by Raphael
While the Order of St. John became markedly more militaristic with its assumption of the role of protector of pilgrims it never lost the essence for which it was originally structured. We find, towards the latter half of the 12th Century that the growth of the Order saw the establishment of different statutes. The statutes of Roger de Moulins (1187) deal only with the service of the sick. Alfonso of Portugal, the ninth Grand Master of the order, laid down statutes relating directly to military service. In Alfonso's statutes a distinction is made between secular knights, who served only for a limited time and the professed knights who were attached to the order by perpetual vow. The latter enjoyed the same spiritual privileges as the other religious of the Order but the secular knights did not. The Hospitallers and the Templars, of whom we shall learn more later, were the foremost adversaries of the Muslims. They held the most dangerous posts in battle ie: the van and the rearguard. The Order possessed numerous strongholds of which Margat and Krals are the most famous. Despite the formidable presence of the Hospitallers on the field of battle the Knight of Saint John partook of the disastrous consequences attendant upon the fall of Jerusalem to Saladin in 1187. After wandering Europe in search of a base of operations, Grand Master Foulques de Villaret settled upon the island of Rhodes. Stripped of their possessions in the Holy Land yet determined to carry on the their mortal combat with the Muslims, the knights were forced to adapt their order to combat on the sea.
On the Internal structure of the order
After the Knight settled on the island of Rhodes a greater emphasis was placed on the military and less on the medical side. The order was divided into tongues, priories, and commanderies. The tongues, or nations, were eight in number, each having its own bailiff; and one of the eight supreme dignities was reserved to each tongue -- to Provence, that of the grand commander; to Auvergne, that of marshal; to France, grand hospitaller; to Italy, admiral; to Aragon, standard-bearer; to Castile, grand chancellor; to Germany, grand bailiff; to England, turcoplier. The grand master could be elected from any of the various tongues and his rule was supreme. He was assisted by the grand chapter.
The knights became soldiers, and seamen too. On land or at sea fought against the Turks or the Moors. Their galleys debouched onto the Mediterranean and sought the enemies of the Cross. Each galley was manned by picked rowers and mariners supported by a band of Knights in rich armour and men-at-arms. At the poop of each vessel sat the commander of the galley. Above the heads of the Knights fluttered a banner bearing a great white cross, the emblem of "the Religion," as the Order was often called. The same emblem was repeated everywhere, on the breasts of the Knights, on smaller flags and on many parts of the vessel.
War at Sea
With ever increasing confidence the Knights swooped upon the enemies of Christendom. They made descents on the coast and pillaged the richest ports of the Orient. In 1341 they sacked Smyrna and in 1365 descended upon Alexandria. With the rise of the Ottoman Turks a new power began to threaten the Knights. After the fall of Constantinople, Mahomet II directed his attention to the task of destroying the stronghold of the knights. The order, thrown on the defensive, lived perpetually on the alert. Once, under its grand master, Pierre d'Aubusson, it repulsed all the forces of Mahomet II in the siege of 1480. In 1522 however Suleiman II, known to history as Suleiman Magnificicent, infested the island with a host of 140 000 soldiers which had been ferried across the Mediterranean by a fleet of no less than 400 vessels. The knights sustained this great onslaught with their habitual bravery for a period of six months under their grand master, Villiers de l'Isle Adam. Only when their magazines were depleted did they surrender. Suleiman was no stranger to chivalry and though the siege of Rhodes had cost him dearly in men and material he courteously allowed the knights to depart in peace. He did this as tribute to the courage of his enemies when it was in his power to totally destroy them. He was even heard to remark how much it pained him to deprive the grand master de I'Isle Adam of his home. Suleiman the Magnificent then allowed the Knight to withdraw in peace from fertile and beautiful Rhodes. The incident is instructive as well as illustrative. It must not be forgotten that while remaining deadly foes a sense of chivalry did exist at times between the Muslims and the Catholics. One must not of course idealise this situation to the extent that works of romantic fiction like The Talisman of Sir Walter Scott have done. Nor must one forget that incidents of savagery occurred on both sides and that the Muslims perceived it as a religious obligation to destroy or enslave Catholics in jihad or Holy War. But even men like Saladin, who ordered all the Templars and Hospitallers captured at the battle of Hattin to be executed out of hand, could be so moved to admiration that he would allow the Hospitallers to continue nursing the Christian sick after the fall of Jerusalem. This article has already shown that men like Suleiman II as well were also subject to chivalric impulses that policy and pride could not crush.
Malta
Bereft of their beloved Rhodes De Villiers Lisle Adam and his Knights were granted the island of Malta in 1530 by Charles V of Spain. In contrast to the beautiful island of Rhodes Malta appeared to the Knights as a barren rock. But to the discerning and war experienced Knights this barren rock was also the perfect environment which could allow the Soldiers of Christ excellent anchorage for their galleys and be an inhospitable and hostile terrain for any besieging Muslim army. In the next article we shall see to what extent this was proven true as the anger of Suleiman II was once more kindled against the Knights and how Malta and the Knights were to endure a siege of such epic proportions as to secure their fame for all time.
