Knights of Malta, 1523-1798

The story opens with a desperate fleet of fifty ships leaving Rhodes in 1523, carrying the battered remnants of the Order of St. John and thousands of loyal Rhodians. Stripped of their island home and reduced to poverty, the Knights set out to find a new base from which they could continue their fight against the Ottoman Empire. Their journey takes them across the Mediterranean, first to Messina and then to Baiae, while the Order scrambles to secure a protector in the newly elected Pope Clement VII.

Back in Europe, Grand Master Villiers de L’Isle Adam faces a tangled web of political rivalries. The rivalry between France and Spain seeps into the Order, threatening its unity, and the Reformation adds another layer of uncertainty. Amid these pressures, the Knights negotiate with Emperor Charles V for a new home, eventually being offered Malta—along with the burdensome island of Tripoli—marking the beginning of a fragile but pivotal settlement that will shape their future.