The Start of The Knights of Malta up to British control of Malta

The most important of all the military orders both for the extent of its area and for its duration; it is said to have existed before the Crusades and is not extinct at the present time. During this long career it has not always borne the same name. Known as Hospitallers of Jerusalem until 1309, the members were called Knights of Rhodes from 1309 till 1522, and have been called Knights of Malta since 1530. Knights of St. John on 23 March 1530, the islands passed under the Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem, a chivalrous religious order initiated in 1099 and officially founded in Jerusalem in 1113. According to the chronicles, merchants from the ancient Marine Republic of Amalfi obtained from the Caliph of Egypt the authorization to build a church, convent and hospital in Jerusalem, to care for pilgrims of any religious faith or race. The Knights built there first structures in Jerusalem where a temple dedicated to St. John the Baptist had been destroyed. Together with the Knights Templar, who were formed later in 1119, they became one of the most powerful Christian groups in the Middle East. The order came to distinguish itself in battles with the Muslims, its soldiers wearing a black surcoat with a white cross. By the middle of the 12th century, the order was clearly divided into military brothers and those who worked with the sick. It was still a religious order and had useful privileges granted by the Papacy, for example, the order was exempt from all authority except that of the Pope, and it paid no tithes and was allowed its own religious buildings. With the loss of Acre, the last Christian stronghold in the Holy Land, to the Moslems in 1291,the Knights first settled in Cyprus and then in 1320, led by the Grand Master Fra' Foulques de Villaret, to the island of Rhodes. Rhodes acted as a shield against the Turks for two centuries until in 1522 when Suleiman the Magnificent attacked Rhodes with a fleet of 400 ships and over 200,000 men, a formidable force against the Knight's 7,000 men. The siege lasted six months until the knights were forced to surrender in 1523. It is said that the heroic stand by the Knights stirred Suleiman's admiration and Grand Master I’ Isle Adam together with his remaining Knights were not only allowed to leave Rhodes unmolested, but were also escorted with a ceremonial guard of Honor. The Order remained without a territory of its own until 1530, when the Grand Master Fra' Philippe de Villiers de l'Isle Adam took possession of the island of Malta, a gift of the Emperor Charles V with the approval of Pope Clement VII with a perpetual fief for the annual rent of a Falcon. . It was established that the Order should remain neutral in any war between Christian nations. The Knights were not impressed with their new home. They found it too barren. But they had no choice but to make the best of it. It was not until 1533 that the Order allowed Maltese Chaplains into the Order. They formed a valuable contingent during the great expeditions of Charles V against Tunis and Algiers. Arab forces were becoming increasingly aggressive and moving west. Christians captured in these raids were being sold for ransom or as slaves. Sulyman II, regretting his generosity, gathered his forces of his empire to dislodge the Christian corsairs from their retreat. In revenge, Suleyman the Magnificent raided Gozo and sold all 5000 inhabitants into slavery. In July of 1551, the Citadel was besieged by the Turks of Sinan Pasha. The medieval walls without flanks and terreplein to resist gunpowder bombardment were easy prey to besiegers and the fortifications soon succumbed. A tombstone in the local cathedral conveys some of the horror in its commemoration of the nobleman Bernardo Dupuo, who died fighting the Turks, after killing his own wife and daughters to save them from slavery and concubine, two fates worse than death. After the terror of 1551, recovery was slow and painful. Some Gozitan slaves were traced and ransomed, but life was shattered and families left permanently split asunder, their various members sold to different owners in far-off lands.
In 1565, hearing of a massive build-up of troops in Constantinople, the Order sent out urgent appeals to Christian rulers for help in what they sensed would shortly become a do or die combat; at this time Grand Master de Valette had only eight war galleys and 8,000 men at his command.

The siege at Rhodes had taught the Knights to leave the countryside bare of people, animals and crops, and turn the fortifiable points into war cities, fully stocked with food, water and ammunition. As the inland capital of Mdina seemed vulnerable, Malta's defense rested ultimately on the Grand Harbour complex, particularly St Elmo fort at the seaward end of Mount Sceberras (now Valletta), St Angelo fort at the tip of Birgu (now Vittoriosa), and St Michael's fort on the Senglea promontory.

