Giovan Battista Orsini — Grand Master | Order of Malta in South Africa

Painted portrait of Giovan Battista Orsini in the habit of the Order — Portrait of Giovan Battista Orsini.

Brief Biography

Giovan Battista Orsini succeeded Raimondo Zacosta in 1467.

Sources: Order of Malta: The Grand Masters; Wikipedia: Grand Masters of the Knights Hospitaller.

Life and service to the Order

From Rhodes he directed the Hospitallers during the years immediately preceding the great Ottoman assault of 1480.

Rhodes provided the Order with a new island headquarters after its departure from the Holy Land. Its masters balanced hospitaller service, maritime defence and the government of a fortified Mediterranean state.

Historical context: Order of Malta, The Grand Masters; History of the Order.

Further images from the archive

Historical photograph of a tomb monument associated with Giovan Battista Orsini and two other Grand Masters — Monument associated with Déodat de Gozon, Robert de Juilly and Giovan Battista Orsini, Musée de Cluny, Paris. Giuseppe Gerola, Le tombe dei Granmastri di Rodi, plate LXXVIII, no. 1.