In 1530 the Emperor Charles V gave the island of Malta to the Order (1530 – 1798), on condition that they defended Tripoli in North Africa. The Knights sailed into the harbour under the command of Sir William Weston, the Grand Prior of England, in the Santa Anna, the first armour plated vessel recorded in history.
The Grand Master arranged for the protection of the island, including the fortification of the harbour. In 1565 the last of the great sieges of the Order began. Against the Grand Master, John de la Valette, and his forces, the Turks brought an army more than three times as large. After six months of fierce fighting and thousands of deaths, the Turks left the island. Six years later the Turkish fleet was finally destroyed at Lepanto by the combined fleets of Spain, Venice, Genoa and other Christian fleets, including the Order of St John. During this time massive walls were built round the city of Valetta, some being 150 feet high. Many new buildings were erected, including the Palace for the Grand Master, auberges, a church the size of St Paul’s Cathedral in London, and a hospital with a ward 150 yards long and 12 yards wide.
For the next 230 years the service to the sick was maintained, but the naval and military forces became less vigilant.
The Order relied on the home countries to raise men and money. The Order’s properties in England had been confiscated by King Henry VIII in 1540. After the French Revolution in 1789, the properties belonging to the Tongues of Provence, Auvergne and France were confiscated. In 1798 the French fleet anchored off Malta. The Grand Master Von. Hompesch, capitulated tamely three days later.
Post Malta (1798 – 1834), most Knights abandoned their vows and returned to their own countries. A remnant went to Russia, where for some years the Czars protected the Order.
From Russia the Knights moved to various towns in Italy, eventually settling in Rome in 1834. The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM) is the direct descendant of the medieval Order of St John. The SMOM is a religious Order of the Roman Catholic Church with its headquarters in Rome. The Vatican is recognised as a State and has full mutual diplomatic relations with over sixty countries.
An authorative history of the Order – Hospitallers – has been written by Professor Jonathan Riley-Smith, the Librarian of the Order.
The Headquarters of the Order in England (1144 – to date) was centred on the Grand Priory at Clerkenwell, which was established in 1144 just outside the City of London. Included in the Tongue of England were the mainly autonomous Preceptory of Torphichen, situated to the west of Edinburgh, and the Priory of Ireland at Kilmainham, near Dublin.
In 1540 Parliament passed an Act dissolving the Order in England and conferring its estates on the Crown. In 1557 Queen Mary Tudor revived the Order briefly in England. Although the Letters Patent were never formally repealed, the properties were confiscated by Queen Elizabeth I in 1559.
The Preceptor of Scotland surrendered the properties of the Order of St John in Scotland to the Crown in 1564.
Attempts to revive the Order in England began in the late 1820’s. The story is tangled. The enthusiasts involved were for the most part looking back to an imagined romantic age of chivalry, and were unsuccessful in obtaining recognition from the SMOM.
However, in time the idea of providing public service took hold. First aid instruction to the public began in 1877. The first eye hospital in Jerusalem was opened in 1882. The Brigade was founded in 1887. Official recognition came with a Royal Charter granted by Queen Victoria in 1888.