Maltese falcons : Grand Masters letters to the king of the two Sicilies

Abstract

Malta was donated to the Hospitallers by King Charles V of Spain in 1530, after the fall of Rhodes on 21 December 1522, when Suleyman the Magnificent allowed them to leave Rhodes on the 1st January 1523 with full Military Honours, led by the G.M. Philippe de Villiers de l'Isle Adam, taking all their belongings - Archives, work of art etc, accompanied by some three hundred Rhodiots - Latin and Greek. They stayed in Europe for eight years, when Pope Clement VII established their Convent at Viterbo where they had their magistral palace, a conventual church, a hospital and the auberges for the Langues. In 1527 plague forced them out of Viterbo sailing to Corneto and on to Nice, and this delay (1523-27) may be attributed in part to forces independent of the Order's crisis. There were three major problems confronting Christendom at this particular point in time. [excerpt]