Many orders of chivalry were founded in medieval times. They arose in nearly all the nations of Christian Europe, and attracted the best men of that romantic and spiritual age. All of these orders served noble and humanitarian purposes, and some fought in the Holy Land.

Three of these magnificent military-religious orders gained lasting world-wide renown and respect as a result of their achievements in the Crusades, when they often joined forces, and always fought with great valor, in the defense of Christendom. These three orders were the Teutonic Knights, The Knights of The Temple, and the Hospitallers or Knights of Saint John.

(1) The Teutonic Knights, the lesser of the three orders, was founded in the Holy Land in 1190. After the fall of Acre in 1291, these Knights returned to Northeast Europe where, seeking to establish their own nation, they campaigned against and subdued the heathen Prussians. They then united with the Livonian Knights and continued their eastward expansion until routed by the Poles and Lithuanians at the battle of Tannenberg in 1480. This devastating defeat hastened the demise of this order.

(2) The Knights Templars, founded about the same time as the Order of Saint John, were suppressed in 1312 by Philip IV (Philip the Fair) of France, with the reluctant concurrence of Pope Clement V who was placed under extreme pressure by the king. Most of the charges against the Templars probably were unfounded. However, the Order had gained extreme wealth money and lands that Philip wanted. Consequently, he had the Grand Master and a number of his Knights burned at the stake. Several of their properties were given to the Order of Saint John, and many of the most dedicated Templars joined the Sovereign Order.

(3) Remarkably and uniquely, the Order of Saint John continued to grow in influence, prestige, power and respect in the several centuries that followed. Today, the Sovereign Order of Saint John of Jerusalem is the only legitimate Order of Knight-hood still extant, which can trace its origin, with historical continuity, to the legendary period of the middle ages.