MALTA, KNIGHTS OF
Encyclopedia Masonica
The history of the Knights of Malta (nee Knights of Hospital, Knights of St. John, etc.) was until recent years written by itself, that is, from its own records and reports of itself; or else by its enemies, who have not always been scrupulous; it is now possible to re-write its whole history in terms of modern, impartial scholarship. One of the results of that scholarship has been to break the one history of this Order into four or five almost separate histories, because the Order transformed, or at least transmogrified itself that many times.
As regards Freemasonry it may be said in general that the Knights were antipathetic to it, or to any such teachings or truths as Masons held at any period. In particular, the Order was twice used in attempts to destroy Freemasonry, and it therefore has at one time or another belonged to that long chapter of the history of the Fraternity which is called Anti Masonry.
It had become an open and confessed military arm of the Vatican before the Popes issued their first Bull against Freemasonry in 1738, and it was ordered to oppose Freemasonry wherever it could. In about 1800 it was instrumental in thriving Freemasonry out of Russia. When Metternich after 1815 and the Congress of Vienna became the dictator of Europe he made the complete elimination of the Fraternity one of his open and principal aims; and to a large extent he succeeded for some years, and may be described as the most powerful Anti-Mason of the Nineteenth Century.
The Knights of Malta were one of the agencies employed by him. (See page 539.) (Complete, detailed, fair, modern histories of the Order are On the Trail of the Eight-Pointed Cross 1G. P. Putman's; View York; 1940]; and Malta of the Knights, by E. W. Schermerhorn; Houghton, Mifflin; New York 1929; full bibliographies in both. For a more condensed account see House of the Temple; Study of Malta and its Knights in the French Revolution, by Frederick W. Ryan; Burns Oates and Washburn; London; 1930; bibliographies. Fifty Years in the Malts Order, by R. E. A. Land; two volumes; Toronto; Can.; 1928; contains also a detailed account of the Masonic Knights of Malta.)
After the first dissolution of the Order in Malta, an attempt was made to revive it in France to help the Greeks in their war with the Turks, after the latter had shocked Europe by a massacre of Christians on the Island of Scio; and they appealed to such Knights as were in England to assist them.
In consequence, the English branch of the Order was re established -it and in this action English members were permitted to be members of the Anglican Church. The English Knights based their rights on a Charter which had been granted by Queen Mary, but on grounds that were legally insecure. To remove this uncertainty Queen Victoria granted a new Charter in 1888. After this reincorporation, "the method of government of the Order was framed, as far as possible, on the precedents of the old Order.... The Sovereign of the Realm is the Sovereign Head and Patron, and no admission can be made to the Order except with his Majesty's sanction." From 1910 until his death the Duke of Connaught (Grand Master, the United Grand Lodge of England at the time) was Grand Prior.
The Order organized and maintained the St. John Ambulance Association and St. John Ambulance Brigade, with a highly efficient and very large membership of members expertly trained in First Aid. "In June, 1912, as a special mark of their appreciation of the work of the Brigade, the King and Queen inspected in Windsor Great Park, 11,000 men and 3,000 Nursing Sisters, including many representatives from Overseas." It furnished over 17,000 Hospital Orderlies in World War I; maintains a hospital; carries on relief work abroad; and carried on very extensive relief work in World War II.
Notes. The above is in correction of one or two statements made in last paragraph on page 541. The indispensable reference work on the modern Order is The Order of the Hospital of St. John and its Grand Priory of England, by H. W. Fincham; W. H. ,& L. Collingridge; 148 Oldersgate St., E. C., London; 1915. Beginning on page 78 it gives a list of the Grand Priors of England from Walter, 1143, to William Weston, who was Prior when Henry VIII dissolved the Order in 1540, and Thomas Tresham who held office of the revived Priory under Queen Mary in 1557; and for the period when English Priors were stationed in Malta under Richard Shelley, in 1566, to Girolamo Layarelli in 1806; and from Sir Robert Peat, first Prior after revival of Order in England, in 1831, to the Duke of Connaught, in 1910.
MS. ILLUSTRATIONS
The original of the hundred or so copies of the Old Charges (Old MSS, Old Constitutions, etc.) must have been written in the Fourteenth Century, perhaps about 1350 A.D. Each and every Masonic student would desire above almost anything else to have a detailed knowledge of Freemasonry as it then was; who and what men the Masons were; how they dressed; their manner of work; in what houses they lived, and how much they earned; and so on forth. To arrive at even an approximation of that picture he must collect small bits of fact from here and there, a short reference, a line in a book, a history of the building art, a study of contemporary laws, etc.
Among these sources is one which as yet has not been utilized by any Masonic scholar, at least if it has his book has not reached America: it consists of those small pictures which the writers of the MSS., Masonic and otherwise, often used to draw or paint into some small space in their parchment (or vellum) left by the text vignettes often of cunning workmanship and masterly composition. The large number of these MSS. are in Britain or Europe; a number of them however can be seen in American private collections, such as Morgan's in New York City, and Huntington~s in California, or in any one of the large universities; also, they may be found reproduced in books or photographs in any of the better metropolitan Libraries. A Masonic student looking out for a path of his own in research, and if he have access to the materials, can be promised that he will find out something new, and in time may be able to publish a Masonic book of a novel kind.
A small specimen list is not interesting to read; it may, however, serve as an illustration of what is said above, and at the same time give a beginning student sufficient guidance for making a start:
The earliest Speculative Lodges at the time of the first Grand Lodge met in public rooms in taverns, and each tavern was named after its sign, which hung in front in the form of a picture. Operative Masons four centuries before doubtless gathered in the evenings for ale or beer and for talk in taverns of the same type. Two of them are pictured in the Bodleian Library (Oxford) MSS., No.264, which like each title in the list, is of the Fourteenth Century Among five pictures in Brit. Mus. 2 B. VII are: a suit of everyday clothes worn by craftsmen; a straw bee-skelp (or bee-hive).
Brit. Mus. Roy. 20. C. VII contains detailed picture of a burning at the stake, the method being the same as that of the Pps; another of a beheading; and in Brit. Mus. Roy. E. IV is a scene showing a criminal being drawn.
Brit. Mus. Fasc. 175; Masons building a tower, using a windlass. B. M. Roy. 15. D. III- Mason using stone axle shows how ramp was used to carry stones up to top of high walls. In another MS. not named, the King?or some other crowned noble or prince?looks on while a Mason uses a plumb-line; in this operation a wooden inclined plane with cleats is used instead of a ladder.
A MS. in Brit. Nat., Paris; a
building scene, showing use of ladder.
B. M. MS, Roy. 10 E. IV; sawmills were run by man powers and sawyers did not
belong to same gild as carpenters
B. M. MS. Harl. 6563: a smith wears leather apron
B. M. MS. Roy. 2. B. VII; stone carver, sitting on bench ("bank"), using
gavel.
B. M. Addl. MS. 10292; stone carving by method of incising.
B. M. MS. Roy. 2. B. VII; four stone-cutters- one is Master of Masons; shape
of gavel is very clearly shown (In very few instances are Masons shown wearing
Aprons Smiths always wear leather aprons.)
B. M. MS. Egeston 1894- Mason on back, inside altar canopy, while carving
above his head.
B. M. My. Luttrell Psalter. Building walls was a specialty.
Such Masons were "wailers" and had own gild. This is a picture of their work;
a city wall, towers gates, etc.
