This paper aims at investigating the entry and presence of the Hungarian nobility in the Order of the Knights of St. John in Hungary. On the basis of the research made by Ede Reiszig seventy years ago and my recent investigation, it seems that the role of the Hungarian nobility played in the life of the Order can de divided into three main streams from the chronological point of view.
Up to the second half of the fourteenth century, the dignitaries of the order and the major houses – of which personnel can be reconstructed – were of foreign origin. With a very few exceptions in the middle of the thirteenth century, one can find preceptors or priors with the name Rembald, Argellin, Guillerm, Hugo, John the Gall, as well as several office-holders with reference to their origin "de Gragnana". The second step could be the period between the beginning of the 1370s and the end of the 1410s. During these decades, the number of the Hungarians increased, although in certain positions foreign members appeared from time to time. Finally, from the second decade of the fifteenth century, the vast majority of the dignitaries of the Order were of Hungarian, and, in addition, of noble origin.
At first glance, the evaluation of this process seems quite obvious: a "very" French Order held the most important positions for a while regarding this province as a sort of "springboard" to and from the Holy Land. Nevertheless, if the difference between the Hungarian and Western system of inheritance moreover, the dissimilar motivation and its social background taken to be account, the picture would be more complicated. Certain elements of the transition concerning the personnel could coincide with the overall transformation of the Order, that is the growing rigour and expectations towards the new members from the end of the thirteenth century onwards.
Even if the aristocratic expectations were always high, one has to reckon with the fact that in the fourteenth century – according to recent Western studies – most of the knights were of bourgeois, gentry, or lesser noble origin. As for the Hungarian situation, the question raises only from the very end of the fourteenth century, when the dignitaries of local origin appeared. The highest positions and its penultimate step – preceptory of Székesfehérvár – were held by upper nobles who were regarded the members of the elite. However, the evaluation the personnel of the convents is very difficult, since by the middle of the fifteenth century the number of these houses decreased to an extent which prevents any statistical comparison.