Sea-Wolves of the Mediterranean: The grand period of the Moslem corsairs

by E. Hamilton Currey

This pact against the Infidel was in the first instance directed against the barbarians who swarmed around the Holy City, and the Hospitallers, who nearly all had been knights and soldiers of Godfrey de Bouillon, joyfully took up their arms again to employ them in the defence of this locality which they cherished, and in defence of the pilgrims who were robbed, murdered, and maltreated in all the surrounding country. In becoming warriors once more, they vowed to turn their arms against the Infidel, and against him alone; to neither make nor meddle with arms in their hands in any dispute between men of their own faith. The composition of the Order as it was arranged by Raimond Dupuy caused it to consist of three classes. In the first were placed men of high birth and rank who, having been bred to arms, were capable of taking command. In the second came priests and chaplains, who, besides the ordinary duties attached to their religious profession, were obliged, each in his turn, to accompany the fighting men in their wars. Those who were neither of noble houses nor belonging to the ecclesiastical profession were known as “serving brothers”: they were employed indifferently in following the knights into battle or in tending the sick in the hospital, and were distinguished by a coat-of-arms of a different colour from that worn by the knights.

As the Order prospered amazingly, and as to it repaired numbers of the young noblesse from all parts of Europe to enrol themselves under its banner, it was accordingly divided into seven “Languages”; those of Provence, Auvergne, France, Italy, Arragon, Germany, and England. To the Language of Arragon was in later years allotted those of Castile and of Portugal. The dress consisted of a black robe, with a mantle of the same colour, the whole being called manteau à bec, having upon the left side thereof a white cross in cloth, with light points. The eight-pointed cross, or the Maltese Cross, as it came to be known in subsequent centuries, will be seen upon the armour, engraven on the breastplate, of all the pictures of the Grand Masters.

In the year 1259 the Pope, Alexander IV., finding that men of noble birth objected to be habited as were the “serving brothers,” ordained that the knights on a campaign should wear a “sopraveste” of scarlet embroidered with the cross in white; further, that should any knight abandon the ranks, and fly from the battle, he should be deprived of his order and his habit. The form of government was purely aristocratic, all authority being vested in the Council, of which the Grand Master was the chief, the case of an equal division of opinion being provided for by giving to the Grand Master the casting vote. There were in the Order certain aged knights who were called “Preceptors,” who, under authority delegated to them by the Council, administered the estates and funds accruing, and also paid for the hire of such soldiers or “seculars” whom the Knights took into their service.

Incidentally, it may be mentioned that the establishment of the Knights of St. John led to the foundation of the famous Order of the Knights Templars. In 1118 Hugues de Payens, Geoffrey de St. Aldemar, and seven other French noblemen, whose hearts were touched by the sufferings which the pilgrims underwent in their journey to Jerusalem, formed themselves into a society with the object of the protection of these inoffensive persons on their transit from the coast inland. Hugues de Payens, received in audience by Pope Honoré II., was sent by the Pontiff to the Peers of the Council, then assembled at Troyes in Champagne; the Council approving of so charitable an enterprise, the Order was formed, and Bernard, known as “Saint” Bernard, drew up the code of regulations by which it was to be governed. The movement spread, and many princes and nobles returned to the Holy Land in the train of de Payens and his companions.

So famous did the Order of St. John become, that in 1133 Alfonzo, King of Navarre and Arragon, who called himself Emperor of Spain, carried his zeal so far as to bequeath to the knights his kingdoms of Navarre and Arragon: this, however, was naturally and hotly contested in these places, and Raimond Dupuy, who attended a Council to regulate the matter, was content to compromise on certain lands and benefits being allocated to those whom he represented.

On August 15th, 1310, the knights, under the Grand Master, Fulke de Villaret, conquered the Island of Rhodes and established themselves there, and from this time onward, while they held the island, were known as the Knights of Rhodes. No sooner were the knights firmly established in Rhodes and the fortifications placed in a proper state of repair, than a tower was built on the highest point of the island, of great height, from which a view could be obtained of the sea and the surrounding islands, and from which information could be signalled as to the movements of any vessels which were observed. It was then decided to fortify the small island of Cos or Lango in the vicinity, as it contained an excellent harbour; a fortress, planned by the Grand Master himself, was erected on the island, a knight was left in command, and we are told that under the successors of de Villaret—himself twenty-fourth Grand Master—the island, which was very fertile, flourished exceedingly, producing much fruit and some most excellent wine.

There was reigning in Bithynia, at the time when the knights seized upon Rhodes, that Ottoman whose name has come down to us when we speak of the Ottoman Empire; it is a somewhat strange coincidence that the Christian warriors, sworn foes of the Mussulman, should have so established themselves just when the tide of the Mohammedan conquest was about to rise and sweep away Byzantium; that they should arrive upon the scene just as the curtain was about to rise on the tragedy which, in its onward march, was to make of the church of St. Sophia a mosque for the worship of the Ottoman Turks.

Ottoman—the descendant of one Soliman, the chief of a nomadic tribe of Tartars who had been chased from the Empire of Persia in the year 1214—was not only a soldier and a conqueror, but also a great and beneficent ruler in those regions in which he held sway. Approached by those of his co-religionists who had been driven out of Rhodes by the Knights, Ottoman embarked an army and attacked the place, assuring himself of an easy conquest. In spite, however, of the fortifications having been hastily constructed, his troops were defeated with great loss, and he was obliged to raise the siege. In this manner did the indomitable champions of Christendom begin that long and bloodthirsty war between the Cross and the Crescent in the Mediterranean which was to endure for nearly another five centuries.

GOZON DE DIEU-DONNÉ SLAYING THE GREAT SERPENT OF RHODES.