The Knights Hospitaller

About this book

This short study of the history of the Order of St John of Jerusalem Rhodes and Malta also known as the Knights Hospitaller is intended as an introduction to the Order for academics working in other fields as well as the interested general reader. Beginning with a consideration of the origins ofthe Order as a hospice for pilgrims in Jerusalem in the eleventh century it traces the Hospitallers development into a military order during the first part of the twelfth century and its military activities on the frontiers of Christendom in the eastern Mediterranean Spain and eastern Europe during the middle ages and into early modern period: its role in crusades and in wars against non-Christians on land and at sea as well as its role inbuilding and maintaining fortresses. It also considers the Orders activities away from the frontiers of Christendom: its economic activities and itsrelations with patrons and rulers throughout Europe as well as its hospitaller work and its religious life. The focus of the study is on the medievalperiod down to the loss of Rhodes in 1522 but the final chapters of the book consider the Orders history on Malta from the sixteenth to the end ofthe eighteenth century and from the loss of Malta in 1798 to the present day. HELEN NICHOLSON is Senior Lecturer in History Cardiff University.