THE MALTESE CROSS AND GARHWAL RIFLES

(Where Gallantry is the Tradition & Chivalry flows in the Blood)

KNIGHTS OF MALTA

Malta, Knights of, or Hospitallers of St.John of Jerusalem.Some time after the first crusade(1042),some Neapolitan merchants built at Jerusalem a hospital for sick pilgrims and a church which they dedicated to St. John; these they committed to the charge of certain knights,called Hospitallers of St John.

In 1310,these Hospitallers having developed into a Military Order,took the island of Rhodes,and changed their title into Knights of Rhodes.In 1522,they were expelled by the Turks,and took up their residence in Malta,which was  ruled by the Grand Master until the island was taken by the French in 1798.

The Order is now extinct as a sovereign body,but maintains a lingering existence in Italy,Germany,France,etc,and in Malta, where it still confers titles of "Marquis" and "Count".

MALTESE CROSS.

Made with eight points of the Cross.Originally the badge of The Knights of Malta,formed of four barbed arrowheads with their points meeting in the centre. In modified and elaborated forms,it is the badge of many well known Orders,etc,as Victoria Cross and Order of Merit,and the old Prussian Iron Cross.

Variety of Cross.

In heraldry ,as many as 285 varieties of cross have been recognized,but the twelve in ordinary use,and from which the others are derived are:-

1.   The Ordinary Cross.

2.   The Cross Humette,or Couped.

3.   The Cross Pointed.

4.   The Cross Potent.

5.   The Cross Crosslet.

6.   The Cross Trefle.

7.   The Cross Moline.

8.   The Cross Potence.

9.   The Cross Fleury.

10. The Cross Pate.

11. The MALTESE CROSS ( EIGHT POINTED CROSS).

12. The Cross Cleche and Fitche.