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The order of Knights Hospitallers
or Knights of Saint John was founded in 1023 and had as its mission to provide
care for the poor, the sick and injured in Jerusalem. In addition the knights were
charged with the defense of the Holy Land.
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Originally the Hospitallers built
a hospice that expanded to an infirmary.
It was located near the church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem.
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The Knights were expelled from
Jerusalem in 1291. They first sought refuge in Cyprus but Master Guillaume de Villaret
selected Rhodes as their final destination. His successor, Fulkes de Villaret conquered
the island of Rhodes in 1309 and gained control of a number of neighboring
islands and the Anatolian port of Halicarnassus and the island of Kastelorizo. At that time they also changed their name to
the Knights of Rhodes.
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The Grand Masters Palace was built in the 14th
century as the residence of the Grand Master and also as an administrative
center for the Knights of Rhodes.
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After moving to Rhodes the Knights were forced to change
their mission from philanthropy to becoming increasingly a fighting group, as
they had to defend the island against the Barbary pirates raids. They also withstood
two invasions in the 15th century, one by the Sultan of Egypt in 1444 and
another by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II in 1480.
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In 1522, Sultan Suleiman the
Magnificent arrived to Rhodes with a force of 400 ships and 100,000 soldiers.
Against this force the Knights, who were 7,000 men-at-arms in a siege that lasted
six months, were defeated but allowed to withdraw to Sicily. Despite their
defeat, both Christians and Muslims seem to have regarded the conduct of their
leader Villiers de L'Isle-Adam as extremely valiant.
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