A Teutonic knight, and a knight of Malta in costume for the taking of vows.. The Teutonic Knights were a medieval military order modelled on the Hospitallers of St. John. It had a nomadic history: from Acre, its cradle in Palestine (1190-1309); Marienburg, Prussia, the center of its temporal domination as a military principality (1309-1525); Mergentheim in Franconia (1524-1805); and finally, Vienna, Austria, where it survives as a purely hospital order.. The Order of Malta grew out of the Knights Hospitaller, a military order founded in 1099 to protect and care for pilgrims to Palestine. Following their expulsion from the Holy Land, the Order operated from the island of Rhodes (1310~1523) before moving to Malta in 1530. The order ruled the island until 1798, when it was expelled by Napoleon. It survives today as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Handcolored copperplate engraving from Robert von Spalart's "Historical Picture of the Costumes of the Principal People of Antiquity, the