Knights Hospitaller
The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem (; ), also known as the Order of Saint John, Order of Hospitallers, Knights Hospitaller, Knights Hospitalier or Hospitallers, was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headquartered in the Kingdom of Jerusalem, on the island of Rhodes, in Malta and St Petersburg.
The Commandery
The name the Commandery suggests the original foundation was instituted possibly by the Knights Hospitaller of the order of St John of Jerusalem in England whose administrative districts, often based just outside city walls, were called commanderies and keep that name today. An example where the chapel has survived but the other buildings have disappeared can be found at Poznan, Poland. The name commandery for their administrative districts remains in use today by the Venerable Order of St John. Alternatively it may have been founded by the Knights Templar. In 1312 by papal decree, the property of the Templars was transferred to the Order of Hospitallers, which also absorbed many of the Templars' members. In effect, the dissolution of the Templars could be seen as the merger of the two rival orders.