Hello Gentlemen,
I was searching in the net for Malta Knights´ full armour and weaponry pictures and i only found a few ones. So, if anyone knows a site in wich i could find any picture of them i´ll be very gratefull.

Thanks to all.

Hello all!

Rodolfo,

Have you tried searching for Knight's Hospitaller? Are you interested in the armour from Rhodes? The Knights of Malta were the Knights Hospitaller, and they were once famously headquartered at Rhodes. There are several well-known armour from Rhodes.

I hope this helped!

Stay safe!

Thanks a lot Mr. Fay.
Recently I heard that Hospitaller Knights of Malta used two handed swords for foot combat (Please correct me if i´m wrong). Did Teutonic knights used to fight with two handers too?
Thanks

It depends on which century. If it's the 16th century, their probable association with Landsknecht reinforcements/mercenaries might have caused them to adopt the zweihander. I don't think all of them would have done so, though, since neither did the Knights of Malta. Primary accounts of the sieges of both Malta and Rhodes have them fighting with a variety weapon including swords, maces, and axes in the defense of the fortifications.

So, maybe Two handed swords were more like an ¨officer¨ weapon, weren´t them?
If Hospitallers still used longswords during XVI century, Were two handed swords less common or popular than longswords between those knights becouse they were expensive, or for a matter of versatility?

Hello all!

Rodolfo,

I thought you might like to read what I found about the arms and armour of the Knights of Malta, circa 1565, as listed in The Monks of War by Desmond Seward. I'm not sure how completely accurate this information is, but it's interesting. It might help with the discussion of the arms and armour of the Knights of Malta, if nothing else. (The emphasis is mine.)

Desmond Seward wrote:

Militia and mercenaries fought as pikemen or arquebusiers, though all carried swords. The mercenaries, as professionals, were armoured with high-crested morion helmets, "breast-and-back" and tassets (articulated thigh plates). Militia had only helmets and leather jerkins. Their knight officers carried sword and dagger, the former a broadsword or rapier, though some brethren preferred the great German two-hander. A few may have had the hand buckler, a small shield with a spike. On the walls many wielded hooked halberds or boarding pikes. "Harness" was still an advantage in hand-to-hand combat; most brethren must have worn armatura de piede, half-armour for fighting on foot, while some wore a thickened "bullet-proof" breastplate, others the brigantine of metal-studded cloth. Over all was the scarlet sopravest, the battle habit, something like a herald's tabard, its great white cross squre-ended instead of eight-pointed. The Grand Master's sopravest was cloth-of-gold.

This is what's said about the Rhodes armour in Knight Hospitaller (2) 1306-1565 by David Nicolle:

David Nicolle wrote:

The armour, some of it far from new, which the Hospitallers abandoned at Rhodes in 1522, mostly consists of what would today be called munitions equipment. Very few of these items are of particularly high quality and they tend to destroy some romantic images of the medieval knight. Nor does it have the uniformity characteristic of medieval illustrations of armoured men. Instead the collection consists of a mixture of shapes, sizes and styles, some decorated but mostly plain, and almost none of it very shiny or new when being used. ...the Rhodes armour is particularly important because it is ordinary military kit rather than the splendid examples of the armourer's art that are found in many great museums. It seems to have been the remains of a large arsenal largely ignored by the Turks because these objects were not the sort of things used by Ottoman soldiers. The remains included no weapons, however, because these we re-used. The largest number of the pieces of armour were made in northern Italy, while others came from Germany, Flanders, France, England, and Iberia. However, identification is largely based on style, since only a few objects had identifiable armourers' marks.

The same work by Nicolle shows a photo of the Master of the Order of St. John and two knights from a wall painting by Giuilio Romano in the Raphael Rooms of the Vatican, painted after 1523. The knights wear loose-fitting clothes over their armour.

I hope this helped!

Stay safe!

Didn't the Holy Roman Empire send substantial reinforcements to Rhodes and Malta at the time of the respective sieges? These forces might conceivably have hontained a proportion of Landsknechts beside other mercenaries.

I've got a book called 'The Armoury of the Knights' which I bought in Malta the christmas before last, in which I remember it mentioning the use of both two handed and long swords by the knights. Also, in the Armoury in Valetta, there are two longswords there which were said to have been in the possession of the knights since they're making.

If you want to see some pictures of the Armoury and various weapons there, I put this thread with a few pics on swordforum.

http://forums.swordforum.com/showthread.php?t...ight=Malta

hope that is interesting if nothing else :)

Does anyone have info on a book about the Rhodes Armoury?
-Will

Truly brave guys those. Turks were brave too but their arrogancy plus the knight´s fanatism and determination condemned them to lose Malta against a few knights. Maybe one of the greatest victories in history.
A few minutes ago i found some intresting two hnaded maltese swords.

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I think these guys are two handers.

Hello all!

Rodolfo,

Thanks for the photo. They could be the sort of "longsword" used by the Knights of Malta. Do you have any information regarding their dimensions? They might be more along the lines of "bastard" swords. Of course, the real distinction can be blurred, and bastard swords can certainly be used in two hands.

One thing to keep in mind about the "Knights Hospitaller" (Knights of St. John) is that throughout their history they had a system of recycling and reusing weapons and armour. When a knight died his arms were taken back by the Order and redistributed. A usable sword or harness may have been used for several years. It is distinctly possible that some members of the Order would have used older equipment, as long as it still functioned. Just something to remember when discussing the arms of the Order.

Stay safe!

I'd also be interested in knowing the dimensions or seeing a photograph with better details on the blade. They look like typical longswords to me--except that their blunted tips make think of practice longswords like the A&A Spada da Zogho.

Yes, they might be longswords, i confused them with two handers, but, regarding their age they still are beautiful examples, aren´t them?

Here i´ve found some three quarter, half and full armour pics if someone is interested in them.
I´ll soonly finish to order my pictures collection, so i think next week i´ll be able to upload all of them.

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Some Turk equipment.

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Hello all!

Rodolfo,

The swords are nice. I'm not too worried about what to call them; I think they could be used in two hands regardless of their actual classification.

Thanks for the additional photos! In fact, I found a site that shows the Knights of Malta in armour (helmets anyway) very similar to the ones in the last photo in your posting. Here's a link to the site:

http://www.knightsiege.com/history.htm

I don't want to post the image because it's a fairly good-size image, and I don't want any details lost. Just go to the page I linked to and click on the last image on the left (the bottom image). I don't know if the image is actually contemporary with the siege of Malta, but it's interesting that the armour is similar to what you posted.

Stay safe!