The Knights Hospitaller were also known as: Hospitalers, the Order of Malta, the Knights of Malta.

From 1113 to 1309 they were known as the Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem; from 1309 to 1522 they went by the Order of the Knights of Rhodes; from 1530 to 1798 they were the Sovereign and Military Order of the Knights of Malta; from 1834 to 1961 they were the Knights Hospitaller of St. John of Jerusalem; and from 1961 to the present they are formally known as the Sovereign Military and Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes, and of Malta.

The Origin of the Hospitallers: In the mid-11th century, a Benedictine abbey was established in Jerusalem by merchants from Amalfi. About 30 years later, a hospital was founded next to the abbey to care for sick and poor pilgrims. After the success of the First Crusade in 1099, Brother Gerard (or Gerald), the hospital's superior, expanded the hospital and set up additional hospitals along the route to the Holy Land.

On February 15, 1113, the order was formally named the Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem and recognized in a papal bull issued by Pope Paschal II.

Hospitaller Knights: In 1120, Raymond de Puy (a.k.a. Raymond of Provence) succeeded Gerard as leader of the order. He replaced the Benedictine Rule with the Augustinian Rule and actively began to build up the order's power base, helping the organization to acquire lands and wealth. Possibly inspired by the Templars, the Hospitallers began to take up arms in order to protect pilgrims as well as tend their illnesses and injuries. Hospitaller Knights were still monks, and continued to follow their vows of personal poverty, obedience, and celibacy. The order also included chaplains and brothers who did not take up arms.