St John's Co-Cathedral is a Roman Catholic co-cathedral in Valletta,Malta,dedicated to Saint John the Baptist. It was built by the Order of St. John between 1573 and 1578,having been commissioned by Grand Master Jean de la Cassière as the Conventual Church of Saint John.
The Great Siege of Malta occurred in 1565 when the Ottoman Empire attempted to conquer the island of Malta,then held by the Knights Hospitaller. The siege lasted nearly four months,from 18 May to 12 September 1565.
Fra' Ramón Despuig y Martínez de Marcilla was a Spanish knight of Aragon who served as the 67th Grand Master of the Order of Malta from 1736 until his death. He was succeeded by Manuel Pinto da Fonseca. During his reign,the legislation of the small state was renewed and the Cathedral of St. John in Valletta was reformed. Several vessels of the Algerian Navy were also captured by the Order's galleys during his reign.
Fra' Marc'Antonio Zondadari,from Siena,was the 65th Prince and Grand Master of the Order of Malta,from 1720,after the death of the Aragonese Fra Ramon Perellos y Roccaful,till his own death in 1722.
Manuel Pinto da Fonseca was a Portuguese nobleman,the 68th Grand Master of the Order of Saint John,from 1741 until his death.
Fra' Adrien de Wignacourt was the 63rd Prince and Grand Master of the Order of Malta from 1690 to 1697.
Mathurin d’Aux de Lescout,called Mathurin Romegas,was a scion of the aristocratic Gascony family of d'Aux and a member of the Knights of Saint John. He was one of the Order's greatest naval commanders and a Grand Master of Malta.
The Grandmaster's Palace,officially known as The Palace,is a palace in Valletta,Malta. It was built between the 16th and 18th centuries as the palace of the Grand Master of the Order of St. John,who ruled Malta from 1530 to 1798,and was also known as the Magisterial Palace. When the knights were expelled by Napoleonic France,it became the National Palace. During the period of British rule beginning in 1800,it was the Governor's Palace.
The Our Lady of Victory Church,formerly known as the Saint Anthony the Abbot Church,was the first church and building completed in Valletta,Malta. In 1566,following the Great Siege of Malta,Grand Master Jean Parisot de Valette and his Order showed interest to build a church in the name of the Nativity of the Virgin as a form of thanksgiving;the construction was funded by De Valette.
The Palace Armoury is an arms collection housed at the Grandmaster's Palace in Valletta,Malta. It was the main armoury of the Order of St. John in the 17th and 18th centuries,and as such it was the last arsenal established by a crusader military order. Although today only a part of the original armoury still survives,it is still one of the world's largest collections of arms and armour still housed in its original building. The Palace Armoury has been open to the public as a museum since 1860.
The House of Roquefeuil-Anduze is an old French noble family. It was formed in 1129 after the marriage between Adelaïs of Roquefeuil and Bernard of Anduze. Heiress of the first Roquefeuil family,Adelaïs inherited from her father and transmitted her family possessions to her son Raymond.
Rafael Cotoner y de Oleza was a Spanish knight of Aragon who served as 60th Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller or,as it is already known by that time,the Order of Malta,from 5 June 1660 to his death on 20 October 1663 following the brief reign of Annet de Clermont-Gessant. After his death,he was succeeded as Grand Master by his brother,Nicolas Cotoner.
Hospitaller Malta,officially the Monastic State of the Order of Malta,and known within Maltese history as the Knights' Period,was a polity which existed between 1530 and 1798 when the Mediterranean islands of Malta and Gozo were ruled by the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. It was formally a vassal state of the Kingdom of Sicily,and it came into being when Emperor Charles V granted the islands as well as the city of Tripoli in modern Libya to the Order,following the latter's loss of Rhodes in 1522. Hospitaller Tripoli was lost to the Ottoman Empire in 1551,but an Ottoman attempt to take Malta in 1565 failed.
Fra' Jean "Parisot" de (la) Valette was a French nobleman and 49th Grand Master of the Order of Malta,from 21 August 1557 to his death in 1568. As a Knight Hospitaller,joining the order in the Langue de Provence,he fought with distinction against the Turks at Rhodes. As Grand Master,Valette became the Order's hero and most illustrious leader,commanding the resistance against the Ottomans at the Great Siege of Malta in 1565,sometimes regarded as one of the greatest sieges of all time.
The Church of Our Lady of the Pillar is a 17th-century church located in Valletta,Malta. The church was built as the church of the Aragonese knights and modeled according to the plans of the architect Romano Carapecchia. The church is listed on the National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands.
The Monte di Pietà,formerly known as the Monte di Sant'Anna,is a charitable institution which lends money to those in need at modest interest rates,on the security of gold,silver or other precious articles given in pawn. In Malta the institution was set up in 1598,was known in the British period as the Public Pawn-Brokery,and it is still in operation today as part of the Inland Revenue Department. Since 1773,the Monte di Pietàhas been housed in a 16th-century building in Valletta.
Casa Perellos is a Baroque townhouse,originally a country residence with open country views,in Żejtun,Malta. It was built as a private property purposely intended for the then Grand Master of the Order of St John Ramón Perellós y Rocafull and his family. It is now a private residence,generally not open to the public,and is a landmark on its own as well as part of a heritage trail in the city.
Pietro Paolo Troisi was a Maltese Baroque silversmith,sculptor,medallist,designer,engraver and Master of the Mint. His works include bronze sculptures of his patron António Manoel de Vilhena,designs of various coins and medals,a wide range of mainly religious works in silver,engraved portraits,designs for temporary triumphal arches and designs for works in a number of churches,most notably the altar of repose at the Mdina cathedral.
Romano Fortunato Carapecchia (1666–1738) was an Italian Baroque architect who was active in Rome,Malta and Sicily. His designs helped transform Malta's capital Valletta into a Baroque city in the first few decades of the 18th century.
Order of Saint John 
