The Knights Hospitaller — the Catholic military religious order originally founded to care for pilgrims in Jerusalem — ruled the island of Rhodes from 1310. They were finally expelled in 1522 after a six-month Ottoman siege. By whom?
Suleiman besieged Rhodes from June to December 1522 with an army of about 200,000. The Hospitallers (under Grand Master Philippe Villiers de L'Isle-Adam) held out for six months before surrendering on generous terms. They evacuated to Europe with their archives, their movable property, and their honour; eight years later Charles V granted them Malta, which they ruled until Napoleon displaced them in 1798. Mehmed II had taken Constantinople 69 years earlier (1453); Selim I had taken Cairo (1517); Murad IV reigned a century later (1623–1640).
Read the full facts →The Knights Hospitaller were a medieval Catholic military religious order founded in Jerusalem around 1099 to provide medical care to pilgrims. They became a major military force during the Crusades, ruled Rhodes (1310–1522) and Malta (1530–1798), and survive today as a sovereign Catholic chivalric order.
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