1048 to the present day
1048 Gerusalem

It was under the leadership of Blessed Fra’ Gerard, founder and first Master, that the religious community became a lay religious order. Thanks to the bull of 15 February 1113, Pope Paschal II recognised the Order of St. John, placing it under the protection of the Church and granting it the right to freely elect its superiors, without interference from other lay or religious authorities.
Blessed Fra’ Gerard’s successor as Master was Blessed Fra’ Raymond du Puy who between 1145 and 1153 wrote the first rule for the Order’s members. All the confreres were religious, bound by the three monastic vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, and dedicated to assisting the poor and the sick.
The Constitution of the Kingdom of Jerusalem obliged the Order to assume the military defence of the sick and pilgrims and to protect its medical centres and main roads. Defence of the faith was then added to the hospitaller mission and the Order adopted the eight-pointed cross, still today its symbol.
1291 Cyprus

Members continued to arrive from all over Europe and the Order acquired more possessions on the shores of the Mediterranean, including the important port of Famagusta, the city of Nicosia and numerous Commanderies.
The growing instability of Cyprus restricted the Hospitallers’ expansion, and they looked towards the island of Rhodes as more suitable for the Order of St. John to settle.
1310 Rhodes

The Order’s independence from other nations thanks to papal deeds, with the universally recognized right to maintain and deploy armed forces and to appoint ambassadors, constituted the grounds for its international sovereignty.
Since the beginning of the 14th century, the knights belonging to the European nobility who arrived in Rhodes were grouped according to their language. Initially there were seven Langues (Tongues): Provence, Auvergne, France, Italy, Aragon (Navarra), England (with Scotland and Ireland) and Germany, with the addition in 1462 of the eighth Langue of Castille and Portugal. Each Langue had its own Priory or Grand Priory, Bailiwick and Commandery.
The Order was governed by the Grand Master (Prince of Rhodes) and by the Council, it minted its own money and maintained diplomatic relations with other nations. The Order’s great offices were given to representatives of the various Langues. Religious members of various nationalities occupied the Order’s seat, the Convent.
In 1523, after six months of siege and fierce combat against the fleet and army of Sultan Soliman the Magnificent, the knights were forced to surrender and left Rhodes with military honours.
1530 Malta

In 1565, the knights led by Grand Master Fra’ Jean de la Vallette heroically defended the island from the Ottomans during the Great Siege of Malta. The victory curbed the expansionist aims of the Ottomans on the continent and was celebrated throughout Europe.
The following year the fortified city and port of Valletta was built, named after its founder the Grand Master. The knights transformed Malta with major urban construction projects, building palaces and churches, as well as formidable defence bastions and gardens. Architecture and artistic patronage flourished. A large new hospital was built on the island, considered one of the most organized in the world, and a school of anatomy was created, followed by a faculty of medicine. The Order also played an important role in the development of ophthalmology and pharmacology.
Besides these activities, for centuries the Order of Malta’s fleet was deployed in the most important manoeuvres in the Mediterranean Sea against the Ottoman fleet and the North African pirates.
1571 the battle of Lepanto

During the 17th and 18th centuries, no nation with political, military or commercial interests in the Mediterranean could avoid dealing with the Order reigning over Malta. Malta’s naval school was famous and trained numerous French and other European naval officers.
1798 difficult years

1799 St. Petersburg

When Paul I died in1801, his son Alexander did not claim for himself the office of Grand Master which was taken by the Italian Giovanni Battista Tommasi in 1803.
1834 Rome

During the 19th and 20th centuries, the Order thoroughly updated its statutes, Constitutional Charter and Code. The loss of the island of Malta also meant the end of the ancient internal subdivision into Langues. The consequent reorganization of the Order coincided with the creation of the National Associations. The first to be founded was the German Association in 1859, followed in 1875 by the British one and in 1877 by the Italian one.
The 20th and 21st centuries
