THE HOSPITALLERS
Select Chronology
1113 First papal privilege for the Hospital of St John.
1120-1160 Creation of infirmary; Formation of Hospitaller Rule.
1148 Attack on Damascus.
1187 Battle of Hattin; fall of Jerusalem & move to Acre.
1192 Advise Richard I of England against attack on Jerusalem.
1218 Partake in siege of Damietta.
1271 Join Edward (later Edward I) of England's crusade.
1289 Involved in unsuccessful defence of Tripoli.
1291 Forced out of Acre to Cyprus.
1306 Hospitallers begin invasion of Rhodes.
1310 Hospitaller Crusade consolidates control of Rhodes.
1311 Hospitaller headquarters established on Rhodes.
1312 May 2: Property of suppressed Templars granted to Hospitallers by Clement V.
1374 Hospitallers take over defence of Smyrna.
1377 Achaea leased for 5 years to Hospitallers.
1378 Hospitaller master Juan Fernández de Heredia captured by the Albanians.
1402 December: Smyrna falls to Tamerlane.
1440-1444 Mamluks attack Rhodes.
1480 Turkish siege of Rhodes.
1522 July-18 December: Turkish siege of Rhodes.
1530 March 23: Hospitallers given Malta & Tripoli by Charles V.
1535 Participation in Charles V's capture of Tunis.
1540 Confiscation of Hospitallers' property in England.
1551 August 14: Hospitallers surrender Tripoli to Turks.
1565 May 19-September 8: Great Siege of Malta by Turks.
1571 Part of papal force in the Battle of Lepanto.
1614 Malta raided by Turks.
1664 Hospitallers attack Algiers.
1707 Hospitallers help defend Oran.
1792 Hospitaller property in France seized.
1798 June 13: Malta surrenders to Napoleon.
Brief History until 1571
The crusades saw the creation of a new kind of religious institution in the form of the military orders, that allowed the laity to indulge their pious desires. The Hospitallers were the most resilient of the military orders, although they had not started out as a fighting force at all. The three names by which the Hospitallers were known throughout their history reflects their forced retreat from the Holy Land, the failure of crusades in the later middle ages, and the corresponding advance of Islam. From their inception until 1309 they were known as the Hospitallers of Jerusalem. From 1309-1522 they were called the Knights of Rhodes, and after 1530 were (and still are) called the Knights of Malta.
The exact origins of the Order of St John of Jerusalem are obscure. The earliest known preceptor was one Gerald/Gerard, to whom the papal privilege of Paschal II was addressed in 1113 to ‘Geraudo establisher and commander of the Jerusalem hospice’ (xenodochio is still the Greek word for hotel, from xenos=stranger, docheio=container). It is likely that the hospice was in existence before that date, some argue to before the start of the First Crusade. There has been an attempt to link it to the Italian hospice of the merchants of Amalfi dating from about 1050, but as the Catholic Encyclopedia points out, this suggestion is brought into question by the fact that the Hospitallers had St John the Baptist as their patron, and that they abided by the rule of St Augustine, whereas the hospice of Amalfi was dedicated to St John of Alexandria and followed the rule of St Benedict. Also the Hospital of St John appears to have been autonomous from its beginning, whereas that of Amalfi was a dependency of a monastery.
In the early twelfth century, the Hospital had the purely peaceful function to provide for the poor and pilgrims visiting the Holy Land which is implied in Gerard’s epitaph, where he is described as a ‘server of the poor, dutiful host...in every respect a great provider’. This hospitality reaped benefits in the form of donations of land and money both within the newly formed Latin states, and from grateful beneficiaries on their return to their homelands. For example, in England grants to the Hospitallers are known to have occurred as early as 1142, and the total net value of holdings of the Order in England stood at £2385 at the time of the Dissolution. It was these increased sources of income that allowed Gerard’s successor, Raymond du Puy, to move to larger premises near the church of the Holy Sepulchre and to expand the hospice to include an infirmary modelled on the Arab hospitals.
Raymond is also responsible for creating the rule of the Hospitallers, which did not mention military duties, dealing only with their religious and caring duties. Nevertheless, it is Raymond who is credited with initiating the military role in the form of convoys to ensure the safe passage of pilgrims to and from the Holy Land, though there is no mention of active participation in battles at this stage. This does not wholly discount the early participation in more extensive military duties, however, as the statutes of Roger of Moulins only mention care of the sick, yet he died in battle in 1187, and his predecessor, Gosbert (1177) was also active on the field. Moreover, Raymond himself is recorded by William of Tyre as taking part in discussions at the council of Acre in 1148 regarding the planned attack on Damascus. In about 1200 the rule of the ninth master of the Hospital, Alfonso of Portugal, finally mentions military duties, and draws a distinction between brothers who fought (comprising of lay brothers) and those who cared for the sick and provided divine service.
The Hospitallers prospered in the Holy Land as long as the kingdom of Jerusalem was strong, at one point holding seven strongholds, including Crac des Chevaliers, and 140 manors in the Latin states.
Crac des Chevaliers castle.
However, as the Muslim forces gradually united and pushed back the boarders of the Christian states, the Hospitallers’ property receded until it was all lost after the fall of Acre in 1291. They did, however, have extensive estates in Europe that provided the bulk of their revenue, and this was bolstered in 1312 by the suppression of the Templars and the subsequent transfer of their property to the Hospitallers, although often not before considerable effort to regain them from monarchs entrusted with the property during the Templar trial, and the landholders who had been leased the properties. European holdings were divided into priories, the head establishment in a particular region, and their subordinate commanderies. These were never meant to be fully conventual establishments, the majority having no more than three brothers at the most. They were purely stationed there to recruit volunteers and collect revenues, of which they were expected to forward a third to the Hospitaller headquarters.Expulsion from the Holy Land opened a new chapter in the history of the Hospitallers. From then on the were essentially on the defensive, trying to limit the Muslim advance, although they did still escort pilgrims by sea to the Holy Land, and had a foothold on the mainland in Smyrna (which it had helped to capture in 1344) from 1374 until 1402. Also, their method of warfare necessitated change due to their island base, and after their move from Cyprus to Rhodes in 1310 they built up an extensive fleet.
The move to Rhodes also saw a change in the administrative structure. Superimposed on the priories and commanderies, the Order was divided into eight langues, or tongues, each with a special responsibility, and allocated a separate area of Rhodes town.
During the fifteenth century, especially after the fall of Constantinople in 1453, the Hospitallers faced regular sieges by the Turks. The town walls were reinforced, and they managed to repel the attacks of 1460, and the famous attack on Rhodes in 1480.
The harbour defences, Rhodes.
The siege of 1522, however, resulted in the Hospitallers withdrawal from Rhodes. After that, although they still took place in crusading activities, these were in the interest of their patrons. Charles V had granted them Malta in 1530, but in return expected their participation in his campaigns such as that at Tunis (1535), and they formed part of the Holy League force that gained victory at the battle of Lepanto in 1571.
Links to related pages on the Hospitallers:
Links to other sites on the Web
Knights Hospitaller
Catholic Encyclopaedia
The Military Orders
Information on the Valletta archive
Knights of St John in England
The Knights on Malta
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Updated by Simon Phillips on 1 July, 2002.
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