Home / Grand Masters

Italy · anti-Grand Master · 33 of 81

Riccardo Carraciolo

1383-1395

Explore all Grand Masters
Portrait or historical image of Riccardo Carraciolo
Historical photograph of the tomb of Riccardo Caracciolo in Rome
Funerary monument at the Priory of Malta in Rome. Giuseppe Gerola, Le tombe dei Granmastri di Rodi, plate LXXVIII, no. 5.

Brief Biography

Riccardo Carraciolo was appointed by Pope Urban VI during the Western Schism as a rival to Jean Fernandez de Heredia.

Sources: Order of Malta: The Grand Masters; Wikipedia: Grand Masters of the Knights Hospitaller.

Archive image of Riccardo Carraciolo

Life and service to the Order

He led the Roman-obedience branch from Italy and did not govern the Hospitallers on Rhodes.

Rhodes provided the Order with a new island headquarters after its departure from the Holy Land. Its masters balanced hospitaller service, maritime defence and the government of a fortified Mediterranean state.

Historical context: Order of Malta, The Grand Masters; History of the Order.