Hereditary Commander

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

Hereditary Commanders of the Russian tradition

Reference to hereditary commanders of the Russian tradition of the Knights Hospitaller is frequently made but often without a proper understanding. There is no mystique about Hereditary Commanders. The Hereditary Commanderies were more accurately "Ancestral" or "Family" Commanderies. Estates had been gifted to the Order to procure the income to sustain the Commanderies, and in return the family head or nominated successor held the Commandery.

Those favoured by Paul I of Russia, had been given beneficed Commanderies, and others were encouraged to use their wealth to create their own Commanderies; it is these which were known as Family or Ancestral Commanderies.

Two examples within the Order of St John of Jerusalem of Ancestral Commanderies before the creation of the Russian Grand Priory are the Priory of Bohemia and the Priory of Poland prior to its absorption into the Russian Priory. One early precedent is that of Grand Master Jean de Lascaris-Castellar (1636-1657) granting an hereditary knighthood to the Vicomte d'Arpajon for assisting in checking a Turkish attack on Malta. There is also an independent tradition of hereditary knighthoods, at a lower rank level, among the gentry of Malta.

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

1. Narychkine, 2. Count Chéréméteff, 3. Prince Youssoupoff †, 4. Stroganov †, 5. Count Samoiloif ‡, 6. Prince Belosselsky, 7. Prince Dolgoroukov, 8. Davydov, 9. Prince Barytinsky, 10. Démidoff, 11. Prince Troubetzkoy, 12. Count Worontzoff, 13. Maruzzi †, 14. Beklechev †, 15. Prince Tioufiakine †, 16. Count Olsoufieff, 17. Gerebtzoff, 18. Count Strogonoff †, 19. Boutourline, 20. Potemkine †, 21. Tchirikoff †, 22. Prince Khilkoff ‡, 23. Prince Odoevsky †, 24 Prince Youssoupoff †.

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. This fact is confirmed in J. F. Nicholas Loumyer, "Ordres de Chevalerie et Marques d'Honneur", Brussels 1844.

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. The Family Commanders in the days of the Empire and into exile appear to be qualified in both, as far as can be established.

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

Hereditary Commanders in exile 1928

On June 24, 1928, twelve Russian Hereditary Commanders met in Paris to re-establish the activities of the Russian Grand Priory. 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 (See "Taube" ibidem pages 52-53);Count Dmitri Cheremeteff; Prince Serge Bielosselsky-Bielozersky; 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; "Taube" ibid page 50. Those families in membership are listed in italics, and the families where the direct descendants had come to an end, were signified by a Latin cross.

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

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.

The Priory of Dacia in Denmark has a claim to the tradition, (which was acknowledged as a legal part of the Union) as well as a number of descendants of the Hereditary Commanders.

Dissolution of the Union in 1975

In recent years there has been speculation about the demise of the Paris Group, with a question about a possible dormancy of the institution - in other words whether a group of individuals could resurrect the institution, and thereby claim to continue it. If done, this would open the way to abuse of claims by such as the self-styled “Russian Orders”. One group did exactly this in July 2006, connected to the self-styled Order the "Sovereign Order of Orthodox Knights Hospitaller Saint John of Jerusaelm" created in 1977 but by so doing leaving themselves open to challenge by the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, who have proprietary rights over the phrase "St John of Jerusalem" in France (St Jean de Jerusalem).
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."
The Union Order founded in 1928, was via the Imperial Grand Dukes, Kirill, Alexandre, Andrei and Vladimir of 'Imperial origin'. The self-styled Orders claiming the Russian tradition, even with those of Russian descent, are clearly not of 'Imperial' origin.

Modern survival

Today various groups claim to be the continuation of the Russian Priory. In terms of verifiable evidence, papers housed in the National Archive "Rigsarchivet" in Copenhagen Arkiv nr: 10266. Jvf. RA. Priv. ark. c. litra P nr. 1006-1, support the view, that the Priory of Dacia was a legal part of the Paris Group, and its legal heir. The Priory of Dacia has also extended colateral recognition to modern descendants of the Hereditary Commanders.

Other claimants

The whole issue concerning the difficulties of descendants to qualify will lie behind the Paris group of Russian Commander's decision to use the title of “Union of Descendants of Hereditary Commanders & etc” in 1958, placing the emphasis on "descendants of Hereditary Commanders". The group was encouraged to moderate their claims by Grand Duke Vladimir.

This then brings additional problems, as many Russian Nobles can claim this qualification, due to the intermarriage of Russian Nobles to those families which held ancestral commanderies.

Aside from the issue of the legitimacy of succession to the Paris Group which ended in 1975, in terms of individual claims of Russian Nobles, who are in some way related to the original holder of the Ancestral Commandery, and claim, or are nominated as "hereditary commanders", it is a case of "A Caucus Race and a Long Tale", from "Alice in Wonderland" - that "Everybody has won, and all must have prizes"!

Given this, there could in theory be dozens of "Ersatz" “Unions of Descendants etc”, with genuine Russian Nobles in membership, who can claim to be descendants of Hereditary Commanders. However this is not the same, as being the historic continuation of the Paris Group, which was the Russian Grand Priory in exile, as supported by both Grand Duke Kirill and Grand Duke Vladimir, heirs to the Russian Throne.