Det var han som grundade Bilderberg Group och besatt makten att avlägga veto mot vilken Påve Vatikanen än väljer. Men han dog 2004 och jag undrar vilken av hans ättlingar som övertog makten av avlägga veto mot Vatikanen's val av Påve.

Någon som studerat detta?

Quote:

För att sätta sig in i de europeiska kungahusens inblandning i politiken bör man kolla upp tidsepoken efter romarikets fall och de följande åren fram till våra dagar......

En märklig historia....


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Orange-Nassau


The Holy Roman Empire was a union of territories in Central Europe during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period under a Holy Roman Emperor. The first Holy Roman Emperor was Otto the Great in 962. The last was Francis II, who abdicated and dissolved the Empire in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. It was officially known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation from the late 15th century.

The Empire's territorial extent varied over its history, but at its peak it encompassed the Kingdom of Germany, Italy and Burgundy, territories embracing present-day Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Netherlands, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Belgium, as well as large parts of modern France, Italy and Poland. For much of its history the Empire consisted of hundreds of smaller principalities, duchies, counties, Free Imperial Cities, as well as several kingdoms and other domains. Despite its name, for most of its existence the Holy Roman Empire did not include Rome within its borders







........Royal houses of Europe..........

Albania Progon · Angevin · Balšic · Kastrioti · Wied · Zogu

Austria Babenberg · Habsburg · Habsburg-Lorraine

Belgium Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

Britain England: Wessex · Normandy · Plantagenet · Lancaster · York · Tudor
Scotland: Alpin · Dunkeld · Balliol · Bruce · Stewart
Monarchies Combined: Stuart · Hanover · Saxe-Coburg and Gotha · Windsor

Bulgaria Dulo · Cometopuli · Asen · Shishman · Battenberg · Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

Denmark Early Danish Kings · Oldenburg · Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg

France Merovingian · Carolingian · Capet · Valois · Bourbon · Orléans · Bonaparte

Finland Bjelbo · Mecklenburg · Oldenburg · Vasa · Pfalz-Zweibrücken · Hesse · Holstein-Gottorp · Romanov ·

Germany Carolingian · Conradine · Ottonian · Luitpolding · Salian · Hohenstaufen · Welf · Habsburg · Hanover · Saxe-Coburg and Gotha · Nassau · Luxemburg · Wittelsbach · Schwarzburg · Brunswick-Lüneburg · Hohenzollern · Württemberg · Oldenburg · Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg · Orange-Nassau · Nassau-Weilburg · Mecklenburg · Oldenburg · Vasa · Pfalz-Zweibrücken · Hesse · Holstein-Gottorp · Romanov ·

Greece Wittelsbach · Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg

Norway Fairhair · Oldenburg · Bernadotte · Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg

Italy Este · Savoy · Colonna · Medici · Borghese · Sforza · Borromeo · Montefeltro · Orsini · Visconti · Gonzaga · Farnese · Della Rovere · Acciaioli · Grimaldi · Pamphilj · Malatesta · Vassallo-Paleologo · Gens Iulia · Torlonia · Bonaparte

Luxembourg Orange-Nassau · Nassau-Weilburg · Bourbon-Parma

Lithuania Mindaugas · Gediminids · Urach

Portugal Vímara Peres · Burgundy · Aviz and Aviz-Beja · Habsburg · Braganza and Braganza-Wettin (Saxe-Coburg & Gotha)

Romania Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen

Serbia Vlastimirovic · Vojislavljevic · Nemanjic · Mrnjavcevic · Lazarevic · Brankovic · Crnojevic · Balšic · Obrenovic · Karadordevic

Category:German noble houses


A
[+] Altena
[+] House of Andechs
[+] Aribonid dynasty
[+] Arnim family
[+] House of Ascania
[+] House of Augustenburg
B
[+] House of Babenberg
[+] House of Battenberg
[+] House of Baudissin
[+] Berg
[+] Bibra Family
[+] House of Billung
[+] Bismarck family
[+] Blumenthal family
[+] Boeselager
[+] Brunonen Dynasty
[+] Bülow family
C
[+] Carolingian dynasty
[+] House of Châlon
[+] Conradiner family members
D
[+] House of Dampierre
[+] Dohnányi family
E
[+] House of Este
[+] Etichonid dynasty
[+] Ezzonen
F
[+] Falkenhausen
H
[+] House of Habsburg
[+] House of Hanover H cont.
[+] House of Hesse
[+] House of Hohenberg
[+] Hohenstaufen Dynasty
[+] House of Hohenzollern
[+] House of Schwarzburg
[+] Humboldt family
I
[+] House of Isenburg
K
[+] Kalckreuth
[+] Kleist
L
[+] Leiningen
[+] Lichnowsky
[+] House of Liechtenstein
[+] Limburg Stirum
[+] House of Lippe
[+] House of Lorraine
M
[+] Maizière family
[+] House of la Marck
[+] House of Mecklenburg
[+] House of Merode
[+] Merovingian dynasty
[+] Moltke
N
[+] House of Nassau
[+] House of Nassau-Siegen
[+] House of Nassau-Weilburg
O
[+] House of Oettingen
[+] House of Oldenburg
[+] House of Oomkens von Esens
[+] Opel
[+] House of Orange-Nassau O cont.
[+] Ottonian Dynasty
P
[+] Puttkamer
R
[+] House of Reginar
[+] Ribbentrop
[+] Richthofen
S
[+] Salian Dynasty
[+] House of Saxe-Altenburg
[+] House of Saxe-Hildburghausen
[+] House of Saxe-Meiningen
[+] House of Saxe-Merseburg
[+] House of Saxe-Weissenfels
[+] Schönborn
[+] House of Schwarzenberg
[+] House of 't Serclaes
[+] Siemens
[+] Stauffenberg family
[+] Stein
T
[+] Thurn and Taxis
[+] Trott zu Solz
U
[+] Unruoching dynasty
W
[+] House of Wassenberg
[+] Weizsäcker family
[+] House of Welf
[+] House of Wettin
[+] Wilhelminer dynasty
[+] House of Wittelsbach
Y
[+] Yorck von Wartenburg



in Illinois, see Bernadotte, Illinois.
Swedish Royalty
House of Bernadotte
Charles XIV John
Children
Oscar I
Oscar I
Children
Charles XV
Gustaf, Duke of Upland
Oscar II
Princess Eugenie
August, Duke of Dalarna
Charles XV
Children
Lovisa, Queen of Denmark
Carl Oscar, Duke of Södermanland
Oscar II
Children
Gustaf V
Oscar, Duke of Gotland
Eugén, Duke of Närke
Carl, Duke of Västergötland
Grandchildren
Princess Margaretha
Märtha, Crown Princess of Norway
Astrid, Queen of Belgium
Carl, Duke of Östergötland
Gustaf V
Children
Gustaf VI Adolf
Wilhelm, Duke of Södermanland
Erik, Duke of Västmanland
Gustaf VI Adolf
Children
Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten
Sigvard, Duke of Uppland
Ingrid, Queen of Denmark
Bertil, Duke of Halland
Carl Johan, Duke of Dalarna
Grandchildren
Princess Margaretha
Princess Birgitta
Princess Désirée
Princess Christina
Carl XVI Gustaf
Carl XVI Gustaf
Children
Crown Princess Victoria
Carl Philip, Duke of Värmland
Madeleine, Duchess of Hälsingland and Gästrikland


The House of Bernadotte, the current Royal House of the Kingdom of Sweden, has reigned since 1818. Between 1818 and 1905 it was also the Royal House of Norway.

