Recounts the entire history of the Knights Hospitaller (also known as the Knights of Malta), from their beginnings nine centuries ago to the present day.

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 of the 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 12th 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 in building and maintaining fortresses.

The Hospitallers were a religious order, founded in Jerusalem by 1099, devoted to nursing and to fighting the infidel. With their fellow knights, the Templars, they played a heroic part in the defence of the Holy Land, defending great castles, such as Krak des Chevaliers, while at the same time providing exemplary nursing care for the poor. Hospitallers is an illustrated history, by a leading historian of the crusades, of this remarkable body, the heir of which is the Order of St. John.

An unparalleled visual account of the world of the cradles, a movement that re-established trade between the East and the West, had a lasting impact on the social structure of medieval Europe, and bought Arabic learning to the wider world.

Having campaigned on land during their early existence, the Hospitallers fought mainly at sea from the turn of the 14th century. The emphasis was now on small-scale operations, rather than the crusading invasion that had so often come to grief. Having conquered Rhodes, the Order fortified it and transferred there in 1309. A period of on-off warfare with the Mamluks became full-blown conflict with the Ottomans, who captured Rhodes in 1522, forcing the Hospitallers to transfer to Malta. This book, the second of two, takes a close look at the men who lived and died for the Hospitaller cause in this key period, and the political and economic role that the Order played within the Christian empire.

The ancient warrior code which persisted in medieval Christian Europe dictated that a man's greatest virtues were physical strength, skill at arms, bravery, daring, loyalty to the chieftain and solidarity within the tribe. The primitive Church had been diametrically opposed to such ideals, however by the early 8th century the Church had grown wealthy, and the Saracen invasions of Spain and France posed a threat to that wealth. The Roman Church began to support war in defence of the faith, and by channelling the martial spirit into the service of God, the brutal warrior of the past was transformed into a guardian of society.

This is a complete history of the Order of St John or Knights of Malta. Founded as a hospice for pilgrims in Jerusalem in the 11th Century, the Order has in succeeding centuries played an important military, religious and political role in the history of Europe and the Mediterranean.

An authoritative history of the Knights of St. John, from Jerusalem to Malta, told by the bestselling author of The Great Siege. Known by many names through their centuries-long career, The Knights Hospitaller of Saint John dedicated themselves to defending the poor and sick. First formed in Jerusalem during the Crusades of the eleventh century, the Order of Saint John grew in wealth and power rivaled only by the Knights Templar. They survived exile from the Holy Land, settling first in Rhodes and then in Malta, which they famously defended against the Ottoman Empire’s epic invasion of 1565. Even after losing Malta to Napoleon Bonaparte two centuries later, the Order of Saint John continued its mission. Ernle Bradford, whose bestselling book The Great Siege recounts their historic battle for Malta, follows the Knights of Saint John through centuries of war, politics, rivalry, and perseverance in The Shield and the Sword.

One of the most unusual contributions to the crusading era was the idea of the leper knight - a response to the scourge of leprosy and the shortage of fighting men which beset the Latin kingdom in the twelfth century. The Order of St Lazarus, which saw the idea become a reality, founded establishments across Western Europe to provide essential support for its hospitaller and military vocations. This book explores the important contribution of the English branch of the order, which by 1300 managed a considerable estate from its chief preceptory at Burton Lazars in Leicestershire. Time proved the English Lazarites to be both tough and tenacious, if not always preoccupied with the care of lepers. Following the fall of Acre in 1291 they endured a period of bitter internal conflict, only to emerge reformed and reinvigorated in the fifteenth century. Though these late medieval knights were very different from their twelfth-century predecessors, some ideologies lingered on, though subtly readapted to the requirements of a new age, until the order was finally suppressed by Henry VIII in 1544. The modern refoundation of the order, a charitable institution, dates from 1962. The book uses both documentary and archaeological evidence to provide the first ever account of this little-understood crusading order.DAVID MARCOMBE is Director of the Centre for Local History, University of Nottingham.