The Knights Hospitallers of St John in Polish lands and Rhodes in the Late Middle Ages

Abstract

This chapter demonstrates that the Hospitallers’ outposts in Polish lands–that is to say, in the archdiocese of Gniezno and in the diocese of Cammin–were hardly involved in fulfilling the order’s main task, since their activities were largely limited to serving their local communities. The Hospitaller Order established itself in Polish lands in the middle of the twelfth century. Evidence of infrequent contacts indicates that the Polish houses served to fulfil the primary mission of the Order, for which purpose pugnacity and piety were required and property had to be used There is only one known case where Silesian Knights Hospitallers were successful in encouraging secular knights to participate in the defence of Rhodes. In Silesia, the campaign was led by the local Knights Hospitallers, whose activities spanned beyond their own immediate neighbours to include those areas of the Kingdom of Poland in which the Order was not present and in Western Pomerania.