The Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem. A Catholic military order. (Fine, John V.A. Jr. The Late Medieval Balkans, 623) Related terms: Knight Hospitaller

The Knights of the Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, an order of knights formed after the capture of Jerusalem in 1099 recognized by the pope in 1113. The order provided hospitals and shelter for pilgrims on their way to the Holy Lands, but they also fielded powerful military units of knights who fought in most every battle of the Crusades. When the Christians were driven from Jerusalem by Saladin, they reestablished their headquarters in Acre until that was lost in 1291. Consequently they built up a naval force and seized the island of Rhodes, which they took from the Saracens in 1310. They formed an independent state on the site, building great wealth increased when Philip IV confiscated the estates of the Templars and turned many of them over to the order's officers.

military order first recognised in 1113, founded to assist in the Crusades; their full name was Knights of the Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem