A History of the Knights of Malta/Chapter 5

CHAPTER V.

1291—1311.

• Establishment of the Order in Cyprus
• Its first naval armaments
• Death of John de Villiers and election of Odon de Pins
• His monastic seclusion
• Dissatisfaction of the Order
• His death, and accession of William de Villaret
• Expedition into Palestine
• Project for the capture of Rhodes
• Preparations for that operation
• Death of William de Villaret and accession of Fulk de Villaret
• Capture of Rhodes
• Destruction of the Order of the Temple.

The slender and dispirited relics of the unfortunate garrison of Acre found shelter in the island of Cyprus, where Henry de Lusignan, anxious to remove the stain cast upon his name by his dastardly flight from the beleaguered city, welcomed them with open arms. The town of Limasol was accorded to them as a residence, and here the Hospitallers for the fourth time re-established their convent, and after a brief repose began making such arrangements for the re-organization of their body as the exigencies of the case seemed to require.

An imperative order was at once issued for each grand-priory to despatch thither, without delay, all the, available members who might be residing within its limits. This injunction was obeyed with so much enthusiasm that before the expiration of many months the attenuated ranks of the fraternity at Limasol once more became augmented into something like their former numbers. Nor was it in men only that assistance poured in from Europe; the coffers of every priory were drained to the utmost for the assistance of the general treasury, so that they were soon able once more to open their Hospital and to re-commence the exercise of those charitable duties which had been so rudely disturbed by the aggressions of the infidel.

Although the Holy Land had now completely passed away from the power of the Christians, the number of pilgrims who still annually sought its shores remained undiminished; the duty, therefore, continued to devolve on the members of the Order of rendering such protection and escort on the road as lay within their means. For this purpose the galleys which had conveyed them from Acre were brought into requisition, and the brethren, driven from that sacred province to the protection of which they had so long devoted themselves, adopted a fresh career. On the new element which they had chosen, they soon succeeded in demonstrating to the Saracen foe that the flag of the Order was to be as much dreaded when waving over their galleys as it had been of yore in the van of their mailed squadrons. To the various ports of Italy and the Adriatic these new fleets wended their way in the months of March and August. They collected the grateful bands of wandering devotees at these various points of embarkation, and escorted them safely through the perils of the Levant until they landed in Syria, whence, as soon as the cravings of their religious enthusiasm had been satisfied, the brethren accompanied them back to their respective destinations.

Whilst thus employed, they not unfrequently encountered the hostile galleys of the infidel, which, seeming their prey from afar, were always to be found hovering round their would-be victims. These were not long in discovering that their old foe had lost none of his vigour, and was still as dauntless in enterprise as they had known him in past years. The numerous Turkish prizes which speedily graced the harbour of Cyprus were the first promising tokens of that maritime supremacy which was eventually to assert itself on the waters of the Mediterranean. Many of these captures proved to be extremely valuable, and in some cases individual knights had taken advantage of their position to secure for their own private use some of that wealth which should have found its way into the treasury of the Order. Discipline had, in truth, been rudely shaken by the disaster of Acre, and the sudden flash of prosperity which thus developed itself in this first commencement of a new career, seemed still further to loosen the bonds of due restraint. The very island in which the fraternity had established its convent bore amidst its balmy breezes the seeds of that voluptuousness which from the earliest ages had been its characteristic; and the Hospitaller, returning from a successful cruise, and released from the restraint and privations of life on board his galley, sought to make amends for the toils he had undergone by an outburst of luxurious dissipation.

