The order of the Knights Hospitaller of St John of Jerusalem is the most long-lived military orders of knighthood. Founded in a hospice on the road to Jerusalem, it never numbered more than an active few thousand. In the order's frequent clashes with the expanding power of Islam, we see a microcosm of the conflict between east and west that lasted for centuries. The author describes the order from its first beginnings in the holy land, the increase in its wealth, power and territory, its expulsions from Cyprus and Rhodes culimating in the great siege of Malta in which the knights heroically stemmed the tide of Suleiman the Magnificent's expansion. The knights of St John were master mariners, navigators and builders of their time, and today their work continues in the sending of doctors and medical supplies to troublespots, and the maintenance of hospitals throughout the world.
- ISBN10 0141391103
- ISBN13 9780141391106
- Publish Date 7 February 2002 (first published 1 November 1972)
- Publish Status Unknown
- Out of Print 8 February 2005
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Penguin Books Ltd
- Edition New edition
- Format Paperback
- Pages 256
- Language English