The most faithful imitators of the original orders are the military orders set up in the Iberian Peninsula. Although founded by the kings of Spain and Portugal and used by them for their own purposes, these orders were directly dependent on the Holy See at first. Only later, when the sovereigns took over the grandmastership and made it hereditary in their family, did they lose their independence, without, however, abandoning their religious character. The principal military orders in Italy came into existence at a rather late date in history, on or after 1500, a date traditionally accepted as marking the end of the age of chivalry. With the grand mastership vested in the crown, these Italian orders harbored the same cause for deterioration as eventually appeared in the Spanish orders, because they were dynastic orders from the start. Nonetheless, the Italian military orders greatly resembled the original ones, both in objective and organization. They aspired to the protection of the Italian coastline against the Moslem pirates from the Barbary States in North Africa who at the time were infesting the Mediterranean; they harassed the merchant marine and sporadically attacked harbors and towns along the coast. The objective of these orders, then, was much the same as that of the Order of Malta at that time, namely sea-warfare against Islam. Such an organization was the Order of Saint Stephen, established in 1562 by Cosimo I, Grand Duke of Tuscany, with the approval of the Holy Father. The knights of this order which had headquarters at Pisa cleared the Mediterranean of corsairs and took an active part in the battle of Lepanto. Eventually, however, it disintegrated, became completely secularized and survived as an order of merit. The Order of Saint Maurice and Lazarus, founded in 1572 by Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoia, has an intriguing history. Comparatively late in origin, it was a merger of two pre-existing institutions which date back to much earlier times. One was the hospital congregation of Saint Lazarus, previously mentioned. After the fall of Acre the fraternity was transferred to Europe and for some time flourished in France. The Italian branch soon declined and was finally suppressed by Pope Innocent VIII in 1490. There remained, however, the possessions of the order and these were handed over to certain gentlemen who, far from having an interest in lepers, did little else but appropriate the revenues for their own use.