Two chapters-general were held by order of John de Villiers, in which laws were passed to check this rising tendency to display and self-gratification. No knight was for the future to be allowed the possession of more than three horses, and all adornment of his equipments was once more strictly forbidden. Stringent regulations were at the same time laid down respecting the debts left by a brother at his death, specifying the mode in which they were to be defrayed. From the fact that such a regulation as this was found necessary, it appears evident that there were numerous members of the fraternity, not content with spending the proceeds of their successful cruises in a manner little becoming those who had taken upon themselves the oaths of poverty and chastity, but who were also incurring the incubus of debts. It cannot be said that the rules framed on this subject by the council were well adapted to put an end to the practice, the regulation being that in case the household and personal properties of the knight were insufficient to liquidate his liabilities, the balance was to be defrayed out of the funds he had originally transferred to the Order on his admission. This decree must have pressed far more hardly on the treasury than on the individual. It must also have increased greatly the facilities for running into debt, as creditors would feel that they had undeniable security to fail back upon in case of a failure of the knight’s assets. On the whole, however, the decrees passed by these two chapters had the desired effect of checking the excesses of the turbulent, and by degrees something approaching the old state of discipline and good order was once more established.

During the remainder of the rule of John de Villiers, maritime expeditions continued without intermission, and the knights gradually curbed the power of the infidel in this branch of warfare to such an extent as to render the navigation of the Levant comparatively secure for the commerce of Europe. This was a boon which every nation could feel and appreciate, more especially those who, like the Venetians, owed their position in the scale of nations entirely to the extent of their trading transactions. Whilst the knights of St. John had been engaged in the defence of the Holy Land, their achievements, brilliant as they were, had been of but slender assistance to the vast populations of Europe, and although religious enthusiasm had been much awakened by the tales of heroism and chivalry which were the theme of troubadour in hail and bower, still little permanent impression was left on the hearers’ mind. Now, however, when in addition to the sacred cause of combating the infidel there was added the more tangible and personal benefit of protection to commerce, a cry of gratitude and warm admiration arose on every side.

The difference between the conduct of the Hospitaller and Templar was freely discussed, and paved the way for that overthrow of the latter Order which was even then dawning on the mind of Philip the Fair. They had both equally earned imperishable laurels by their gallant defence of Acre, and had both shared the same fate in their expulsion from Syria. But from the moment of turning their backs on that scene of strife, how different had been their conduct! The Hospitaller, availing himself of the nearest point from which he could still carry on the objects so dear to him, had established himself almost within sight of those shores from which he had been driven. Unable any longer to compete with his foe on land, he had not hesitated to encounter him on a new element., and those Turkish revere who had for so many years been the terror of the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, were taught to feel that the day had at length arrived when their supremacy should be ended. Instead of the slave marts of Egypt being filled with captive Christian sailors, who had hitherto furnished the bulk of their supply, the tables were now suddenly turned, and the unfortunate Turk, tugging at his oar in one of the numerous galleys of the Hospital, had ample opportunities for reflecting upon the ill-chance which had brought these new and invincible foes across his path.

The Templars, on the other hand, after a brief sojourn in Cyprus, instead of rendering the smallest assistance to their chivalric brethren in this new undertaking, hurried westward with unseemly haste, where settling themselves in their various European preceptories, they gave way to the most unbridled luxury. Their gross licentiousness, and the arrogance of their bearing, soon drew down on them universal distrust and hatred, and there were not wanting those who possessed both power and will to accomplish their overthrow. These enemies only waited until public feeling had been sufficiently aroused to justify them in the steps they already contemplated taking. No doubt, during the last years of their existence, little can be said in favour of the Templars, and although the barbarous cruelty with which their extinction was accomplished has raised a feeling of compassion on their behalf, which to some extent effaces the memory of their misdeeds, it cannot be denied that they had of late years gravely deviated from the original design of their institution. They seemed, therefore, to be no longer fit depositaries of that emrmous wealth which had been bequeathed to them for purposes so different from those to which they had appropriated it.

In the year 1294, John de Villiers, who had greatly raised his Order in public estimation, died at his convent home in Cyprus. His place was filled by Odon de Pins, a knight of Provence of great age, more noted for piety of life than for military prowess. Had he been elected to the supremacy of a fraternity of monks, he would probably have proved a most edifying selection, but in the turbulent days in which his lot was cast, and with the fierce spirits under his charge, he proved a sad failure. Occupied in the peaceful duties of his convent and Hospital, he utterly neglected those other obligations of his office which were more congenial to the temperament of his subordinates, and which were absolutely necessary to keep in check the aggressive neighbours by whom he was surrounded.

