The Holy Roman Emperor, King Charles V of Spain gave Malta, Gozo and the North African port of Tripoli as fief, under the overlordship of the Spanish Viceroy of Sicily, to the knights hospitaller in the year 1530. Their annual fee for the island was a single Maltese Falcon, which they had to give each year on all souls day to the viceroy, who aced as the kings representative. This continued until the knights left Malta in 1797.