Between Via del Corso and Piazza di Spagna in Rome there is a small (only 300 m), but very famous (in narrow circles of fashion connoisseurs) Via Condotti. Here are the boutiques of the most famous brand houses in Europe: Dior, Gucci, Hermes, Armani, Prada, Salvatore Ferragamo, Burberry, Dolce e Gabbana.
Via Condotti
Another point of attraction for tourists on this street is the Antico Caffe Greco cafe, founded in 1760, which was visited by Goethe, Wagner, Byron, Casanova and the English romantic poet Keats, who also lived in the house obliquely.
Cafe Antico Caffe Greco
Palazzo di Malta is not the most conspicuous building, and only after seeing a strangely familiar red flag with a white Latin cross and reading the inscription on the door, a knowledgeable person suddenly realizes that before him is the territory of a sovereign state (as much as 0.012 sq km), recognized by 105 countries, with a hundred of which he has diplomatic relations. A state that has the right to issue its own passports, issue stamps and mint coins.
The official languages of this state are Latin and Italian, and the title of its head sounds like an incantation from the past:
But there were also titles of the prince of the Holy Roman Empire, the ruling prince of Rhodes and Malta, which are now lost. But the current Humble Master and Guardian still has the rank of cardinal and prince of the royal blood, thus using both the titles of Advantage (which is most often translated into Russian as "Eminence") and Highness: Your Most Preferred Highness - this is now supposed to be addressed to him … His predecessors were called:
Rector - until the summer of 1099
Master - until 1489
Grand Master - until 1805
Lieutenant of the master (that is, the person substituting for the master) - until 1879
We are, of course, talking about the Order of St. John, better known as the Order of the Hospitallers or the Order of Malta. "Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and Malta", to be more precise.
State flag of the Order of Malta
Knightly flag of the Order of Malta
Coat of arms of the Order of Malta
And it becomes a little sad when looking at this modest house, the long lines of the operetta title and the proud, but smelling of mothballs, flag. I remember the sad ancient Greek legend about Typhon - a beautiful young man in whom the goddess Eos fell in love. She begged Zeus to grant him immortality, but forgot to mention eternal youth. As a result, Typhon became an immortal old man and eventually turned into a cicada.
But how great and beautiful it all began! It began, of course, in Jerusalem - around 1048, when the Amalfi merchant Panteleon Mauro founded the first hospital there. The patron of the men's department, Panteleon chose Saint John of Alexandria, but another John, the Baptist, became the heavenly patron of the Hospitaller Order: because the hospital was located next to the church of the same name. The patroness of the women's department was Mary Magdalene. Benedictine monks worked in that hospital.
We have already talked about the titles of people who at various times led the Order of the Hospitallers. But there was one more - a unique title: "Director and Founder". It belongs to Pierre-Gerard de Martigues (Gerard Ten Blessed): he and four other volunteer knights were entrusted with the care of the wounded and sick by the first ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, Godfried of Bouillon in 1100.
Pierre-Gerard de Martigues
The first hospital was rebuilt in its original place, and in 1107 Baldwin I also granted the village of Salsada in the suburbs of Jerusalem. In 1113, Pope Paschal II approved the charter of the new brotherhood, blessing the construction of new hospitals for pilgrims in European seaports. Brotherhood hospitals appeared in Sant Giles, Asti, Pisa, Bari, Otranto, Taranto, Messina. A little later, a group of crusader knights joined the Brotherhood, led by Raymond de Puy from Provence, who became the first master of the Hospitallers (recall that Pierre-Gerard de Martigues bore the title of "director and founder"). It was under Raimund du Puy that the Hospitaller fraternity became a military order.
Raimund de Puy, 1st Master of the Hospitallers
Those who entered the Order took the three usual monastic vows - celibacy, poverty, and obedience. At first, candidates were not required to prove their noble origin - the presence of a war horse, knightly weapons and armor served as a guarantee. But from the beginning of the XIII century, the members of the Order were divided into three classes. The first consisted of knights - the leaders of the Order could be elected only from among them.
