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GREAT ORDERS OF CHIVALRY |
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The Swedish Johanniter Order The Knightly Order of Saint John of Jerusalem in Sweden (Johanniterorden i Sverige) The earliest members of the Orders of Saint John to arrive in Scandinavia were almost certainly non-noble serving-brothers and came as itinerant preachers, trying to recruit supporters for the Crusades, in the late twelth century. [1] Their first settlement, at Antvorskov, was founded between 1158 and 1177, probably in 1164, as a hospital, with the support of King Woldemar of Denmark and this soon became the headquarters of the new "Priory of Dacia", [2] part of the German Langue. [3] The only Swedish commandery, at Eskiltuna in the county of Sodermanland, south-west of Stockholm, was probably founded before 1185 and the only Norwegian commandery was established at Verne between 1194 and 1198. There were as many as five commanderies in Denmark by the fourteenth century, one for each diocese, reduced to four with the amalgamation of Lund into the main commandery at Antvorskov. Whether any Scandinavian knights fought in the crusades in Palestine (as Vertot maintains) is unknown and the crusading activities of the Scandinavian monarchs were mostly directed towards the southern and eastern Baltic. In 1308 Pope Clement V called for a new crusade against the Turks and late in 1311 several procurators arrived in Denmark to appeal for financial support. Unfortunately ome of them were fraudulently claiming the title of procurator and, claiming to represent the Order, collected moneys for their own use. [4] The Order was granted numerous privileges by the Scandinavian kings until a crisis arose in the early 14th century when Haakon V of Norway expelled the Order for failing to exchange its properties in Norway for lands the King owned in Denmark; the Pope ultimately supported the Order and its Norwegian commandery was restored. In Denmark King Eric VI confiscated part of its properties on a pretext to solve his own financial crisis; once again the Pope supported the Order and restitution was eventually effected. Early in the history of the Priory many of the members were actually non-Scandinavians, recruited from elsewhere in the German Langue, but from the later 15th century there were very few foreigners and the later priors, who always had a seat in the Danish king's councils, were all Scandinavians. The Order's privilege of attaching to its commanderies all properties acquired by a knight during his lifetime, confirmed by Christian I in 1473, was of particular value and although the early members had all been chaplains and serving-brothers, an increasing number of noble members joined as knights during this later period. Meanwhile there was a close relationship between the Norwegian king's bodyguard ("hird") and the Order of Saint John, with retired guards officers becoming resident pensioners of the commandery at Verne. The Scandinavian commanderies were also used as training establishments for the sons of the nobility who did not necessarily join the Order (with the commandery at Odense even providing a school). The hospitals attached to each commandery not only treated the sick but provided shelter and sustenance for the poor and hospitality for needy travellers. After the loss of Rhodes all communication between the Priory of Dacia and the Grand Master appears to have ceased and Scandinavia quickly fell under the influence of Lutheranism. One of the earliest converts was a chaplain of the Order, Johannes Tausen, who was expelled from the Order in 1528. The Swedish commandery was laicised in 1530 and the Danish commanderies broke their allegiance with the Order in 1536, but the remaining brothers were permitted to live out their lives at the convent houses. [5] The principal commandery and former priory at Antvorskov remained occupied by the surviving brothers, who had converted to the Lutheran faith, until 1582 when their convent was confiscated to become a royal palace. The Grand Masters in Malta continued to appoint titular Priors of Dacia throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; the last titular Prior was Fra' Heinrich Baron von Truchsess, appointed in 1794. In 1816 the Swedish government informally proposed that the Order of Malta be given the island of Gottland but that offer was refused and there was no further connection with the Order of Malta until the establishment of the tiny Scandinavian Association this century. The modern Swedish Johanniter Order was originally part of the refounded German Johanniter but was reorganised as a Swedish Order by the late King Gustav V and Queen Victoria in 1920. The first knights were the fifty-four Swedish knights of the Bailiwick of Brandenburg of the Johanniter Order and it was established initially as a dependence of the German Order, but under the protection of the Swedish Crown. In 1946 the Order established its autonomy from the German Order with the King as High Protector and, since 1961 it has been a member of the Alliance. There are presently fifty-three knights of Justice and two hundred and fifty-three knights of Honor, all of whom are required to prove nobility in the male line. Noble proofs are regulated by the Swedish House of Nobles, established by King Gustav II Adolf in 1626, which maintains the records of all Swedish noble families. The aims of the Order are laid down in the statutes; these are "to continue, in conformity with modern times, the charitable activities of the Order of Saint John in the middle ages, mainly by extending aid to the old, distressed and sick". To accomplish this the Order grants annuities to the elderly and sick as well as contributing towards their medical treatment and convalescence. In addition to this individual help, the Order collaborates with about fifty Swedish hospitals, charitable organizations and Christian communities. In the international field the Order delivers help to the Swedish school and hospital in Bethlehem, to the Most Venerable Order's Ophthalmic Hospital and to refugees, political prisoners and sick in different parts of the world. All activities carried out in the name of the Swedish Order are done by volunteers and the Order is administered, in the name of the King, by the Convent of twelve members, which includes the Commander (Kommendator), two deputy chairmen, the Chancellor, Chaplain, Judge, Hospitaller (Intendant), Treasurer and Secretary. The general management is consigned to the Executive Council, chaired by the Chancellor, which may delegate specific tasks to other members of the Convent or ordinary knights. There are three sub-commanderies located in the provinces, one in southern Sweden and the other two in Ostergorland and Vastergotland. Decorations of the Order The decorations of the Swedish Order are the same as the other Johanniter knights but with the Swedish "Wasa Sheaf" symbol between the arms of the Cross. The cross of knights of Justice is suspended from a Swedish Royal Crown. The ribbon is black with narrow white edged stripes. Heraldic Regulations of the Order There are no regulations specific to the Swedish Order so knights may follow the practise in the Bailiwick of Brandenburg, provided these do not conflict with the rules established by the other Swedish Orders. The Motto is Pro Fide, Pro Utilitate Hominum. Principal Officers of the Order The High Protector of the Order is His Majesty the King of Sweden, the
Kommendator is Professor Thomas Ihre, MD. The Chaplain is Professor Carl-Reinhpld
Bråkenhielm, TD. The Chancellor is Baron Otto von Schwerin, the Hospitaller (Intendent)
is Mr Björn Lilliehöök, the Treasurer is Mr Footnotes[1] The fullest history of the Order in Scandinavia is given in Annales de l'Ordre Souverain de Malte, Oct-Dec 1960, pp.20-35 The Priory of Dacia in the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, by Thomas Hatt Olsen. [2] The title of Bailiff was sometimes substituted for Prior to emphasize Dacia's subordination to the German Langue. [3] The date of the adoption by the Danes of a flag similar to the Order's is unknown (the cross is not placed centrally); one probably apocryphal story relates that at Woldemar's funeral his coffin may have been covered with the banner of the Order, a white cross on a red background, while a more romantic version states that the flag came down from heaven in 1219 during a battle in Estonia. Indeed, it seems likely that the brothers would have joined in the crusades in the Baltic and it is probable that the Order's flag would have been born at the head of their contingent. The other Scandinavian nations all adopted similar flags with the Cross in different colors. [4] See Olsen, Op.cit., p.23. [5] I am grateful to Mr James Algrant for pointing out that the Danish monastic Orders, although excommunicated and converted to the Lutheran faith, continued to carry out their humanitarian work after 1536 and that Antvorskov elected priors in 1538, 1568 and (although no reference has been given for this information), in 1580. |
