The Knights of St. John

by Augusta Theodosia Drane

“I have well understood the purport of your letter, delivered to me by your ambassador. Your proposals of peace are as agreeable to me as they are disagreeable to Curtogli. That corsair omitted no efforts to surprise me on my passage from France; but not having succeeded in his project, and being unable to resolve on quitting these seas without causing us some damage, he has tried to carry off two of our merchant vessels on the coast of Lycia; but the galleys of the order have compelled him to fly. Farewell.”

This letter was despatched by a Greek merchant, the grand master not judging it expedient to trust one of his knights in the hands of the wily sultan. But anxious to entrap a representative of the order whose presence at his court might be turned to good account, Solyman, in his second letter, pretended never to have received the reply to his first; it was intimated by his emissaries that it had not been delivered on account of the meanness of the messenger, who all the while had been seized, and tortured, to extract from him all the information he could give. Solyman meantime writes as follows:

“They assure us that the letter which our magnificence wrote to you has reached you, causing you more astonishment than pleasure. Rest assured that I do not mean to content myself with the taking of Belgrade, but that I shortly propose to myself a yet more important enterprise, of which you will soon have warning; for, indeed, you and your knights always keep a place in my memory.”

This was a little more intelligible in its irony, and the grand master’s answer was in the same tone.

“I am truly glad that you remember me and my order. You speak to me of your conquests in Hungary, and of your design of undertaking fresh ones, whose success you trust will be similar. I would have you consider that, of all the projects which men form, none are more uncertain than those which depend on the fate of arms. Adieu.”

Shortly after this, a brigantine of the order was captured close to Rhodes, and the war may be said to have begun. Meanwhile there were not wanting traitors in Rhodes, who busily furnished the sultan with every information he required; one being a Jewish physician, who even received baptism for the purpose of blinding the Rhodians to his true character; another, yet more dangerous and powerful, being found unhappily in the ranks of the order, in the person of Andrew Damaral, chancellor, and grand prior of Castile. Old differences with L’Isle Adam, and a bitter jealousy of his elevation to power, contributed to induce this man to betray his trust; and it is said the final loss of the island was the result of his duplicity, as he had given a false report of the quantity of powder in the place; so that no sufficient supplies were laid in before the siege, when the vigilance of L’Isle Adam was employed in furnishing every other magazine.

Great preparations were indeed made: the ramparts were strengthened, the storehouses of forage and general provisions were replenished; fresh artillery was imported from Europe; and embassies numberless, and uniformly without result, were despatched to the Christian sovereigns to implore a timely succour. But all was in vain; Charles V. and Francis I. were just then playing their tournament for the world’s applause; and in the rivalry of a miserable ambition were deaf to the call of duty. So Rhodes was left to take care of herself, the only ally she gained being the celebrated engineer, Gabriel Martinengo, who at great personal sacrifices joined the order, and was found of inestimable service during the siege.

There was a grand review and inspection of the knights and regular troops held before the grand master; a splendid and inspiriting sight. Each language drawn up before its inn—the knights in full armour, their scarlet surcoats, worn only in time of war, displaying the cross on every side; their numbers about six hundred, with some 5000 troops under their command; a handful of men soon to be matched with the swarms of an Ottoman armament. Each language was reviewed by a knight of its own division, every one touching his cross, and swearing that his arms and armour were his own. England was nobly represented, and her knights bore a distinguished part in the conflict that ensued; nor indeed can we avoid the observation, that so long as the English language existed in the order, its preeminent valour is noticed by all historians, and, as is well known, the important office of Turcopolier, or leader of the cavalry, belonged of right to the English nation.

Again we have occasion to notice and to admire the religious unity displayed at a time when jealousies between rival rites might so easily have sown seeds of dangerous dissensions. The two patriarchs, Greek and Latin, united in communion, knew no rivalry save that of enthusiasm in the common cause; and the spirit of the people was greatly animated and sustained by the eloquence of a Greek monk. The Greek archbishop harangued the populace in the streets: he was a noble old man, wise and gentle, but full of ardour; and he stood opposite an image of our Lady, holding the crucifix aloft, while he addressed his audience in strains of glowing fervour, and called on them to have trust in God and His dear Mother, and to dwell on those lofty thoughts of religion which are stronger than tower or bastion for defence; and to be firm and constant in faith and loyalty, and yield as true a service to their present grand master as they had yielded to the glorious D’Aubusson. The traditions of Rhodes, and its ancient glory, were not forgotten; and such words had the effect on the people which might have been expected: the Rhodians were like one man in their fearless vigorous resolve to suffer all things before surrender or disgrace.