Last modified: 2009-07-04 by rob raeside
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by Željko Heimer, 8 June 2002
Grand Master Flag
There is a new Grand Master since 11 Mar 2008. The official site showing the
arms of Fra' Matthew Festing is at
http://www.orderofmalta.org/site/stemmi.asp?idlingua=5 where "at 2 and 3
azure an eagle [is] displayed erminois between three castles argent". A larger
image can be seen at
http://cilialacorte.com/grandmasters/Festing.html. If I am not mistaken,
these personal arms do not appear on any flag or standard.
Jan
Mertens, 16 August 2008
On this page:
See also:
External links:
The previous Grand Master was His Eminent Highness the Prince Grand Master of the Order of
Malta, Andrew Willoughby Ninian Bertie. His flag includes a Collar of the Order around the Cross.
Santiago Dotor, 4 May 1999
The white Maltese cross on red is the flag of the Grand Master
of the Order. The flag of the Order is a plain (St. George's)
white cross on red.
Santiago Dotor, 8 September 1999
I confirm it from Album des Pavillons. The flag of Grand
Master is captioned "in Roma". Would this mean that the
Grand Master uses a different personal standard when outside of Rome?
As the Order is "Sovereign", the Grand Master should
have the rank of Head of State and the possibility to make
official visits in "foreign" countries.
Ivan Sache, 8 September 1999
I suggest that the caption merely stated where the Grand
Master is found when he is at home, for the benefit of those who
don't know that the Villa Maltese is located in Rome, at 68 Via
Condotti, said to be a minute's walk from the bottom of the
Spanish Steps.
John Ayer, 9 September 1999
As the author of this caption, I confirm John's suggestion,
this is what I meant. in the caption of this flag in the oncoming
"Album des Pavillons" edition 2000 which will be
bi-lingual, I have merely written the caption : "Grand
Mastre - Grand Master".
Armand Noel du Payrat, 9 September 1999
In "Flags in South Africa and the world",
Proceedings of the XVIIth International Congress of Vexillology,
there is a rich paper by Adrian Strickland, entitled:
"The vexillological heritage of the Knights of Saint-John in
Malta" (pp. 277-287) . I have extracted few flags from the
valuable paper:
Standard of the Grand Master:
image
by Ivan Sache, 28 Febuary 2000
The personal standard of the Grand Master should be square
instead of rectangular as shown at the top of this page. The second flag shown
above is the Grand Master's motor car used on official occasions.
Ivan Sache, 28 February 2000
According to Payrat (2000) - Grand
Master (2:3) - Red flag with white Maltese cross. The
construction details are given of this same flag in Flaggenbuch
1939 [Neubecker (1992)]. The size of the
circle circumscribing the cross is 28/44 of the hoist (i.e.
7/11). But Neubecker also gives the dimension between two
neighbouring vertices of the cross (i.e. the side of the octagon)
as 11, but this can't be exactly so (my calculation gives a number on
three digits as 10.769, which is close enough).
Željko Heimer, 8 June 2002
During their mandate as Grand Masters, their personal arms would be quartered
with those of the SMOM ("Gules a cross Argent" i.e. red with a white cross
throughout) with the latter in the first and fourth quarters.
Santiago Dotor, 15 March 2006
In "Flags in South Africa and the world",
Proceedings of the XVIIth International Congress of Vexillology,
there is a rich paper by Adrian Strickland, entitled:
"The vexillological heritage of the Knights of Saint-John in
Malta" (pp. 277-287) . I have extracted a few flags from the
valuable paper:
Grand Masters used to quarter their own personal arms with those of the Order in the first and fourth quarters, as for instance in the standard of Grand Master Pinto (1741-1773):
image
by Ivan Sache, 28 February 2000
But arms were also often quartered per saltire, as shown in another standard of Grand Master Pinto:
image
by Ivan Sache, 28 February 2000
Other Grand Masters did not quarter their arms, as for instance Grand Master Rohan.
The burgee ("gagliardetto") used by Grand Master Perellos (1697-1720) in less formal occasions seems to be canting.
Ivan Sache, 28 February 2000
It is often said that Grandmasters used flags having the same pattern as
their coats of arms. I have tried to find out, but I've only got proof for two
Grandmasters. One of them is Brother Pierre d'Aubusson (1476-1503). He was
Grandmaster during the 1st Turkish siege of Rhodes from May until August 1480
which ended with a victory for the Knights of Rhodes. The siege has been
described by Guillaume Caoursin, born est. 1430 in Flandres. He was from Rhodes
and studied in Paris, gaining the title of a Doctor (phil?). Though not being
member of the order, he became vice-chancellor of d'Aubusson.
Caoursin wrote a book, which contained many paintings of the siege. There were
two flags depicted: 1) the red flag with a white Greek cross (flag of the order)
and the flag and a "war-pennant" with the colours of d'Aubusson.
Description of the flags:
1) Flag of d'Aubusson:
image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 28 May 2006
It is a quarterly divided square flag. In the upper hoist and the lower fly is are red fields with white Greek crosses. In the lower hoist and the upper fly are yellow fields with red moline crosses.
2) "War-pennant" of d'Aubusson:
image
by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 28 May 2006
I believe, this kind is called a swallow-tail pennant, ending up in two triangles at the fly. At the hoist is the quarterly divided coat of arms of d'Aubusson, followed by a red field with a white Greek cross, followed by two times two smaller red fields with white Greek crosses. None of the five crosses touch the edges of the flag nor do they touch one another. The triangles are yellow with one horizontal red stripe each.
Note: On p.19 of the source are different colours of d'Aubusson: the moline crosses are yellow in white fields, offending against basic rules of heraldry (both metals). So I think the pictures of Caoursin are the better ones.
Source:
Guillaume Caoursin: "Obsidionis Rhodiae urbis descriptio" (Latin);
Rhodes, ca. 1485 transl: "Description of the siege of the city of
Rhodes", p.40
Reprinted in:
Elias Kollias: "Die Ritter von Rhodos"; Athens; ISBN 960-213-244-2; p.50
Translated to German by Ute Rinke-Moladakis
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 28 May 2006
![[Grand Master of the Order of Malta 1988 (Andrew Bertie)]](../images/m/mt_gm988.gif)
image
by Jaume Ollé
The Sovereign Military Order of Malta releases its own postage
stamps (labeled in Italian 'Sovrano Militare Ordine di Malta -
Poste Magistrali'). A current series of such stamps shows the
arms of the Grand Masters. These stamps could be an excellent
source to complete the Grand Masters' banner of arms series
partially shown above. Unfortunately, my stamp catalogue only
shows small black-and-white 'previews' of the stamps, of little
use here.
Ivan Sache, 25 August 2001