Science

Dutch chivalric orders

Knights of a feather

The Netherlands are still home to several exclusive ‘chivalric orders’, whose members are largely of nobility, engaging in charity work. But they tend to be a bit snobbish.
By Christien Boomsma / Photo Joost van den Broek – Hollandse Hoogte ©
Johanniter knights on their way to the Grote Kerk in Naarden, to celebrate their one hundredth anniversary. (2009)

Tom de Witt Hamer is a knight. Not in the sense that he was decorated by royalty, but a real one. Twice a year, he dons his black cape and wears the large gold cross that comes with his status as a member of the Johanniter Order in the Netherlands. The first occasion he dresses like this is Saint John’s Day, when all members of the Johanniter Order gather at Castle Zeist. The other occasion is the annual pilgrimage to Lourdes, where he represents the Johanniter Order.

He has been a member of this chivalric order for more than thirty years. It was founded in 1099 during the crusades to protect the sacred sites. He is allowed; after all, he is an esquire, and nobility is one of the requirements for membership.

But De Witt Hamer also researched these and other, similar interesting relics of the High Middle Ages. How do chivalric orders survive in a time where the crusades are a distant memory? What does this mean for society? This week, he is getting his PhD for his findings.

Large family

‘A chivalric order is a network’, says De Witt Hamer, who in his daily life runs the RUG’s service department. ‘It’s a large family that people join as a matter of course. Their father was a member, their grandfather was, and so on. There are families where everyone is Johanniter, while others are all in the Order of Malta.

In order to become a member of one of the recognised chivalric orders, you must have blue blood or, if you’re a woman, be married to someone of noble birth. You also have to be religious. The Johanniter Order is Protestant, while the Knights of Malta are Catholic. The most important requirement however is that you must be willing to engage in charity work. ‘Membership basically amounts to volunteering in your own neighbourhood.’

While chivalric orders were once created to protect the Holy Sepulchre from Muslims, history has made that function obsolete. Orders such as the Johanniters, the Knights of Malta, or the Teutonic Order slowly changed from the milites christi who defended the faith with their swords, to exclusive clubs dedicated to charity, loosely based on the chivalric values.

‘I think it’s the combination of tradition, norms and values, doing good, and friendship that attracts people to the order’, says De Witt Hamer. ‘It’s mainly about feeling at home, being emotionally affected by the group and the activities they organise.’

He spends one week a year doing charity work for the Johanniter Order. He has travelled with a group of elderly physically disabled people, and joined the Order of Malta on a pilgrimage to Lourdes. It’s a very important activity for him, he says. ‘It puts my daily life into perspective and puts my feet firmly back on the ground.’

Operetta society

The fact that these ancient chivalric orders have managed to survive for centuries is a feat in and of itself. Even more noteworthy is the fact that these organisations aren’t the only ones. Not only have numerous orders been resurrected since the 1960s, several new ones have been founded as well. ‘But the official chivalric orders treat those with disdain’, says De Witt Hamer. ‘They call them pseudo orders, or false orders. Even the distinguished Order of Saint Lazarus is called an ‘operetta society’ by insiders.

He was fascinated by this attitude. What was even the difference between these unrecognised orders and the real ones? It became the focus of his sociological and anthropological research, which forced him to adjust his own viewpoint. ‘I really had to get rid of all my preconceived notions that these other organisations weren’t true orders.’

He studied a total of twenty-three organisations, founded between 1965 and 2015. ‘That was when the traditional religious and socio-political barriers in the Netherlands were beginning to break down and large social changes were taking place’, he says. The pursuit of equality led to organisations no longer requiring their members to be of noble birth. The barriers breakdown led to the foundation of ecumenical orders, or even ones with no Christian affiliations at all.

Shady characters

It started, De Witt Hamer says, with the Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, in the 1950s. This is a Catholic order that has been recognised by the Pope, but not by the Dutch government. Next came the ecumenical Order of Saint Lazarus, which is still active.

‘But there were also orders with less noble motivations’, De Witt Hamer says. He mentions the cousins Toon and Harry van Uden, who founded a number of orders where people could pay to receive all types of decorations. Shady characters? De Witt Hamer can’t say with certainty. ‘I haven’t been able to prove it. I think the whole thing was mainly about social status.’

But some orders were definitely the fraudulent kind, he says. ‘Their founders have swindled people out of tens of thousands of euros.’

There are currently twelve chivalric orders active in the Netherlands. Some are really no more than social clubs who organise parties where people dress up. Most of them are highly respectable societies, De Witt Hamer says. The Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, for example, is the pre-eminent Catholic network for the Dutch elite, even if not all their members are necessarily of noble birth. ‘It’s very peculiar that this organisation hasn’t been recognised. But that’s because there are no rules for that in the Netherlands.’

Super exlcusive

When he did research to find out which order was the most elitist, it turned out to the the Order of Saint Lazarus, who has the most members who serve in high functions, such as mayors. Others are extremely exclusive, such as the Teutonic Order, which is in fact a recognised organisation that was founded in the Middle Ages. ‘The Teutonic Order only allows men to join. It’s an extremely small club, with immense funds’, says De Witt Hamer. ‘Every year, they donate a million euros to approximately five hundred charities.’

All these organisations dedicate themselves to social causes in similar ways. They donate to charity, organise trips for disadvantaged people, or are involved in development projects. That is why De Witt Hamer wants to get rid of the term ‘pseudo-orders’. They all have a right to exist.

He did however discover a significant difference between the old guard and the newer orders: the latter had a much higher member turnover. ‘At the Johanniter Order, approximately ten percent of members quit before their death. Membership is for life.’

Like knows like

He thinks this is because of the requirement that members be of noble birth. ‘The social cohesion is based on these noble families and this culture of like knows like.’

While the chivalric orders are slowly inching towards modernity – women have been ‘allowed’ to join the Johanniter Order since 1990 and every once in a while, the Knights of Malta allowed a ‘normal’ citizen to join them – De Witt Hamer does feel the rules shouldn’t be changed too much ‘It would be a detriment to society’, he thinks. ‘If you water down the rules, cohesion will suffer.’

He does feel that perhaps it’s time for a woman to become Commander, the highest authority in the Johanniter Order. ‘But that has never happened before. It’s an unwritten rule. It’s just not happening.’

Isn’t it time it does, though? De Witt Hamer laughs. ‘These orders were founded in the twelfth century. What’s a few years compared to centuries?’

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