Having lost their all at the abandonment of Acre, the fraternity was still burning to recruit its finances by a continuation of those maritime forays which had been so successfully commenced under the auspices of Villiers. Whilst the galleys of the Turk, laden with the wealth of the East, were still to be found ploughing their way through the blue waters of the Levant, and requiring but a few daring spirits to seize them for their own, it is not surprising that the inertness and monastic seclusion of Odon de Pins soon gave rise to murmurings on the part of the more active and restless members of the Order. Greater and greater became the dissatisfaction as time wore on, and the harbour of Cyprus no longer bore on its bosom those prizes which, in the time of his predecessor, had so often lain there in triumph. Utterly heedless of the increasing marks of discontent which showed themselves on all sides, Odon continued as regular as ever in his attendance on the religious duties of his profession, and as negligent as ever of its military obligations. At length, unable longer to submit to this enforced inactivity, the knights made a general appeal to the Pope for permission to depose their chief, enumerating the different causes for dissatisfaction to which they considered his conduct had justly given rise. The Pope summoned Odon to appear before him in Rome, in order to decide in his presence as to the justice of the appeal. The Grand-Master, as an obedient son of the church, instantly prepared to obey the mandate, and set forth on his journey. He was never destined to accomplish his purpose, for having been seized with illness on the road, he gradually sank under the disorder; and death, whilst it put an end to his troubles, at the same time terminated all the disputes and disagreements of which he had been the cause.

His successor was William de Villaret, also a knight of Provence, who at the time of his election was grand-prior of St. Gilles, and at the moment residing in his priory. His brother Fulk was also a knight of St. John, and greatly distinguished; so much so, that at the death of William, he was unanimously chosen to fill the vacancy; his sister Jourdam was the superior of the convent of Hospitaller ladies at Quercy, so that the family were destined, all of them, to attain the highest dignities possible in the fraternity. Villaret used no haste to quit France upon receiving the intelligence of his elevation, but availing himself of the authority with which the appointment invested him, made a magisterial inspection of all the priories in that country, instituting the most searching reforms and eradicating many pernicious abuses. This done, he paid a flying visit to Rome to tender his respects to the Pope, after which he proceeded to Cyprus to assume the sway which had been delegated into his hands.

One of the earliest and most important acts of his rule was a descent upon Palestine, undertaken by the fraternity in alliance with Gayan, king of Persia. The accounts of this prince vary considerably, some writers having asserted that he was a Christian, others that he was a Mahometan, whilst there are not wanting those who state that he was a Pagan. Be this as it may, he was undoubtedly a. bitter enemy to the Saracens. He had therefore entered willingly into an alliance with the king of Cyprus, the Hospitallers, and the king of Armenia, with the view of securing the expulsion of his antagonists from the Holy Land. He was very desirous to restore the Christian kingdom of Jerusalem, which he considered would form an admirable barrier on the frontier of his dominions. The records of this expedition are few and very meagre, doubts having even been raised as to whether it ever really took place. Still sufficient testimony remains to show, not only that the Christians did actually once more make good their footing in the Holy Land, but that they even advanced as far as, and took possession of Jerusalem itself. The policy of the Saracens had, however, rendered this advance of no permanent avaiL They had taken the precaution of destroying the fortifications of every city within the limits of Palestine, the possession of which, therefore, must eventually remain with the power which could maintain the strongest force in the field. Accordingly we find that the Hospitallers, having once more gladdened their eyes with the sight of those holy places so familiar to their memory, were obliged to retire in face of the superior force which the Saracens brought against them; their ally, Gayan, having been suddenly called away in the midst of the campaign to quell a rebellion in his own dominions.

Thus driven from Palestine, and yet eager to bestir himself in the interests of his Order, the mind of Villaret gradually became impressed with the desire to obtain for them a new and more permanent home than that which had been accorded to them in Cyprus. He looked for a settlement in a spot where they should be enabled to consider themselves as lords, and not merely tolerated as guests, somewhat unwelcome ones into the bargain, which was the position they had of late been compelled to accept. Various causes of discord had gradually arisen during their residence in Cyprus; oppressive taxes and other exactions had been imposed upon them, payment of which had been rigidly enforced, despite the earnest remonstrances of the Pope. It seemed, therefore, but natural that Villaret should desire to change their home to some more hospitable locality, and to obtain for his name a lasting renown by regaining for his Order a position of dignity more in accordance with that which hitherto it had always occupied.

