Nine Hundred Years of Knights

Military orders (knights) emerged during the Crusades and were the first well-trained Western armies since Roman times. This book is the first general history of the Knights since the 18th century. It shows the long process from the creation of the Knights in the 12th century to the transformation of the modern Knights. It can be seen that the Knights Hospitaller and the Knights Templar emerged in the Holy Land, and the Teutonic Knights moved from the Holy Land to war. The Rhodian Sea region, the expansion of Prussia, the participation of major Spanish knights in the reconquest movement, the disintegration of the Knights Templar, the retreat of the Knights Hospitaller to Rhodes and Malta, the plight and transformation of the modern knights, and the organizations of the Knights of St. John in various parts of Europe and the United States in the modern period. In the Legend of Heroes, the author introduces the organizational structure and symbols of the major knights, clarifies the dual characteristics of the knights' monasticism and fighting, the participation and influence of different knights' forces on the history of the Near East, the Baltic Sea, the Iberian Peninsula, and the Eastern Mediterranean, the decline of the military role of the knights in modern times, and the transformation of the knights into monastic and charitable roles.