rightly consider him the oldest among all other knightly orders in the whole world.
The cross was a popular figure on ancient knightly coats of arms.
It is believed that it was founded by the Negus - the ruler of Ethiopia, who was known in the West as "Prester John", after St. Anthony either in 357 or 358 fell asleep in the Lord. Then many of his followers decided to go into the desert, where they took vows of monastic life to St. Vasily and created a monastery “in the name and heritage of St. Anthony." The order itself was founded in 370 AD, although even a later date compared to all other orders will still be “early”.
Stairs to the cave of St. Anthony the Great. Perhaps salvation can be found here...
Orders with the same name were later in Italy, France and Spain, and were branches of the order, whose headquarters were in Constantinople. It is interesting that the Ethiopian order has survived to this day. The head of the order is its grandmaster and at the same time the President of the Royal Council of Ethiopia. They admit new members very rarely, and as for the vows, yes, they are completely chivalrous. The badge of the order has two degrees - the Grand Knight's Cross and the Companion Cross. He has the right to indicate in his official title the initials KGCA (Knight Grand Cross) and CA (Companion of the Order of St. Anthony).
Crosses of the Order of St. Anthony.
Both badges of the order have the appearance of a golden Ethiopian cross, covered with blue enamel, and on top they are also crowned with the imperial crown of Ethiopia. But the breast star is the cross of the order, does not have a crown, and is superimposed on an eight-pointed silver star. The order ribbon is traditionally sewn from moire silk, has a bow at the hip, and its color is black with blue stripes on the edges.
The clothing of the knights of the order were black and blue robes, on the chest of which a blue three-pointed cross was embroidered. Senior knights were distinguished by double crosses of the same color. The order's headquarters was located on the island of Meroe (in Sudan), and throughout Ethiopia the order owned both women's and numerous men's monasteries. The order was simply incredibly rich: its annual income was no less than two million gold. Thus, the idea of such orders was first born not in the East, and, as you see, not in Europe, but in... sultry Christian Ethiopia!
Well, the palm in the creation of the very first order in Palestine belonged to the Johannites or Hospitallers. Usually, non-specialists associate its founding with the first crusade, although the real order is slightly different. It all started when Emperor Constantine came to Jerusalem to find here (and he found it!) the life-giving cross of the Lord, well, the same one on which Jesus Christ was crucified. Then many other holy places were found in the city, which were mentioned in the Gospel, and churches immediately began to be built in these places.
It is clear that any Christian would be very pleased to visit all these places, receive grace from God and hope for the salvation of his sinful soul. But the journey to the Holy Land for the pilgrims was filled with dangers. And when someone got there, they often took monastic vows and stayed to continue doing good to other pilgrims at the same monastic hospitals. In 638, Jerusalem was captured by the Arabs, but for all this “activity” the conditions remained virtually unchanged.
And so, when in the 10th century Jerusalem turned into a world center of Christian piety, a pious merchant was found - yes, there were those then, named Constantine di Panteleone, originally from the Italian trading republic of Amalfi, who in 1048 asked permission from the Egyptian Sultan to build in the city of another shelter for sick pilgrims. They called it the Jerusalem Hospital of St. John, and the emblem of the hospital was the white eight-pointed Amalfi cross. That is why his servants began to be called Johannites, or hospitalers (from the Latin hospitalis - “hospitable”).
Battle for Agra. Miniature from the manuscript “History of Outremer” by Guillaume de Tire, 14th century. (National Library of France).
For 50 years, the Hospitallers lived quite peacefully - they went after the sick and prayed, but then the Crusaders besieged Jerusalem. According to legend, Christians, like all other residents of the city, were “put on the walls.” And then the cunning Johannites began to throw not stones, but fresh bread onto the heads of the Christian knights! The authorities immediately accused the Johannites of treason, but a miracle happened: right in front of the judges, this bread turned into stone, which proved their innocence, so they were acquitted! When Jerusalem fell on July 15, 1099, Duke Godfrey of Bouillon rewarded the brave monks, and some of his knights even became members of their brotherhood in order to protect pilgrims traveling to the holy city. First, the status of the order was approved by the ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, Baudouin I, in 1104, and nine years later, Pope Paschal II confirmed his decision with his bull. And this charter of Baudouin I and the papal bull have survived to this day and are located in the National Library of the island of Malta in the city of La Valletta.
Louis VII and King Baudouin III of Jerusalem (left) fight the Saracens (right). Miniature from the manuscript “History of Outremer” by Guillaume de Tire, 14th century. (National Library of France).
The military brothers of the order were not mentioned in documents until 1200, when they were divided into brother warriors (blessed to wear and use), brother doctors and brother chaplains, who performed the necessary religious rites in the order. The military brothers obeyed only the Pope and the Grand Master of the Order. At the same time, they owned lands, churches and cemeteries. They were exempt from taxes, and it was established that even bishops did not have the right to excommunicate them!
Modern Hospitaller Reconstructors.
It received its name, the Jerusalem Order of the Knights Hospitaller of St. John, in 1120 under the first master Raymond Dupuis. Along with the usual monastic attire, the knights wore a black cloak, on the left shoulder of which was sewn a white eight-pointed cross. On campaign, they wore a surcoat, usually scarlet in color, with a white linen cross on the chest with flared ends. They symbolized the following: the four ends of the cross are the four Christian virtues, and the eight corners are the eight good qualities of a true believer. And, of course, the cross against a bloody background symbolized knightly fortitude and loyalty to the Lord. The banner of the order was a rectangular red cloth with a white cross.
Fort in Larnaca, Cyprus. There were crusaders here too.
In 1291, the order left Palestine and moved to the island of Cyprus, and 20 years later settled on the island of Rhodes, where it remained until 1523, when it was driven out by the Turks. 42 years later, the knights of the order moved to Malta and became known as the “Knights of Malta”. Well, the hospitals founded by the order in various European countries were real centers of medicine at that time.
Still from the film “Suvorov” (1940). Emperor Paul is clearly wearing a robe with a Maltese cross. Well, he loved knightly romance, what to do... In the movie we see that during Suvorov’s meeting with Pavel, Paul I was wearing the mantle of the Master of the Order of Malta. It is safe to say that what we see does not correspond to history. Paul I was indeed proclaimed Grand Master of the Order of Malta, but only on December 6, 1798, that is, more than ten months after this audience.
In 1798, Malta fell under Napoleon's rule, causing a massive dispersion of its members around the world. Emperor Paul I invited the “Knights of Malta” to Russia and condoned them in every possible way, but after his death they had to leave Russia for Rome. Today the order has a complex name, which sounds like this: the Sovereign Military Order of the Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem, Rhodes and Malta. Note that in battles with Muslims in Palestine, the Hospitallers constantly competed with the Templars, which is why they were placed further away from each other. For example, the Johannites are in the rearguard, and the Templars are in the vanguard, and between them are all the other troops.
Bellapais Abbey, Northern Cyprus. Founded by the Hospitallers, but now there is an Orthodox Greek Church.
And this is what it looks like inside today.
Well, these are the dungeons of the abbey. When it's hot outside, it's pleasantly cool here.
Of course, the Hospitallers were not only warriors and doctors, but also excellent builders; they built so many different abbeys, churches and cathedrals. In this they also competed with the Templars. Having moved to Cyprus, they built many religious buildings there that have survived to this day.
St. Nicholas Cathedral, converted by Muslims into a mosque.
From the back, St. Nicholas Cathedral looks no less impressive than from the front.
