The Knights Hospitaller: A Military History of the Knights of St John

by John Carr

The Knights of St John evolved during the Crusades from a monastic order providing hostels for Christian pilgrims visiting the Holy Land. The need to provide armed escorts to the pilgrims began their transformation into a Military Order. Their fervour and discipline made them an elite component of most Crusader armies and Hospitaller Knights (as they were also known) took part in most of the major engagements, including Hattin, Acre and Arsuf. After the Muslims had reconquered the Crusader Kingdoms, the Order continued to fight from a new base, first in Rhodes and then in Malta. Taking to the sea, the Hospitallers became one of the major naval powers in the Mediterranean, defending Christian shipping from the Barbary Pirates (and increasingly turning to piracy themselves as funding from their estates in Europe dried up). They provided a crucial bulwark against Islamic expansion in the Mediterranean, obstinately resisting a massive siege of Malta by the Ottoman Turks in 1565. The Order remained a significant power in the Mediterranean until their defeat by Napoleon in 1798.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Military History

333 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 3, 2016

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author with this name in the Goodreads database.

John Carr has enjoyed a career as a journalist, correspondent and broadcaster (The Times, Wall Street Journal Europe, Vatican Radio), mainly in the Mediterranean and particularly Greece, where he now resides. He is the author of On Spartan Wings: The Royal Hellenic Air Force in World War II; Spartas Kings; The Defence and Fall of Greece 1940-41; RHNS Averof and Fighting Emperors of Byzantium, all published by Pen & Sword.

See also:
John Carr, English barrister and travel author
John Carr, schoolmaster
John Carr, reverend
John Carr, travel author
John Carr, pioneer
John Carr, Newton's principia
John Carr, theology professor
John Carr, veterinarian

Reviews

[E · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Order of the Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, also known as the Knights Hospitaller, was a Catholic military order.

They were founded to provide medical care to pilgrims traveling to the Holy Land and defending Holy Sites.

These Knights became a fierce, skilled fighting force that were every bit as formidable as the Knights Templar.

They accumulated vast wealth and influence.

Their order was dissolved in the early 14th century after facing accusations of heresy and being targeted by King Philip IV of France and Pope Clement V.

The moves against these military forces are thought to have happened as a means to confiscate their wealth to the benefit of the current King and Pope.

The Knights Hospitaller still exists, in a transformed form, as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), a sovereign state with diplomatic relations and observer status at the UN.

[Edoardo Albert · Rating 4 out of 5]

This military history of the Knights of the Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem is solid and generally dependable, apart from its tendency to adopt the outworn tropes of earlier scholarship about the Crusades that saw the Crusaders as ignorant barbarians out for plunder and conquest and with a strong inclination to massacre populations for sport as opposed to the civilised and humane Muslims who always gave quarter and were definitely better mannered. While this view has been shown to be wrong, the awareness of that does not seem to have quite sunk in to John Carr's treatment of the Crusades and Outremer.

Apart from that, the book does a good job of tracing the history of the Hospitallers, with the part on its latter history after the Siege of Malta possibly the best section of the book. Recommended so long as the reader knows enough to correct the issues about Outremer.

[Casey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super fascinating historical account of some crazy religious zealots that nicely traces the conflict between Islam and Christianity from the medieval Crusades through the early modern Ottoman empire through the stories of the Knights of St. John.

[Roland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tuitio fidei et obsequium pauperum!!!!