Abercrombie, Gordon E. The Hospitaller Knights of Saint John. 1523-1565

This volume begins with the move from Rhodes to Malta in the years following the heartbreaking loss of Rhodes to the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman. This loss also affected 4,000 non-combatant Christians who decided to abandon their homes and livelihoods and accompany the Order in its search for a new home. Volume 2 also covers the first thirty-five years of the Hospitallers' stay in Malta, including the operations conducted from there along the coast of North Africa, the great sieges of Tripoli, Tunis and Algiers, vivid revelations about corsair admirals such as Kheir-ed-Din Barbarossa and Dragut, and giants of Christian history such as Andrea Doria. Finally, this volume looks at the Ottoman Empire's attempt in 1565 to destroy the Order with the Great Siege of Malta in that year. The author draws on the work of the Order's official historians, Giacomo Bosio and his successor Bartolomeo dal Pozzo. He transcribes their writings for the modern reader while presenting new information uncovered in the 400 years of research since Bosio's death in 1627. While the first chapters focus on Philippe Villiers de l'Isle-Adam, the 44th Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller of St John, this history also illuminates the contributions of duly identified governors, allies and adversaries. This work is considered to be the only coherent history of the Knights Hospitaller since Bosio in the period from 1523 to 1565 and is certainly the only such history in English.