The Compesières Commandry is the main

Commandry In the Middle Ages, a commandery (rarely commandry) was the smallest administrative division of the European landed properties of a military order. It was also the name of the house where the knights of the commandery lived.Anthony Luttrell and G ...

of the

Order of Malta The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), officially the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta ( it, Sovrano Militare Ordine Ospedaliero di San Giovanni di Gerusalemme, di Rodi e di Malta; ...

in the

Canton of Geneva The Canton of Geneva, officially the Republic and Canton of Geneva (french: link=no, République et canton de Genève; frp, Rèpublica et canton de Geneva; german: Republik und Kanton Genf; it, Repubblica e Cantone di Ginevra; rm, Republica e ...

in Switzerland. The Commandry is located in the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality ...

Bardonnex Bardonnex is a municipality in the canton of Geneva in Switzerland. History Bardonnex is first mentioned in 1153 as ''Bardonacum''. Geography Bardonnex has an area, , of . Of this area, or 73.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while or ...

History

The village of Compesières existed since the 12th Century and was also mentioned as the family name of the local noble family. In 1270 the

Bishop of Geneva The Catholic Diocese of Geneva was a Latin Catholic diocese in part of Switzerland and Savoy from 400 to 1801 when it merged with the Diocese of Chambéry. The merged diocese later lost Swiss territory to the Catholic Diocese of Lausanne, Geneva ...

, Aymo of Menthonay, granted the village church to the Order of Saint John. They then expanded the church into a Commandery. It is likely that the oldest parts of the castle date from this period.Burgen.ch
accessed 21 April 2011 The current castle was built in the 15th Century. It was used by the Order as a hospice for pilgrims, hospital and a military

saltpeter Potassium nitrate is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . This alkali metal nitrate salt is also known as Indian saltpetre (large deposits of which were historically mined in India). It is an ionic salt of potassium ions K+ and nit ...

factory.Geneva Tourism
accessed 21 April 2011. In 1536, during the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

, the Commandry was stripped from the Order. The order returned to the castle in 1564, but it was held by the Protestant leaders of Geneva and Bern until a treaty between Geneva and

Savoy Savoy (; frp, Savouè ; french: Savoie ) is a cultural-historical region in the Western Alps. Situated on the cultural boundary between Occitania and Piedmont, the area extends from Lake Geneva in the north to the Dauphiné in the south. ...

returned it completely in 1598. The order continued to hold the Commandry until the 1882, when it was transferred to the municipality of Bardonnex. In 1955, the municipality gave one of the rooms in the castle to the Order of Malta to build a museum.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Compesieres Commandry Castles in the canton of Geneva Cultural property of national significance in the canton of Geneva Castles and fortifications of the Knights Hospitaller

History

See also

References