The knights, in turn, depending on their origin and merit, were divided into 4 categories: full-fledged, obedient, loyal and privileged. The second class included order priests, "serving brethren" (sergeants) and qualified hospital staff. By the third grade - attendants, whose representatives did not take monastic vows. Later, a fourth class appeared - sisters (women could also be members of this Order). Knights and sergeants took part in the hostilities. Standing apart were "confratres" - allies in military campaigns, and "donators" (donati) - people who helped the Order financially.
At first, most of the Knights Hospitallers were French. However, even then there were Italians and Spaniards among them. In 1180, the number of order knights in Palestine was already 600 people, and now they were divided into languages - national communities. Initially, the order consisted of seven languages: Provence, Auvergne, France, Italy, Aragon, Germany and England. From among the knights of the Auvergne, the infantry commander, the Grand Marshal, was traditionally appointed. A knight from England commanded the light cavalry of the mercenaries (the position was called the tourist field). Italy supplied great admirals. A representative of Germany was appointed to a post corresponding to the current position of chief military engineer. France was to nominate a candidate for the post of the great hospitaller. The representative of Provence was appointed as a great preceptor (chief treasurer). Aragon was assigned the post of drape (responsible for supplying the army). When the Language of Castile appeared in the Order, its representatives began to be entrusted with the leadership of foreign policy relations (the post of Grand Chancellor). The Heads of Languages (Pillars) were part of the Order Council - the Chapter. In addition to them, in the Chapter sat (in addition to the master) the order's lieutenant (deputy master) and the bishop. The Master and the Pillars could leave the main Order's residence only with the permission of the Chapter.
In 1130, Pope Innocent II approved the banner of the order - a white cross on a red background, and the main seal, which depicted a lying patient with a lamp at his feet and a cross at his head.
Hospitaller's banner and masters' coats of arms until 1306
Hospitaller Order seal and imprint
The distinctive mark of the Hospitallers was a white eight-pointed cross on the chest (later called the Maltese cross). White was a symbol of chastity. The four directions of the cross symbolized the main Christian virtues: prudence, justice, self-control, strength of mind, eight of its ends - eight blessings promised to the righteous in the Sermon on the Mount.
Soon, the Vatican also gave the Hospitallers an exemption from property tax, the right to collect tithes in their favor, and permission to conduct church services.
But back to the organization of hospitals, in which the members of the new Order have achieved great success. Their main hospital in Jerusalem in 1170 had about 2000 beds, including obstetric beds. At this point, the attentive reader should be confused. Think about it: 2,000 beds in 12th century Jerusalem! What do we have now?
Emergency hospital in Smolensk - 725 beds.
Military Clinical Hospital in Podolsk - 900 beds.
Research Institute named after N. V. Sklifosovsky Research Institute for Emergency Medicine - 962 beds.
Kaluga Regional Hospital - 1075 beds.
Republican Clinical Hospital, Kazan - 1155 beds.
Novosibirsk city hospital №1 - 1485 beds.
Main Military Clinical Hospital named after N. N. Burdenko - 1550 beds.
And, finally, the hospital of the Order of the Johannes in Jerusalem in 1170 - 2000 beds! Applause and curtain.
The fact is that the gospital of the Johannites (from the Latin word for "guest") is not a hospital, as is often believed, but something like an all-inclusive hotel in which a pilgrim from Europe could receive a full range of services: from an overnight stay with meals to medical care and religious needs. And the Order of the Hospitallers acted as an advanced tour operator: a pilgrim from Lyon or Paris could rest on his way to the Holy Land in a hospital in Messina or Bari, in Jaffa he was met and escorted to Jerusalem (yes, the pilgrim caravans were guarded not only by the Templars), where he could get settled in the main Hospital of the Order. As for the sick, the pilgrimage to Palestine in those days was an ordeal even for absolutely healthy people who underwent cruel 'natural selection' on their way and the weakest of them simply did not get to Jerusalem. in Jerusalem, or get wounded, but most of them did not need treatment and received other services from the Order.
