Emperor Paul I and the Order of St. John of Jerusalem

The book is a collection of articles by the leading Russian historian of the Maltese Order V.A. Zakharova, dedicated to the little -studied topic - the relationship of the Russian emperor Paul I with the sovereign Order of St. John of Jerusalem, better known as the Maltese Order, the great master of which he became in 1798. Pavel Petrovich was still in disputes, and from the light hand of unscrupulous Western The authors were established by the idea that the Russian emperor “captured” the Maltese Order. In fact, Paul I saved the order from destruction. The merits of Paul I are appreciated by the largest French historian of the Maltese Order of the 20th century by Count Michel de Pierredhen, who wrote: “We must give a tribute to the role of the role that the emperor played at the time when he kept most of the order, without opening a loan for his memory, which has an accurate definition. And although his election did not occur according to all the rules, statues and laws of the order, it was unconditionally recognized.
From the standpoint of the Order itself, it should be said in truth that, after the fall of Malta, the Order found a refuge in St. Petersburg with the surviving members of the Order and, without a doubt, thanks to this the Order escaped complete destruction. And for this the order owes him gratitude.
In the book, unknown documents from domestic and foreign archives are published for the first time, little -known Western sources are used