The Knights of Rhodes
The Order of the Knights of St. John was a Roman Catholic military and medical order founded in Palestine in 1113 AD to operate a hospital for pilgrims arriving in the Holy Land. Its patron is Saint John the Baptist, from whom the order takes its name.
After the capture of Jerusalem and the fall of Acra (1292), the knights initially fled to Cyprus, then captured Rhodes in 1309 and settled there, assuming the name "Knights of Rhodes".
They organized, fortified and governed the island for 213 years, until its conquest by the Ottomans in 1522, when they fled to Malta via Crete. . Their presence made a profound impression on the history of the island and the Eastern Mediterranean, while acting as a deterrent to Muslim attacks from the east.
