[Order of Malta] Factbook of The Order

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SOVEREIGN ORDER OF MALTA
FACTBOOK

Coat of Arms​

 

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FLAGS OF THE ORDER

SOVEREIGN FLAG

The Sovereign Flag of The Order which is used to represent
the government and the military domestically and abroad.
This flag is flown above government buildings, military
instillations, foreign outposts, and is also the Naval Ensign
of The Order.



CIVIL ENSIGN

The Civil Ensign of The Order is officially used by the
Parliament of Malta, the Ministries of the Parliament,
and as an ensign for civilian yachts and ships.



STATE FLAG

The State Flag of The Order which is to only be flown
alongside the Sovereign Flag. It is used in ceremonies and
is required to fly above all military facilities alongside the
Sovereign Flag with no exception.​

 

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GRAND OFFICERS OF THE ORDER

GRAND MASTER
Arthur Sinclair
The Grand Master is the Head of State and holds considerable direct and indirect influence over The Order and its members. The Grand Master himself is not sovereign, like a monarch, because The Order itself is sovereign. However, the Grand Master does hold the titles of: Prince of The Holy Roman Empire and in fact, he is considered equal in precedence to a Cardinal. This is why he is styled "Your Most Eminent Highness" which is a combination of "Your Eminence" for a Cardinal, and "Your Highness" for a Prince. While the Grand Master is not in direct control of any Priory of Ministry, all of the Grand Officers of The Order report to him and are obligated to follow his orders. Some of these orders can come in the form of an official "Grand Master's Edict" which is an executive order that is legally binding, at least temporarily. The Grand Master is the commander-in-chief of The Order's armed forces and normally issues orders to the Grand Commander, who is his second in command.


GRAND COMMANDER
Johnathan Denaro
The Grand Commander of The Order is the second in command in the event of the incapacitation of the Grand Master. He's also directly in charge of the Priory of War, including the Military Corps, and thus holds a position similar to "Chief of Defense" in other countries. Officially, he is also in charge of the Priory of Justice, however that Priory enjoy a certain level of autonomy to preserve its indifference, therefore most of the Grand Commander's time is spent working with the Priory of War.


GRAND CHANCELLOR
Silas Delacroix
The Grand Chancellor is both in charge of the Priory of Foreign Affairs and the Priory of State. The Priory of State has six different departments, the most important of which is the Office of The Executive. This office is responsible for executing the law of The Order whether it is an Act of Parliament, an Act of The Order, or a Grand Master's Edict. "Enforcement" of the law includes keeping records of wrongdoing, sending out legal notices to government agencies or private entities that are out of regulations, and turning over information of blatant lawbreakers to the Priory of Justice. The Priory of State is large, but is like a well-oiled machine. The Grand Chancellor spends more of his time with the Priory of Foreign Affairs, because he is the chief foreign diplomat of The Order.


GRAND HOSPITALLER
Marcellino Lombardi
The Grand Hospitaller is directly in charge of both the Priory of Health, which is concerned with the healthcare of the people of Malta, and the Priory of Aid, which is concerned with sending aid and emergency response teams around the world. The Priory of Aid includes the Hospitaller Service, which is a uniformed service of knights who are all medically trained and are capable of being deployed into disaster areas to provide medical services. While they are not under the Priory of War, all Hospitallers are trained in the use of firearms, especially sidearms. The Priory of Aid is a continuation of The Order's ancient tradition of providing aid to the sick and helpless regardless of who they are or where they are from.


RECEIVER OF THE COMMON TREASURE
Christopher Vasco
The Receiver of The Common Treasure is in charge of the Priory of The Treasury which includes the Office of Coin, which is responsible for minting The Order's currency (The Scudo), the Office of Tax which is responsible for collecting taxes and keeping track of revenues, and the Office of Budget which helps the Receiver of The Common Treasure create a national budget.


PRIME MINISTER
XXX
Although the Prime Minister is not an official Grand Officer of The Order, he is invited to attend all Grand Officer meetings which occur once per month, or more if the Grand Master deems it necessary. The Prime Minister is chosen among his peers in the Parliament and does not have to be a knight, but is officially appointed by the Grand Master. The Prime Minister is the executive of the Ministries under him, much like how the Grand Master is the executive of the Priories under him. In times of crisis, the Grand Master can issue Grand Master's Edicts to the Prime Minister, or to Ministries directly. While the Treasury does fall under the jurisdiction of The Order directly, Parliament is guaranteed a fixed percentage of revenues to fund its ministries, and The Order may not lower or raise revenues without the consent of the Parliament. The Prime Minister also makes recommendations to the Grand Master on behalf of Parliament. ​

 

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A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ORDER

The Sovereign Order of Malta has had many names that reflect its evolution over time. The first name it went by was "Knights Hospitaller". After operating a hospital in Jerusalem that served the poor and helpless of all faiths and allegiances, including Christian pilgrims, the Knights Hospitaller were founded in 1099 and granted an official Papal Charter by Pope Paschal II in 1113 A.D. This charter granted them special rights and privileges, namely that they were beholden to no king, parish, bishop, or cardinal. Instead, they only answered directly to the Holy Father in Rome so that they could more easily perform their duties around the world. Other holy orders existed as well, such as the Order of The Holy Sepulcher, the Teutonic Order, the Livonian Order, and the Hospitaller's famous rival, the Knights Templar. While they were all Holy Military Orders recognized by the Catholic Church, each one had its own ancient traditions and missions that made them unique. Some of those traditions have made way for new ones in the Knights Hospitaller, while others remain to this very day.