Contents [hide]
1 History
2 Kings of Sweden
3 Kings of Norway
4 See also
5 Sources
6 External links



[edit] History
Following the Finnish War in 1809, Sweden suffered the traumatic loss of Finland, which had constituted the eastern half of the Swedish realm for centuries. The agony and resentment towards King Gustav IV Adolf precipitated a coup d'état, and Gustav Adolf's uncle, the childless Charles XIII, replaced him. This was merely a temporary solution, and in 1810 the Swedish Riksdag of the Estates elected the Danish Prince Christian August of Augustenborg as heir to the throne. As Swedish crown prince he took the name Charles August (Karl August); however, he died later that same year.

As Napoleon I of France was Emperor of the French, and ruled, directly or indirectly, over much of Continental Europe through a network of client kingdoms headed by his brothers (see Napoleonic Empire), the Swedish parliament saw it practical to elect a king whom Napoleon could accept. On August 21, 1810, the Riksdag elected Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, Marshal of France, as heir apparent to the Swedish throne.

Bernadotte, born in the town of Pau, in the province of Béarn, France, rose to the rank of general during the tumultuous years of the French Revolution. In 1798 he married Désirée Clary, who had a sister who was married to Joseph, Napoleon's elder brother. In 1804 Napoleon promoted him to a Marshal of France, a move that he would later regret when Bernadotte disobeyed orders and refused to attack during the battle of Auerstaedt. He narrowly escaped a court martial because of his familial ties to the Emperor. Before defecting from France he was also granted the title 'Prince of Ponte Corvo', a town in southern Italy.

As the Crown Prince of Sweden he assumed the name Karl Johan (Charles John), acted officially as regent for the remainder of Charles XIII's reign and secured a forced personal union between Sweden and Norway in the 1814 Campaign against Norway. Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte reigned as King Charles XIV of Sweden and Carl III Johan of Norway from February 5, 1818 until his death on March 8, 1844.

The House of Bernadotte reigned in both countries until the dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden in 1905. Prince Carl of Denmark, a grandson of King Charles XV, was then elected as Norway's new king.

The coat of arms of the House of Bernadotte combines the coat of arms of the House of Vasa (heraldic right) and the coat of arms of Bernadotte as the Prince of Ponte Corvo (heraldic left). It is visible as an inescutcheon in the Greater Coat of Arms of the Realm.


[edit] Kings of Sweden
1818-1844 : Charles XIV John (Karl XIV Johan)
1844-1859 : Oscar I
1859-1872 : Charles XV (Karl XV)
1872-1907 : Oscar II
1907-1950 : Gustaf V
1950-1973 : Gustaf VI Adolf
1973-present : Carl XVI Gustaf


Princess Sibylla of Sweden, Duchess of Västerbotten
HH Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Royal house Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
Father Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Mother Victoria Adelaide of Schleswig-Holstein
Born 18 January 1908(1908-01-18)
Gotha
Died 28 November 1972 (aged 64)
Stockholm

Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha
Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha är ett tyskt före detta hertigdöme i Thüringen och europeiskt kungligt furstehus. Det upphörde 1918.


Hertigdömet [redigera]
Hertigdömet bildades 12 november 1826 när Ernst I av Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha (1784-1844, tidigare Ernst I av Sachsen-Coburg-Saalfeld) genom ett byte övertog de territoriellt åtskilda hertigdömena Coburg och Gotha när han avstod furstendömena Saalfeld och Themar till Meiningen. Gotha bibehöll emellertid egen författning. Efter den siste hertigens (Karl Edvard av Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha) abdikation 1918 genomfördes ett år senare en folkomröstning, varefter Coburg året därpå tillföll Bayern och Gotha förenades med Thüringen.


Furstehuset [redigera]
Den förste hertigen Ernst I av Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha tillhörde huset Wettin som under mer än tusen år regerade Sachsen. Hans ättlingar, hertigarna av Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha (ibland förkortat S-C-G) regerade 1826-1918 sitt hertigdöme, och från denna ätt härstammar fyra kungliga dynastier i Europa:

1831 kungahuset i Belgien
1836-1912 kungahuset i Portugal
1901 kungahuset i Storbritannien, genom att sonen till Albert av Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha och Viktoria I av England ärver tronen (därifrån kom Carl XVI Gustafs mor, prinsessan Sibylla av Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha); 1917 bytte denna gren av ätten sitt namn till Windsor
1887-1946 Bulgariens regenter (därifrån kommer Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Bulgariens förre premiärminister)


List of branches of the House of Wettin and its agnatic descent
Margraves of Meissen

Origins: Wettins of Saxony
The oldest member of the House of Wettin who is known for certain was Thiedericus (died 982), who was probably based in the Liesgau (located at the western edge of the Harz). Around 1000, as part of the German conquest of Slavic territory, the family acquired Wettin Castle, after which they named themselves. Wettin Castle is located in Wettin in the Hosgau on the Saale River. Around 1030, the Wettin family received the Eastern March as a fief. [1]

The prominence of the Wettin family in the Slavic marches caused Emperor Henry IV to invest them with the March of Meissen as a fief in 1089. The family advanced over the course of the Middle Ages: in 1263 they inherited the landgraviate of Thuringia (though without Hesse), and in 1423 they were invested with the Duchy of Saxony, centred at Wittenberg, thus becoming one of the prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire.



Dukes of Saxony, Landgraves of Thuringia
Electors of Saxony
Dukes of Saxe-Coburg
Dukes of Saxe-Altenburg (first line of Altenburg)
Dukes of Saxe-Weimar
Dukes of Saxe-Eisenach
Dukes of Saxe-Gotha
Dukes of Saxe-Gotha and Altenburg (second line of Altenburg)
Dukes of Saxe-Meiningen
Dukes of Saxe-Hildburghausen, then Dukes of Saxe-Altenburg (third line of Altenburg)
Dukes of Saxe-Coburg (Gotha later added)
Kings and Queen of the United Kingdom (House of Windsor)
Princes of Saxe-Coburg-Kohary
Kings of Portugal (Saxe-Coburg-Braganza, last reigning Royal House of Portugal)
Kings of Bulgaria (sometimes had been known as "Kohary" and as "Sakskoburggotski")
Kings of Belgium
Dukes of "Saxe-Dresden"
Electors of Saxony
Kings of Saxony, currently Prinz/Prinzessin von Sachsen
Saxe-Zeitz
Saxe-Merseburg
Saxe-Weissenfels
Dukes of Saxony, Landgraves of Thuringia, Dukes of Luxembourg
Saxe-Landsberg
Saxe-Jena





Gotha is a town in Thuringia, in Germany. It is the capital of the district of Gotha.


[edit] History
The town has existed at least since the 8th century, when its name was mentioned in a document signed by Charlemagne, in which it appears as Villa Gotaha ("Good Waters"). Its importance derives from having been chosen in 1640 as the capital of the Duchy of Saxe-Gotha. In the 18th century, an extended stay by the French philosopher Voltaire turned the court into one of the centres of the Enlightenment in Germany. From 1826 to 1918, Gotha was one of the two capitals of the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.

Gotha has played an important role in the Germany's workers' movement: the German socialist party (SPD) was founded here in 1875, by the merging of two organizations: the Social Democratic Workers' Party, led by August Bebel and Wilhelm Liebknecht, and the General German Workers' Association, founded by Ferdinand Lassalle. The compromise was known the Gotha Program and was strongly criticized by Karl Marx in its time for its reformist bias (see Critique of the Gotha Program).

