Letter: Language of Maltese knights

Wednesday 02 July 1997 23:02 BST

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Sir: Annie Caulfield's statement in her travel piece "Malta mystery tour" (25 June) that the Knights of St John were "predominantly British" gave my family considerable amusement. Certainly the Order's groups or "langues" of knights included the English together with those of Provence, Auvergne, France, Aragon, Castile, Italy and Germany. That was until Henry VIII suppressed the English "langue".

It was the French knights who usually had most influence, with 12 Grandmasters out of 28 who ruled Malta from 1530 to 1798.

ALEX P GALEA

Woking,

Surrey

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