Following the Crusades, the Muslim conquest of the Holy Land eventually forced the knights out Jerusalem. They found temporary refuge in the Kingdom of Cyprus, but quickly became pawns for local politics. The Grand Master of The Order at the time planned an invasion of the island of Rhodes, which was owned by the Orthodox Byzantine Empire. The knights successfully conquered Rhodes and a few surrounding islands and, in 1310 A.D. became commonly known as the Knights of Rhodes. Shortly thereafter, the Knights Templar were disbanded by Pope Clement V at the behest of the King of France and labeled heretics (today we know that the Knights Templar were guilty of nothing but owning French debt). Many of the properties and riches of the Knights Templar were given to the Knights Hospitaller and other Holy Military Orders - some of the Knights Templar even found refuge among their brother Orders. Rhodes would be held for several hundred years and was used to harass the Ottoman Empire (and Muslim pirates) in order to prevent them from gaining unquestioned control of the Mediterranean Sea. The knights withstood two major invasions - one by the Sultan of Egypt, and one by the Ottoman Empire. They were incredibly outnumbered both times. The second attempted invasion by the Ottomans cost the lives of tens-of-thousands of Turks. The Hospitaller's valiant efforts to defend their island home were so incredible, that the Ottoman Sultanate permitted the surviving knights to peacefully withdraw to Sicily - he even let them use his own ships. At that time, the knights won the respect of the Ottoman Sultanate who spared their lives, and also the respect of Pope Adrian VI who declared then Grand Master Phillipe Villiers de L'Isle-Adam the "Defender of The Faith".

The Knights of Rhodes now found themselves in Sicily without their namesake, the Island of Rhodes. In 1530, Pope Clemment VII - who was also a Knight of The Order - found a home for the Hospitallers. He negotiated with the King of Spain and the Hospitallers were offered Malta, the neighboring island of Gozo, and the city of Tripoli on the African north coast. In exchange, the knights were to give a Maltese Falcon to the King of Spain every year on All Souls' Day. Historians say that many of the knights were initially dismayed when they arrived to the island of Malta and found a barren rock in comparison to their former lush home on Rhodes. But the fact that these hardened holy warriors once again had their own temporal plane proved to be more than enough to reinvigorate their morale. The now-known Knights of Malta continued their mission of defending the faith and doing their part to stop the spread of the Ottoman Empire and Muslim pirates in the Mediterranean. They would again hold off Muslim invasions and fight valiantly. Historical reports say that one of the forts on Malta was held until every last man was killed. On the last day of the siege of this fort - Fort Saint Angelo - injured knights were carried by their comrades to man the fort one last time. They fought to the death and, once again, for every knight killed in the fort, dozens of Ottoman Turks were slaughtered. While the Ottomans had taken Fort Saint Angelo, they now had the daunting task of conquering Fort Saint Elmo across the harbor. The Ottomans were unaware, however, that the Knights were buying time to receive reinforcements from Spain. The Spanish arrived with an armada, and the Ottomans were forced to retreat after a costly, fruitless war.

The Knights of Malta flourished on their new islands. They built hospitals, cathedrals, palaces, and even cities that still stand to this day. For a time, they were even in the select club of powerful European states that held colonies in the new world - specifically islands in the Caribbean that still bare names such as "St. John" or symbols such as the Maltese cross to this very day. In 1798, Napoleon Bonaparte conquered Malta. Grand Master Ferdinand von Hompsech zu Bolheim was the first German Grand Master of The Order, and had little military experience. In fact, when he was warned in advance that Napoleon was on his way, he largely disregarded the alert and took little to no action to prepare the islands or his knights to mount a defense. An inexperienced Grand Master combined with a military wing of the Order that hadn't seen combat in hundreds of years, the reluctance of the Knights themselves to fight another Catholic nation, and the Hospitaller's growing unpopularity in Malta during what would become a Revolutionary Age spelled out their ultimate fate. Although the capital of Valetta could have held out for a lengthy siege as the knights were famous for, the Grand Master instead offered terms of surrender to the French only days after the invasion had begun. The Knights were granted some pensions and money as compensation, but lost their temporal home. This was to be the greatest defeat in the history of The Order, and Grand Master Hompsech zu Bolheim resigned only a few years later.

The Order of Malta was now, once again, without its namesake. It continued to shrink and fall into irrelevance until, in 1834, The Order was granted a home in Rome. Today it enjoys the extraterritoriality over two buildings in Rome - The Magisterial Palace and the Magisterial Vila - and part of Fort Saint Angelo in Malta. While these properties pale in comparison to the territories of Malta or Rhodes, or the great freedom they held in the Holy Land, it allowed The Order to once again evolve. Now known as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, The Order was recognized as a sovereign entity by the United Nations, still enjoys Papal Recognition, and has some form of diplomatic relations with 108 nations around the world. Today the Sovereign Military Order of Malta has gone back to its ancient roots. It feeds the hungry and takes care of the ill, regardless of their faith or nationality, around the world. They still operate hospitals and protect the helpless, and The Order still makes new Knights and Dames as it always has. In an everchanging world one can only wonder what change - or restoration - The Order will experience next.



A WORK IN PROGRESS
After roleplay resumes on the ModernNations forums, this thread will be updated to include more information about the Sovereign Order of Malta.​