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A Hereditary Commander is a (Knight) Commander whose family holds that title by hereditary right.

Hereditary Commanders of the Russian tradition

Russian tradition of the Knights Hospitaller was officially launched by Paul I of Russia in January 1797. The original 1797 statute allotted ten revenue-producing estates, the commanderies, to be issued to the most deserving knights of the Order. The award was not hereditary; the recipients (commanders) were obligated to contribute a share of commandery revenue to the Order. In November-December 1798 Paul assumed the title of Grand Master of the Order and expanded its operation in Russia, increasing the number of non-hereditary commanderies to 99. In 1799 Paul decreed the statute for hereditary commanderies (Template:Lang-ru, also translated as ancestral or familial commanderies). Unlike ordinary commanderies that provided direct financial benefits to their commanders, hereditary commanderies were financed by the applicants themselves. An eligible applicant needed to pledge his own real estate to the order, provided that it was sufficiently large to generate 3,000 roubles annual income. Hereditary commanderies remitted 10% of their revenue to the Order.

Ancestral Commanderies during the reigns of Paul I and Alexander I of Russia were:

1. Naryshkin, 2. Count Sheremetev, 3. Prince Yusupov †, 4. Stroganovs †, 5. Count Samoiloif ‡, 6. Prince Belosselsky-Belozersky, 7. Prince Dolgorukov, 8. Davydov, 9. Prince Barytinsky, 10. Démidoff, 11. Prince Troubetzkoy, 12. Count Vorontsov, 13. Maruzzi †, 14. Beklechev †, 15. Prince Tioufiakine †, 16. Count Olsoufieff, 17. Gerebtzoff, 18. Count Strogonoff †, 19. Boutourline, 20. Prince Potemkin †, 21. Tchirikoff †, 22. Prince Khilkoff ‡, 23. Prince Odoevsky †, 24. Prince Yusupov †.

Key. † Direct Male line from the first Commander extinct. ‡ Direct Male line is extinct, but the family was reinstated via the female line by the Imperium.

There were originally 24 Commanders of Families registered in 23 families (with two Commanderies in one family). Under the Imperial Ukase 19.044 of 1799 (July 21 Old Style) it is clear that there can be only one Commander per Commandery. Thus only 24 Hereditary Commanders could ever have existed. In Article XI, it is also true that more than one Commandery per family could be founded, and this happened (Youssoupoff). However all such Commanderies were created under the regulations given in the Ukase “Ancestral Commanderies of Jus Patronatus” of 1799. Furthermore, pluralities were listed separately.

Changes to the Russian Ancestral Commanderies in 1810 and 1811

The Beneficed Commanderies were weaned of state funds in 1810 (Ukase 24.134. of 1810), their holders being given other posts with comparable compensation, and the affected properties of the Family Commanders were handed back to the families, provided a redemption payment was made (Ukase 24.882. of 1811). The Order's properties were also reclaimed by the state; for example, the Palace of the Sovereign Order of St John of Jerusalem in St. Petersburg was given to the Corps des Pages to serve as a military academy.

Even though the Ancestral Commanderies lost the estates which funded the benefice, those entitled to succeed to the Commandery were by courtesy allowed, on confirmation from the Russian Emperor, the title "Hereditary Commander" with permission to wear the Cross of the Order. Those who wore the Order still came under the due regulations, which were administered by the Chancellor to all the Russian Orders.

Qualifications needed by candidates

Russian Hereditary Commanders, must be confirmed as such under the Russian Laws which gave birth to that category of membership; Ukase 19.044 of 1799 specifies inter alia "5 years of seniority in the Order and 2 years of seniority of military service", in other words five years belonging to the Order, and two years military service.

Even where the candidate is qualified, he must demonstrate that he is the “present representative elder of the masculine posterity of its first beneficiary” .

Hereditary Commanders in exile 1928

On June 24, 1928, twelve Russian Hereditary Commanders met in Paris to establish the "Union of Hereditary Commanders and Knights of the Grand Priory of Russia of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem" . They were supported by three other Russian nobles who were aspirants and admitted as Knights, and a Hereditary Commander of the Catholic Grand Priory of Russia .