Gotha has also been traditionally a centre of publishing. The firm of Justus Perthes (now called Hermann Haack) began in 1763 the publication of the Almanach de Gotha, an authoritative directory of the world's major ruling dynasties and Europe's high nobility.

From 1949 to 1990 the city of Gotha belonged to the German Democratic Republic.



Coburg is a town located on the Itz River in Bavaria, Germany. Its 2005 population was 42,015. Long one of the Thuringian states of the Wettin line, it joined with Bavaria by popular vote in 1920. Before 1918, it was the larger of the two capital cities in the united duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

"Coburg's Coat of Arms honoring the city's patron Saint Maurice" was granted in 1493.


Samhället omnämns 1056 för första gången. 1331 fick orten stadsrättigheter av Ludvig IV. 1353 blev Coburg besittning av markgreve Fredrik den stränge av Meissen. 1524 pågick reformationen i staden och 1530 vistade Martin Luther ett halvt år i Coburgs borg. Mellan 1586 och 1633 var Coburg huvudstad i det självständiga hertigdömet Sachsen-Coburg. Under denna tid byggdes i staden hus i renässansstil som ännu idag står kvar.

Efter första världskriget upphörde monarkin i regionen och Coburg blev först centrum i en fristat med samma namn innan området blev del av Bayern. Efter 1922 utvecklade sig staden till ett centrum för nationalsocialism. 1929 hade Coburg som första stad i Tyskland fler medlemmar av Nationalsocialistiska tyska arbetarepartiet (NSDAP) i stadsparlamentet än av andra partier. Coburg var även den första tyska staden där Adolf Hitler blev hedersmedborgare.

Under andra världskriget fick Coburg inte så stora skador som andra tyska städer. Den 11 april 1945 intogs orten av amerikanska soldater. I samband med Tysklands delning blev Coburg en stad nära gränsen till Östtyskland. Idag kännetecknas staden av skolor med överregional betydelse, ett försäkringsbolag och större teatrar.

Wilhelm I's grandson Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated in 1918 as a result of Germany's defeat in the First World War. King Frederick Augustus III of Saxony followed him into abdication and the erstwhile Kingdom of Saxony became the Free State of Saxony within the newly-formed Weimar Republic, thus ceasing a somewhat brief history as a kingdom.


(German: Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha) served as the name of the two German duchies of Saxe-Coburg and Saxe-Gotha in Germany, in the present-day states of Bavaria and Thuringia, which were in personal union between 1826 and 1918.

The name Saxe-Coburg-Gotha may also refer to the family of the ruling House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. This family played many and varied roles in 19th-century European dynastic and political history.

Société des Amis de l'Almanach de Gotha


( PRESIDENT )
His Majesty King Juan Carlos I of Spain

( CHAIRMAN )
His Majesty King Michael I of Romania

( DEPUTY CHAIRMEN )
His Imperial & Royal Highness Archduke Lorenz of Austria, Prince of Belgium
His Highness Prince Eduard, Duke of Anhalt

Comité de Patronage

His Majesty King Leka of Albania

His Imperial & Royal Highness The Archduke Dr Otto von Habsburg

His Imperial Highness Crown Prince Osman VI of Turkey

His Imperial Highness The Prince Napoléon

His Imperial & Royal Highness Prince Dom Pedro Orleans-Bragança

His Imperial & Royal Highness Archduke Felix of Austria

His Imperial & Royal Highness Archduke Rudolf of Austria

His Imperial & Royal Highness Archduke Sigismund of Austria, Prince of Tuscany

His Royal Highness Prince Vittorio Emanuele IV of Savoy, Prince of Naples

His Royal Highness Dom Duarte, Duke of Bragança

His Royal Highness Crown Prince Nicholas of Montenegro

His Royal Highness The Duke of Aosta

His Highness Prince Nicholas Romanoff, Prince of Russia

His Highness Duke Borwin of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

His Royal Highness Prince George of Yugoslavia

His Royal Highness Prince Franz Wilhelm of Prussia

His Serene Highness Prince and Duke Pierre of Arenberg





[edit] Names of the Belgian Royal House
Because of the First World War, King Albert I decided in 1920 to no longer use the name Saxe-Coburg and Gotha as the official family name of the Belgian royal family. The decision was done in silence and not enacted in an official royal decree. Therefore there is still some confusion in other countries and even in Belgium that Saxe-Coburg and Gotha still is the family name used by the Belgian royals. The family name was changed to van België, de Belgique and von Belgien ("of Belgium"). As Belgium is a country with three official languages, it was chosen to employ all three language versions as official family name with none having precedence over the other, probably making the Belgian royals the only family in the world with three different but equally valid family names. It is this family name which is used on the royals' identity cards and which they use in all official documents (marriage licenses, etc.)

On the accession of a member of the royal family to the Belgian throne, his/her family name is officially changed to der Belgen—des Belges—der Belgier ("of the Belgians") to denote the fact that Belgium is a popular monarchy.


[edit] Kingdom of Portugal
Note: In Portugal the Royal House is usually not distinguished from the House of Braganza, and when so, it is known as House of Braganza-Wettin or Coburg-Braganza.
Pedro V (1853–1861)
Louis I (1861–1889)
Carlos I (1889–1908)
Manuel II (1908–1910) (d.1932)

[edit] Tsardom of Bulgaria
Ferdinand I (1887–1918)
Boris III (1918–1943)
Simeon II (1943–1946) In 2001, elected[4] as Prime Minister of Bulgaria (Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha)—also known as Simeon "Saxecoburggotski".[5][6][7]

[edit] United Kingdom
Edward VII (1901–1910)
George V (1910–1936, Until 1917 when the name was changed and the Royal House and family were to be known as Windsor).
According to the official website of the British Monarchy, however, "the only British monarch of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha was King Edward VII, who reigned for nine years…. King George V replaced the German-sounding title with that of Windsor during the First World War. The name Saxe-Coburg-Gotha survived in other European monarchies, including the former monarchies of Portugal and Bulgaria and in the Belgian Royal Family until 1920."[2]


[edit] Names of the British Royal House
Ernst I's younger son, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, became Prince Consort to Queen Victoria, Ernst's niece through his sister Viktoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. As a consequence of their marriage, Saxe-Coburg and Gotha became the Royal House name of the British Royal Family from the accession of Edward VII in 1901 until changed to Windsor by King George V in 1917 because a German name was deemed unpatriotic during World War I.

Contrary to common belief, Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was not the personal surname of either Prince Albert, his wife or their descendants. Neither Albert nor Victoria, in fact, knew their actual surname (royalty had no need of and never used such common labels) until in the late 19th century Queen Victoria launched an inquiry to identify her surname. After an exhaustive search her advisors concluded that Prince Albert (and thus the Queen — by virtue of her marriage) had the surname Wettin.

George V changed both Wettin and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to Windsor in 1917. However, an Order-in-Council in 1960 again separated the Royal House name and the personal family surname of the monarch and her family. It decreed that while the Royal House name would remain Windsor, the descendants of Queen Elizabeth II and of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh would use the surname Mountbatten-Windsor. However, Prince Philip belongs to the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg/House of Oldenburg, and, technically, so will his descendants in the male line.


United Kingdom
Edward VII (1901–1910)
George V (1910–1936, Until 1917 when the name was changed and the Royal House and family were to be known as Windsor).
According to the official website of the British Monarchy, however, "the only British monarch of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha was King Edward VII, who reigned for nine years…. King George V replaced the German-sounding title with that of Windsor during the First World War. The name Saxe-Coburg-Gotha survived in other European monarchies, including the former monarchies of Portugal and Bulgaria and in the Belgian Royal Family until 1920."