In addition to the hospital itself, the Order also maintained orphanages for foundlings and infants. And for the poor, the Order brothers organized hot free dinners three times a week.
However, one should not exaggerate the disinterestedness of the spiritual-knightly orders. The relationship between the Hospitallers and the Templars was very tense. And the reason for this was not at all the competition for the right to benefit the pilgrims arriving in Palestine. One of their chroniclers wrote then:
"The Templars and Hospitallers cannot tolerate each other. The reason for this is greed for earthly goods. What one order acquires makes the envy of another. Members of each order individually, as they say, have given up all property, but they want to have everything for everyone." …
If Muscovites, according to Bulgakov, "spoiled the housing issue", then the Hospitallers and Templars - the issue of the distribution of various sponsorships. Well, and military booty too, of course.
In 1134, the childless king of Aragon and Navarre, Alphonse I the Warrior, bequeathed his possessions to three Palestinian orders: the Johannites, the Templars and the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher.
Alphonse I the Warrior, a monument in Navarre
The Hospitallers inherited vast holdings in Provence. And by the beginning of the XIII century. The Order of the Johannites owned nineteen thousand estates in different countries. In modern France, the former possessions of the Johannites can be unmistakably identified by the name "Saint-Jean" in the title. The Templars in this direction, too, were doing well, see article Ryzhov V. A. The rise and fall of the Templars
However, there is never a lot of money and land.
But everyone, of course, is much more interested in the combat history of the Order.
So, having settled a little in the Holy Land, the Hospitallers took upon themselves the duty of military protection of the Holy Sepulcher and "fighting the infidels wherever they are found." At first, they, like the Templars, guarded the pilgrims on their way from Jaffa to Jerusalem. A logical continuation was the cleaning of the surrounding area from robbers and organized detachments of the Saracens, periodically breaking through to Jerusalem. It was at this time that the name "Brotherhood" was finally replaced by "The Order". In 1124 g. The Hospitallers distinguished themselves in the capture of the important port city of Tire. Between 1142 and 1144, the Hospitallers acquired five counties in the Tripoli region and a sovereign principality in the north of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. In 1144, Count Raimund II of Tripolitan named him several border fortresses, including the famous castle Krak de Chevalier.
Crack de Chevalier castle
By 1180, the order controlled 25 castles in Palestine. And in 1186 the Hospitaller garrison occupied the Margat castle. But we're getting ahead of ourselves a bit.
The situation in the middle of the 12th century was very serious. In December 1144, Edessa fell, the threat of destruction hung over all Christian possessions in the region. A desperate call for help was heard in Europe, and in 1147 Christian armies set out on the II Crusade. He was not very successful, but the Hospitallers proved themselves during the siege of Damascus, when they managed to defeat a large cavalry detachment of Saracens, who were heading to help the besieged. In 1153, the Master of the Johannites Raimund du Puy persuaded the King of Jerusalem, Baldwin III, to go to Ascalon. After a long grueling siege, the city was taken. But the campaign against Cairo in 1168 was unsuccessful and was remembered only for the massacre of Muslims in the city of Bilbais. In 1184 the masters of the Hospitallers (Roger de Moulins), the Templars and the Patriarch of Jerusalem made a joint trip to Europe to try to persuade the monarchs to a new Crusade.
On May 1, 1187, near Nazareth, the Hospitallers and Templars fought with the army of Salah ad-Din and were defeated, and the Grand Master of the Johannites Roger de Moulins died in battle.
Roger de Moulins, eighth Master of the Hospitallers
In July of the same year, the last king of Jerusalem, Guy de Lusignan, moved to meet the Sultan of Egypt.
Guy de Lusignan
On July 4, a decisive battle took place near the village of Hattin, in which the crusaders suffered a catastrophic defeat. The King of Jerusalem and the Master of the Templars were captured. More details about these events and the fall of Jerusalem are described in the article by V. A. Ryzhov. The rise and fall of the Templars.
