List of grand masters of the Knights Hospitaller

This is a list of Grand Masters of the Knights Hospitaller including their replacement Sovereign Military Order of Malta after 1798.

Knights Hospitaller (Kingdom of Jerusalem)

Nr	Title	Name	Time in office	Notes
—/1	Founder and Rector of the Hospital	Blessed Gerard	1099/1113–1118/20	Order established in 1099 and given papal recognition in 1113 by Paschal II
1/2	Custos^[1]	Raymond du Puy	1118/21/23–1160
2/3	Custos	Auger de Balben	1160–1163
3/4		Arnaud de Comps	1162–1163	Historicity uncertain
4/5	Custos	Gilbert d'Aissailly	1163–1169
5/6		Gastone de Murols	c. 1169
6/7	Custos	Jobert of Syria	c. 1169/72–1177	Acted as regent for king Manuel I in 1172. In 1174 opposed Miles of Plancy in favour of Raymond III of Tripoli. Fought in the crusade of Philip I, Count of Flanders of 1176.
7/8	Custos	Roger de Moulins	1177–1187
8/9	Provisor^[source?]	Armengol de Aspa (Ermengard d'Aps)	1187–1190	Loss of Jerusalem in 1187, headquarters moved to Acre. In the crisis following the loss of Jerusalem, Ermengard was not elected as custos and acted only ad interim. He was nevertheless included into the canonical list of Grand Masters compiled in the early modern period. After the capture of Acre and the consolidation of the order, Ermengard retired with the regular election of Garnier de Nablus as new master.
9/10	Custos	Garnier de Nablus	1190–1192	Battle of Arsuf 1191
10/11	Custos	Geoffroy de Donjon	1193–1202
11/12	Custos	Afonso de Portugal	1202–1206	Fourth Crusade, resigned in 1206
12/13	Custos	Geoffrey le Rat (Gothofredus Mus)	1206–1207	First structured the order by nationality, or langues.
13/14	Custos	Guérin de Montaigu	1207–1228	Fifth Crusade, Siege of Damietta (1218–1219)
14/15	Custos	Bertrand de Thercy	1228–1231	Re-conquest of Jerusalem in 1228/9
15/16	Custos	Guerin Lebrun	1231–1236	Captured in battle, and died in captivity in Egypt
16/17	Custos	Bertrand de Comps	1236–1240	Headquarters moved to Jerusalem
17/18	Custos	Pierre de Vieille-Brioude	1240–1242
18/19	Custos	Guillaume de Chateauneuf	1242–1258	Fall of Jerusalem in 1244, headquarters at Acre, Krak des Chevaliers and Margat
19/20	Custos	Hugues de Revel	1258–1277
20/21		Nicolas Lorgne	1277–1285	Loss of Margat 1285
21/22		Jean de Villiers	1285–1294	Siege of Acre (1291)
22/23		Odon de Pins	1294–1296	Headquarters moved to Limisso, Cyprus
23/24		Guillaume de Villaret	1296–1305

Sovereign Military Order of Malta

No.	Title	Name	Time in office	Notes
72^[2]	Grand Master (partial recognition)	Paul I of Russia	1798–1801	Elected by the Priory of St. Petersburg in September 1798 (before the abdication of von Hompesch). This election resulted in the establishment of the Russian tradition of the Knights Hospitaller. On Paul's death in 1801, his son Alexander I of Russia decided to end this irregular situation and refused to be Grand Master. The election of a new Grand Master was deferred to Pope Pius VII.
		Nikolai Saltykov	1801–1803	De facto Lieutenant in Saint Petersburg
73^[2]	Grand Master Gran Maestro	Giovanni Battista Tommasi	1803–1805	Appointed by Pope Pius VII in 1803. Residence in Messina and Catania
	Lieutenant Luogotenente Generale	Innico Maria Guevara-Suardo	1805–1814	Headquarters in Catania. Loss of territories and Protestant branches.
	Lieutenant Luogotenente Generale	Andrea Di Giovanni y Centellés	1814–1821	Headquarters in Catania
	Lieutenant Luogotenente Generale	Antoine Busca	1821–1834	Headquarters in Ferrara. SMOM recognized at the Congress of Verona (1822).
	Lieutenant Luogotenente Generale	Carlo Candida	1834–1845	Headquarters moved to Palazzo Malta, Rome. Restoration of the grand priories of Lombardy-Venetia and of Sicily in 1839/41.
	Lieutenant Luogotenente Generale	Filippo di Colloredo-Mels	1845–1864
	Lieutenant Luogotenente Generale	Alessandro Borgia	1865–1871
	Lieutenant Luogotenente Generale	Giovanni Battista Ceschi a Santa Croce	1871–1879
74^[2]	Prince and Grand Master Princeps et Magister Magnus	Giovanni Battista Ceschi a Santa Croce	1879–1905	Restoration of the office of Grand Master after a 75-year interregnum, confirmed by Pope Leo XIII.
75^[2]	Prince and Grand Master Princeps et Magister Magnus	Galeas von Thun und Hohenstein	1905–1931
76^[2]	Prince and Grand Master Principe e Gran Maestro	Ludovico Chigi Albani della Rovere	1931–1951
	Lieutenant Luogotenente Generale	Antonio Hercolani Fava Simonetti	1951–1955
	Lieutenant Luogotenente Generale	Ernesto Paternò Castello di Carcaci	1955–1962	Carta Costituzionale approved by Apostolic Letter of Pope John XXIII, June 24, 1961.
77^[2]	Prince and Grand Master Principe e Gran Maestro	Angelo de Mojana di Cologna	1962–1988
	Lieutenant ad interim Luogotenente Interinale	Jean Charles Pallavicini	1988
78^[2]	Prince and Grand Master Principe e Gran Maestro	Andrew Bertie	1988–2008	Constitutional Charter and Code revised by the Extraordinary Chapter General 28-30 April 1997.^[3]^[4]
	Lieutenant ad interim Luogotenente Interinale	Giacomo dalla Torre del Tempio di Sanguinetto	2008
79^[2]	Prince and Grand Master Principe e Gran Maestro	Matthew Festing	2008–2017	First Grand Master elected under the new constitution of 1997. Resigned in 2017 following a dispute with the Vatican.^[5]
	Lieutenant ad interim Luogotenente Interinale	Ludwig Hoffmann-Rumerstein	2017
	Lieutenant of the Grand Master Luogotenente di Gran Maestro	Giacomo dalla Torre del Tempio di Sanguinetto	2017–2018
80^[2]	Prince and Grand Master Principe e Gran Maestro	Giacomo dalla Torre del Tempio di Sanguinetto	2018–2020
	Lieutenant ad interim Luogotenente Interinale	Ruy Gonçalo do Valle Peixoto de Villas Boas	2020
	Lieutenant of the Grand Master Luogotenente di Gran Maestro	Marco Luzzago	2020–2022
	Lieutenant ad interim Luogotenente Interinale	Ruy Gonçalo do Valle Peixoto de Villas Boas	2022
	Lieutenant ad interim Luogotenente Interinale	John T. Dunlap	2022-2023
81^[2]	Prince and Grand Master Principe e Gran Maestro	John T. Dunlap	2023–present

