History of the Maltese Cross

Located south of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea, the 95 square mile island of Malta has no rivers or lakes, no natural resources, and very few trees. Due to it's placement at the crossroads of the Mediterranean, it has been of great strategic value since before recorded history. It's military importance was never greater then during the millennium of conflicts between Islam and Christendom, especially during the Crusades (c.A.D.1095-1291) and the following defense of Europe.

St. John the Baptist was shipwrecked on Malta in A.D.60. In A.D.1090, during the earliest part of the crusades, a monastery in his honor was established there by the Normans. In 1530 by the Imperial decree of Charles V, The Military Order Of Knights Hospitalers Of Saint John Of Jerusalem moved their headquarters from Rhodes to Malta. They were thereafter commonly referred to as the Knights Of Malta.

Not long after establishing their Order, the Knights of St. John, as they were then known, set upon a crusade to free the Holy Land. There, in A.D.1095, they encountered the Saracens and a weapon new to Western Europeans, or at least a new version used in a new way. It was a simple but terribly effective device of war. It found it's way though the strongest armor. It wrought excruciating pain and agonizing death. It is still in use today.

The Saracens weapon was fire. Greek Fire, to be specific. It was a gelatinous flammable liquid composed mostly of napha, sulfur and quicklime. The Saracens had learned about it the hard way 300 years before at the hands of the Byzantines. Constantine IV had used it against the Saracens in A.D.673 and again in A.D.718. The Crusaders had known of it, though not how to make it. The Saracens were particularly adept at delivering it. They used intricate and complicated engines of war, the exact design of which, like the formula for Greek Fire itself, has been lost.

On castle walls and the prows of ships, bronze tubes were employed that emitted jets of liquid fire, to much the same effect as today's flame throwers. Glass bombs were filled with Greek Fire, and used much the same as today's Molitov Cocktail. Special arrows and spears were used, these being many times more effective then using other flammable materials. The combination of these things hurled down from city walls brought the First Crusade to a standstill. The Saracens had a better formula for Greek Fire, they had it in great quantity, and they had the means to deliver it.

Into this proverbial fire of war was born, arguably, the first known dedicated, well-organized, Western European fire suppression and fire rescue service. They were The Knights Of St. John, or rather Brigades within the Army of The Knights Of St. John.. Their symbol was what we today call the Maltese Cross. Through the use of ingenuity, bravery and brute strength, they fought to suppress the Greek Fire hurled down upon them and rescue fallen comrades in arms, all the while fighting their enemy as any Knight.

As you may have gathered from above, our word "hospital" derives from the work of these warrior/monks. Hospices dating from around A.D.1000 had sheltered pilgrims on their way to the Holy Lands. Around A.D.1160 the Knights Of St. John converted one of their hospices into the first modern infirmary for the sick and injured. By adding a permanent staff of five physicians and three surgeons, they created the first hospital. Having previously established Fire Brigades, The Knights Of St. John had effectively invented the Fire and Emergency Medical Services.

Maltese CrossThe Knights of St. John would also become the masters of Greek Fire, learning it's secrets and integrating it with the heavy horse and armor of the European Knight. Defending their base on Malta in A.D.1565, The Knights Of St. John are said to have destroyed 30,000 soldiers of Süleyman the Magnificent's Ottoman Empire.