What Joe Found in the Attic (Part II)

A condensed history
of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem (the Hospitallers)

The word hospitaller (also spelled hospitaler) is very old with origins going back to the Latin, French, and Middle English. Although we probably wouldn’t use the word in conversation today, understanding its meaning is important if we’re to understand the mystery of Joe’s sword.

Spelled with a small letter h, the English word hospitaller refers to a person from a religious order who is dedicated to caring for the sick or needy. It might also apply to one who provides ambulance or transportation services for those needing hospitaller (or hospital) care.

Spelled with a capital H, Hospitaller takes on additional historical significance, referring to the ancient religious and military order of the Knights of St. John (the Baptist) of Jerusalem, also called the Knights Hospitallers.

The original Hospitallers were probably associated with an early 11^th century hospital in Jerusalem that offered care for pilgrims making their way into the Holy Land. The group became a military and religious order with its own Papal charter after the First Crusade. After many years of military conflict, the organization moved in 1530, taking up residence in Malta as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.

Now, having survived centuries of change in Europe, the Order (or the Knights) remains the world’s oldest surviving order of chivalry with membership and diplomatic relations all over the world and in the United Nations.

That’s a very brief summary of an organization with a very long history. Today there are several mimic and non-chivalric orders of the Knights operating in Europe and the United States. But recognized charter organizations still exist, offering support and patient care in hospitals all over the world. And this brings us back to Joe’s sword.

Joe’s sword bore features that marked it as early 20^th century craftsmanship, a piece of regalia that would have been worn by a U.S. member of the Knights during the early to mid-1900’s. Two unique characteristics caught his attention. First, both sides of the blade were flattened near the hilt, creating smooth spaces for engraving. Second, the space on one side was blank. But the space on the opposite side was inscribed across the width of the blade with three lines of text:

CHAS.

_____

VENDSE

_____

CIN.O

The text style was almost informal. The letters were all caps and the words clearly inscribed. The words were separated by short, horizontal lines. The second word (“VENDSE”) was faded at the end, partially hiding a final letter.

Now things were getting interesting. The Charles Svendsen company was a well-know manufacturer of equipment and uniforms for the Catholic Knights of America. Svendsen began operations in Cincinnati, Ohio, during the mid-1800’s. But it seemed the company ceased manufacturing after Svendsen’s death, sometime between 1925 and maybe 1937.

The exact date Svendsen’s closed up shop was hard to determine. But if the sword was made by the company, that would mean it was manufactured no later than the 1930’s. The blank side of the blade bore no name, so it was possible it was never purchased or worn.

And there was something else. The inscription “VENDSE” might have an “N” at the end, but there was no “S” at the front. The Svendsen name was spelled wrong.

Was the sword a mistake or a phony?

(More to come in Part III)