For this purpose he turned his eyes in the direction of Rhodes, a spot which appeared in every way adapted to the purpose he had at heart. This island had originally formed a dependence of the empire of Constantinople. At the time when that kingdom fell under the power of the Latin crusaders,. it became the prey of the Genoese, in whose possession it continued until Vatiens, one of the most politic and gifted princes of his age, succeeded in expelling the intruders, and restoring it to the empire from which it had been torn. Gradually, however, its governors established themselves as independent princes in the island. In order to make good their pretensions against the emperor, they opened their ports to all the Turkish and Saracen merchants who chose to make it their home, and the corsairs who ravaged the Mediterranean were always sure of a hearty welcome and a safe shelter within its harbours. To repel this noxious swarm and to destroy their nest would of itself be an act reflecting great credit on Villaret; whilst to erect in its place a stronghold which should be a terror to the infidel and a support to the commerce of Europe, was an object worthy the chivalric mind which conceived it, and certain to evoke the deepest gratitude of Christendom.

Impressed with these views, Villaret determined to carry out a secret but thorough reconnoissance of the island. He was making all the necessary arrangements for this duty when, in conjunction with the Grand-Master of the Temple, he received a summons to repair to Rome, ostensibly for the purpose of a conference as to the feasibility of a new Crusade. This, however, was only a subterfuge on the part of the Pope to conceal the real designs he had in view, and of which more will be told further on. The Grand-Master of the Templars obeyed the summons free of suspicion and without loss of time; but Villaret excused himself from the journey on the plea of the urgent business in which he was then engaged. He was, indeed, at that moment on the eve of starting from Cyprus, burning with anxiety to obtain the moat accurate information on all points which could guide him in the prosecution of his enterprise.

He coasted cautiously round the island, marking well its various points of defence, as also those which seemed to him the most vulnerable, the positions of the harbours, the sites of the towns, and as far as he could ascertain, the number of their respective inhabitants. By the time he had concluded his survey, it was made very clear to him that the undertaking was one of no ordinary magnitude, and that Rhodes possessed the most formidable means of defence if its inhabitants knew how to avail themselves skilfully of their advantages. Undeterred by the discovery of these difficulties, he returned to Cyprus, fully resolved on at once organizing an expedition for the seizure of the island. Unfortunately, however, in the midst of his preparations a sudden and violent illness carried him off, and postponed for a while the execution of the project which he had had so much at heart.

This event occurred in the year 1308, and was the source of the most lively regret on the part of the Order, by whom he was much beloved. They at once elected his brother Fulk in his place, conceiving, with great justice, that as the latter had always been in his confidence, he would prove the best-fitted person to carry out the grand design of William. The first act of Fulk, on assuming the reins of office, was to proceed to France, in order to procure an audience with Clement V. and Philip the Fair, from both of whom he hoped to obtain assistance in his project. He found the two potentates in close and secret conclave at Poictiers, in company with James do Molay, the unfortunate Grand-Master of the Temple, who had arrived there during the preceding year, in profound ignorance of the cruel plot then forming against himself and his fraternity. Villaret lost no time in submitting his scheme to both Pope and king, pointing out the many advantages which the acquisition of Rhodes by the Order of St. John would confer upon Europe. Clement, with a very natural ambition that his papacy should be marked by an event so important to Christendom, entered warmly into the scheme. Not content with contributing a large sum of money from his own private resources, he used his utmost influence to obtain for Villaret such assistance, both in men and money, as his papal authority could extract from the various nations which acknowledged his supremacy.