The signatories of the founding document were : Count Dmitri Cheremeteff; Prince Serge Belosselsky-Belozersky; Count Hilarion Worontzoff-Dachkoff ; Paul Demidoff; Prince Wladimir Galitzine (Aspirant); Count Wladimir Borch (HC of the RC Grand Priory); Dmitri Boutourline; Prince Serge Dolgorouki; Denis Davydoff; Léon Narichkine; Count Alexandre Mordvinoff, (Aspirant); Prince Nikita Troubetzkoi; Count André Lanskoi (Aspirant); Dmitri Jerebzoff Nicolas Tchirikoff; Count Dmitri Olzoufieff.

Although Prince Nikita Troubetzkoy was counted as a Commander, and was a subsequent member of the Council, he was a distant cousin to the Prince Troubetkoy who qualified; Prince Cyrille Troubetzkoy. Baron Michael de Taube was aware of the mistake, and had met the qualifying Commander in Paris (Taube ibidem page 43).

By 1955, out of a possible 14 Commanders, only 6 were in membership of the Paris Group .

Under the guidance of claimant to the Russian Throne Grand Duke Vladimir, applicants claiming to the Hereditary Commanders were carefully scrutinised, and those qualifying admitted under the signature of Grand Duke Vladimir.

The numbers of qualifying Commanders in membership of the Paris group continued to decline into the 1970s, and lines of several Hereditary Commanders coming to an end continued. For example, in 1974, Nicholas Tchirikoff, the Dean of the Paris Group died without an heir to the Commandery.

Dissolution of the Union in 1975

The original Union ended with the death of its General Secretary General Georges Rticheff in 1975. Following this, the President of the Union, Grand Duke Vladimir (claimant to the throne) authorised a Bailiff of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, to intervene in his "name and to help the Sovereign Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and Malta on any occasions which presents itself to act against the false orders, which, usurping the names belonging to the Sovereign Order of Malta, pretending themselves to be of Russian Imperial origin."

Hereditary Commanders of the Italian Tradition

Similar to those of the Russian Tradition of the Order of St. John, the grade of Hereditary Commander is a traditional rank within the Italian Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus, as those who donated a sufficient property to found a commandery, were commanders of Giuspatronato. These privileges were suspended in 1851, but restored when the order's constitution was revised in 1985.

Hereditary Commanders of the French Tradition

In feudal France, castellans (Châtelains), who governed castles without resident nobles, acquired considerable powers, and the position was in few cases hereditary fiefdom, known as sirerie. .

Hereditary Commanders of the Spanish Tradition

In Spain during the Middle Ages and the early renaissance, Hereditary Commanders from noble houses were responsible for the managing the defense and leading the military forces of some cities. For example, Don Luis de Soto, was the Hereditary Commander of Cadiz during the British attack on that city in 1625.

See also

• Baronet

Notes

1. Shepelyov, p. 335
2. Shepelyov, p. 336
3. ^ Shepelyov, p. 337
4. J. F. Nicholas Loumyer, Ordres de Chevalerie et Marques d'Honneur, Brussels 1844.
5. Professor Baron Michel Alexsandrovitch, de Taube. L'Empereur Paul I de Russie, Grand Maître de l'Ordre de Malte, et son Grand Prieuré Russe, Paris 1955, page 50.
6. The self-styled Orders of Saint John
7. Taube ibidem pages 52–53
8. Taube ibid page 50
9. The Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus by L. Mendola
10. Nobility and Titles in France

References

• Shepelyov, B. V. (1999). Chinovny mir Rossii (Чиновный мир России) (in Russian). Saint Petersburg:Iskusstvo. ISBN 5210015181.
• Peter Kurrild-Klitgaard, Knights of Fantasy: an overview, history, and critique of the self-styled 'Orders' called 'of Saint John' or 'of Malta', in Denmark and other Nordic countries, Turku 2002, ISBN 951-29-2265-7
• Ordres et contre-ordres de chevalerie by Arnaud Chaffanjon, Mercure de France Paris 1982.
• Faux Chevaliers vrais gogos by Patrice Chairoff, Jean Cyrile Godefroy Paris 1985.
• The knightly twilight by Robert Gayre of Gayre, Lochore Enterprises Valletta 1973.
• Orders of knighthood, Awards and the Holy See by Peter Bander van Duren and Archbishop H.E. Cardinale (Apostolic Delegate in the United Kingdom), Buckinghamshire 1985.
• World Orders of Knighthood and Merit by Guy Stair Sainty and Rafal Heydel-Mankoo, Burke's Peerage 2006.

• Knights Hospitaller