The present chapter develops four themes within the turbulent context of Tudor England. Firstly there are the circumstances which led to the Dissolution of the Monasteries during the reign of Henry VIII and the response of the Hospitallers to the changing circumstances in which they found themselves. Secondly there is an analysis of the Valor ecclesiasticus (Church Valuation), the 1535 survey of the income of the Church and of the Order of St John which was to be the basis for subsequent taxation. Thirdly there is the fate of the former Hospitaller properties following the dissolution of the Order in 1540 until the death of Edward VI in 1553. The final theme is the impact of the ardently Catholic Mary Tudor as she re-established the Order of St John of Clerkenwell and the effect of the accession of her half-sister, Elizabeth, following Mary's death on 17 November 1558.

The fall of Rhodes in 1523, and the Hospitallers’ occupation of Malta, 1530

On 1 January 1523, Grand Master Philippe de Villiers de l’Isle Adam and brethren of the Order of the Hospital of St John left Rhodes after it had fallen to Suleiman I, the Magnificent. Among those who fought in the final defence of the island were English brethren: Thomas Sheffield; Thomas Newport, a Lincolnshire knight and bailiff of Eagle; the turcopolier John Bothe; and the future prior of the English province, William Weston. It is significant that despite repeated entreaties for the English prior, Thomas Docwra, to go to Rhodes during the years before the fall of island to the Turks, he failed to do so. However, as first lay baron of the realm, he continued to discharge his diplomatic duties for the king, Henry VIII. Docwra had become increasingly involved in English affairs since 1521 when he was defeated by Villiers de L’Isle Adam in the election to become grand master of the Order. The reason for Henry VIII's lack of response to the Hospitallers’ dire situation on Rhodes is unclear. Phillips suggests that it may have been due to a lack of sympathy for the Order or that ‘misinformation led to an underestimate of the danger that Rhodes faced’.