1048 Jerusalem

The birth of the Order dates back to around 1048. Merchants from the ancient Marine Republic of Amalfi obtained from the Caliph of Egypt the authorization to build a church, convent and hospital in Jerusalem, to care for pilgrims of any religious faith or race. The Order of St.John of Jerusalem - the monastic community that ran the hospital for the pilgrims in the Holy Land - became independent under the guidance of its founder, Blessed Gérard. With the Bull of 15 February 1113, Pope Paschal II approved the foundation of the Hospital and placed it under the aegis of the Holy See, granting it the right to freely elect its superiors without interference from other secular or religious authorities. By virtue of the Papal Bull, the Hospital became an Order exempt from the Church. All the Knights were religious, bound by the three monastic vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.

The constitution of the Kingdom of Jerusalem regarding the crusades obliged the Order to take on the military defense of the sick, the pilgrims and the territories that the crusaders had conquered from the Moslems. The Order thus added the task of defending the faith to that of its hospitaller mission. As time went on, the Order adopted the white eight-pointed Cross that is still its symbol today.

1310 - Rhodes

When the last Christian stronghold in the Holy Land fell in 1291, the Order settled first in Cyprus and then, in 1310, led by Grand Master Fra' Foulques de Villaret, on the island of Rhodes.
From then, the defense of the Christian world required the organization of a naval force. Thus the Order built a powerful fleet and sailed the Eastern Mediterranean, fighting many famous battles for the sake of Christendom - for example, the Crusades in Syria and Egypt.
From its beginning, the independence from other nations granted by Pontifical deed, and the universally recognized right to maintain and deploy armed forces, constitute the grounds for the international sovereignty of the Order.

In the early 14th century the institutions of the Order and the knights who came to Rhodes from every corner of Europe were grouped according to the languages they spoke. There were initially seven groups of Langues (Tongues): Provence, Auvergne, France, Italy, Aragon (Navarre), England (with Scotland and Ireland) and Germany. In 1492 Castille and Portugal split off from the Langue of Aragon and constituted the eighth Langue. Each Langue included Priories or Grand Priories, Bailiwicks and Commanderies.

The Order was governed by its Grand Master (the Prince of Rhodes) and Council, minted its own money and maintained diplomatic relations with other States. The senior positions of the Order were given to representatives of different Langues. The seat of the Order, the Convent, was composed of religious of various nationalities.

1530 - Malta

After six months of siege and fierce combat against the fleet and army of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, the Knights were forced to surrender in 1523 and left Rhodes with military honours.

The Order remained without a territory of its own until 1530, when Grand Master Fra' Philippe de Villiers de l'Isle Adam took possession of the island of Malta, granted to the Order by Emperor Charles V with the approval of Pope Clement VII.

It was established that the Order should remain neutral in any war between Christian nations. In 1565 the Knights, led by Grand Master Fra' Jean de la Vallette (after whom the capital of Malta, Valletta, was named), defended the island for more than three months during the Great Siege by the Turks.

1571 - The Battle of Lepanto

The fleet of the Order, then one of the most powerful in the Mediterranean, contributed to the ultimate destruction of the Ottoman naval power in the Battle of Lepanto in 1571.

1798 – The Order becomes Ecumenical

The “conquest” of the islands of Malta by Napoleon ended with the full and unconditional surrender of Grand Master von Hompesch on the 12 June 1798. This led to the dispersion of the Knights, with more than ninety percent of them taking refuge in Russia. In January 1797 His Imperial Majesty
Czar Paul I and Emmanuel de Rohan-Polduc signed a document which was ratified on 26 August 1797 in Malta and 29 November 1797 in St. Petersburg. As such, the Order was recognized “in perpetuo” as sovereign within the Russian Empire (with whom they had established both diplomatic relations and a Priory of Russia at St. Petersburg under the protection of the czar).

The Knights of the Grand Priory of Russia and those of other Priories and Grand Priories met in St. Petersburg on the 26 August. By means of a vote, they declared the deposition of the Grand Master Ferdinand von Hompesch and instead invited all of the Priories to declare their allegiance to His
Imperial Majesty Czar Paul I as Protector of the Order.

The Czar received dignitaries of the Order in St. Petersburg on 10 September 1798 and proclaimed his decision to keep the institutions, privileges and honours of the Order of Saint John intact. On 3 October 1798 the Priory of Poland associated itself to the vote, followed by the Priory of Germany twenty days later. Both of these priories accepted the proclamation of 10 September regarding the establishment of the Order in St. Petersburg. However, the members of the French Priory had been dispersed upon the suppression of the Order in France and therefore could not entirely adhere to the proclamation.

The 20th and 21th Century

In December of 2006 for health reasons, H.R.H. Prince Don Roberto entrusted the role of Grand Master of the Order to Prince Don Thorbjorn Paternò Castello Guttadauro di Valencia d’Ayerbe d’Aragona dei Duchi di Carcaci e dei Principi d’Emanuel.
From this point of view, the constitution of the new Government, substituted by existing structures and by now not in line with current times, has among its institutional tasks that of recalling to the Order “the various existent branches without legitimate premises, recovering those who have lost the right path and who wish to review their position” (or using legal procedures to prohibit those without historical right to take advantage of the name and symbols of the Order).
The Order has also renewed its ecumenical tradition inaugurated by Paul I of Russia. In fact, there are currently members of the Order who are non-Christians, thanks to whom the millenary history of the Sovereign Order of Saint John of Jerusalem – Knights of Malta – is perpetuated, regardless of religious belief.
The sovereignty and independence of the Order is by now an accomplished fact on the plane of international law, apart from the numerous recognitions of such before and after the Maltese period (1530-1798).
Considering that:
•    As per article 13 of the Protocol of Buenos Aires of 1967, recognition implies acceptance from the part of the State which issues the agreement, in the quality of “State” to the agreeing State;
•    the quality of State is not reduced as a result of modifications of its territorial consistency;
•    recognition conceded by a State involves the opposability in its regards (v. Nguyen Quoc Dinh, “Droit International Public”, ed. L.G.D.J. – Paris 1994, pp. 404, 532);
•    sovereignty means the refusal of all authority other than its own, with the obvious respect of the rules of the international community, and that the opening of a diplomatic representation constitutes de jure implicit recognition (v. O. Schwarzenberger, “A Manual of International Law”, ed. Stevens & Sons – London 1967),
the fact is confirmed that due to the existence of numerous States which have diplomatic representation with the Sovereign Order of Saint John of Jerusalem – Knights of Malta – the organization possesses full sovereignty on the plane of international law.