The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta is a Roman Catholic religious order founded in 1099 in Jerusalem, by the Blessed Gerard. As such it is the world’s oldest surviving chivalric order.

In its long history, the Order has owned land and resided in modern day Israel, Palestine, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, and Malta. However, today, the Order of Malta no longer possesses these territories. This unique situation has led some to say the Order is ‘the only country without any land’. While it is not accurate to call the Order of Malta a ‘country’, it lives on as a sovereign entity under international law – with its own government, laws, stamps, and passport. But how did this happen?

The Order was established in 1099 by the Blessed Gerard in the Kingdom of Jerusalem to provide care for pilgrims. The Order subsequently received Papal recognition in the year 1113. This initial task of care for pilgrims was very soon followed by another— to care for the wounded and sick victims of armed conflicts. To guarantee the Order the independence required for such an activity, the Supreme Pontiff, who then constituted the source of law, granted important exemptions to it. These exemptions, together with the provisions of feudal law, were the source of the functional sovereignty which the Order has enjoyed, without interruption, up to the present day.

But what about the territory the Order controlled? After conquering the island of Rhodes in 1310, the Knights became known as the Knights of Rhodes. 220 years later, in 1530, Emperor Charles V ceded the island of Malta to the Knights. However, by the end of April 1792, the French revolutionary wars began. These wars would lead to the French occupation of parts of Italy and Germany, and thus the spread of revolutionary ideology. In consequence, the Order lost much of its land in Europe.

Subsequently, after the seizure of Malta by Napoleon in 1798, the Order left the island, heading to Trieste where they were granted asylum. While the Congress of Vienna of 1815 confirmed the loss of the island Malta, after having temporarily resided in Messina and Catania, the seat of the Order was moved to Ferrara in 1826, and then to Rome in 1834, where it remains to this day.

Today, the Order’s two main properties in Rome – the Magistral Palace and the Magistral Villa – both possess extraterritorial status. However, extraterritoriality does not equate to sovereign territory under international law. Rather, having extraterritorial status means that the property, while physically inside another country’s bounds, is not subject to that country’s local laws – in effect, the same status as any embassy worldwide.

Nevertheless, despite the lack of territory today, the Order remains a subject of international law, where it maintains its functional sovereignty through diplomatic relations with over 100 states, the European Union, as well as permanent observer status at the United Nations.

For more information about the Sovereign Order of Malta please visit: https://www.orderofmalta.int

To learn more about the three entities of the Sovereign Order of Malta in Romania please visit: https://www.orderofmalta.int/contacts/europe/romania