Sovereign Order of the Ice Knights

The Sovereign Order of the Ice Knights of the Principality of Antarcticland (later the Sovereign Military Order of the Ice Knights of West Antarctic), was founded in 1821 by Grand Master Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen (also known by the Russian name of: Фаддей Фаддеевич Беллинсгаузен), to protect the lands he conquered, donated to him by Tsar Alexander I of Russia.

The Sovereign Order of the Ice Knights, formerly of Antarcticland, descends directly from the Knights Hospitaller, founded in 1113, with the task of taking care of the health and safety of Christian pilgrims in the Holy Land. However, the strong Arab expansionism soon forced them to seek shelter, first, on the island of Rhodes, changing their name to the Knights of Rhodes. Following the defeats suffered in 1522 by Suleiman the Magnificent, the Knights then had to abandon Rhodes, and after seven years of moving from one European country to another, by order of Pope Clement VIII, they settled in 1530 on the island of Malta, taking the name of Knights of Malta. After a period of power and splendour that culminated with the decisive contribution to the victory of Lepanto in 1571, the Knights began a slow path of decline, caused above all by the advent of Lutheranism and Anglicanism, and then received the coup de grace by the French Revolution. In fact, Napoleon conquered the island of Malta in 1798, during his expedition to Egypt. The Knights of Malta fled into exile in Europe, especially in Russia where they found the benevolent protection of Tsar Paul I.

From a historical-legal point of view, it can be said that, with the flight from Malta, the Order split, having the right of continuity both the existing Priories (in which there was a Bishop delegated by the Pope or a Lieutenant authorized to investiture knights by the Grand Master), and those who were previously authorized to investiture (as in the Americas). After the killing of Tsar Paul I, the heir Alexander I, worried for his safety, fomented the creation of a secret branch of the order of the Knights of Malta, composed of military, tough men, who called themselves the Ice Knights, commanded by the lieutenant of the Knights and Admiral of the imperial fleet Fabian Gottlieb.

After the revolutionary conspiracy and the attempt to kidnap the Tsar at the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle by the officers of the Imperial Guard in 1818, which was bloodily smothered by the Ice Knights, as a reward for services rendered, Tsar Alexander I appointed Fabian Gottlieb Grand Master of the Ice Knights, asking him and his men to vote secret. Admiral Gottlieb was also equipped with two ships and 200 Knights for an expedition to the South Seas, in search of Terra Australis. The Tsar would also have renounced his possessions in favor of the Order of the Knights who saved his life.