Mackey A G - Encylopedia of Freemasonry - The Grand Masonic ...

KNIGHT
KNIGHT 395
The organization of the Order in its days of
prosperity was very complicated, partaking
both of a monarchist and a republican character
. Over all presided a Grand Master, who,
although invested with extensive powers, was
still controlled by the legislative action of the
General Chapter .
The Order was divided into eight languages
over each of which presided one of the Grand
dignitaries with the title of Conventual Bailiff.
These dignitaries were the Grand Commander,
the Grand Marshal, the Grand Hospitaler,
the Grand Conservator, the Grand
Turcopolier, the Grand Bailiff, and the Grand
Chancellor. Each of these dignitaries resided
in the palace or inn at Malta which
was appropriated to his language . In every
province there were one or more Grand Priories
presided over by Grand Priors, and beneath
these were the Commanderies, over
each of which was a Commander . There were
scattered through the different countries of
Europe 22 Grand Priories and 596 Commanderies.
Those who desired admission into the Order
as members of the first class, or Knights of
Justice, were required to produce proofs of
noble descent . The ceremonies of initiation
were public and exceedingly simple, consisting
of little more than the taking of the necessary
vow. In this the Hos italers differed from
the Templays, whose formula of admission
was veiled in secrecy. Indeed, Porter (Hist .,
i., 203) attributes the escape of the former
Order from the accusations that were heaped
upon the latter, and which led to its dissolution,
to the fact that the Knights "abjured
all secrecy in their forms and ceremonies ."
The Order was dissolved in England by
Henry VIII ., and, although temporarily restored
by Mary, was finally abolished in England
. A decree of the Constituent Assembly
abolished it in France in 1792 . By a decree of
Charles IV., of Spain, in 1802, the two languages
of Aragon and Castile became the
Royal Spanish Order of St . John, of which he
declared himself the Grand Master .
Now, only the languages of Germany and
Italy remain . The Order is, therefore, at
this day in a state of abeyance, if not of disintegration,
although it still maintains its
vitality, and the functions of Grand Master
are exercised by a Lieutenant of the Magistery,
who resides at Rome . Attempts have
also been made, from time to time, to revive
the Order in different places, sometimes
with and sometimes without the legal sanction
of the recognized head of the Order. For instance,
there are now in England two bodiesone
Catholic, under Sir George Bowyer, and
the other Protestant, at the head of which is
the Duke of Manchester ; but each repudiates
the other . But the relic of the old and valiant
Order of Knights Hospitalers claims no connection
with the branch of Masonry which
bears the title of Knights of Malta, and hence
the investigation of its present condition is no
part of the province of this work .
Knight of Malta, Masonic .
The degree
of Knight of Malta is conferred in the United
States as "an appendant Order" in a Commandery
of Knights Templar . There is a
ritual attached to the degree, but very few are
in possession of it, and it is generally communicated
after the candidate has been created
a Knights Templar ; the ceremony consisting
generally only in the reading of the
passage of Scripture prescribed in the Monitors,
and the communication of the modes of
recognition .
How anything so anomalous in history as
the commingling in one body of Knights Templar
and Knights of Malta, and making the
same person a representative of both Orders,
first arose, it is now difficult to determine . It
was, most probably, a device of Thomas S .
Webb, and was, it may be supposed, one of
the results of a too great fondness for the accumulation
of degrees. Mitchell, in his History
of Freemasonry (ii., 83), says : "The degree,
so called, of Malta, or St . John of Jerusalem,
crept in, we suppose, by means of a
bungler, who, not knowing enough of the ritual
to confer it properly, satisfied himself by
simply adding a few words in the ceremony of
dubbing ; and thus, by the addition of a few
signs and words but imperfectly understood,
constituted a Knights Templar also a Knight
of Malta, and so the matter stands to this
day." I am not generally inclined to place
much confidence in Mitchell as an historian ;
yet I cannot help thinking that in this instance
his guess is not very far from the truth
although, as usual with him, there is a tinge of
exaggeration in his statement .
There is evidence that the degree was introduced
at a very early period into the Masonry
of this country . In the Constitution of
the "United States Grand Encampment,"
adopted in 1805 one section enumerates
"Encampments of Knights of Malta, Knights
Templars, and Councils of Knights of the
Red Cross," now Companions of the Red
Cross. It will be observed that the Knight
of Malta precedes the Knights Templar ;
whereas, in the present system, the former is
made the ultimate degree of the series. Yet,
in this Constitution, no further notice is taken
of the degree ; for while the fees for the Red
Cross and the Templar degrees are prescribed,
there is no reference to any to be paid for
that of Malta. In the revised Constitution of
1816, the order of the series was changed to
Red Cross, Templar, and Malta, which arrangement
has ever since been maintained .
The Knights of Malta are designated as one of
the "Appendant Orders," a title and a subordinate
position which the pride of the old
Knights of Malta would hardly have permitted
them to accept .
In 1856, the Knights Templar of the United
States had become convinced that the incororation
of the Order of Malta with the
Knights Templar, and making the same person
the possessor of both Orders, was so absurd a
violation of all historic truth that at the
session of the General Grand Encampment in
that year, at Hartford, Connecticut, on the