Knights Hospitaller

The Knights Hospitaller, formally the Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, originated in the eleventh century as a Christian charitable organization caring for sick and poor pilgrims in Jerusalem before evolving, in the aftermath of the First Crusade, into a formal military religious order combining monastic vows with knightly combat duty defending the Crusader states of the Levant. Alongside the rival Knights Templar, the Hospitallers built and garrisoned some of the most formidable castles of the Crusader era, including Krak des Chevaliers in modern Syria, and fielded disciplined heavy cavalry that served as a professional core within the largely feudal Crusader armies. Following the collapse of the Crusader states in the Levant by 1291, the order relocated its base of operations first to Cyprus, then conquered and held Rhodes from 1310 to 1522, and finally Malta from 1530, defending the island in the famous Great Siege of Malta in 1565 against a massive Ottoman invasion force. Unlike the Knights Templar, which was suppressed and dissolved in the early fourteenth century, the Hospitallers survived as a military and charitable order for centuries, and its modern successor organizations continue humanitarian work into the present day.