Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
"The Knights of St. John (or Hospitallers) were one of the military monastic orders established in Palestine during the Crusades, dedicated to holy war against Islam. They had made Rhodes their home after Palestine fell to the Muslims in 1291 and had held out on the island for more than 200 years. . . . The siege ended not in an orgy of violence, but in an outbreak of chivalry and good sense. The sultan and the Grand Master established a relationship of trust and negotiated a deal for the surrender of the fortress that left Christian lives, property, and honor intact. Suleiman would live to regret his generosity to the Hospitallers, who, following a period of political uncertainty, established a new base in Malta in 1530 and went on to inflict a major defeat upon his besieging forces there in 1565, late in his reign." [Furtado: 1001 Days]