The Knights of Malta [Paperback]

H. J. A. Sire (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 25, 1996

This is the most complete history in any language of the Order of St John, or Knights Hospitaller, successively known as the Knights of Rhodes and of Malta. Founded in eleventh-century Jerusalem, the Order has played an important military, religious and political role over succeeding centuries. H.J.A. Sire not only provides a full narrative account, but describes and illustrates the architectural and artistic legacy of the Knights, from Crusader castles in the Holy Land, to the medieval city of Rhodes, the Maltese capital of Valletta, and manors, churches and fortified villages throughout Europe. These, as well as religious art, portraiture and illuminated manuscripts are copiously illustrated, revealing the wealth, culture and longevity of the Order. This is moreover the first general work to do full justice to the Order's international character by including a detailed account of its European Priories and the role played by the Knights in the history of their respective countries. It includes chapters on Crac des Chevaliers and other Hospitaller castles of the crusading period, on the career of Grand Master Heredia as a statesman and patron of medieval learning, and on the caring traditions of the Order. The chapter on the Navy of the Knights offers the first rigorous study of the Order's strategic naval role in the Mediterranean. The final section describes the resurgence of the Order since Napoleon's conquest of Malta in 1798, and its efforts over two centuries to recover an effective role. It considers the attempt in the 1950s to subject the Order to Vatican control, and its position today, under the first English Grand Master in its history. With its traditional rights ofsovereignty widely recognised, and diplomatic relations established with an increasing number of countries, a modernised Order of over ten thousand Knights continues nine centuries of hospitaller work throughout the world.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (September 25, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300068859
• ISBN-13: 978-0300068856
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #816,778 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #30 in Books > History > Europe > Malta

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Timely and on the eve of the 900th anniversary of the Order, October 9, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Knights of Malta (Hardcover)

Sire has done a wonderful job of capturing the deep history and tradition of the Order of St John and its shaping the history of Europe and defending the Faith. I was particularly pleased that Sire had researched the book in the Library of the Grand Priory of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem in London - the old Priory of Clerkenwell. The Most Venerable Order in the British Realm and its parent the Sovereign Order of St John, of Rhodes, and of Malta are truly the inheritors of the deep and rich tradition of the Order of St John as it has come down to us through the nine millennia of western history. I was also pleased that the author devoted an entire closing section to the future of the Sovereign Order and its plans to re-establish its presence on the island of Malta at Fort St Angelo. In fact the Order has now done just that and I think Sire deserves congrtulations on researching not only the Order's history but shall I say the present and future of the Order - into the next century and into the final century of its first millennia. With the granting of observer status to the UN in 1994, the Sovereign Order of St John has deepened its roots in the life and history of the world that will continue for another 900 years.

The Order of St John, in all four of its allied manifestations (The Sovereign Military and Hospitaller Order; The Most Venerable Order; the Johaniterorden, and in the Order in the Netherlands)has a tremendous charitable benefit to the world, in its hospital works, its ambulance work through the St John Ambulance Brigade in 44 countries, its first aid training and its nursing and health care work in communities around the globe is a wonderful example of humanitarian service. The author captures this richness and I can only hope he'll produce more material on the Order of St John and its impending 900th anniversary in 1999.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Knights of Malta, November 25, 2002

By 

Jonathan Moore (Terre Haute, Indiana) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Knights of Malta (Paperback)

In 1096, when the first Crusaders arrived in Jerusalem, they discovered the Hospital of St. John, which healed the wounds of the heroic knights. It would be this encounter that led the hospitallers to rally around their leader Brother Gerard de Saxo and created the Order of St. John. The knights returned to Europe, but they never forgot the kindness of the hospital that healed their wounded. After the first Crusade, the Order grew in importance and received many appreciative donations that helped solidify the future for the Order. The activities of the Order of St. John throughout its history assumed the role as the defenders of Christianity. The Order gained importance and power because the knights of the order fought bravely against the vigorous Islamic world. The knights defended the Holy Land for a long time, but were finally expelled at their last stronghold at Acre in 1291. The Order of St. John moved to Cyprus for fifteen years, then Rhodes, and lastly Malta.

If you are going to read Bradford's The Great Siege: Malta 1565, I would highly recommend that you read something on the Knights of Malta and their origins (this book would be a good choice). I give the book four stars because I really enjoyed reading Attard's Knights of Malta than this particular book. Perhaps, it was the trendy front over, the fewer pages, the comfortable feeling folding the pages or his better storytelling of the Great Siege in my opinion.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Thorough, Scholarly, and Historical if Tough to Read, October 8, 1999

By 

Adam Fenech ([e-mail]) (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Knights of Malta (Hardcover)

An excellent scholarly account of the Knights of St. John, Rhodes, and Malta. Very well researched, and I found the writing interesting and exciting, although others may find it tough to slog through. Absolutely the definitive work on the order.