Il se trouva à ce repas royal un grand nombre de Seigneurs Vénitiens et Génois. Ces étrangers se disputèrent la préséance; elle fut décidée ce jour-là en faveur des Vénitiens. Les Génois pour s’en venger, résolurent de l’emporter la force à la main et ils convinrent entr’eux de se trouver le lendemain au palais avec des armes cachées sous leurs manteaux. Le Régent ayant été averti de leur complot, fit jeter par les fenêtres du Palais huit nobles Génois qui se promenoient....[72]
[72] Abbé de Vertot, Histoire des Chevaliers Hospitaliers de S. Jean de Jérusalem, Paris, 1726; Livre VI, p. 155.
Martorell began his work in 1460, seven years after the fall of Constantinople. We are told that Mahomet the Second had said: “Constantinople first and then Rhodes.” The sultan notified the Grand Master of the Knights of Saint John that he would not respect the treaty entered into by Amurates and the Order. The defiant answer to this challenge, in the words of a Spanish historian of the Order, was as follows:
Respondió dignamente la Orden que reconocida como Estado por todas las naciones cristianas y por los soldanes turcos, sólo dependía de la Santa Sede; que el Gran Maestre jamás la haría tributaria ni súbdita de nadie, y que la religión de Rodas estaba no por mujeres, sino por hombres que temían á Dios y sabían llevar la espada.[73]
[73] La Soberana Orden militar de San Juan de Jerusalem ó de Malta, por un Caballero de la Orden, Madrid, 1899; p. 31.
This peril that was ever threatening Rhodes may have suggested to Martorell that it would offer a favorable field for the exploits of Tirant. And we are inclined to believe that the siege of Rhodes conducted by the Sultan of Egypt in 1444, is the real historical event upon which Tirant’s relief expedition is based. Some time prior to that date the Grand Master de Lastic, being aware of the fact that the sultan was planning to make a supreme effort to capture Rhodes, sent ambassadors to most of the rulers in Europe to implore help, but, like the King of France in Tirant lo Blanch, they did not respond. The attack on Rhodes was made in the month of August, 1444. Let us quote Vertot’s version of the event.
Une flotte considérable du Sultan parut de nouveau à la hauteur de l’Isle de Rhodes, et y débarqua dix-huit mille hommes d’infanterie, sans compter un gros corps de cavalerie et de Mamelus, qui faisoient la principale force des Egyptiens. Ces Barbares sans s’arrêter à aucune des Places de l’Isle, marchèrent droit à la Capitale, et l’assiegèrent, pendant que leur flotte tenoit la mer pour le port et empêcha qu’on n’y jettât du secours.[74]
[74] Op. cit., pp. 214 and 215.
There are no details of this siege on record. Vertot deplores this fact, but he consoles himself by saying: “Ces Chevaliers sçavoient mieux se servir de leur épée que d’une plume.” However, the records give the general information that the siege lasted forty days; that the fortifications were bombarded by many pieces of heavy artillery; that many assaults were made which were always repulsed; and that, after having lost the greater part of his men, the Saracen commander gave orders to raise the siege.