Order of Saint John (Bailiwick of Brandenburg)

Order of Saint John (Bailiwick of Brandenburg)
Flag of the Order
Religious affiliation	Christian (Protestant)
Ribbon	Black moiré
Herrenmeister	H.R.H. Prince Oskar of Prussia
Statistics
Established	1099, restored 1852

The Bailiwick of Brandenburg of the Chivalric Order of Saint John of the Hospital at Jerusalem (in German, the Balley Brandenburg des Ritterlichen Ordens Sankt Johannis vom Spital zu Jerusalem), or simply the Order of Saint John (Der Johanniterorden), is the German Protestant branch of the Knights Hospitaller, the oldest surviving chivalric order, which generally is considered to have been founded in Jerusalem in the year AD 1099.

The Order is led by its thirty-seventh Herrenmeister ("Master of the Knights"), Prince Oskar of Prussia (born in 1959, he is a great-grandson of the last German emperor, Wilhelm II). Each of its knights, about four thousand men worldwide, is either a Knight of Justice (Rechtsritter) or a Knight of Honor (Ehrenritter). Membership in the Order is by invitation only, and individuals may not petition for admission; it is not limited to German citizens or German speakers, and knights include citizens and residents of most major nations. The Order comprises seventeen commanderies in Germany, one each in Austria, Finland, France, Hungary, and Switzerland, and a global commandery with subcommanderies in twelve other countries (Australia, Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, Italy, Namibia, Poland, South Africa, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Venezuela).