Champions of the Cross

This is the story of two of the great Millitary Orders which were part of the everyday scene in Mediaevel Europe and the Middle East. Many towns and villiges in Britan also bear witness to their influences on local life.

The Order of St John was founded to provide care for pilgrims to the Holy Land and the Poor Knights of Christ to give protection to pilgrims on their dangerous journeys. Both of these Orders were to develop far beyond the visions of their founders. Whithin a few years, monks and fighting men had become one and the same, weilding immense military and political power in the Holy Land and throughout Europe.

Within to centuries one of the Orders was to disappear under a cloud of suspicion and dissapproval. The other was to survive to the present day and in the process turn full circle to serve its 'masters the sick'.