In order to prevent the secret of the enterprise from transpiring, a new Crusade for the recovery of the Holy Land was preached, backed by the promise of plenary indulgence to those who should either join the expedition or contribute funds for its support. To the Grand-Master he gave the right of nomination to the archbishopric of Rhodes, in the event of his success warranting the creation of such a dignity. Large numbers of enthusiasts responded eagerly to the appeal, and flocked to Brundusium, which had been selected as the rendezvous at which they were to embark. Villaret found that he had not means of transport for one-third of those who proposed to accompany him, most of whom were only a disorderly throng, more likely to prove an impediment than an assistance in his projected enterprise. Selecting, therefore, only the flower of this host of volunteers, he embarked them on board the galleys which had been furnished expressly for the expedition as the joint contribution of the king of Sicily and the republic of Genoa.

Villaret was a man of very haughty and reserved character, and not one to submit with impunity to the cross-examination of his subordinates. In his control lay the chief command and direction of the expedition, and the known peculiarities of his disposition aided him materially in preserving within his own breast the secret of its destination. Passing Rhodes at some little distance, so as to avoid awakening the suspicions of its inhabitants, he proceeded to Cyprus, where he embarked such members of the Order as had remained there during his absence in Europe. He thence proceeded in a north-easterly direction, and leaving Syria on his right, entered a port in Asia Minor. All were now eager to learn their destination, but Fulk continued impenetrable in his reserve. To the members of his own Order only did he unfold his design, with the strictest injunctions to secrecy, for from them he felt sure not only of cheerful, but enthusiastic support. To the remainder of his force he still maintained the fiction of a Crusade, with the prospect of which it was his intention to blind them until the proper moment had arrived for throwing off the mask.

His immediate object in thus putting into port was the sending of an embassy to Constantinople, to demand from the emperor the sovereignty of Rhodes, as soon as he should have achieved its conquest, promising to furnish an annual contribution to the Greek empire both of men and money, should his request be granted. The authority of the emperor over Rhodes was at that time purely nominal, the reality having long since slipped from his grasp; still he declined to accede to this proposal. It is not improbable that he thought he would retain a better prospect of regaining possession of the island whilst it remained in the hands of the Saracen pirates, than could possibly be the case were it once to become the stronghold of the Order of St. John. This refusal on the part of the emperor having been fully anticipated by Fulk, had but little weight in dissuading him from his task, on the prompt execution of which he was more than ever intent. Whilst awaiting the answer from Constantinople, he had despatehed spies into Rhodes with the view of obtaining really accurate information with respect to the island. These spies had returned with such glowing accounts of its wealth and fertility, the beauty of its towns, the verdure of its fields, and the commodiousness of its harbours, that his impatient spirit yearned to hold within his grasp the possession of so lovely a spot.

Once more embarking his forces, he now at length revealed to them what he proposed as their real destination. The island was speedily sighted, and without allowing the inhabitants time to recover from the surprise and panic into which the sudden apparition of his fleet had thrown them, he made a descent upon the coast, and after a slender and desultory resistance on their part, effected his landing. By this prompt measure the open country fell, to a great extent, into his hands. Still, as the town of Rhodes remained in the possession of the Saracens, this occupation availed him but little, and it was easy to see that the most difficult part of his task remained undone so long as the banner of the crescent continued to wave over its ramparts. Hoping by a bold stroke to achieve a complete victory at once, he attempted to carry the town by storm, but in vain; the number and valour of the garrison, aided by the strength of the defences behind which they were fighting, more than counterbalanced the impetuous energy of the invaders, backed though they were by the veterans of the Hospital, and led on by the daring Villaret himself.

Many of the Saracens had, during the first moments of panic, embarked on board their galleys and put to sea. These, after a time, seeing that all was not lost, as they had at first imagined, returned to port and once again landed, thus aiding to swell the strength of the garrison. The emperor of Constantinople, also, as soon as he learnt that a descent on Rhodes had actually been effected, despatched an auxiliary force to assist in expelling the invaders. He entertained a hope that after he had defeated the intruders, he might probably succeed in regaining possession of the island for himself. Whilst these augmentations in the number of his foes were taking place, Villaret was doomed to witness a rapid diminution in the strength of his own forces. Many of the gallant spirits who in a moment of enthusiasm had joined the Crusade under the idea that its object was the expulsion of the Saracen from Palestine and the restoration of the kingdom of Jerusalem, found their ardour sensibly abating when they discovered that they were being called on to fight, not for the sacred object which had for centuries been an. incentive to the valour of Europe, but for the private advantage of an Order which, notwithstanding the numerous benefits it was daily conferring on Christendom, was by many regarded with jealousy and suspicion, if not with actual dislike. One by one these disappointed crusaders abandoned the enterprise, and stole away from the scene of a strife which was daily becoming more and more unpromising. Eventually Villaret found himself abandoned by all, except the members of his own fraternity, who, having staked everything on the cast, had determined to stand with him the hazard of the die.

