This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website

Sovereign Military Order of Malta - Flag of Grandmaster Emmanuel de Rohan de Polduc

Grandmaster Emmanuel de Rohan de Polduc (1775-1797)

Last modified: 2013-06-29 by rob raeside
Keywords: sovereign and military order of malta | emmanuel de rohan de polduc | rohan de polduc | grandmaster |
Links: FOTW homepage | search | disclaimer and copyright | write us | mirrors



image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 22 October 2008

See also:


Description of flag

Flag of Grandmaster Emmanuel de Rohan de Polduc (1775-1797)
It is a quarterly divided square flag. The 1st and 4th quarter are showing the white Greek cross in a red field of the Order of St. John. The 2nd and 3rd quarter are showing the personal arms of the grandmaster. In a red field are nine red diamonds ordered three times three and fimbriated golden (= yellow). Flag is hoisted upon the mainmast.
Source: Capt. Joseph M. WISMAYER: “The fleet of the order of St. John 1530-1798”, Midsea Books, Valetta(?) 1997; ISBN 99909-75-30-2; front page.
Klaus-Michael Schneider
, 22 October 2008

The city of Żebbuġ, Malta, is sometimes represented by the coat of arms of SMOM Grand Master Rohan, after whom it was named. Evidence of such use was posted at http://www.haz-zebbug.com/storja_kavallieri.htm, and although the image in question was not stored by Archive.ORG, its alt text is visible as "The old coat of arms of Haz-Zebug", clearly meaning the city, not its magisterial patron.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 7 June 2007


Plain flag

image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 22 October 2008

Flag of Grandmaster Emmanuel de Rohan de Polduc (1775-1797) (plain flag)
It is a rectangular flag. In a red field are nine red diamonds ordered three times three and fimbriated golden (= yellow). Flag is stuck upon railing at port. Other sources of the coat of arms are showing the diamonds connected with one another, forming a golden lattice.

Source: Capt. Joseph M. WISMAYER: “The fleet of the order of St. John 1530-1798”, Midsea Books, Valetta(?) 1997; ISBN 99909-75-30-2; frontpage
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 22 October 2008

Gules nine mascles or are the arms of the family of Rohan. In crystallography, a macle (cognate to German Masch, mesh) is a complex crystal made by the reunion (by interpenetration of juxtaposition) of several crystals of the same kind but with different geometrical orientations; in heraldry, a mascle is a lozenge voided by a smaller lozenge in the middle. Philippe Rault writes in Les drapeaux bretons [rau98] that macled crystals are common in the Breton forest of Quenecan, which belonged to the family of Rohan until the Revolution, and might have been the origin of the coat of arms of the family. The mascles of Rohan are found in several Breton coat of arms, for instance the municipal arms of Landivisiau, Crozon and Loudéac.
Ivan Sache, 22 October 2008

According to this webpage http://www.smom-za.org/smom/grandmasters/70.htm:

"Grand Master Emmanuel de Rohan (1775-97) was a different type of man. He was a French aristocrat and did his best to revive the principles and the tenets of the Order. But it was too late. The decline of the Order had already began and could not be stopped. The Knights were a new generation and had long circumvented their monastic vows and the vows of poverty. The Ottoman Empire was on the wane and the original motivation of the Order had become superfluous. Incidents between the Knights and the Maltese people were frequent during de Rohan's troubled days. The ships of the Order were a magnificent spectacle, gorgeous and majestic, but no longer suited for the time. This was a period of decay and to replenish his depleted treasury he had to resort to selling these vessels to the Kings of Naples and Spain. After the French Revolution the Order was despoiled of its property in France, though de Rohan had rightly refused to join the French against England who was mistress of the sea. Throughout his rule the Grand Master did his best to save the Order from total destruction and to further the well-being of the Maltese people. No wonder, therefore, that when he died desolation spread throughout the island."
Santiago Dotor, 15 March 2006