We will not repeat ourselves.
During the Fourth Crusade (1199-1204), the Johannites captured significant Byzantine possessions in the Peloponnese. During the Fifth Crusade (1217-1227), the Hospitallers took part in the siege of the Egyptian city of Damietta (1219). At the insistence of the Master of John, the crusaders then refused to conclude an armistice in exchange for the transfer of Jerusalem to them: it was simply impossible to keep the city, far from the coastal Christian possessions and left without walls. Many later reproached the Hospitallers for betraying the cause of the Cross, but further events confirmed their correctness: in 1229, Emperor Frederick II Hohenstaufen concluded a peace treaty with the Egyptian Sultan on similar conditions, and it all ended in the inglorious loss of Jerusalem in 1244.
Frederick II Hohenstaufen
But back to 1219. On November 5, Damietta was taken, half of the civilian population of the city was exterminated, the production of the crusaders amounted to about 400 thousand bezants. But the forces to hold the city were not enough, after a few years it had to be abandoned. The strength of the crusaders was exhausted, defeat followed defeat. During the VI Crusade in the battle of Gaza (October 17, 1244), the Sultan of Egypt Baybars defeated the allied army of the crusaders. The Master of the Hospitallers Guillaume de Chateauneuf was captured.
Sultan Baybars, bust
In 1247, the Hospitallers lost Ascalon. During the Battle of Mansur (1249, VII Crusade), another Master of the Hospitallers, along with 25 knights, was captured by the Muslims. In 1271, the seemingly impregnable castle of Krak des Chevaliers fell. In 1285, after a month-long siege, the Johannites left the castle of Margab: as a sign of respect for their courage, Sultan Calaun allowed the Hospitallers to leave with banners unfurled and arms in hand. In 1291, the Master of the Hospitallers Jean de Villiers, who was already wounded, who was covering the evacuation of the townspeople of Acre, was the last to board the last ship.
Siege of Accra, medieval engraving
With the remnants of his army, he went to Cyprus, where the Johannites were until 1306. That year, the Hospitallers, in alliance with the Genoese pirate Vignolo Vignoli, set out to conquer the island of Rhodes. The Genoese considered the island "theirs" (they even managed to sell it to the Johannites), in fact, Rhodes belonged to Byzantium - a Christian state, but the crusaders already had the experience of war with Orthodox "schismatics" (IV Crusade). The fighting continued until the summer of 1308, the war ended with the victory of the Johannites. Having occupied the island, Villaret declared it the possession of the Order and transferred the Hospital here. In order to help the hospitaliers who were pretty much out of pocket, Pope Clement V appointed them with a special bull of 1312 as heirs of the property of the abolished Order of the Knights Templar. True, the Hospitallers did not get very much, since the kings of France and England had already appropriated the property of the Templars for themselves and were not going to return anything to anyone. And in other countries, there were also enough people who wanted to profit from the free gift. Nevertheless, even a small part of the "legacy" of the Hospitallers was enough to pay off the accumulated debts and strengthen Rhodes as a new order base. Moreover, the Order still had significant holdings in Europe - especially in France and Aragon (in this kingdom, the Order was generally among the largest landowners). But the Portuguese branch of the Order broke away from Rhodes by the middle of the XIV century, and since then it has acted as an independent organization. The Portuguese Hospitallers fought mainly with the Moors of North Africa, in 1415 they, together with the Order of Christ (former Portuguese Templars), participated in the capture of the Moroccan fortress of Ceuta.
And the main enemies of the Hospitallers of Rhodes were Mameluk Egypt and Ottoman Turkey. Due to new circumstances, the Order of the Johannites has now become a naval one, and the Knight Hospitaller appeared before everyone not as a rider in armor, but as the captain of a warship. The Order's navy for many years has become a serious factor that has a great influence on the political situation in the Mediterranean region. The main warship of the Order was the dromon galleys, the largest of which was the six-deck "battleship" Saint Anna.
