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The Knights Hospitallers: Difference between revisions
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{{Useful Notes}}
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{{quote|'''Caspar Gutman:''' ''What do you know, sir, about the Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, later known as the Knights of Rhodes and other things?''
'''Sam Spade:''' ''Crusaders or something, weren't they?''
|''[[The Maltese Falcon]]''}}
[[Overly Long Name|The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta]] (SMOM), known also as '''[[The Knights Hospitallers]]''', the Knights of St. John, the Knights of Rhodes, the Knights of Malta, and [[I Have Many Names|about a dozen variations thereon]], is a Roman Catholic religious order and the oldest and perhaps most important of the three great orders of crusading knights, the other two being [[The Knights Templar]] and [[The Teutonic Knights]].
The birth of the Order dates back to around 1048. Merchants from the ancient Marine Republic of Amalfi obtained from the Caliph of Egypt the authorization to build a church, convent, and hospital in Jerusalem to care for pilgrims. The Order of St. John of Jerusalem -- the monastic community that ran the hospital for the pilgrims in the Holy Land -- became independent under the guidance of its founder, Blessed Gérard. With the Bull of 15 February 1113, [[The Pope|Pope Paschal II]] approved the foundation of the Hospital and placed it under the ægis of the Holy See, granting it the right to freely elect its superiors without interference from other secular or religious authorities. By virtue of the Papal Bull, the Hospital became an Order exempt from all Church authority except for the pope's, and paid no tithes. All the Knights were religious, bound by the three monastic vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. The habit of the order consisted of a black cloak with a white cross, which by the thirteenth century had assumed the eight-pointed form familiar today as the Maltese Cross.
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* Dorothy Dunnett's ''The Disorderly Knights'', third book in the ''Lymond Chronicles'', depicts the 1651 siege of Malta, in which the Turks sack Gozo and take Tripoli. Grand Master Juan de Homedes is portrayed as a greedy incompetent, while the knights are too distracted by in-fighting to focus on their defenses. Many of the individual knights do mean well {{spoiler|including Lymond's childhood friend and future sidekick Jerott Blythe}}, but the blindness of their faith leaves them suceptible to anti-Muslim bigotry as well as to manipulation by charismatic leaders {{spoiler|such as Lymond's great antagonist, the falsely-pious knight Gabriel}}.
* In Sir [[Walter Scott]]'s ''[[Ivanhoe]]'', the Hospitaller, Ralph de Vipont, is a much less formidable figure than any of the other challengers at Ashby-de-la-Zouche.
* Lucas, hero of [[Poul Anderson]]'s [[Historical Fiction]] ''Rogue Sword'', has a Hospitaller friend, Brother Hugh de Tourneville. Late in the book, Lucas is on [[Cyprus]], knows Brother Hugh is there, and mentions to a local that he's thinking of getting work with "the knightly Order." The Cypriote treats him to a tirade about how rotten [[The Knights Templar]] are. Once he learns Lucas was talking about Hospitallers, though, it's basically, "If you '''do''' get a job, could you maybe put in a good word for me?" Lucas is still a bit astonished to find that just about '''everybody''' on Cyprus praises the "gentleness, open-handedness, justice, tolerance, and wisdom" of the Knights of Saint John — particularly given that the Cypriotes are [[Orthodox Christianity|Greek Orthodox]] while the Knights are Roman Catholic.
== Live Action TV ==
* Incredibly tenuous, yet obligatory ''[[Doctor Who]]'' example: the original TARDIS prop had a [http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45219000/jpg/_45219570_hartnell_466.jpg St. John's Ambulance badge] on the door. Apparently it's making a [http://blogs.coventrytelegraph.net/thegeekfiles/Matt-Smith-Tardis.jpg reappearance]{{Dead link}} in the next season with [[Matt Smith]].
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== Tabletop Games ==
* The Black Templar [[Space Marine|Space Marines]] in ''[[Warhammer
** The [[The Knights Hospitallers|Sisters Hospitaller]] of the [[Amazon Brigade|Adepta Sororitas]] are perhaps a more straight example. A non-militant section of the Sisters of Battle, They are excellent fighters by the Imperium's standards, but their main focus is on treating the wounded and easing the pain of the dying. While they have no problems torturing a confession out of heretics using their medical gear, they are still beloved as saints amongst the Imperial citizenry for their tireless and selfless (often self-sacrificing) efforts in the medical field-- famous as they are for [[Combat Medic|darting across a battlefield without any sign of fear so that they can treat a wounded soldier]], no matter his or her rank.
* Along with the Templars, The Knights Hospitaller are one of the knightly orders battling the demonic minions of The Unholy on the living planet of '''Wormwood''' in ''[[Rifts]]''.
* [[Dungeons
* One of the best defense-and-counterattack oriented armies in the DBM and DBMM.
* In ''[[Infinity]]'', the Hospitallers are one of several elite, [[Church Militant|Church-funded]] [[Power Armor|power-armor units]] that PanOceana can field, specializing in battlefield rescues and medical support.
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[[Category:Sir Index of Tropes]]
[[Category:Historical Domain Character]]
[[Category:The Knights Hospitallers]]▼
[[Category:Useful Notes/Europe]]
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