{"id":884,"date":"2016-06-09T22:12:47","date_gmt":"2016-06-09T22:12:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/oosj-rgp.org\/?page_id=884"},"modified":"2016-06-09T22:30:45","modified_gmt":"2016-06-09T22:30:45","slug":"history-iii","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/oosj-rgp.org\/?page_id=884","title":{"rendered":"History Part III"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Part III: 1800 – 1900<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Order entered the 19th century as a revitalized strong entity.
\nTragedy struck the newly reconstituted entity in 1801. The Emperor for
\npolitical reasons was assassinated, and his son Alexander I became
\nemperor. The new Emperor did not wish to become the Order\u2019s Grand Master
\nbut remained steadfast as its Imperial Protector. The young Emperor
\nappointed Bailiff Marshal Count Nicholas Soltikoff as the Lieutenant of
\nthe Order [proclamation<\/a>]. Emperor Alexander I like his father wished to regain the
\nisland of Malta for the exiled knights. The Treaty of Amiens signed in
\n1802 stipulated that the island be returned to the knights. In order to
\nexpedite the return to the island the parties agreed to the appointment
\nof a new Grand Master by the Pope from a list of candidates submitted by
\nthe surviving priories.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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After a complex and convoluted process in which a threatened pontiff,
\nPius VII, a scheming Bonaparte and an exiled Italian group meeting in
\nSicily ratified the Pope\u2019s candidate, Bailiff Giovanni Tommasi, as the
\nGrand Master in 1803. Tommasi established a seat of power in Catania but
\nlived till only 1805. The less than forty knights in Catania elected the Bailiff Giuseppe Caracciolo dei Marchese di
\nSant\u2019Eramo,\u00a0as Grand Master. Caracciolo was recognized by the Russian Emperor who granted
\nhim a pension of 12,000 rubles from the reveries of the Russian Grand
\nPriories. However, his Grand Mastership was meaningless in the light of
\nthe continuing battle for control of Europe fought between Napoleon and
\nother European countries.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Order almost ceased to exist in the West and entered a period in
\nwhich the western priories were decimated. The final exile of Napoleon
\nand the Congress of Vienna gave some stability to the western Order. The
\nOrder was restored in various states but under local papal or royal
\npatronage and control. In Rome, the Grand Priory of Italy was restored
\nin 1816 but as a source of revenue for a curial cardinal. The Order in
\nthe West was governed loosely and not well by a series of Lieutenants.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Other Orders arose from the scattered fragments left by Napoleon. The
\n19th century was the grand age of Romanticism, and the tales of knights
\nand knightly Orders were in popular mind. In Protestant Prussia, the
\nGrand Bailiwick of Brandenburg was converted into a civic Order of Saint
\nJohn in 1812. By 1852 it was restored as a Grand Bailiwick, and known
\nas the Johanniter under the House of Hohenzollern. The king\u2019s brother
\nPrince Charles was its Herrenmeister. In England, the Priory of England
\nwas revived with the Anglican chaplain of King George IV as Prior.
\nThe priory eventually obtained the recognition of the British Crown. In
\n1888, it received a royal charter as the Venerable Order of Saint John.
\nBy 1890 the Grand Prior was the Prince of Wales [King Edward VII].<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In Russia, the Order took on a more Imperial and Russian character.
\nThe seat of the Order, the Worontzoff Palace became the training school
\nfor the Russian military and the Imperial Corps des Pages. Emperor
\nNicholas I, at his own expense, restored the Orthodox and Catholic
\nchapels in the palace. There are many proofs of its continuation. In
\n1841, Prince Tufiakin, a Hereditary Family Commander, was expelled from
\nthe Order for unacceptable behavior. In 1844, an heraldic history,
\nOrdres de Chevalerie et Marques d\u2019Honneur, recorded:<\/p>\n

Le deux grand prieur\u00e9s de Russie conservant encore en apparence leur
\nconstitution et leur forme anciennes. Sous Ia protection de !\u2019empereur,
\nsous sa haute direction dans le chapitre, us continuent la chaine du
\nveritable ordre de Saint-Jean, en ne conservant avec le chapitre de Rome
\nque des liens tr\u00e8s-rel\u00e2ch\u00e9s \u2026. il est divis\u00e9 en deux grand prieur\u00e9s,
\nFun pour les chevaliers de la communion grecque, l\u2019autre pour ceux de la
\ncommunion latine. Le premier poss\u00e8de 98 commanderies de chevaliers, 17
\nfond\u00e9es sur le revenu de la poste, et 20 de fondations priv\u00e9es\u2026. Ii y a
\naussi des grand\u2019croix et des petites croix pour les dames.<\/span><\/p>\n

The preceding passage was loosely translated and published in the
\n1858 work by the famed genealogist and royal herald Sir Bernard Burke,
\nThe Book of Orders of Knighthood;<\/p>\n