Dromon battleship "Saint Anna"
Muslim pirates were the first to feel the iron grip of the new masters of Rhodes. And in 1319 the order squadron defeated the formation of Turkish ships near the island of Chios. The angry Turks tried to solve the unexpected problem radically - by capturing Rhodes. In 1320, eighty Turkish ships set off for the island - and were defeated in a naval battle. In 1344, the Hospitallers captured the city of Smyrna in Asia Minor and placed a garrison there under the command of the Prior of Lombardy, Jean de Bianard. In 1365, the combined fleet of Rhodes and Cyprus landed troops near Alexandria and captured it. And then there was a "failure in the system": in 1383-1395. the Catholics had 2 popes at once, each of whom appointed his own master, which weakened the Order and was only in the hands of the Ottomans, Mamelukes, and pirates. In 1396, the Hospitallers took part in the famous battle of Nikopol, in which the army of the Turkish Sultan Bayazid inflicted a terrible defeat on the crusaders. Master Philibert de Nayak, in order to redeem the prisoners, agreed to pay the Turks 30 thousand ducats. And in 1402 Smyrna fell, captured by the troops of Timur who had come to Asia Minor. The "iron lame" so frightened everyone that in 1403 an unexpected coalition was formed, which included Islamic Turkey and Christian Genoa, Venice, Byzantium and the Order of John. In that year, the Hospitallers managed to conclude an agreement with Egypt, according to which they were able to carry out patronage of Christian shrines in Palestine. In 1424 the knights of Rhodes came to the aid of Cyprus, which was attacked by the troops of the Egyptian Sultan Barsbey. The war lasted 2 years and ended in the defeat of the Christians. Now it was Rhodes' turn, and in August 1444 the Egyptian general az-Zahir made the first attempt to capture it. The Hospitallers, under the leadership of Master Jean de Lusty, managed to defend their island. But that was just the beginning. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, Rhodes found itself at the forefront of the struggle against the growing Ottoman Turkey. On May 23, 1479, the Turks landed an army of fifty thousand (including 3000 janissaries) on the island under the command of the serasker Mesikh Pasha (Manuel Palaeologus, who converted to Islam). The critical day was May 27, on which the storming of the Hospitaller fortress began. According to legend, Mesikh Pasha significantly undermined the morale of his troops by giving the order: "I forbid robbing, everything will go to the Sultan's treasury." As a result, the disappointed Turks were reluctant to climb the walls, and the assault failed. Nevertheless, the siege lasted even more than a year, and only in August 1480 the remnants of the Turkish army were evacuated from Rhodes. The defeat was so palpable that the Turks did not dare to attempt revenge for forty years. The military authority of the Hospitallers reached unprecedented heights, in Europe they began to be called "Rhodes lions".
"Siege of Rhodes in 1480". Miniature. 15th century
After the death of the Turkish Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror in 1481, his two sons entered the struggle for the throne. The elder won the victory, he ascended the throne under the name of Bayezid II Dervish.
Bayezid II Dervish
The younger fled to the Johannites, who gave him asylum with the condition of paying them 150 thousand scanty gold in case of accession to the throne. The most interesting thing is that Bayezid was quite satisfied with this situation, and he even concluded an agreement with the Order, according to which he agreed to pay 35 thousand Venetian ducats annually for the maintenance of the fugitive prince, and also handed over the hand of John the Baptist to the master - on the condition that the fugitive brother never will return home. In 1489, the Hospitallers made another super-profitable deal: they handed over the Turkish prince to the Pope in exchange for possession of the recently dissolved Orders of the Holy Sepulcher and Saint Lazarus.
By the beginning of the 1520s. the situation in the region has deteriorated significantly. Perhaps the most powerful ruler of this country, Sultan Selim I Qanuni (Legislator), stood at the head of the Ottoman Empire. We know him better as Suleiman the Magnificent.
