The crusades
Hospitallers were committed to caring for
poor pilgrims, and during the Crusades this also meant defending
them with force.
Following the capture of Jerusalem in 1099 by
the First Crusade, Christian states were set up
throughout the holy land. Keeping them was difficult.
As Muslim forces grew stronger again, the
Order of the Hospital of St John, set up to care for sick and poor
pilgrims, took up arms to protect them.
Brother Knights were sent out from
headquarters in Jerusalem to great castles like Krak des
Chevaliers, to defend the borders of the Christian states.
These Knights Hospitaller,
along with the Knights Templar, were among the
main defenders of the holy land. Jerusalem was back in
Muslim hands by the end of the 12th century and
the last of the Christian states, Acre, fell in 1291.
After this the Hospitallers sailed to their estates on
Cyprus, and then seized the island of Rhodes.
Here they re-established their headquarters
and hospital, and developed their navy to continue their defence of
Christianity.