The Masonic Leader

His plan was to send one force by water at the northwest side of the Senglea where ships could be run up onto the shore, a second force against  the landward wall and a third force, his  ace up his sleeve,  his Janissaries, who were the shock troops of the Turkish army, the best of the best.  His plan… while the Knights were distracted defending on two fronts, he would send 1000 of his best troops in 10 boats to storm a low wall on the north east tip of Senglea.  This was to be the  coup de gerre.

On July 15th, the  massive attack was launched, the water attack was anticipated by the Knights and  thwarted by a series of underwater stakes and other underwater obstructions, that stopped the Turkish ships from landing.  Stuck on these , the Turks were sitting ducks, for the musketeers,  when the Turks went into the water to cut down the stakes, Maltese swimmers engaged them and a savage hand to hand battle developed in the sea.

Even with the setback the simultaneous attack was working, the Turks mass assault  had scaled the walls of Fort St. Michael.

Turkish morale no doubt suffered, but Mustapha, as he walked through the ruins of St. Elmo, ordered what we would now consider psychological terrorism.  He had the bodies of the Knights decapitated, “then nailed (the bodies) to improvised wooded crosses in mockery of the crucifixion” ⁸ and that night set them  adrift in the Grand Harbor, where the next morning they washed up on the foot of Fort St. Angelo.    The Grand Master understood Mustapha’s message, this was a war  in which  no quarter was to be granted.

In response to Mustapha,  Grand Master La Valette, in an apparent eye for an eye reaction, ordered all of the Turkish prisoners in the dungeons of St. Angelo executed and decapitated.  Their heads he had “placed in the two large cannons on the top of the high cavalier” ⁹ of the fort and fired them into the Turkish lines across the harbor.

The very day that St. Elmo fell, 1000 reinforcements under Chevalier de Robles, a Knight Hospitaller,  was  approaching from the north.  On the night of June 29th,  with the help of Maltese guides, they slipped around the Turkish lines, incredibly with no losses, into Birgu.  The first time the Turks knew that reinforcements had arrived, was that morning, when the shouts of celebration and bell ringing was heard.

Mustapha Pasha  responded by repositioning cannon batteries and began a cross fire.  He developed a strategy to attack Senglea, it being the perceived weaker of the remaining fortifications.

The landing of the Turkish army on May 18th was not resisted,  spies and merchant men had warned the Grand Master La Valette that Suliman’s fleet and army was descending on Malta.

The Turkish army advanced from its landing site and the first critical mistake was made by the  “Turkish High command”⁶, they bypassed the old city of Mdina that was weakly fortified and manned, to start the siege of the principal fortification of the Hospitallers.

St. Elmo became their initial target, with that decision, the “Turkish High Command”⁶ had made it’s second tactical error, simply because, the longer St. Elmo held out, the odds increased in favor of  of the Knights  and soldiers surviving in the   other fortifications.

The great Turkish army went to work, long practiced siege techniques went into effect,  cannon batteries were established and began a relentless bombardment of St. Elmo, day and night. (Grand Harbor)  By the end of May,  the Turk’s skillful concentration of cannon fire began to take its toll on the little fort.

A delegation of Knights slipped out of St. Elmo  to meet with the Grand Master La Valette and his council, to tell him the position in the fort was untenable.

Legend has it that the  Grand Master stared at these Knights and sarcastically said

“…that they need not go back to St. Elmo, but he and a hand picked band would go hold the walls themselves.”

Hearing this, the knights dissent turned to shame, they knew that their honor would not stand such an event and the begged the Grand Master to allow them to return to St. Elmo.  “After they were gone the Grand Master told the council, he knew full well (that) St. Elmo was doomed, but the longer it held out … (gave) … hope for the Order in Malta.” ⁷

May 18,  1565,  the fleet is sighted approaching the island of Malta.   Against this massive army, stood the 700 knights Hospitallers and 8000 soldiers.  The  Knights prepared themselves in their fortifications. A star shaped fort named St. Elmo was built on the northerly point controlling the bay to the north as well as the entrance to the Grand Harbor.  Grand Harbor itself was like small fjord  with two small peninsulas extending into it from the south. The western most peninsula was known as Senglea, a fortified town, at the base of this  peninsula was Fort St. Michael  and the eastern peninsula was the fortified town of Birgu, at the tip of the eastern peninsula was Fort St. Angelo, separated by a waterway from Birgu.   High ground was situated above all of the positions held by the Knights. To the west, was the fortified city of Mdina the old capital of the island.

The Hospitallers  were  politically, more astute then the Templars.  In 1306 the Grand Master of the Hospitalers  was  approached about occupying the  Island of Rhodes. He recognizes a new mission with strategic importance that placed the Order once again on the front line in the struggle against the expansion of Islamic forces into Christian territories.

This mission likely sustained the Order.

The Templars, did not adapt to the new circumstances as well as the other orders, attempts were made by the Templars to organize a new Crusade to retake the Holy Lands, but by October, 1307, machinations of Philip IV of France destroyed the old Temple organization.