The two Russian Grand Priories still preserve the appearance of the
\nold Constitution and form, under the patronage of the Emperor, who is
\nhead of the Chapter. Its connection with the Chapter of Rome is of a
\nvery loose character\u2026..the whole is now divided into two Grand
\nPriories, for the Knights of the Greek and those of the Roman Catholic
\nconfession. The former now counts ninety-eight Commanders [Burke does
\nnot repeat many of the other statistics from the above French entry]\u2026
\n.There are also grand and small crosses for female members.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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From these two texts, certain assumptions can be made. The first assumption is that
\nthe Order existed if not thrived in Russia till the middle of the 19th
\ncentury. This dating dismisses the popular belief founded on a
\nmisunderstanding of the original Russian decrees that the Order was
\nsuppressed in Russia by the Lazareff affair of 1817. More correctly, the
\nLazareffs had received decorations from Serra Capriola from the Order
\nof Saint John outside of Russia. By that date the Russian court only
\nrecognized those decorations granted by the Russian Order as permissible
\nfor display and wearing at Court.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Secondly and most importantly for the character of the Order,
\nalthough the external forms of the Order seemed to be preserved in
\nRussia the Order had changed from its western origin. Both entries
\nmention the presence of female members. In the West women were still
\nstrictly barred from what was still a celibate and masculine Order. If
\nany women were involved in the western Order, they served in the
\ncapacity as religious nuns.<\/p>\n

A third interesting statement is the recognition that the ties with
\nthe western Order were very weak. A fourth statement, often overlooked,
\ndescribes the source of revenue for the Order in Russia, partly from the
\nrevenue of the postal system and partly from private foundations. We
\nmay safely assume that those privately funded units must have been the
\nhereditary family commanderies, for at their creation by Emperor Paul,
\nsuch was the requirement. From another selection in Burke we are told
\nthat the Emperor was the head of all Orders in Russia, except for the
\nfemale one of Saint Catherine, which was nominally under the Empress\u2019s
\nprotection.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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What the Order did in Russia is not specified. If it was similar to the
\nother knightly orders of Imperial Russia, such as the Saint Stanislaus,
\nSaint Alexander Nevesky, Order of Saint George, etc., they served as
\norganizations for honored and important members of the Court and
\nmilitary. They served principally as a support for the monarchy and the
\ncountry. The role of the Russian Order and the training of the future
\nleaders of the state, as well as, the Imperial Corps des Pages has been
\nstated by Russian writers but has been dismissed in the western
\nliterature.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Order is recorded in Russian sources. Membership is confirmed in the
\nImperial Court Almanacs of 1829, 1835, 1847, 1853, 1856, and 1914.
\nEmperor Alexander II was frequently shown wearing the Grand Cross of the
\nOrder, and as Head of the Russian Grand Priories. He raised Prince
\nAlexander Vassilievitch Troubetzkoy to the rank of Hereditary Commander
\non October 19, 1867. Emperor Alexander III allowed the crown of the
\nGrand Master which had been created for Emperor Paul to be used at the
\nfuneral rites of his father, Alexander II, and it was also present at
\nhis own coronation. Emperor Alexander III had the portrait of Emperor
\nPaul I as Grand Master given a special place of honor at the Gatchina
\nPalace. He is also pictured wearing the badge of the Order in the
\npainting by Repin, An Audience Given by Alexander III to the Volst Elders<\/em>, 1886, Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, as well as in several other portraits.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Emperor Nicholas II was equally involved with the Order. Count Serge D.
\nCheremetieff was confirmed in 1899 as a Hereditary Commander. An 1897
\nwork on the Maltese Order by Leon de la Briere mentioned the independent
\nRussian Order of Saint John but added that it was not on good terms
\nwith the Roman Grand Master. However, Emperor Nicholas II maintained
\ncordial relations with the then Grand Master of the Roman Order, for he
\nsent them the copy of the famous painting of Emperor Paul I as Grand
\nMaster. This imperial gift continues to hold a place of honor in the
\npresent international headquarters of the Roman Order and appears in its
\nofficial photographs. He honored family members, including Empress
\nAlexandra and the Grand Dukes Sergei and Paul, with Bailiff Grand Cross.
\nA document survives from 1912 that Count Vladimir Armfeld could wear
\nthe decoration of the Order and it would be passed to his son. Officers
\ngraduating from the Imperial Corps des Pages whose seat was in the
\nOrders Palace, were given the right to wear a Cross of the Order on a
\nround gold plaque which commemorated in 1902 the one hundredth
\nfoundation of the Corps.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Continue to Part IV >>><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Part III: 1800 – 1900   The Order entered the 19th century as a revitalized strong entity. Tragedy struck the newly reconstituted entity in 1801. The Emperor for political reasons was assassinated, and his son Alexander I became emperor. The new Emperor did not wish to become the Order\u2019s Grand Master but remained steadfast as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":878,"menu_order":21,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-884","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oosj-rgp.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oosj-rgp.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oosj-rgp.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oosj-rgp.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oosj-rgp.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=884"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/oosj-rgp.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/884\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":964,"href":"https:\/\/oosj-rgp.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/884\/revisions\/964"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oosj-rgp.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oosj-rgp.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}