Knights of Malta

"Who exactly were these Knights of Malta?  I think they're something to do with the Crusades, and you can pick up tiny knight statues in just about every tourist shop in the country, but where did the come from, and what were they doing here?"

Available in a tourist shop near you.

Luckily I know the answers to these questions, (at least in an approximate sort of a way), so as not to provide you with a very unsatisfying post.  The original knights order (the Knights Hospitallers) was established about 1,000 years ago as defenders of pilgrims going to Jerusalem, and of Jerusalem itself once it was captured from the Islamic orders.  When the Holy Land was retaken by said Islamic forces, they knights wandered Europe for a while before ending up in Malta in 1530.  Malta was effectively given to the order (henceforth to be known as 'Knights of Malta') by the Holy Roman Emperor in return for yearly rent of one trained falcon.

A Very Short History of Malta - Part II

This is a continuation of a very compressed history of Malta.  Here's part one.

Now where were we?  Okay, in 1530, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V decided to give the islands to the Knights of Malta, and all he asked was a trained bird in return payable once a year.  This is where the whole Maltese falcon business comes from.  These knights had been wandering around homelessly for a few years and so were presumably delighted to be granted a base in Malta, from whence to attack whichever Ottomans or pirates they might come across.  In fact Barbary pirates managed to capture Gozo in 1551 and deposit all 5,000 of it's inhabitants on the coast of North Africa, (which is where Barbary pirates came from).