Friedrich von Schiller has been intensively engaged with the Order of Malta and its residence on the Mediterranean island of Malta, both in a poetic and a historical-scientific context, since at least 1788, during his work on Dom Karlos. This led to the creation of the ballads or poems "The Fight with the Dragon" and "The Johanniters," the preface to the translation of the history of the Knights of Malta by Abbé Vertôt by his student Immanuel Niethammer, and especially the drama The Maltese, which remained unfinished until his death. Various central protagonists in his works, whether fictional or based on real figures, such as the Marquis de Posa (Dom Karlos) or Ottavio Piccolomini (Wallenstein), were also Knights of Malta. Accompanying the creative process of these works, there was an exchange about the Order with various prominent representatives of the communitas litteraria of the Empire, including Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. This book aims to illuminate Schiller's interest in the Order of Malta and to anchor it in the contemporary discourse on the politically and ideologically charged themes of the raison d'être of the religious knightly orders, the so-called struggle against the infidels, Christian-Catholic values, and charity, against the backdrop of the late Enlightenment. Additionally, it will attempt to trace Schiller's creative process regarding the aforementioned works.