Statuta hospitalis Hierusalem, 1588
The book presents the statutes of the Knights of Malta, as enshrined in the General Chapter of 1584 and approved by pope Sixtus V on 20 March 1586 (p. 12). The Knightly Order of St. John was founded in Jerusalem in the eleventh century with the purpose to assist the pilgrims, but soon took up military functions for the defense of the Holy Land. After the fall of Jerusalem, the Order moved its headquarters to Acre, then to Cyprus, then to Rhodes, and finally in 1522 in Malta, continuing to fight the Ottomans and the Barbary pirates. The volume is illustrated by twenty-three highly valuable woodblock plates engraved by Philippe Thomassin and Gijsbert van Veen.