Well, nice customs Burgobil. Still, for the sake of greater historical accuracy I would advice anyone interested to have a look into the two Osprey booklets dealing with the Knights of St John or Hospitallers, later known by the Knights of Rhodes and then Knights of Malta (not maltese, since most came from southern France, many were Castillians, many more Aragonese (particularly Catalonian, and even more specifically several Grand Masters came from the Balearic Islands), a number came from italian and german states, and a few where English and Portuguese or from other origins). By the way, after some years on the islands, the need was felt to choose italian as the working language of he organisation (probably because being very close to Sicily many soldiers and sailors were either of italian descent or Maltese, who in addition to "Malti" (the local language spoken by peasants and of semitic roots (sounds like tunisian arabic dialect with some old fashioned arab words, and some other sounding like hebrew or aramean (a legacy of phoenicians?) all mixed with a variable percentage of Italian words) would understand italian language.
It is also important to bear in mind that the Knights stayed in the Levant (basically the Holy Land and the Latin States (in nowadays Syria and Lebanon) until 1306. Then they moved to the island of Rhodes where they had their headquarters (from 1309) until expelled by the Turks in 1522. They arrived in Malta (Given to them by the emperor Charles Vth) in 1530 and governed the Maltese islands until they surrendered to Napoleon and these were "liberated" (in fact also occupied) by the British. So until 1530 they shall not be called "Knights of Malta". Now, the Knights and the so-called "Sergeants" were certainly not of Maltese descent, but the gentry of their armies, and many sailors of their fleet were (from 1530 onwards, of course).
Of course your helmets and mail coifs are great, the effect is great and you might not care at all about historical accuracy... Anyway, if the opposite could be the case, Knights hospitalers up to the 1270's would be dressed for combat in rather long mail hauberks covered by long black coats or mantles with hoods , not unlike monks... And from around 1270 they would cover armour with a shorter red gown or tabbard first with a small maltese cross and then with a large white cross (a normal cross, not the so-called maltese one, extending from the collar to the bottom of the gown and across the chest). With the armour most of your warrior wear over the arms, dating from the late fourtenth century (1300s) or rather later, the red gown would have been more appropiate. Now, it is true that your helmets are from earlier times (from early middleages to the 14th century). By the way, the well known Knight of Malta made by Playmobil and sold on the Island (or by collectors on the web) portrays a knight in ceremonial dress in the 16th or 17th centuries (or even of the present day).
The recommended books are:
"Knight Hospitaller (1) 1100 - 1306" from OSPREY Publishing, in the WARRIOR series
and
"Knight Hospitaller (2) 1306 - 1565" in the same series.
As said, nice customs, great work you have done, but with some phantasy too.
Best regards,
Guardiamarina.