[edit] The House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Main article: Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
The senior Ernestine branch lost the electorship to the Albertine in 1547, but retained its holdings in Thuringia, dividing the area into a number of smaller states. One of the resulting Ernestine houses, that of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, went on to contribute kings of Belgium (from 1831) and Bulgaria (1908 - 1946), as well as furnishing consorts to queens regnant of Portugal (Ferdinand II of Portugal) and the United Kingdom (Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria), as well as to Maximilian I of Mexico (Carlota of Mexico, the first Belgian princess). As such, the British, Portuguese, and for a time, Mexican, thrones became a possession of persons who belonged to the House of Wettin.

Although the British Royal Family's Royal House name was Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, in the late 19th century Queen Victoria charged her College of Heralds to determine her correct personal surname; after extensive research they concluded that it was Wettin. In 1917, the male-line descendants of Victoria and Albert had their House name as well as their personal surnames changed to Windsor by an Order-in-Council of King George V.

Queen Elizabeth II will be the last British monarch agnatically descended from the House of Wettin. As a result of her marriage to Prince Philip of Greece, the throne will pass to his House, agnatic descendants of the House of Oldenburg. However, they will probably continue using the name Windsor as a house name and Mountbatten-Windsor as a personal surname, as prescribed by Queen Elizabeth. Mountbatten is an Anglicisation of Battenberg, the family name of Prince Philip's mother, Princess Alice of Battenberg.




The Roman Catholic diocese of Sion is the oldest in Switzerland and one of the oldest north of the Alps.



Saint Maurice (also Moritz, Morris, or Mauritius) was the leader of the legendary Roman Theban Legion in the 3rd century, and one of the favorite and most widely venerated saints of that group. He was the patron saint of several professions, locales, and kingdoms. He was also a highly revered saint in the Coptic Orthodox Church, as St. Maurice was an Egyptian Copt.

The oldest available image of Saint Maurice at the Cathedral of Magdeburg which began construction in 937 A.D. depicts Maurice as an African. It is this image that's displayed next to the grave of Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor. The Cathedral of Magdeburg is the first and oldest standing temple honoring the life of St. Maurice.

There is evidence to indicate that Maurice was Egyptian. The Coptic Greek name "Maurikios" appears in the papyri and is identical with the later Roman name "Mauritius", according to G. Heuser in his Personennamen der Kopten. Other parties have suggested that the name may be derived from the name of Lake Moeris.

In fact, the name is found in epitaphs of the Ptolemaic Egypt and Egyptian Christian periods, and is still used as a personal name in Egypt's Coptic community.[2

The badge of the Order is in gilt, consists of a white-enameled cross botonny (the Cross of St. Maurice), with a green-enameled Maltese Cross (the Cross of St. Lazarus) placed in saltire between the arms of the cross botonny. The badge for all classes except Knight and Dame are topped by a gilt crown.
The star of the Order is a silver faceted star, with eight points for Grand Cross and four points for Grand Officer, and with the badge (minus the crown) superimposed upon it.
The breast cross for the Commander "jus patronato" class is identical to the badge, minus the crown.
The ribbon of the Order is apple green.
Medlemmar.
Tasker H. Bliss
Luigi, Count Cibrario
Ira Clarence Eaker
Ulysses S. Grant III
Hunter Liggett
Peyton C. March
Guy Sainty
George Marshall
John Pershing
Giuseppe Peano
Porfirio Díaz
J.P. Morgan


Order of Saint Maurice
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
For the Italian order of chivalry, see Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus.
Order of Saint Maurice is awarded by the National Infantry Association and the Chief of Infantry of the United States Army. It is named after Saint Maurice, the leader of the Roman Theban Legion in the 3rd century.

The five levels of the Order of Saint Maurice are:

Primicerius - the highest level, for those who have made a significant contribution to the infantry. The most significant awardees receive the Doughboy Award. Must be or have been Infantry Branch
Centurion - for middle level, brigade and battalion officers and NCOs and special nominees who have made an outstanding contribution to the infantry. Must be or have been Infantry Branch
Legionnaire - for outstanding or conspicuous contribution to the Infantry. Non-infantry branch personnel are eligible
Peregrinus - for foreign military personnel who have served in or supported the U.S. Army infantry
Civis - for civilian who have made significant or outstanding contributions to the infantry
The Shield of Sparta is an award for spouses who have contributed in some way to the infantry.


[edit] Notable Members
Colin Powell - former General and Secretary of State of the United States
Dale A. Dye - decorated retired USMC Captain and founder of Warriors, Inc.
John Abizaid - U.S. Central Command commander
Edward C. Meyer - former U.S. Army Chief of Staff
Basil L. Plumley - Command Sergeant Major

History of Saint Maurice

Saint Maurice was Primicerius of the Theban Legion. In 287 AD it marched in service of the Roman Empire fighting against the revolt in the Berguadae Gauls. His men were composed entirely of Christians recruited from upper Egypt, near the Valley of the Kings. The Legion marched to the Mediterranean Sea, was transported across, and traveled across Italy to an area in Switzerland. Serving under Augustus Maximian Hercules, Maurice was ordered to have his legionnaires offer pagan sacrifices before battle near the Rhone at Martigny. The Theban Legion refused to participate, and also refused to kill innocent civilians in the conduct of their duty, and withdrew to the town of Agaunum. Enraged, Maximian ordered every tenth man killed, yet they still refused. A second time the General ordered Maurice's men to participate and again they refused. Maurice declared his earnest desire to obey every order lawful in the eyes of God. "We have seen our comrades killed," came the reply. "Rather than sorrow, we rejoice at the honor done to them." At this Maximian ordered the butchery of the Thebans and the martyrdom of Saint Maurice. September 22 is the traditional feast day.

Saint Maurice and companions
Coptic icon of St. Maurice
Martyrs
Born 3rd century, Thebes, Egypt
Died 287, Agaunum, Switzerland
Venerated in Coptic Orthodox Church, Roman Catholic Church
Canonized Pre-Congregation for the Causes of Saints
Major shrine Abbaye de Saint-Maurice d'Agaune (until 961), Cathedral of Magdeburg (961-present)
Feast September 22 (West), October 5 = Thout 5 (East)
Attributes banner; soldier; soldier being executed with other soldiers, knight; Black African in full armour, bearing a standard and a palm; knight in armour with a red cross on his breast, which is the badge of the Sardinian Order of Saint Maurice
Patronage against cramps; alpine troops; [1]Appenzell Innerrhoden; [2]armies;[1] armorers; Burgundians; Carolingian dynasty; [2] Austria; clothmakers; cramps; dyers; gout; infantrymen;[1] Lombards; Merovingians; [2] Piedmont, Italy; Pontifical Swiss Guards;[1] Saint-Maurice-en-Valais; St. Moritz;[2]Sardinia;[1] Savoyards;[2] soldiers; Stadtsulza, Germany; swordsmiths; weavers; Holy Roman Emperors


Maurice is traditionally depicted in full armor, in Italy emblasoned with a red cross. In folk culture he has become connected with the legend of the Spear of Destiny, which he is supposed to have carried into battle; his name is engraved on the Holy Lance of Vienna, one of several relics claimed as the spear that pierced Jesus' side on the cross. Saint Maurice gives his name to the town St. Moritz as well as to numerous places called Saint-Maurice in French speaking countries. The Indian Ocean island state of Mauritius was named after Maurice of Nassau, a member of the House of Orange, and not directly after St. Mauritius himself.

The Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus is an order of chivalry awarded by the House of Savoy, the heads of which were formerly Kings of Italy. The order was formed by a union of the Order of St Lazarus and the Order of Saint Maurice in 1572.

House of Savoy (Italian: Casa Savoia) was formed in the early eleventh century in the historical Savoy region. Through gradual expansion, it grew from ruling a small county in that region to eventually rule the Kingdom of Italy until the end of the Second World War. At the time that it ended in 1946, the House of Savoy was the longest surviving royal house in Europe, second only perhaps to Japan's in the world.


[edit] House of Savoy today
The Residences of the Royal House of Savoy in Turin and the neighbourhood are protected as a World Heritage Site. Although the titles and distinctions of the Italian royal family have been legally abolished, the remaining members of the House of Savoy still insist on using various titles, including the Counts of Savoy, the Dukes of Savoy, the Kings of Sardinia, and the Kings of Italy.

Amedeo of Savoy, Duke of Aosta

Born September 27, 1943 (1943-09-27) (age 64)
Florence, Italy
Title(s) Duke of Aosta,
Duke of Savoy (disputed)
Throne(s) claimed Italy
Pretend from July 7, 2006
Monarchy abolished 1946
Last monarch Umberto II
Connection with Cousin
Royal House Savoy
Father Prince Aimone of Savoy
Mother Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark
Spouse Princess Claude of Orléans; Silvia Paternò di Spedalotto
Children Princess Bianca, Prince Aimone, Princess Mafalda, Pietro Incisa della Rochetta (illeg) Ginevra van Ellinkhuizen (illeg)


Amedeo declared himself to be the head of the House of Savoy and Duke of Savoy, claiming that his cousin Vittorio Emanuele, Prince of Naples had lost his dynastic rights when he married without the legally required permission of King Umberto II in 1971, just following the time of his arrest. Vittorio Emanuele and his son, Emanuele Filiberto, have applied for judicial intervention to forbid Amedeo's use of the title "Duke of Savoy". An initial hearing was scheduled in the court of Arezzo, with a ruling expected by 6 June 2008.[2] The President of the Council of the Senators of the Kingdom Aldo Alessandro Mola published a declaration in favour of Amedeo's claim; in fact only nine members of the 62 member council voted in support of the declaration. Amedeo has also received the support of Vittorio Emmanuele's sister Princess Maria Gabriella of Savoy.

Amedeo has been criticized by other Italian monarchists who continue to support Vittorio Emanuele. Sergio Pellecchi, President of the Giunta of the Chivalric Orders of the House of Savoy, has stated that the Council of the Senators of the Kingdom was dissolved in 2002 and that it never had any authority in matters of the succession. Eugenio Armando Dondero, spokesman for the Coordinamento Monarchico Italiano, has asked why Amedeo did not claim to be head of the House of Savoy in 1983 when King Umberto II died. But others, including constitutional jurist Guido Locatello, declared the marriage of Vittorio Emanuele to be in violation of Savoy dynastic law years before scandal evoked any clamor for Amedeo to replace him. Additionally, Amedeo of Aosta's claims were strengthened when both Prince Vittorio Emanuele and his son Prince Emanuele Filberto recognized the Italian republic in order to be allowed to return to Italy in 2002, an act that was interpreted as an official renunciation of any claims either had on the throne of Italy.[citation needed]

Amedeo is a Knight of the Supreme Order of the Most Holy Annunciation, a Grand Cross of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus, and a Knight of Honor and Devotion of the Sovereign Military Order of St. John of Jerusalem. He is an honorary citizen of the towns of Marigliano, Pantelleria, and Abetone.
The title of duke of Aosta was given to HRH prince Amedeo of Savoia the second son of king Victor Emanuel II. At the death of prince Amedeo the second duke of Aosta was Emanuele Filiberto of Savoia Aosta It carries with it the subsidiary titles of Prince della Cisterna e di Belriguardo, Marquess di Voghera, and Count di Ponderano. In 1890, it was first awarded, however, to a cousin of the king, H.R.H. Prince Amedeo of Sardinia and Italy, Duke of Aosta, Prince della Cisterna e di Belriguardo, Marquess of Voghera, and Count of Ponderano, who was a Prince of Sardinia.

The following have been Dukes of Aosta

Amedeo, 1st Duke of Aosta (1845–1890), King of Spain 1870–1873
Emanuele Filiberto, 2nd Duke of Aosta (1869–1931)
Amedeo, 3rd Duke of Aosta (1898–1942)
Aimone, 4th Duke of Aosta (1900–1948), King of Croatia 1941–1943
Amedeo, 5th Duke of Aosta (born 1943)
His heir is Prince Aimone, Duke of Apulia (born 1967), who is engaged to Princess Olga Isabelle of Greece, younger daughter of Prince Michael of Greece and Denmark.




Germanic Europe is the part of Europe in which Germanic languages are predominant. Countries or areas in which such language is officially recognized and/or de facto spoken as a minority language are sometimes included ; this entire area corresponds more or less to North-Western Europe and western parts of Central Europe.

In its widest sense, this region consists of Iceland, Ireland, the United Kingdom, the Faroe Islands, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, the Swedish-speaking municipalities of Finland, French Flanders and Alsace-Moselle in France, Flanders and the smaller German-speaking Community in Belgium, the German-speaking part of Luxembourg, Germany, the formerly German parts of Poland as well as in East Prussia and the Baltic States Estonia and Latvia, Liechtenstein, the German-speaking part of Switzerland, Austria, and the province of Bolzano-Bozen (South Tyrol) in Italy.

Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, whilst also belonging to Celtic Europe, are considered (here) to be partially Germanic because of the dominance of the English language in these areas. And in the case of Scotland, also its history of Viking raids and settlement, its own Germanic/Anglic language (Scots) and the fact that south-eastern Scotland was once part of Northumbria, an Anglo-Saxon kingdom. Similarly, Finland is included because of the existence of a minority of Swedish-speakers in certain areas. However, the vast majority inhabitants of these countries do not consider themselves Germanic.

The predominant religion in the majority of the region is Protestantism; the United Kingdom, the Nordic countries, the Northern Netherlands, northern Germany, and most of German-speaking Switzerland are Protestant. At the same time, some parts of the region are predominantly Catholic: Republic of Ireland, Austria, and southern Germany (particularly Bavaria).


History
Main article: Germanic peoples
The historical Germanic peoples originated in Northern Europe during the Iron Age and migrated into the territory of the failing Roman Empire during Late Antiquity. They were Latinized in some parts (Burgundy, Lombardy, Western Francia, Visigothic Kingdom), but in other parts their intrusive Germanic dialects persisted, in medieval England and much of the Holy Roman Empire (including the Netherlands and the Alpine region), so that Germanic Europe extends beyond Northern Europe into Central Europe and Western Europe.

From the High Middle Ages, the history of Germanic Europe can be divided into three major regions:

the British Isles (Anglic languages)
Scandinavia (North Germanic languages).
the Continental Holy Roman Empire (the dialect continuum of High German, Low German, Low Franconian and Frisian)

[edit] Britain
Further information: History of the British Isles, Early Modern Britain, English-speaking Europe, and History of English
Medieval Britain evolved into the multi-ethnic British Empire beginning in the Tudor period. Great Britain has been a unified political entity since the formation of the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. Since that time, the English language has come to dominate not only in the historically "Germanic" nation of England but also in the "Celtic" countries of Scotland (where it had already spread throughout the Lowlands prior to 1707), Wales, Cornwall (already mostly English speaking by 1707) and Ireland.


