BELFRY (BERGFRIEDE) OF JOANNIC CASTLES AGAINST THE BACKGROUND OF SIMILAR TOWERS BUILT IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE
The Order of St. John also is commonly referred to as the Hospitaller Order, the Order of Rhodes, or the Order of Malta. The Order of St. John originated before the First Crusade as a religious brotherhood, founded by European pilgrims in Jerusalem in 1070 at the Hospital of St. John the Almsgiver. The Brotherhood's primary mission was to provide hospitals for pilgrims arriving in the Holy Land. The order established further hospitals at monasteries and churches, initially in the Middle East, and later throughout almost all of Europe.