The Island of Rhodes would become the Order’s home for 216 years. (see map)    Over this time period,  the Hospitallers, became known as the Knights of Rhodes.    In this time period the Knights had made the transition from a land based heavy calvary to naval power.  The Knights in conjunction with able assistance of the Rhodian islanders,  became the terror of the  Aegean  Sea.   To the Islamic leaders of the Ottoman Empire, these Knights on their islands, were nothing but a nest of pirates and vipers.  Christian corsairs.  What it brings to mind is one of the old charges of Freemasonry  “.… will make you a brother to pirates and corsairs…” The Hospitaller order had become exactly that.  For 200 years, ranging forth from their island strong hold, the Knights Hospittaler, now known as the Knights of Rhodes,  with their swift galleys, and sails emblazoned with the 8 pointed Cross, were the terror to Muslim trade routes.

Several failed attempts were made to  drive the Knights from Rhodes.  The most notable of these happened in 1480, Sultan Mehmet II, the conqueror of Constantinople,  sent a massive army,  which failed to dislodge the Knights in a siege that is a story in itself and the Knights achieved an incredible victory over the invincible Sultan.   One of the banners of the Masonic Templar order contains the letters FERT and is a direct symbolic reference to this victory at Rhodes.

From these roots the Order began its dual mission of supporting hospitals and a military arm to protect pilgrims.  This mission quickly expanded with the parallel development of the Knights Templar and Teutonic Knights.

At the high tide of the Order’s presence in the Holy Lands, the Hospitallers, held 7 great fortifications and extensive land holdings in the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

The two major castles, being  “Krak des Chevaliers” considered the most formidable fortress in the East and  “Margat” both found in what is today Syria.

The fall of the Kingdom of Jerusalem took 172 years.  The last great castle on the coast in the Holy Lands at Acre fell after  a terrible struggle in 1291.²

At the fall of Acre, the Grand Master of the Order and a handful of Knights were able to escape by sea to the Island of Cyprus. It was a great setback but a time of transition for the military orders.

The  significance of this symbol, the  8 pointed cross, known as the Cross of St. John, later known as the Maltese Cross is of interest.  It is said that each point represents one of the Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount, but  to the Order of St. John, the 8 Points of the Cross that they wore on their religious habit and appeared on the flag of the Order represented  8 obligations or aspirations (found to be very similar to the Beatitudes)

“live in truth;

have faith;

repent of sins;

give proof of humility;

love justice;

be merciful;

be sincere and whole-hearted; and endure persecution” ¹

The 8 points also represented the 8 kingdoms from which the knights were drawn consequently,  8  languages or dialects were  spoken in the order.

This humble symbol of Christian faith, the 8 pointed Cross of St. John,  the sign of the Hospitallers was one of the principal banners  at the forefront of Christian soldiers and sailors in the Holy Land and Mediterranean Sea in their defense against Islamic expansion.

By 1113 ,  Pope Pascal II recognized the group as an Order. The Order’s transition from a hospitaller order to a military order, parallels the creation of the Knights Templar in 1119.  Simply put, the Order needed to recruit Knights for protection of the pilgrims, as the number of pilgrims coming to the Holy Lands increased.

The symbol of the Order a/k/a the Hospitallers, is the 8 pointed Cross, this was adopted from the Italian Republic of Amalfi, the original benefactor of the Hospital in Jerusalem.    The Order was identified in  battle by black surcoats with a white cross covering their breast.  Their flag, a white cross on a red background.

In contrast, the Knights Templar wore white surcoats with a red cross and the Teutonic Knights  wore white surcoats with a black cross.

The roots of the Order of St. John (as well as the Knights Templar and the Teutonic Knights) are found in the goal of the Crusaders to secure the Holy sites and protect pilgrims in their passage to and from the Holy lands.   But the Order of St. John  had a dual mission, a military arm as well as  a monastic hospitaller order.   The hospitaller mission of the  Order is its original function..  Approximately in 1023, merchants from Amalfi in Italy, gained permission from the Caliph  of Egypt to rebuild a hospital in Jerusalem near the church of St. John the Baptist. The main objective was to care for sick and injured pilgrims visiting the Holy Lands.

It was served by Benedictine monks under Brother Girard.

Suleiman the Magnificent and his  generals and admirals ,  devised a military plan of conquest,  a straight forward one, seize control of  Malta  with its grand harbor,  and it becomes a great base of operation for ranging westward to Spain or northward through Italy to Rome itself.   Control Malta, and Rome was in jeopardy.  If Rome falls to Islamic armies, the world changes.

To be successful at this plan, the only thing Suleiman had to do was brush aside a small force of Knights of the Order of St. John that were in control of Malta. Wipe out that  nest of pirates or vipers as he called them.

At the time of the battle of Malta in 1565, the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem a/k/a the Hospitaller’s, had existed as an independent order for 450 years.   To understand the animosity of the Islamic forces toward the Order of St. John,  let us look briefly at  how the order evolved and it’s mission.