[edit] Scandinavia
Further information: Nordic countries, History of Scandinavia, Icelandic Commonwealth, Danish Empire, and Swedish Empire
Scandinavia was united in the Kalmar Union until 1520, following which after a series of conflicts the modern states of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland and Finland emerged, the population of the latter comprising some 5.5% of Swedish-speaking Finns. The contemporary division into these countries has been implemented since the dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden in 1905 and the independence of Iceland from Denmark in 1944.


[edit] Continental Europe
Further information: German-speaking Europe, History of German, History of Dutch, German Empire, Austrian Empire, and Dutch Empire
The history of the continental part of Germanic Europe is clearly the most complicated of the three, and the region has settled into its contemporary political divisions only in 1945, following World War II. The Germanic speaking portions of the Holy Roman Empire by the 17th century were partitioned into the Dutch Republic (evolving into the Netherlands), the Old Swiss Confederacy (evolving into Switzerland), Habsburg Austria (evolving into Austria) and a core territory that gave rise to the German Empire in 1871, and finally to modern Germany. The Alsace became part of France while Flanders was divided between France, Belgium and the Netherlands. The small territories of Luxembourg and Liechtenstein have been sovereign countries since the Congress of Vienna in 1815.


The Teutonic Order is a German Roman Catholic religious order. Its members have commonly been known as the Teutonic Knights, since it was a crusading military order during the Middle Ages and much of the modern era.

Formed at the end of the 12th century in Acre, Palestine, the medieval Order played an important role in Outremer, controlling the port tolls of Acre. After Christian forces were defeated in the Middle East, the Order moved to Transylvania in 1211 to help defend Hungary against the Cumans. They were expelled in 1225 after allegedly attempting to place themselves under Papal instead of Hungarian sovereignty.

Following the Golden Bull of Rimini, Grand Master Hermann von Salza and Duke Konrad I of Masovia made a joint invasion of Prussia in 1230 to Christianise the Baltic Old Prussians in the Northern Crusades. The knights were then accused of cheating Polish rule and creating an independent monastic state. The Order lost its main purpose in Europe, when the neighbouring country of Lithuania accepted Christianity. Once established in Prussia, the Order became involved in campaigns against its Christian neighbours, the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Novgorod Republic (after assimilating the Livonian Order). The Teutonic Knights had a strong urban economy, hired mercenaries from throughout Europe to augment their feudal levies, and became a naval power in the Baltic Sea.

In 1410, a Polish-Lithuanian army decisively defeated the Order and broke its military power at the Battle of Grunwald (Tannenberg). The Order steadily declined until 1525 when Grand Master Albert of Brandenburg resigned and converted to Lutheranism to become Duke of Prussia. The Grand Masters continued to preside over the Order's considerable holdings in Germany and elsewhere until 1809, when Napoleon Bonaparte ordered its dissolution and the Order lost its last secular holdings. The Order continued to exist, headed by Habsburgs through World War I, and today operates primarily with charitable aims in Central Europe.

The Knights wore white surcoats with a black cross. A cross pattée was sometimes used as their coat of arms; this image was later used for military decoration and insignia by the Kingdom of Prussia and Germany as the Iron Cross.


[edit] Influence on German nationalism
German nationalism often invoked the imagery of the Teutonic Knights, especially in the context of territorial conquest from eastern neighbours of Germany and conflict with nations of Slavic origins, who were considered by German nationalists to be of lower development and of inferior culture. The German historian Heinrich von Treitschke used imagery of the Teutonic Knights to promote pro-German and anti-Polish rhetoric. Such imagery and symbols were adopted by many middle-class Germans who supported German nationalism. During the Weimar Republic, associations and organisations of this nature contributed to laying the groundwork for the formation of Nazi Germany.[21] Emperor William II of Germany posed for a photo in 1902 in the garb of a monk from the Teutonic Order, climbing up the stairs in the reconstructed Marienburg Castle as a symbol of the German Empire's policy.[21] During World War II, Nazi propaganda and ideology made frequent use of the Teutonic Knights' imagery, as the Nazis sought to depict the Knights' actions as a forerunner of the Nazi conquests for Lebensraum. Heinrich Himmler tried to idealize the SS as a 20th century incarnation of the medieval knights


The Northern Crusades[1] or Baltic Crusades[2] were crusades undertaken by the Catholic kings of Denmark and Sweden, the German Livonian and Teutonic military orders, and their allies against the pagan peoples of Northern Europe around the southern and eastern shores of the Baltic Sea. Swedish and German campaigns against Russian Eastern Orthodox Christians are also sometimes considered part of the Northern Crusades.[1] [3] Some of these wars were called crusades during the Middle Ages, but others, including most of the Swedish ones, were first dubbed crusades by 19th century romantic nationalist historians. The east Baltic world was transformed by military conquest: first the Livs, Letts and Estonians, then the Prussians and the Finns underwent defeat, baptism, military occupation and sometimes extermination by groups of Germans, Danes and Swedes


Teutonic Order

The Teutonic knights in Pskov in 1240. Screenshot from Sergei Eisenstein's Alexander Nevsky.The Northern Crusades provided a rationale for the growth and expansion of the Teutonic Order of German crusading knights which had been founded in Palestine at the end of the 12th century. Due to Muslim successes in the Holy Land, the Order sought new missions in Europe. Duke Konrad I of Masovia in west-central Poland appealed to the Knights to defend his borders and subdue the pagan Baltic Prussians in 1226. After the subjugation of the Prussians, the Teutonic Knights fought against Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

When the Livonian knights were crushed by Lithuanians in the Battle of the Sun in 1236, coinciding with a series of revolts in Estonia, the Livonian Order was inherited by the Teutonic Order, allowing the Teutonic Knights to exercise political control over large territories in the Baltic region. The Teutonic Knights failed to subdue pagan Lithuania, which officially converted to (Catholic) Christianity in 1386 on the marriage of Grand Duke Jogaila to the 11-year-old Queen Jadwiga of Poland.

The Teutonic Order's attempts to conquer Orthodox Russia (particularly the Republics of Pskov and Novgorod), an enterprise endorsed by Pope Gregory IX,[1] can also be considered as a part of the Northern Crusades. One of the major blows for the idea of the conquest of Russia was the Battle of the Ice in 1242. With or without the Pope's blessing, Sweden also undertook several crusades against Orthodox Novgorod.


The castle was founded by the Teutonic Knights in 1274 on the Southeastern bank of the river Nogat, and named Marienburg after the Virgin Mary, patron saint of the Order.

In 1309, in the wake of both the papal persecution of the Knights Templar as well as the Teutonic takeover of Danzig, the Order under Siegfried von Feuchtwangen moved its headquarters from Venice to the Marienburg, in the Prussian part of their monastic state.

The castle was expanded several time to host the growing number of Knights, and became the largest fortified Gothic building in Europe, featuring several sections and walls. It comprises three separate sections- the High, Middle and Low Castles, separated by multiple dry moats and towers. The castle once housed approximately 3,000 "brothers in arms", and the outermost castle walls enclose 52 acres (210,000 m²), four times larger than the enclosed space of Windsor Castle.


