Hospitallers

(Knights,) (ho spe -tal-lürz.) (Hist.) A religious order, founded at Jerusalem, 1092, by certain monks, who there instituted a hospital for pilgrims. Under Godfrey de Bouillon, knights superseded them in its rule, and in 1113the order received confirmation by Pope Pascal II. After playing a prominent part in the Crusades, and amalgamating with the order of St. John of Jerusalem, the Knights H. took Rhodes in1309, defeated the Turks at sea 1321, and in 1341 and 1365 took Smyrna and Alexaudria respectively. In 1480 their valor caused the Sultan Mohammed II. to raise the siege of Fig. 394.-A KNIGHT HOSPITALLER. Rhodes, after suffering immense lo . In 1522, after a memorable siege by the Turks, they were forced to abandon that island to them, and found a new home in Malta, granted them by the Emperor Charles V. This order was suppre ed in England in 1540, and in France in 1792; and, after their expulsion from Malta by the French, six years later, they sank into political insignificance. The knights followed the Augustine rule, and wore, as their distinguishing badge, awh ite cro embroidered upon ab lack robe. They are known in history variously as Knights Hospitallers, Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, Knights of Rhodes, and Knights of Malta. [s. 463]