The Knights Hospitaller: A brief overlook

    

    The Knights Hospitaller, formally known as the Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, was just a footnote in our greater discussion of the Crusades on Thursday. However, nonetheless, I thought a blog post diving a little more into detail would be fruitful. Like many orders, the Order was founded in 1099 during the start of the first crusade. Like many other orders, the Knights Hospitaller embodied the ideals of holy poverty (Mourad, 283). Holy Poverty, in essence, was the idea that most Christians, like the apostles and Jesus, should have little possessions. As a result, the Order brothers built a compound south of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher to care for around a thousand sick people and provide supplies like clothing and food to the poor (Mourad, 283-284).

    Nonetheless, one cannot ignore that, like all Catholic military Orders, they were militaristic and fought in Crusader armies (Mourad, 283). However, the Knights Hospitaller following the Second Crusade became central to the internal feuds within the Kingdom of Jerusalem where the Knights Hospitaller built a tower in the compound that was taller than the Church of the Holy Sepulcher (Mourad, 291). A clear affront to the sacred space of the Church through the usage of architecture and construction. In addition, the Knights would sabotage services of the Church through the ringing of bells consistently during the service or mass of the Church.

    Following the fall of the Kingdom of Jerusalem near the end of the 13th century, they would move to the Island of Rhodes until the 16th century. Finally, the island of Malta became the site of the Order through the divisive protestant reformation up until the tail end of the 17th century. The reformation, in fact, significantly weakened the Order, as it lost much of its presence and holdings on the mainland European continent. Where Napoleon conquered the island, and the Order never held sovereign territory since.

    

    The Knights today exist in a pseudo country way, as although they do not have territory, they still lay claim to the Islands of Malta and hold diplomatic relations with several countries akin to a country in exile.

Reference:

Mourad, Suleiman Ali, et al. Routledge Handbook on Jerusalem. Routledge, 2019.