Königsberg pronunciation (help·info) (Lithuanian: Karaliaucius; Low German: Königsbarg; Polish: Królewiec; see also other names) was the capital of eastern Prussia from the Late Middle Ages until 1945. Founded by the Teutonic Knights just south of the Sambian peninsula in 1255 during the Northern Crusades, the city successively became the capital of their monastic state, the Duchy of Prussia, and East Prussia. The Baltic port developed into a German cultural center, being the residence of, among others, Immanuel Kant, E. T. A. Hoffmann, and David Hilbert.



Catholic military orders appeared following the First Crusade. The foundation of the Templars in 1118 provided the first in a series of tightly organized military forces which protected the Christian colonies in the Outremer, as well as fighting non-Christians in the Iberian Peninsula and Eastern Europe.

The principal feature of the military order is the combination of military and religious ways of life. Some of them, like the Knights of St John and the Knights of St Thomas, also cared for the sick and poor. However, they were not purely male institutions, as nuns could attach themselves as convents of the orders. One significant feature of the military orders is that clerical brothers could be, and indeed often were, subordinate to non-ordained brethren.

Joseph von Hammer in 1818 compared the Catholic military orders, in particular the Templars, with certain Islamic models such as the Shiite sect of Assassins. In 1820 José Antonio Conde has suggested they were modelled on the ribat, a fortified religious institution which brought together a religious way of life with fighting the enemies of Islam. However popular such views may have become, others have criticised this view suggesting there were no such ribats around Palestine until after the military orders had been founded. Yet the innovation of fighting monks was something new to Catholicism.
The role and function of the military orders has sometimes been obscured by the concentration on their military exploits in Syria, Palestine, Prussia, and Livonia. In fact they had extensive holdings and staff throughout Western Europe. The majority were laymen. They provided a conduit for cultural and technical innovation, for example the introduction of fulling into England by the Knights of St John, or the banking facilities of the Templars.
Because of the necessity to have a standing army, the military orders were created, being adopted as the fourth monastic vow.


[edit] List of military orders

[edit] Orders founded in Outremer
Order of the Hospital of St. John or The Hospitallers - Founded c.1070. Papal Order 1113
Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon or Knights Templar - Founded c.1118. Papal Order 1128 - the first purely military order.
Knights of St Lazarus - Founded early 12th Century. Militarised c.1123. Most likely an offshoot of the Hospitallars.
Order of Montjoie - Founded c.1180.
Teutonic Knights of the Hospital of St Mary of Jerusalem or The Teutonic Knights - Founded 1190. Papal Order 1198.
Hospitallers of St Thomas of Canterbury at Acre or Knights of St Thomas Acon - Founded 1191. Militarised c.1217.

[edit] Orders founded within Europe

[edit] Iberia
Order of Calatrava—founded 1158.
Order of Santiago—founded 1170.
Order of Aviz—Portuguese. Founded 1176.
Order of Monfragüe—founded 1196.
Order of Sant Jordi d'Alfama—Order of St. George of Alfama was amalgamated with the Aragonese Order of Montesa—founded 1201.
Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy—founded 1261.
Order of Santa Maria de España—a Spanish seafaring military order. Founded 1275.
Order of Montesa - first members comes from Order of Calatrava; Knights Templar's assets in Kingdom of Valencia. Founded 1317
Order of Christ (Order of the Knights of Our Lord Jesus Christ) - Portuguese. Founded in 1318 from the assets of the Knights Templar in that country; first Grand master from Order of Aviz

[edit] Prussia
Livonian Brothers of the Sword—founded in 1202. In 1237 it joined the Teutonic Order and thereafter became known as the Livonian Order
Order of Dobrzyn—order absorbed by the Teutonic Order in 1228. Founded 1216.

[edit] Occitania
Militia of the Faith of Jesus Christ—founded 1221 in Languedoc.
Order of the Faith and Peace—founded 1231 in Gascony.

[edit] Italy
Militia of Jesus Christ—founded 1233 in Lombardy.
Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary—founded 1261 in Lombardy.

[edit] Later orders (14th–16th centuries)
Order of the Holy Sepulchre - a military confraternity, rather than an order. Founded 1342
Order of the Dragon (Ordo Draconis) Founded 1408
Order of Our Lady of Bethlehem Founded 1459
Knights of St. George - Austria. Founded 1464
Order of St. Stephen - a Tuscan seafaring military order intended to augment the Knights of St John. Founded 1561
Order of the Holy Spirit -France. Founded 1578

[edit] Other use
It is possible for a non-crusading order to be founded explicitly as a military order. This is the case of the Orden Militar de la Constancia ('the Military Order of Loyalty'), founded by the authorities in the Spanish protectorate zone of Morocco on 18 August 1946. Awarded to military officers and men, Moroccan and Spanish, in a single class. Obsolete 1956. It was in the military orders, where the perfect fusion of the religious and the military spirit was realized, that chivalry reached its apogee. It was during this apogee when the secular brotherhood was created.

The Dutch Military Order of William and the Austrian Military Order of Maria-Theresia are not military orders although they use that name. They are orders of merit, not societies of knights or warrior-monks like the original military orders


The full name of the Order in Latin is Ordo domus Sanctæ Mariæ Theutonicorum Ierosolimitanorum, or "Order of the German House of St. Mary in Jerusalem". Its corresponding name in German is Orden der Brüder vom Deutschen Haus St. Mariens in Jerusalem. It is commonly known in German as the Deutscher Orden, or "German Order".

The Teutonic Knights have been known as Zakon Krzyzacki in Polish and as Kryžiuociu Ordinas in Lithuanian, in Latvian "Zobenbralu ordenis" as well as various names in other languages.


Height of power

Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights 1308-1455In 1337 Emperor Louis IV allegedly granted the Order the imperial privilege to conquer all Lithuania and Russia. During the reign of Grand Master Winrich von Kniprode (1351-1382), the Order reached the peak of its international prestige and hosted numerous European crusaders and nobility.

King Albert of Sweden ceded Gotland to the Order as a pledge (similar to a fiefdom), with the understanding that they would eliminate the pirating Victual Brothers from this strategic island base in the Baltic Sea. An invasion force under Grand Master Konrad von Jungingen conquered the island in 1398 and drove the Victual Brothers out of Gotland and the Baltic Sea.

In 1407 the Teutonic Order had reached its greatest territorial extent and included the lands of Prussia, Pomerelia, Samogitia, Courland, Livonia, Estonia, Gotland, Dagö, Ösel, and the Neumark pawned by Brandenburg in 1402.


Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM) and it’s probable involvement in 9/11 Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM) and it’s probable involvement in 9/11



Dear friends - here is some compiled information. This is seeing Vatican puppets like the Knights of Malta in nearly all the most important positions regarding bringing 9/11 forward and gaining from it.



If they’d just work for someone, ok - but these people always head at what they are involved in. Go research their positions and see for yourself. Now see how these Orders penetrate the list of people nessecary for an elaborte attack like the one seen. I tried to confine it to people still alive and in powerfull positions of calling the shots shortly before durring or after 9/11.


These positions include: Local Government, Political Party System, Legal System, Patriot Act, Education Intelligence apparatus, Military Industrial Complex, Mercinary business Financial System, Media, Alternative media, Council on Foreign Relations Vatican Ambassador, Spiritual/Vatican Support In this following list I do name nearly 40!

contemporary people mostly of the US SMOM branch that are not only connected by their offices in Government and Industry, but connected through the same subordination to the Vatican!

Jesuits, Opus Die, Knights of Columbus, Knights of the Holy Selpulchure etc are not even included. What does it mean when someone joins an organisation? He joins because of being in line with their believe and their cause - agreed?

