Knights Hospitaller
The Knights Hospitaller were a group of military knights fighting in Jerusalem. They are the group that became the Knights of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem and, eventually, St. John Ambulance.
The Hospitallers are a Catholic military order founded at Jerusalem in the 11th century. They later became the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Today their headquarters are in Rome. The order continues its humanitarian tasks in most parts of the modern world under several slightly different names.
Knights of Malta
Malta was ruled by the Order of Saint John as a vassal state of the Kingdom of Sicily from 1530 to 1798. The islands of Malta and Gozo, as well as the city of Tripoli in modern Libya, were given to the Order by Spanish Emperor Charles V in 1530. following the loss of Rhodes. The Ottoman Empire managed to capture Tripoli from the Order in 1551, but an attempt to take Malta in 1565 failed.
In 1565 Suleiman sent an invasion force of about 40,000 men to besiege the 700 knights and 8,000 soldiers. He wanted to get the island as a base. From there he might launch another assault on Europe. A long struggle ended with the Knights undefeated. This is known as the Great Siege of Malta. Resisting the Ottoman Empire was their great achievement.
Knights Hospitaller Media
Coat of arms of the Knights Hospitaller
Cross of the Knights Hospitaller
A Hospitaller depicted in a church painting
Grand Master Pierre d'Aubusson with senior knights, wearing the "Rhodian cross" on their habits. Dedicatory miniature in Gestorum Rhodie obsidionis commentarii (account of the Siege of Rhodes of 1480), BNF Lat 6067 fol. 3v, dated 1483/4.
Street of Knights in Rhodes
The Knights' castle at Rhodes
Rhodes and other possessions of the Knights Hospitallers of St. John.
Auberge de Castille et Portugal in Valletta, an example of 18th-century Baroque architecture built by the Order.
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