Selim I Qanuni
In 1517, the Turks captured Cairo, four years later Belgrade was in the hands of the Ottomans, and the sultan mockingly notified all the European sovereigns (including the master of the Hospitallers Villiers de l'Il-Adam) about his victory. In 1522, the Ottoman commander Mustafa Pasha brought 400 ships with soldiers on board to Rhodes. Pasha was accompanied by the famous Turkish pirate Kurdoglu. The Hospitallers at that time had 290 knights, 300 squires and 450 mercenary soldiers. Local residents fielded a militia of 7,000 people. Each language was assigned a specific area of defense. The languages of Italy, Castile and France defended the island from the sea, Auvergne, Provence, Aragon, England and Germany - fought with Turkish landing troops. In October, the sultan dismissed the commander-in-chief and appointed Rumelia's Beylerbey Ahmed Pasha in his place. On December 17, the Turks launched a decisive assault, which lasted three days and ended with the surrender of the Hospitallers. The terms of surrender were soft and honorable: the knights had to leave the island within twelve days with weapons, property and an archive. On January 1, 1523, the surviving 180 members of the order, led by Master Villiers de l'Il-Adam, left Rhodes in three galleys: "Santa Maria", "Santa Caterina" and "San Giovanni". Together with them, another 4 thousand people left the island. Thus ended the glorious Rhodes period in the history of the Hospitaller Order.
On March 24, 1530, Emperor Charles V of the Habsburg granted the islands of Malta and Gozo to the Hospitallers. The Hospitallers recognized themselves as vassals of the Viceroy of the Kingdom of Spain and the Two Sicilies. The feudal duty was small and was of a purely symbolic nature: the grand master had to send a hunting falcon to the monarch every year (this condition was observed until 1798). In addition, they pledged to defend the Spanish outpost in North Africa - the city of Tripoli. The city of Birga became the residence of the head of the Order. Already in 1551 the Turks attacked the new possessions of the Order. Tripoli was captured, and the fortifications of the island of Gozo were also destroyed.
Gaspar van Eyck, Sea Battle Between Turks and Knights of Malta
In 1557, 67-year-old Jean Parisot de la Vallette, who was destined to become the greatest master of the Order, stood at the head of the Hospitallers.
Jean Parisot de La Vallette, portrait by F.-C. Dupre. OK. 1835. National Museum of Versailles and Trianons
The reason for the new war was the seizure of the ship of the chief eunuch of the Sultan's harem, which was declared a personal insult to the Sultan. On May 18, 1565, a Turkish army of 30,000 people landed on the island. It was again headed by Mustafa Pasha - the same one who besieged Rhodes in 1522. The Great Siege of Malta lasted almost four months - from 18 May to 8 September. The Turks dealt the main blow to the forts of San Elmo, San Angelo and San Michele. The garrison of San Elmo, consisting of 120 knights and a detachment of the Spaniards, died, but the Turks lost 8 thousand people, among whom was the famous Algerian pirate Dragut. They say that, examining the ruins of the captured fort, Mustafa Pasha said: “One can only guess what kind of resistance we will receive from our father (he meant the city of Birgu) if a child, almost a baby (Fort San Elmo) cost us the lives of the bravest soldiers !"
Nevertheless, the forces of the Order were running out, it seemed that there was no salvation, but on September 7, a combined fleet of the Viceroy of Sicily and the Order of Santiago de Campostelo appeared off the coast of Malta. On September 8, after being defeated in a naval battle, the Turks evacuated from Malta and went to Constantinople. It is believed that during the Great Siege they lost 25 thousand people. The losses of the Order amounted to 260 knights and 7 thousand soldiers. On March 28, 1566, the new capital of Malta was founded, which was given its name in honor of the master who defended the island - La Valletta.
Return of the flagship galley to the harbor of La Valletta after a military campaign
It should be said that Valletta is the first city in Europe, built according to a pre-developed master plan. Italian architect Francesco Laparelli designed the streets with the sea breeze in mind and arranged a centralized sewer system.
