Order of Malta

From the beginnings to Mohács

The Order of Saint John, later the Order of Malta, flourished in Hungary between the 12th and 16th centuries.

It was just a decade after the foundation of the Order that we have the first documentary evidence of its Hungarian connections. In 1135, a noblewoman named Petronilla established a Hungarian hospice (pilgrims' hostel) in Jerusalem, the deed of sale of which was signed not only by the Hungarians but also by Raymond de Puy, Grand Master of the Order. In 1147,  Knights of the Order of St. John and Knights Templars from Germany and Western Europe marched through Hungary on their way to the Second Crusade. King Andrew II was one of the leaders of the Fifth Crusade (1217-1221), during which he was admitted to the Order as a donat (lay, donating member of the Order). (He returned home in 1218, so did not take part in the ill-fated Egyptian campaign.)

The appearance of Hungarian pilgrims in the Holy Land and the first early Crusades were almost simultaneous with the establishment of commanderies, houses and churches of the Order in Hungary. The Knights of St John settled in Székesfehérvár in 1138, where they built a monastery in 1156. Queen Euphrosyne, widow of Géza II, donated more than fifty estates to the knights. 

The history of the Order in Hungary should be understood in the context of its being both a frontier region for Christianity, and a station on the land route to the Holy Land. Thus, it sent relatively fewer knights to the Holy Land than other European territories, but kept a large part of its forces at home to care for and protect the transients and to fight against local pagan threats. At the same time, it contributed to the activities in the Holy Land from the income of his estates, and its officers took part in the major councils of the Order.

The Order played important roles, especially in the western half of the country, including law enforcement and notarial functions. An interesting feature of the Knights Hospitallers in Hungary was that they acted as "authentic agents" (royal notaries): for example, they were the custodians of one of the seven copies of the Golden Bull (the Hungarian equivalent of the Magna Charta). The importance of the Hungarian province of the Order of St. John is reflected in the fact that King Andrew II and all the kings and princes of the Árpád dynasty after him were donats of the Order.

They took a strong part in the defence of the country during the Mongol invasion, when they were heavily involved in the Battle of Muhi and escorted the fleeing king to Dalmatia. With one exception: in 1247 they were granted the fief of Surnia, the territories up to the Olt and part of Kunland by Leo IV, with the expectation that they would use their excellent experience to help build up the defences, but they failed to do so and withdrew from the area shortly afterwards - we are not sure why. By the early 14th century they had more than 30 commanderies and houses in Hungary, most of them in the Transdanubian region and south of the Drava. Their leading monasteries were those of Esztergom, Székesfehérvár and Budafelhévíz.

In the post-Arpád dynastic conflict, the Order refrained for a long time from recognising the claim of the Anjous, despite the Pope's instructions (probably because most of their possessions were in the territories of other claimants to the throne or of petty kings who were not friendly to Charles Robert - such as Máté Csák and the Kőszegis). The decisive turning point came in 1306, when Charles Robert recaptured the castle of Esztergom from the Kőszegis; the Esztergom commandery clearly supported him, and the others followed his example. In Charles' 1312 campaign, the knights of St. John formed the backbone of Charles' (not very large) heavy cavalry, and their brave stand played a major role in the victory at Rozgony. Their relations with Sigismund of Luxembourg were less good.

In the 14th century, the Order was greatly strengthened by the incorporation of the Templars. In Hungary, the Templars were not persecuted, but after the dissolution of the Templar Order, their estates and knights were merged into the Knights of St John. In the 15th century, the Order had more than 40 houses, 20 in the Transdanubian region alone. Some of these were acquired after the dissolution of the Knights Templar, including the important coastal fortress of Vrána in 1336, which became the centre of the Hungarian and Slavonian Knights until 1409.

In the 1400s, the Hungarian Johannite knights' links with the leadership in Rhodes weakened, and their contributions were no longer paid, although between 1364 and 1370 a corps of Hungarian knights took part in the Order's campaigns around Rhodes, Cyprus and Alexandria. Their financial situation became worse and worse. The castle of Vrana was sold to Venice, although the title of 'Prior of Vrana' was retained on a titular level. The Prior of Vrana was in practice appointed by the King of Hungary, although he was generally approved by the Order. In 1895, Emperor Franz Joseph appointed the last titular prior of Vrana, the Archbishop of of Zagreb.

The members of the Order were involved in the fight against the growing Ottoman threat, and were victims, as all of Hungary, of the disastrous defeat at Mohács in 1526.
 

From Mohács to Trianon

After Mohács, the great commanderies of Esztergom, Székesfehérvár and the Hungarian hospitals were lost one after the other. For a time, the Hungarian leadership of the Order found a home in Sopron, but this last Johannite stronghold, too, soon fell into other hands. Thus the Order's presence in Hungary virtually ceased.

At the beginning of the 17th century, the German Langue of the Order annexed the Hungarian Grand Priory, which had hitherto been under the Italian Langue, and which was under the authority of the imperially-appointed Prior of Vrana, having scant ties to the Order. Three centuries passed in the history of the Hungarian Knights of Malta, known as the 'age of the titular Grand Priories', during which, although there were Hungarian knights - mainly members of the Austrian-Bohemian Grand Priory - the Order had no independent institution or body on Hungarian soil. In the 18th century, there were attempts to re-establish the Hungarian Grand Priory, but without success. In the mid-19th century, Hungarian-speaking members of the Order watched with interest the news from Italy about the renewal of the Order and the establishment of national associations. But as members of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, they had no autonomy for action. Only after the dissolution of the Empire and the tragedy of Trianon (1919) was the time ripe for a new chapter.

Bibliography:

Dr. József Török: "The History of the Order in our Homeland", Memorial Book of the Association of Hungarian Knights of Malta (2003)

Seward, Desmond: The Monks of War (Penguin Books, 1972, 1995).

Hunyadi, Zsolt (2006). Johannites in medieval Hungary until 1410 (PDF, in Hungarian)

Thierry Heribert: The Hungarian bibliography of the Order of the Knights of St. John of Malta of Jerusalem; Fővárosi Ny., Budapest, 1941

Szabolcs Vajay: The Hungarian Knights of the Order of Malta, 1530-2000.