[71]“E lo collar era tots de esses redones. E perço com en tot lo A.B.C. no trobareu letra una per una de major auctoritat e perfectio que pugua significar mes altes coses que aquesta lettra S.... La primera, sanctedat; sauiesa; sapiencia; senyoria; e moltes altres coses que per S principien.”
[71] And the collar was all covered with round S’s. Because in the whole alphabet you cannot find one letter of greater authority and perfection and which can signify more noble things than this letter S. The first thing it stands for is sanctity; then sapience; science; seigniory; and many other things that begin with S. Tirant lo Blanch, chaps. xcvi and xcvii.
Martorell may have invented this story, but we are inclined to believe that he had heard or read an explanation of the kind. Perhaps the story was current at the time. Ashmole, too, had his curiosity aroused by the letters on the collars, and remembers that he had read or heard that there was once an organization called the “Society of Saint Simplicius” and that the members of that society used to wear collars with SS on them, and these letters stood for Saint Simplicius. This saint suffered martyrdom under Diocletian about 287 A.D.
All that Martorell has to say about the rules, ceremonies, initiation, ladies of honor and their vows, reveals that he knew a great deal about the Order. Where did he obtain his information? Was it through reading or through hearsay? In some respects his account resembles that of an eye-witness, yet in giving the names of members of the Order, Martorell was obliged to invent some, for the reason that he did not have enough English names at his command. Some of the names are purely Catalan, and this fact indicates that the account was not written in England, nor in Portugal, but very probably in Valencia; another argument in favor of the contention that Tirant lo Blanch was written originally in Catalan, and not in Portuguese.
CHAPTER III
TIRANT SUCCORS THE KNIGHTS OF RHODES
In the analysis we have told that the Genoese made a treacherous attempt to capture Rhodes on account of its commercial importance as a seaport. Having failed in their effort, they induced the sultan to undertake the conquest of the island, and within a short time the port of Rhodes was blockaded, the city besieged, and the island overrun by a multitude of Moors. The city, however, offered heroic resistance. The Grand Master appealed to the Christian powers for help. Tirant’s aid finally led to the raising of the siege. Now upon what historical facts is this part of the work based?
Let us first consider the attempt of the Genoese to capture the city of Rhodes. The plan agreed upon was to have a considerable number of their ships in the port, and other vessels carrying many men were to be near by, but far enough away so as not to be seen by the people of Rhodes. Two Genoese members of the Order rendered the instruments of defense of the castle useless. The plan was to be carried out on Good Friday. While the ceremonies of the day were being celebrated, the Genoese were to enter the church two by two. All were to carry arms, but they were to be concealed under long black cloaks. After a large number of them had entered, they, with the assistance of the two traitors, were to seize the towers and finally the whole city. But their plan was fortunately discovered and frustrated.
Knowing the author’s inclination for taking ideas from certain sources and applying them under circumstances that are altogether different from those under which they originally occurred, we shall quote the following passage from Vertot’s history of this military order, which describes an event that may have furnished some details to the story of the unsuccessful venture of the Genoese. The passage refers to a banquet given by Jacques de Lusignan, when the regency of the government of Cyprus was committed to him.