In 1571, the Order's fleet took part in the famous naval battle at Lepanto, in which the Turkish fleet suffered one of the most severe defeats in its history. In the first half of the 17th century, Maltese ships took part in 18 naval battles (off the coast of Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco), each of which ended in victory for the Hospitallers.
With the weakening of the Turkish onslaught, the more and more at ease the Johannites themselves began to either openly pirate (corsa) or use the "whist right" - the authority to inspect ships suspected of transporting Turkish goods, with their subsequent confiscation and resale in Valletta. They did not remain indifferent to the trade in "ebony" - that is, slaves. However, starting from the middle of the 17th century, the position of the Order began to deteriorate. During the Reformation, the Hospitallers lost their possessions in Germany, Holland, Denmark. In England, the Order was completely outlawed and all its property was confiscated. At this time, for the first time, the Russian authorities began to show interest in the Order of the Hospitallers. In 1698 the boyar B. P. Sheremetev is a confidant of the Moscow Tsar Peter Alekseevich. The tsarist charter indicated that the boyar was going to Malta to "hunt him", but he was probably carrying out some diplomatic assignments related to the possible conclusion of a military alliance against Turkey. In 1764, Empress Catherine II instructed the ambassador to Vienna D. A. Golitsyn to find a knight of Malta who was knowledgeable in the construction of galleys and their management. Later, Russian military sailors were sent to Malta for training, who spent several years there. In 1770, Catherine II asked the Knights of Malta to help the squadron of G. A. Spiridov. Aleksey Orlov, during his expedition to the Archipelago, sent 86 Algerian prisoners to the Grand Master to exchange for Christians captured by pirates, and in August 1772 he himself visited Malta - incognito.
Galley of the Grand Master of the Order of Malta (Rohan, c. 1780)
On January 4, 1797, a convention was even signed between the Order and Russia, according to which the Russian Roman Catholic Grand Priory was established.
At the end of the 18th century, the Order was dealt a blow from which it never recovered. In the beginning in France, the revolutionary government by Decree of September 19, 1792 confiscated all the property of the Order. And on June 10, 1798, a French fleet approached Malta, en route from the port of Toulon to Egypt. General Bonaparte demanded that the Grand Master Gompesh surrender, which he cowardly signed on June 12: Malta passed under the sovereignty of France, and the knights had to leave the island within three days. Later, Gompesh justified himself by the fact that, according to the rules of the Order, one should not take up arms against Christians (he either forgot about the Byzantines, or did not consider them "real" Christians). The wealth accumulated by the Order (almost 30 million lire) went to the French.
On August 26, 1798, in the "castle of the Knights of Malta" on Sadovaya Street in St. Petersburg, the cavaliers of the Grand Priority of Russia protested against the capture of Malta, condemned the Grand Master for surrendering the island without a fight and announced his overthrow. It was also decided to appeal to Emperor Paul I with a request to accept the Order of St. John under the patronage and patronage. On September 10 of the same year, Paul I granted their request. St. Petersburg was declared the headquarters of the Order of Malta, the knights of all "Languages" and priors were invited to Russia, the president of the Academy of Sciences, Baron Nicholas, was instructed to designate the island of Malta as "the province of the Russian Empire" in the published calendar. An almost impregnable island as a base for the Russian fleet in the Mediterranean - this was, of course, a strong decision. All further wars with Turkey would have followed a completely different scenario.
On October 27, 1798, Paul I was proclaimed Grand Master of the Jerusalem Order of St. John; on November 13, the emperor announced his consent to accept this title. He became 72nd on the list of masters.
Paul I in the attire of the Grand Master of the Order of Malta. Portrait by S. Tonchi. 1798-1801. Russian Museum (St. Petersburg)
The Grand Priories of Germany, Bavaria, Bohemia, Naples, Sicily, Venice, Portugal, Lombardy and Pisa recognized Paul I as Grand Master. Only the priors of Catalonia, Navarre, Aragon, Castile and Rome refused - and this was very shortsighted of them, since only the Russian emperor could now guarantee the Order a dignified existence.
