Its Time in Rhodes
From the beginning, the Order's independence of all other States, by virtue of Papal acts, and its universally recognized right to maintain armed forces and wage war constituted its international sovereignty. With the occupation of the island of Rhodes, complete in 1310 under the Grand Master Fra' Foulques de Villaret, the Order acquired territorial sovereignty as well (and the Knights of St. John came to be called Knights of Rhodes). The island faced Muslim territorial and naval might and became a bastion of Christendom in the East Mediterranean sea.
The military defense of Christendom now of necessity required naval action. Accordingly, the Order came to possess a powerful fleet; it patrolled the East Mediterranean waters and engaged in many renowned battles with the enemy. It took part in the crusades in Syria and in Egypt and brought aid to the Christian Kingdom of Armenia (Cilicia) against Muslim invaders.
The members of the Order who came to Rhodes from all over Europe, as well as the establishments of the Order in Europe, were from the beginning of the fourteenth century grouped according to languages spoken. There were thus, initially, seven such groups of Langues (Tongues): Provence, Auvergne, France, Italy, Aragon (-Navarre), England (with Scotland and Ireland) and Germany. In 1462 Castile and Portugal separated from the Langue of Aragon and formed together the eighth Langue.
Galley from the Navy of the Knights of Malta from an engraving 1629.
In the sixteenth century the Langue of England was suppressed and later, in 1782, temporarily re-established under the name of the Anglo-Bavarian Langue. Each Langue was composed of Priories or Grand Priories, Bailiwicks, and Commanderies.
The Order was ruled by the Grand Master and the Council, minted its own money and maintained diplomatic relations with other States. The Grand Master was Prince of Rhodes, as later he was Prince of Malta. The high offices of the Order were attributed to representatives of different Langues; and the seat of the Order, the Convent, was in effect composed of a number of national religious houses.
The Knights gallantly repulsed numerous Turkish assaults, until the Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent attacked Rhodes with a large fleet and a powerful army. On Christmas Eve of 1522 the Knights were forced to capitulate and, on 1 January 1523, left the island with military honours.
For the next seven years the Order, while vested with international sovereignty, was deprived of territory, until the cession by the Emperor Charles V (in his capacity as King of Sicily) of the islands of Malta, Gozo, and Comino, as well as Tripoli in North Africa, in sovereign fief.
The defeat of a Turkish assault at Rhodes (1480).