1113 - The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John, founded to protect pilgrims to the Holy Land, is formally recognized by the papal bull (a formal proclamation issued by Pope Paschal II) called Pie Postulatio Voluntatis.
The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem (Latin: Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (/ˈhɒspɪtələr/), the Knights of Rhodes, the Knights of Malta, or the Order of Saint John, was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headquartered in the Kingdom of Jerusalem until 1291, on the island of Rhodes from 1310 until 1522, in Malta from 1530 until 1798 and at Saint Petersburg from 1799 until 1801.