The Knights Hospitaller

by Nicholson, Helen J.

• ISBN13: 9780851158457
• ISBN10: 0851158455
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-02-01
• Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Inc

Summary

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 Hospitaller's 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 Order's 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 Order's 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.

Author Biography

Helen Nicholson is Senior Lecturer in history, Cardiff University; she is associate editor of the journal Crusades.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	vii
Preface	ix
List of Masters	xi
The Origins of the Hospital of St John in Jerusalem	1	(17)
Holy War in the Latin East and on the European Frontiers, 1130-1291	18	(25)
The Hospitallers on Rhodes, 1306-1522	43	(25)
The Hospitallers' organisation and religious life	68	(30)
Relations with the rest of Christendom: the Hospitallers' Political and economic activities in Europe	98	(18)
The Order of Malta, 1530-1798	116	(22)
The Order of St John from 1798 to the present day	138	(9)
Further Reading	147	(21)
Index	168