Knights of Malta Receive Their Island
1530
Charles V gave the homeless Knights Hospitaller the arid island of Malta in exchange for an annual tribute of one Maltese falcon. They fortified Birgu and the Grand Harbour, turning the rock into a corsair-hunting base. They would need every gun when Suleiman came calling in 1565. The annual tribute of one falcon became one of history's most famous symbolic rents, later inspiring Dashiell Hammett's novel.
In context
Also in 1530 (5 other events on record)
- Charles V Crowned by the Pope · Europe · Politics
- Death of Babur at Agra · South Asia · Politics
- Augsburg Confession Read Aloud · Europe · Religion
- Dutch Land Reclamation Expands · Europe · Technology
- Order of Santiago Incorporated into Crown · Europe · Politics
Before and after in Europe
Before and after in Politics
Era
Renaissance (1501–1650), one of 715 events from that era on Saeculum.