A Hereditary Commander is a (Knight) Commander whose family holds that title by hereditary right.
Hereditary Commanders of the Russian tradition
Russian tradition of the Knights Hospitaller was officially launched by Paul I of Russia in January 1797. The original 1797 statute allotted ten revenue-producing estates, the commanderies, to be issued to the most deserving knights of the Order. The award was not hereditary; the recipients (commanders) were obligated to contribute a share of commandery revenue to the Order. In November–December 1798 Paul assumed the title of Grand Master of the Order and expanded its operation in Russia, increasing the number of non-hereditary commanderies to 99. In 1799 Paul decreed the statute for hereditary commanderies (, also translated as ancestral or familial commanderies). Unlike ordinary commanderies that provided direct financial benefits to their commanders, hereditary commanderies were financed by the applicants themselves. An eligible applicant needed to pledge his own real estate to the order, provided that it was sufficiently large to generate 3,000 roubles annual income. Hereditary commanderies remitted 10% of their revenue to the Order.
Two examples within the Order of St John of Jerusalem of Ancestral Commanderies before the creation of the Russian Grand Priory are the Priory of Bohemia and the Priory of Poland prior to its absorption into the Russian Priory. One early precedent is that of Grand Master Jean de Lascaris-Castellar (1636–1657) granting an hereditary knighthood to the Vicomte d'Arpajon for assisting in checking a Turkish attack on Malta.
Ancestral Commanderies during the reigns of Paul I and Alexander I of Russia were:
1. Narychkine, 2. Count Chéréméteff, 3. Prince Youssoupoff †, 4. Stroganov †, 5. Count Samoiloif ‡, 6. Prince Belosselsky, 7. Prince Dolgoroukov, 8. Davydov, 9. Prince Barytinsky, 10. Démidoff, 11. Prince Troubetzkoy, 12. Count Worontzoff, 13. Maruzzi †, 14. Beklechev †, 15. Prince Tioufiakine †, 16. Count Olsoufieff, 17. Gerebtzoff, 18. Count Strogonoff †, 19. Boutourline, 20. Potemkine †, 21. Tchirikoff †, 22. Prince Khilkoff ‡, 23. Prince Odoevsky †, 24 Prince Youssoupoff †.
Key. † Direct Male line from the first Commander extinct. ‡ Direct Male line is extinct, but the family was reinstated via the female line by the Imperium.
There were originally 24 Commanders of Families registered in 23 families (with two Commanderies in one family). Under the Imperial Ukase 19.044 of 1799 (July 21 Old Style) it is clear that there can be only one Commander per Commandery. Thus only 24 Hereditary Commanders could ever have existed. In Article XI, it is also true that more than one Commandery per family could be founded, and this happened (Youssoupoff). However all such Commanderies were created under the regulations given in the Ukase "Ancestral Commanderies of Jus Patronatus" of 1799. Furthermore, pluralities were listed separately.
Changes to the Russian Ancestral Commanderies in 1810 and 1811
The Beneficed Commanderies were weaned of state funds in 1810 (Ukase 24.134. of 1810), their holders being given other posts with comparable compensation, and the affected properties of the Family Commanders were handed back to the families, provided a redemption payment was made (Ukase 24.882. of 1811). The Order's properties were also reclaimed by the state; for example, the Palace of the Sovereign Order of St John of Jerusalem in St. Petersburg was given to the Corps des Pages to serve as a military academy.
Qualifications needed by candidates
Russian Hereditary Commanders, must be confirmed as such under the Russian Laws which gave birth to that category of membership; Ukase 19.044 of 1799 specifies inter alia "5 years of seniority in the Order and 2 years of seniority of military service" in the Order's troops, in other words five years belonging to the Order, and two years military service in the Order. None of the descendants of the Family Commanders in the days of the Empire and into exile qualified in these respects.
Even where the candidate is qualified, he must demonstrate that he is the "present representative elder of the masculine posterity of its first beneficiary"; Professor Baron Michel Alexsandrovitch, de Taube. L'Empereur Paul I de Russie, Grand Maître de l'Ordre de Malte, et son Grand Prieuré Russe, Paris 1955, page 50.
Hereditary Commanders in exile 1928
On June 24, 1928, twelve Russian Hereditary Commanders met in Paris to re-establish the activities of the Russian Grand Priory. They were supported by three other Russian nobles who were aspirants and admitted as Knights, and a Hereditary Commander of the Catholic Grand Priory of Russia.