What is the believe of the Knights of Malta? They are knighted by the Pope - so are all loyal to the Pope - that’s first. What is/was their cause?


They were created during the Crusades and “…began their operations as a Christian militia whose mission it was to defend the land conquered by the Crusaders.” Now remember those above facts with every person you look at and see if that in your mind changes how he should be seen in the case of 9/11.


SMOM Knights of Malta Being a Knight of Malta is special. SMOM means “Sovereign Military Order of Malta”. “Though without a territory since 12 Jun 1798, the Sovereign Military Order of Malta still regards itself, and is regarded by the states that give it diplomatic recognition, as a sovereign state.


The Knights of Malta (full style Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes, and of Malta [SMOM]) now functions as a Roman Catholic charitable organization with limited diplomatic status as a “sovereign entity”, complete with passports, coinage (via the world’s smallest national mint), license plates, ITU amateur radio license prefix (1A) and a post office.”


http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Malta_knights.htm According to international law they are an international legal personality http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malteserorden The Order of Malta has diplomatic relations with 97 countries and offcial

relations with: - Belgium - France - Germany - Luxembourg - Switzerland http://www.orderofmalta.org/attdiplomatica.asp?idlingua=5

Passport misuse: SMOM provided more than medals. One of its directors arranged for the printing of 2,000 SMOM passports for political refugees, many of them Nazis.


A branch of the Knights in southern Germany ran a large refugee camp, and the leading Bavarian Knight of Malta was reported to have arranged travel “for no small number of exNazis.” That the Vatican, OSS and the U.S. Army’s Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC) were a party to such arrangements is shown by files that Justice Department investigators discovered in the 1980s.


Also you have to know that e.g. more than half of the CIA Directors have been known Knight of Malta.


This is important in connection to worldwide blackops, drugtrade, “cold war” spying, supporting Osama Bin Laden etc. which by that is not only in the CIAs but SMOMs hands.


Cardinal Edward Egan Military Vicar: The American Branch of the Knights of Malta, The Knights of Columbus The Masonic Supreme Council of the 33rd Degree Archbishop of New York Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church in the US


Rudy Giuliani SMOM Knight of Malta 2001 Mayor of New York Presidential Candidate 2008


George Pataki SMOM Knight of Malta


Governor of New York Michael Bloomberg SMOM Knight of Malta


Media Mogul Mayor of New York Rupert Murdoch SMOM Knight of Malta Media Mogul (2% World media)


Daniel Imperato SMOM Knight of Malta Presidential Candidate 2008


George Tenet SMOM Knight of Malta Jesuit Trained Director CIA

Michael Chertoff
SMOM Knight of Malta Director of Department of Homeland Security


Emilio T. González SMOM Knight of Malta Under Secretary of Department of Homeland Security Director, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)

http://www.whitehouse.gov/government/egonzalez-bio.html


Joseph Edward Schmitz SMOM Knight of Malta Opus Dei CEO Blackwater


George H. W. Bush SMOM Knight of Malta Knight Grand Cross of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath Order of Skull and Bones Shriner Freemason CFR Trilateral Commission Committee of 300 Jesuit trained Head of CIA 41st American

President Prescott Bush, Jr. SMOM Knight of Malta Chairman U.S.-China Chamber of Commerce


George W. Bush Order of Skull and Bones Knight of the Virign Freemason, 33 Degree 43rd American President


Tony Blair SMOM Knight of Malta Freemason, 33 Degree Bilderberger British Prime Minister


Silvio Berlusconi SMOM Knight of Malta Italian Prime Minister


Robert Zoellick SMOM Knight of Malta Head of Worldbank Deputy Secretary of State


Henry A. Kissinger SMOM Knight of Malta Shriner Freemason CFR Committee of 300 Bilderberger P2


David Rockefeller SMOM Knight of Malta Shriner Freemason Presidential Medal of Freedom (1998); U.S. Legion of Merit (1945); U.S. Legion of Honor (1945); Italian Order of Merit; Order of the Sun, Peru; Order of the Cedar, Lebanon; Order of the Crown, Belgium; National Order of Ivory Coast; Order of the Aztec Eagle, Mexico; Order of the Southern Cross, Brazil; Order of Francisco de Miranda, Venezuela; Order of Humane African Redemption, Liberia; The Grand Croix of the Legion d’Honneur (2000); Grand Cordon, Order of Scared Treasure, Japan (1991); Knight Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit, Germany; Order of the White Elephant and Order of the Crown, Thailand;
World Brotherhood Award, Jewish Theological Seminary (1953); Medal of Honor for City Planning, American Institute of Architects (1968); The Hundred Year Association of New York’s Gold Medal Award: “In recognition of outstanding contributions to the City of New York” (1965). Banker, Statesman, Globalist, UN CFR Director Bilderberger Trilateral Commission Council of the Americas … http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Rockefeller


Geoffrey T. Boisi SMOM Knight of Malta Goldman Sachs for 22 years, a senior general partner Goldman Sachs, which was worth $43.3 billion in 2005, received a $25 million grant for promising to stay in New York. Goldman Sachs also recieved a $1.65 billion government-backed “Liberty Bond,” funded by the $20 billion in 9/11 relief that Hillary secured for New York. Goldman Sachs used the $9 million to build its luxurious new headquarters, located on prime real estate across from Ground Zero. http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=17495


Richard Torrenzano SMOM Knight of Malta spokesman for the New York Stock Exchange http://www.neco.org/awards/recipients/richtorrenzano.html Frank


C. Carlucci SMOM Knight of Malta Ambassador to Portugal Deputy Director CIA Secretary of Defense Project for the New American Century Middle East Policy Council, Board of US-Taiwan Business Council, Chairman RAND Corporation, Board of Trustees Advisory Board for RAND’s Center for

(PNAC) Directors Emeritus Middle East Public Policy, founding co-chairWackenhut, Director Carlyle Group, CEO Frontier Group, Senior Member Envion USA, Chairman


Raymond Flynn SMOM Knight of Malta Knight of the Supreme Order of Christ Knight of St. Pius IX Knight Commander of Saint Gregory the Great with Star Knight of St. Sylvester Knight of the Holy Sepulchre Opus Dei Ambassador to the Vatican Mayor of Boston Flynn is very close to Ratzinger President of Catholic Alliance, a national lay Catholic political advocacy organization Started and National Chairman of Catholic Citizenship Endorsed Bush in 2000 through Catholic Alliance In short, he is the most Papally-decorated American since the late Grand Master of the Knights of Columbus


Francis Rooney SMOM Knight of Malta Jesuit Trained Georgetown Bush Sponsor Ambassador to Holy See 100 Mio. Pentagon contracts 2003


Richard John Santorum SMOM Knight of Malta Opus Dei US Senator Senate Republican Conference, chairman Ethics and Public Policy Center, Senior Fellow Fox News Channel contributor



John Robert Bolton SMOM Knight of Malta American Enterprise Institute (AEI) Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA) Project for the New American Century (PNAC) Institute of East-West Dynamics National Rifle Association US Commission on International Religious Freedom Council for National Policy (CNP) Committee for Peace and Security in the Gulf (CPSG) Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) Federalist Society National Policy Forum National Advisory Board Manhattan Institute for Policy Research New Atlantic Initiative Project on Transitional Democracies U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Assistant Attorney General, Department of Justice Ambassador to United Nations2001 - Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security


Pat Buchanan SMOM Knight of Malta Jesuit trained Georgetown CIA Project Mockingbird (Media Manipulation) senior advisor to three American presidents, Nixon, Ford and Reagan original host