The Sovereign Military Order of Malta, officially the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta, and commonly known as the Order of Malta or the Knights o
Blessed Gerard, founder of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem. Copper engraving by Laurent Cars, about 1725.
Portrait of an unknown Knight of Malta, by Titian, c. 1508, Uffizi
The Battle of Lepanto (1571), unknown artist, late 16th century
Emperor Paul of Russia wearing the Crown of the Grand Master of the Order of Malta (1799)
Knights Hospitaller
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The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller, is a Catholic military order. It was founded in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12t
Sovereign Military Order of Malta
…no national territory, the order is considered a sovereign entity under international law. The order traces its institutional continuity with the Knights Hospitaller, a chivalric order that was founded about 1099 by the Blessed Gerard in the Kingdom of Jerusalem. The order is led by an elected prince and grand master…
Pie postulatio voluntatis. Bull issued by Pope Paschal II in 1113 in favour of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, which was to transform what was a community of pious men into an institution within the Church. By virtue of this document, the pope officially recognized the existence of the new organisation as an operative and militant part of the Roman Catholic Church, granting it papal protection and confirming its properties in Europe and Asia.
Knights Hospitaller in Jerusalem
Krak des Chevaliers, a castle acquired by the Hospitallers in Syria
Maronite archer guiding a Knight Hospitaller and Northern Italian Crusader through Wadi Numeira to the Kerak plateau