Knights Hospitaller

The Knights Hospitaller (also known as the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta, Order of St. John, Knights of Malta, and Chevaliers of Malta) was a Christian religious/military order, and was charged with the care and defence of the Holy Land.

History

Connected Sites

Site Rationale Link
Causses and Cévennes It was the leadership of the Knights Templar and Hospitaler that brought real development to the Causse plateaus.
Caves of Maresha and Bet Guvrin There is a Crusader church in Bet Guvrin used by the Knights Hospitalers.
Crac des Chevaliers Was the Knights Hospitaller HQ during the Cruusades and was expanded between 1150-1250 and eventually housed a garrison of 2000.
Delos Occupied the island in the 14th century
Ferrara From 1826 to 1834 the Chiesa di San Giovanni Battista was governed by the Sovereign Military Order of Malta who had moved to Ferrara.
Florence The church of San Giovannino dei Cavalieri "was renamed after the patron saint of the Cavalieri or Knights of Malta".
Old City of Jerusalem Founded there in 1080 as a Christian hospital (by Amalfatians). Became a religious/military order during the First Crusade in 1099 charged with "care and defense of the Holy Land"
Rhodes Had been retrieved for Byzantium during the First Crusade. But, having been expelled from Jerusalem in 1291 the Knights Hospitaller occupied it in 1309 after a 2 year siege. They made it their HQ when they were fully expelled from Tripoli.
Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France "Aragnouet: Hospice du Plan and Chapel of Notre-Dame-del'Assomption, known as the Chapel of the Templars". Taken over by the Knights Hospitaller after disbanding of Knights Templar.
Siena Chiesa di San Pietro alla Magione: "With the suppression of the Templars in 1312, the church passed to the Knights Hospitallers who subsequently assumed the title of Order of the Knights of Malta."
Syracuse In 1529 the Order of the Hospitaller Knights of St. John of Jerusalem moved to Syracuse, either by demand of Charles V himself or on the initiative of Grand Master Philippe de Villiers de L'Isle-Adam. The knights errant, having no fixed abode after the loss of the island of Rhodes, remained in Syracuse for an entire year, until they received, in April 1530, the documents granted by Charles V, as king of Sicily, on the enfeoffment of the archipelago of Malta to their Order. (wiki)
Val di Noto Santa Maria dell'Itria in Ragusa: The initial church "was erected (...) in the 14th century (...) by the order of the Knights of Malta".
Valletta Finally kicked out of Rhodes in 1522 the Knights Hospitaller wandered Europe for 7 years looking for a home and were granted Malta in 1530 by Charles V of Spain as King of Sicily (They had to pay a Falcon annually - hence the "Maltese Falcon"!). Valetta itself was built after the Ottoman seige of 1565 was successfully resisted.

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