On May 18th, 1565, a Turkish fleet of 138 galleys approached the island. About 38,000 men disembarked at Marsaxlokk and eleven days later, another 3,000 men from another 38 ships joined them. The siege started with an attack on Fort St. Elmo. It is said that over sixty thousand cannonballs were fired during the attack. Facing them on Malta were no more than 8000, of whom 700 were Knights and the rest were Maltese or mercenaries. They took refuge in Mdina and Birgu. The First Great Siege of Malta had begun.
The siege of Malta, quite as famous as that of Rhodes, lasted for four months. The Turks had already taken possession of a part of the island, destroying nearly the whole old city, slaying half the knights and almost 8000 soldiers, when Malta was delivered by an army of relief from Spain.
Never was Malta's unique position more important. All Europe realized what was at stake. As Queen Elizabeth of England said, "If the Turks should prevail against the Isle of Malta, it is uncertain what further peril might follow to the rest of Christendom." Italy, France and Spain would be open to Turkish invasion...
The advance force from Sicily arrived despite the fate of St Elmo. It numbered only 600 men but, achieving surprise, it made a vital difference. The Knights, their luck holding out, were warned by a Turkish deserter about a plan for Senglea to be attacked from the south, and this gave the Order time to build a line of defensive stakes which successfully repulsed the attack.
Requests for assistance were smuggled repeatedly out of the island. The Maltese were one with the Knights, determined, whatever the cost, to be rid of the Turkish invader though of the nobles there is barely a word in contemporary records; presumably they sat it out in their palaces in Mdina.
The main relief force set out at last from Syracuse with 8,000 Spanish and Italian soldiers, the depressed Turks sailed home with only a quarter of their army intact, leaving Malta to its tattered peace.
Malta had lost 219 Knights and 9,000 inhabitants, yet de Valette's genius quickly rekindled the islanders' spirit with a massive peacetime project; the building of a fortified city. A new capital of Malta had to be built, Valletta was named in honor of the Grand Master Jean Parisot de la Valetta under whose inspired guidance the Knights and the Maltese had defied the Turkish onslaught. Malta, however, was not rid of its most dangerous adversary until the battle of Lepanto (1571) which dealt the Ottoman fleet a fatal blow. The Knights quickly improved trade and commerce on the islands, built new hospitals and, most importantly, erected new strong fortifications. This spurred Grand Master de la Valette to build the City of Valletta and its now historic bastions and palaces. Valletta has been declared a World Heritage Site by the United Nations. The Knights of St. John had successfully protected Southern Europe and Christendom. After their victory against the Turks, the Knights turned enthusiastically to the further development of Malta and Gozo. A golden era in culture, architecture and the arts followed. Many of Malta's most attractive building were built during this period. The new remarkable fortress city, Valletta, was built. Valletta is one of the earliest examples of a planned city built on the grid system.
The Knights of St. John, coming as they did from the richest families in Europe, could afford to hire the best talent available and the buildings of Valletta, its fortifications and the art treasures in its museums and churches, are the work of the best
European engineers and artists of the time. It was the magnificence of is palaces and other treasures that led Sir Walter Scott to describe Valletta as "The city built by gentlemen for gentlemen."
The Order was governed by the Grand Master (the Prince of Rhodes) and the Council, minted its own money and maintained diplomatic relations with other States. The high offices of the Order were given to representatives of different Langues; and the seat of the Order, the Convent, was composed of various nationalities. The fall of the Ottoman Empire marked the beginning of the end of the military vocation of the Order. However, the absence of a serious military threat to the Order's existence, and their increasing wealth, arrogance, lack of discipline and corruption, ate into the moral fabric of the Order. Eventually, serious problems undermined the Knights' position; tensions grew between the Church and the Knights. The poorer Maltese became resentful. For their part, the Knights became self-righteous and narrow-minded. When Muslim shipping targets became harder to find also when revolution broke out in France removing a valuable source of income by the confiscation of the Order's property, funds became a problem.
Grand Master Emmanuel de Rohan (1775-97) provided money for Louis XVI's doomed attempt to escape from Paris. By the late 18th century around seventy five percent of the Order's income came from the Knights of the French language, so when the revolutionary authorities confiscated all of the Order's properties and estates in France, the Order was left in dire financial straits. On June 12th, Napoleon entered Valletta bringing to an end 268 years of rule by the Knights of St. John. As a ruse Napoleon, had asked for safe harbor to resupply his ships then on his way to Egypt, and then turned against his hosts once safely inside Valetta. Grand Master Ferdinand von Hompesch failed to anticipate or prepare for this threat, provided no effective leadership, and readily capitulated to Napoleon. The Knights, because of the Rule of the Order that prohibited them to raise weapons against other Christians, were forced to leave Malta. Napoleon spent six eventful days in Malta during which, through numerous edicts, he tried to transform the island into a typical "Department" of France. It is also considered the most likely time for his initiation into Freemasonry. In 1800 the British occupied Malta, but although the sovereign rights of the Order in the island of Malta had been recognized with the Treaty of Amiens 1802, the Order was never allowed to return to Malta, although the French knights were allowed to remain, German Grand Master Ferdinand von Hompesch (1797-98) was given three days to gather belongings and vacate the island. The Order continued to exist in a diminished form and negotiated with European governments for a return to power. The Emperor of Russia gave the largest number of Knights shelter in St Petersburg and this gave rise to the Russian tradition of the Knights Hospitaller and recognition within the Russian Imperial Orders. In March of 1802 The Treaty of Amiens provided for the return of Malta to the Knights but the Maltese appealed to the British to stay to prevent their return to governance. The British were inclined to allow the Knights to return despite appeals from the Maltese when war again broke out with France in May 1803. The strategic importance of Malta was underscored by Admiral Nelson who had previously been indifferent to British presence on Malta. "I now declare that I consider Malta as a most important outwork...I hope we shall never give it up." he wrote.
Malta and Gozo became formally a British Crown Colony in 1813 and the island was slowly transformed into a fortress colony.