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Who gave the island of Malta to the Knights Hospitaller in 1530?
After the Hospitallers' expulsion from Rhodes in 1522 by Sultan Suleiman, they spent eight years searching for a new base. Charles V granted them Malta in 1530 as a hereditary fief in exchange for a nominal annual rent of one Maltese falcon. The Order ruled Malta for 268 years, until Napoleon expelled them in 1798. The 'Maltese falcon' is the historical root of the modern phrase.
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The Knights Hospitaller 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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