The Knights of St John occupied Malta from 1530 to 1798. In Poland they lived and worked actively – of course, not on the same scale – from 1166 to 1817.
In 1166, the Polish prince Henryk Sandomeirski/Henry Sendomiriensis, ruler of the town Sandomierz, invited the Knights to his principality and settled them in Zagosc, near Wislica, in the middle of Poland.
Henryk Sandomierski was one of the sons of the Polish king Bolesaw Krzywousty, who died in 1138, and his Will divided the kingdom into separate provinces. Until 1320, the Polish kingdom was divided between his sons and their descendants. The reunion that took place was made by king Wadyslaw Lokietek.
Prince Henry participated in the crusade to the Holy Land in 1154. In ancient Polish chronicles it says: Henricus dux Sendomiriensis ivit Jerusalem. In Jerusalem he probably met the Knights of St John for the first time – they were later to come to Malta.
More liberorum hospitum
Zagosc, as well as Boreszowice, was the prince’s property. Both are situated in the valley of the River Nida near Wislica and Sandomierz. Prince Henry offered Zagosc and Boreszowice to the Knights, who built a monastery and the hospital.
The Knights of St John were good managers and landlords, cultivating vegetables and rearing cattle. Special privileges had been offered to them: more liberorum hospitum, so-called “free guests”. One of the most original churches in Romanesque style was constructed in Zagosc – a fine example of medieval architecture. The church is still standing and its historical value is beyond all imagination. Later, Gothic rebuilding and remodelling destroyed the oldest beauty of the church.
So Zagosc, Boreszowice, Wislica and Sandomierz in Poland became, in the Middle Ages, a true centre of chivalric culture and medieval architecture and all this is due to the Knights of St John and their Order
Silesia, Slask, Pomerania, Pomorze, Poznan
The Knights of St John also built monasteries and hospitals in Slask, Silesian province, as well as in Pomorze, Pomerania and Poznan, the centre of Western Poland.
The Knights worked as priests, preachers and evangelists, but their first and main occupation was regular social assistance and medical services. They promoted the cult of Mary the Virgin, the Eucharist and the Corpus Christi devotion. The specialist, professional Knight worked in every district or comturia.
In Slask, Silesia, the Knights were the protectors of the devotional fraternities at the parish churches and they also managed many schools and hospitals.
As the late Polish writer Jadwiga Zylinska wrote in her book entitled The Game in Tarot, Grawtarota, Warsaw 1987, the Knights of St John were active in Glogow, Wroclaw and Bolkow in 1267 and their leader was Brother Bertold.
In 1775 the Zbior krotki wiadomosci potrzebnych kawalerowi maltanskiemu dla wygody y pozytku przezacnych familii Krolestwa Polskiegoy (an information manual for the Maltese Knight) which was edited in Warsaw, was printed.
This manual was useful for the prominent families of the Polish Kingdom and the Grand Lithuanian Principality.
Poland remained an independent state, united with Lithuania, until 1795 when the three powers – Russia, Prussia and Austria – divided Poland among themselves. Poland regained its freedom and independence in 1918, after 123 years of partition. As Pope John Paul II said, the Polish-Lithuanian Union, Lublin Union/Unia Lubelska of 1569 was the prototype of the European Union.
In 1817 the Russian tsar Alexander I prohibited the activities of the Knights of St John in the territory of Poland. But even today the memory of the Maltese Knights is still alive here.
Andrzej Tokarczyk is a Polish writer and journalist who specialises in history and the philosophy of religions. He has written several books and articles and lives in Warsaw.