Ninth Crusade

The Papal Knights is an order of knights under the direct command of the Pope. They consist of at least four factions, dressed in white hoods and robes and carrying spears. They gather under the command of Archbishop Enrico Maxwell in order to partake in the Ninth Crusade to purge England of Millennium's forces. Instead of the traditional spears they wield extremly long barreled riffles.

Plot
Enrico Maxwell was appointed as Archbishop in Volume 6 and was given orders by the pope to command the papal knights to England to eliminate Millennium's forces. They arrived in Volume 6, Chapter 42. Equipped with anti-vampire weaponry, they eventually join Alucard and the Hellsing Organization in mobilizing England. Their mission was to aid Hellsing and Alucard in destroying Millennium, however Maxwell drunk on power, turned on Hellsing and ordered the the Knights to attack and destroy everyone, soldiers and cilvilians. Despite being armed with weapons ment to be effective against unholy monsters, they were overrun and destroyed by Alucards massive army of familiars,

Factions
There are at least four members of the Papal Knights.


 * The Knights of the Sagely Bretheren represent the Knight Order of the Sword of Courland. They consist of 340 members total, all of which attended the battle of London.
 * The Knights of the Order of Calatrava La Nueva consist of 118 members total. All of its members attended the battle of London.
 * The Knights of the Military Order of Saint Stefano Di Toscano (St. Stephen of Tuscany) consist of 257 members. They all attended the battle of London.
 * The Knights of the Order of Malta consist of 2457 members. They all attended the battle of London.

Trivia

 * Each Order of the Papal Knights have their own unique masks.
 * All of the Orders of the Papal Knights were more or less based upon real-life organizations, at least in name. For example,there really was an order of Saint Stephen, under command of Pope Pious IV.
 * Prior to Hellsing OVA VIII, 297 Papal Knights were killed leaving 2,875 of the original 3,172 alive