In addition to it's long history of pirates, the Republic of Monte Cristo has also extensive ties to a number of knightly orders.

The Knights of St John: Upon his conversion and admission to the Knights in 1565 at Malta, famed pirate Dragut fused together two of the most famed brotherhoods in history, the Brotherhood of the Coast , buccaneers all, and the religious military order of the Knights of St John (aka...Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem and Rhodes) This order, which still exists and even mints it's own coins today, is known as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Did you ever see the Maltese Falcon with Bogie ?? Yep, that was about these guys, kind of. The famed fortress of Rhodes, or Rodos, is by far the largest in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Founding: In 600 AD Abbott Probus was commissioned by Pope Gregory the Great to build a hostel in Jerusalem to care for pilgrims to the Holy Lands. In 800 AD Charlemagne expanded the hostel and added a library. However, in 1005 the Caliph El Hakim had it destroyed.  In 1023 Italian merchants were given permission by Caliph Haroun el Raschid of Egypt to rebuild at the site of St John the Baptist Monestary operated by Benedictine Brothers.

By a papal bull of Pope Paschal II in 1113, Frenchman Gerrard "the Blessed" was assigned the task of officially founding the monastic hospitaller order, quickly amassing a sizeable sum from the Kingdom of Jerusalem, including land. His successor, Raymond du Puy of Provence built an infirmary near Holy Sepulchre Church, and began to provide armed escort to pilgrims in addition to hospital care. This small escort would grow into the most formidable force of the period when they were combined with the Knights Templar around 1119. Eventually they would be divided into military and non-military branches. They answered only to the Pope himself! They came to own 140 estates and 7 great fortresses, the largest being Krak des Chevaliers and Margat near Tripoli. The order was divided into priories, bailiwicks and commanderies.

Knights at Rodos: After the fall of Jerusalem in 1187, the knights would eventually retreat to Tripoli, then to Cyprus by 1291. Concerned over involvement with local politics, the Grand Master, Guillaume de Villaret, decided to acquire a more secure home on Rodos. In 1309 Fulkes de Villaret captured the island for the knights. They also captured the island of Bodrum, a childhood home to Dragut himself. When Vatican politics led to the official dissolution of the Templars in 1312, much of their holdings passed to the Hospitallers. The mightly fortress at Rodos was divided into "8 Tongues" or communities of knights; Provence, Auvergne, French, Italian, German, Aragon, Castile and English. After capturing Constaninople in 1453 and killing Emperor Constantine, Turkish Sultan Mehment II made them his prime target. In 1522 his successor, Sultan Sulieman, captured the island with 200,000 men after a 6 month siege. The knights retreated to Sicily.

Knights at Malta: In 1530 the knights were granted a new home by a diplomatic agreement between Pope Clement VIII, Austrian Emperor Charles V and the King of Sicily. Their annual rent would be one Maltese Falcon, a live one, on All Souls Day, to the Viceroy of Sicily. When the Turkish Sultan decided to attack the knights in their new lobode, he would call on the services of the greatest pirate of the age, Dragut. After the wounding and capture of Dragut, the Turks retreated in disorder, losing 30,000 men. In the Grand Masters Palace one can see magnificent frescoes by Matteo Perez d'Aleccio about the famed and pivitol battle at Valletta, Malta. When the 1571 Battle of Lepanto saw Don Juan de Austria destroy the Turkish fleet, the knights were finally secure.

The rise of Protestantism on the Continent hurt the order. In 1540 their property in England was confiscated by the Crown. Many Scottish knights saught refuge with the French Langue of the order. In 1577 the Bailiwick of Brandenburg turned Lutheran, falling into the lap of the Prussian Crown in 1812. Surprisingly, the knights always had a strong presence in the Russian Imperial Navy and likewise in the French Navy, the order being given the island of St Kitts, under brother De Poincy in 1639. Before his death in 1660 he would add St Croix to the knights holdings. In 1798 while en route to Egypt, Napoleon Bonatparte stopped at Malta for resupply. After some discourse with the Grand Master, Ferdinand von Hompesch, he decided to boot the knights from their long-time home on Malta.

A sympathizer, and new de facto Grand Master of the Order, Tzar Paul I of Russia, offered the knights safe harbor at St Petersburg until his murder in 1801. Over 90% of the orders income was generated by the Russian Grand Priory by 1810. The weakened state of the order after the Tzar's murder resulted in no Grand Master being appointed by the Pope 1805-1879, but restored by Pope Leo XIII. The order moved to modest facilities in Rome 1834, where they remain to date. In 1888 Queen Victoria would grant a Royal Charter to the British branch of the knights, reforming as the Most Venerable Order of St John.

Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Sovrano Militaire OrdineOspedaliero di San Giovanni di Gerusalemme di Rodi e di Malta.  However, they are usually referred to as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM) and are indeed a sovereign entity recognized with observer status at the United Nations, and have two headquarters, one at Palazzo Malta in Via dei Condotti 68, where the Grand Master resides, and the Villa Malta on the Aventine, which hosts the Embassy of the Order to the Holy See and the Embassy of the Order to Italy. SMOM has formal diplomatic relations with 93 countries, and official recognition with 6, and the International Red Cross. They issue passports, license plates, stamps and coins. Until recently they used the Scudi, but appear moving to the Euro. Their head of state is the Grand Master, elected by the Council Complete of State. The legistative body is the Chapter General. The current Grand Master, elected 1988 is Andrew Bertie.

The Russian branch of the Knights became an Imperial Order by decree of Alexander I in 1810, similar to the German Johannine Order tradition, with hereditary commanders. In 1917 the knights fled into exile with the remnants of the White Government, establishing themselves at Paris from 1928 to 1977. Today they are based in New York City under Grand Prior Count Nicolas Bobrinskoy. Similar royal branches exist in Sweden, England and Holland.

Famous Grand Masters: The office of Grand Master comes with its own unique mystique, and was usually held by persons of great charisma, pinache and military skill. This came with the job requirements. The vast percentage of Grand Masters have been of French ancestry, but the list is still a very ecclectic one. Some of the more renound include; Gerrard the Blessed (1099-1120), Raymond du Puy de Provence (1120-1160), Fernandez de Heredia (1376-1396), Giovanni Orsini (1467-1476), Philippe de isle-Adam (1521-1534), Tzar Paul I of Russia (1798-1801) and Andrew Bertie (1888-present). Below is Grand Master and Knights with new Pope Benedict.