or Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem. Some time
after the first crusade (1042), some Neapolitan merchants built at
Jerusalem a hospital for sick pilgrims and a church which they
dedicated to St. John; these they committed to the charge of certain
knights, called Hospitallers of St. John. In 1310 these
Hospitallers took Rhode Island, and changed their title into Knights
of Rhodes. In 1523 they were expelled from Rhodes by the Turks, and
took up their residence in the Isle of Malta.
Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