References

↑ The Order's Great Seal, or leaden bulla, remained in use, with some modifications, from the 12th century until 1798. Until 1278, when Nicholas de Lorgne introduced a separate conventual bulla, there was no distinction between the seal of the Grand Master and that of the order. The general design of the seal featured, on the obverse, the Grand Master kneeling in prayer before the patriarchal cross. This image was usually accompanied with the sacred letters alpha and omega, which referenced the Second Coming of Christ. The central image was surrounded by a legend with the Master's name followed by the official designation CVSTOS. Barbara Packard, Seals of the Grand Masters, Museum of the Order of St John, 14 October 2015.
↑ ^2.00 ^2.01 ^2.02 ^2.03 ^2.04 ^2.05 ^2.06 ^2.07 ^2.08 ^2.09 Numbering according to the SMOM (website orderofmalta.int as of 2017) implies the recognition of Riccardo Caracciolo as 33rd Grand Master, and of Paul I of Russia as 72nd Grand Master (r. 1798–1801).
↑ Constitutional Charter and Code of the SMOM (1997).
↑ The sovereign status of the SMOM had been in question as the previous constitution had implied dependence on the Holy See (which had itself been recognized as sovereign in 1922). Papal approval of the election of the Grand Master is no longer explicitly required. Bo J. Theutenberg, The Holy See, the Order of Malta and International Law Archived 2015-11-21 at the Wayback Machine (2003), ISBN 91-974235-6-4
↑ Pullella, Philip (23 June 2016). "Knights of Malta head resigns after dispute with Vatican". Reuters. Retrieved 25 January 2017.

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[1] The Order's Great Seal, or leaden bulla, remained in use, with some modifications, from the 12th century until 1798. Until 1278, when Nicholas de Lorgne introduced a separate conventual bulla, there was no distinction between the seal of the Grand Master and that of the order. The general design of the seal featured, on the obverse, the Grand Master kneeling in prayer before the patriarchal cross. This image was usually accompanied with the sacred letters alpha and omega, which referenced the Second Coming of Christ. The central image was surrounded by a legend with the Master's name followed by the official designation CVSTOS. Barbara Packard, Seals of the Grand Masters, Museum of the Order of St John, 14 October 2015.

[SMOM_numbering-2] 2.00 ^2.01 ^2.02 ^2.03 ^2.04 ^2.05 ^2.06 ^2.07 ^2.08 ^2.09 Numbering according to the SMOM (website orderofmalta.int as of 2017) implies the recognition of Riccardo Caracciolo as 33rd Grand Master, and of Paul I of Russia as 72nd Grand Master (r. 1798–1801).

[3] Constitutional Charter and Code of the SMOM (1997).

[4] The sovereign status of the SMOM had been in question as the previous constitution had implied dependence on the Holy See (which had itself been recognized as sovereign in 1922). Papal approval of the election of the Grand Master is no longer explicitly required. Bo J. Theutenberg, The Holy See, the Order of Malta and International Law Archived 2015-11-21 at the Wayback Machine (2003), ISBN 91-974235-6-4

[5] Pullella, Philip (23 June 2016). "Knights of Malta head resigns after dispute with Vatican". Reuters. Retrieved 25 January 2017.

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