On September 5, 1800, besieged by the British, the French garrison of Malta capitulated, but the British were greedy - they did not return the island to its rightful owners. This deeply offended Paul: Russia withdrew from the second anti-French coalition, and soon the rapprochement between Paul I and Napoleon began.
The decision of Paul I to entrust himself with the title of Grand Master of the Catholic Order of the Johannites (Knights of Malta) had a huge resonance in Russian society. It was this circumstance that gave grounds for Pushkin to call Paul I "our romantic emperor" and Napoleon "the Russian Don Quixote".
"Arakcheev is a Maltese cavalier, but it was not enough to be promoted to troubadours," Bernhardi said ironically about this.
The subordination of the Order of Malta to the Pope and rumors that Paul was going to convert to Catholicism confused many minds of that time. Therefore, it seemed that the emperor's new venture was doomed to failure. It turned out the other way around: the glorious history of the order going back centuries, red robes with eight-pointed white crosses, mysterious rituals and numerous benefits contributed to the fact that there was no shortage of people willing to be knighted. The Maltese project turned out to be perhaps the most popular of all the implemented projects of Paul I. In Russia, a new state award was established - the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, in 1799 A. V. Suvorov was awarded his commander's cross (Alexander I abolished this award). It was the Maltese knights who then arrived in Russia who initiated the creation in St. Petersburg of the famous Corps of Pages - a super-privileged educational institution that accepted children of officials of at least rank 3: the white Maltese cross remained the icon of its graduates.
After the murder of his father, Alexander I, who was afraid to death of both the British and the Russian aristocrats, who very willingly killed their emperors for British money, cowardly refused the title of Grand Master, Malta, and the extremely beneficial alliance with Napoleon for Russia. On February 9, 1803, the Pope appointed Giovanni Batista Tomassi to the vacant position of the Grand Master of the Order of Malta. The temporary residence of the Hospitallers was first Catania, and then Messina. After Tomassi's death in 1805, the new head of the Order received only the title of Lieutenant Master (the title of Grand Master was restored in 1879). At the end of the Napoleonic wars, Malta was finally recognized as the possession of the British crown by the Paris Agreement of the victorious powers (March 30, 1814). In 1831, the residence of the Order of Malta, which lost its home, was the building of the former residence of the Ambassador of the Order to the Papal See - Palazzo Malta on Via Condotti, which was described at the beginning of the article. For some time, the Order of John still tried to carry out humanitarian missions. In 1910 a hospital was organized, which helped the wounded during the Italo-Libyan war (1912). The order hospital ship "Regina Margarita" then evacuated about 12,000 wounded from the area of hostilities. During World War I, under the patronage of the Order, several hospitals were organized in Germany, Austria and France.
At present, the Order of the Hospitallers has more than 10 thousand members, second only in number to the Jesuits. The Order includes 6 Main Priors (Rome, Venice, Sicily, Austria, Czech Republic, England) and 54 national commanders (including in Russia). In some Catholic countries, there are order hospitals and social shelters, which are funded by governments or social insurance funds at the place of residence. Volunteers from Malteser International, the Order's worldwide relief agency, are involved in natural disaster relief and help civilians in conflict zones. The sources of the Order's income are now donations from individuals and the sale of postage stamps and various souvenirs.
The diplomatic relations of the Order with Russia were restored in 1992, the post of ambassador is combined by the representative of the Russian Federation at the Vatican. On July 4, 2012, for the first time in 200 years, the Grand Master of the Order of Malta visited Russia. During this visit, S. K. Shoigu. Considering his many years of work in the Ministry of Emergency Situations, this award does not raise any objections or questions from the hospitallers. But the knightly cross of the Order of Malta in Russia is discredited by its presentation to other, much more dubious knights: M. Gorbachev, B. Yeltsin, B. Berezovsky, G. Burbulis, V. Yumashev, S. Yastrzhembsky …
