The Knights of Malta
Section: culture Author: Angela
The order was born in 1048. Some traders from Amalfi’s maritime Republic had from Egyptian caliph the permission to build a church, a monastery and a hospital to give assistence to pilgrims of each faith and of each race.
St.John’s Jerusalem’s order became independent with its creator, Gerard. Pope Pasquale The Second, thanks to the official document of 15. February 1113, put the hospital under the Holy See control, with the possibility to elect the members freely, without the control of other religious or lay authorities.
All knights were religious and they obtained the defense of Christianity. In 1291, the order put its seat in Cipro and, from 1310, in Rodi. The order built a big fleet to defend seas. In 1523, knights were defeated and were forced to leave Rodi. The order had no land for long time, but in 1530, Fra’ Philippe from Villiers from isle Adam, conquered Malta’s isle which were given to Charles V by the Pope.
The order was neutral among during wars into christianity nations. In 1565, the knights and Jean de La Vallette (ha gave the name to the capital of the State) defended the isle for three months during the Great Turck attack. The flee destroyed Turck’s flee during Lepanto’s battle in 1571.
Napoleon attacked Malta, so the knights were forced to leave the isle because they couldn’t use arms against other christians. Altough Amiens Treaty in 1802, the order couldn’t return in Malta. The kinghts went to Sicily and in 1834 they went to Rome. They continued their hospital care also during the First and the Second World War into the most distant places in the world.