Under these adverse circumstances all further attempts at the capture of the city were for the moment out of the question, and it was not long before Villaret found himself surrounded by the enemy, and in a state of siege within the limits of his own camp. Aroused by the audacity of this league of Greeks and Saracens, Villaret assembled all that yet remained to him of the invading army, and, after a brief and spirited harangue, he led them forth to the assault. The position was certainly very desperate, and he determined either to clear the country of the enemy, or sacrifice the slender remains of his force in the attempt. The struggle was long and obstinate, and the loss of the Hospitallers such as in their weakened state they could but ill afford. Desperation at length inclined the balance in their favour, and ere that evening’s sun had set, Villaret had the satisfaction of standing undisputed master of the field, and of witnessing the complete dispersion of the numerous battalions by which he had been surrounded.

The routed Greeks and Saracens, under cover of night, flung themselves into their galleys, and crossing over to the mainland, spread throughout the province of Lycia the intelligence of their utter defeat. Meanwhile Viliaret, having re-assembled the proud relics of his force, returned once more to his attempts upon the city. Finding himself far too enfeebled to achieve its capture by assault, he changed his tactics, and converted his attack into a blockade, determining to await the arrival of reinforcements from Europe before proceeding to more active measures. His steady perseverance and indomitable energy carried him triumphantly through the difficulties of the crisis. He succeeded in obtaining a large sum of money by way of loan from the Florentine bankers upon the security of the revenues of his Order, which he had no hesitation in pledging for the purpose; a security which at that time could hardly have been considered a very safe one, and which must have required no little financial talent on his part to render marketable. Provided thus with the sinews of war, he was not long in assembling beneath his banner a considerable number of those mercenary troops whose services were always to be purchased by a good paymaster.

Finding his strength now once more restored to a state that would warrant active measures, and trusting that the garrison, cooped up for so long within the walls of the town, would be disheartened by the wearisome blockade to which it had been subjected, he determined again to deliver an assault. This he did on the 5th of August, 1310, and with complete success. Before nightfall on that day the white cross banner of the Hospital was waving over the ramparts of Rhodes, and the remnant of the nest of pirates who escaped the exterminating sword of the invader, had fled in confusion to the shores of Aaia.

No authentic records of this struggle now exist or appear ever to have come to the aid of the historian of the epoch, the only account of its incidents having been the somewhat apocryphal details to be gathered from a set of tapestry hangings commemorating the events of the siege, which for many years decorated the palace of the Grand-Master in the convent at Rhodes. Some of the older historians, in the dearth of more accurate records, have invented a fable which would infer that the town was captured by stratagem. Their story runs that on a dark and foggy day some of the knights covered themselves with sheep’s skins, and joining a flock of sheep which was returning into the city, they entered in its midst unperceived. Once arrived at the principal gate they seized it and admitted their confrères. Without attaching any importance to this fable, which is repeated merely as an example of the inventive powers of some of the old historians, it is no doubt probable that some stratagem was successfully practised by which the city did fall into their hands. Nothing, however, is really known, as all accurate details are wanting. It has been presumed, and probably with reason, that an extensive fire, which nearly destroyed the convent during the first century of the residence of the Order in the island, may have consumed such documentary details of the siege as were likely to have been retained amongst the public archives.

The name of Rhodes is supposed to have been derived from the roses, for which the island was famous. It had previously been called by the Greeks Orphieuse, or the island of serpents, owing to the number of venomous reptiles with which it was in those days infested. Possessing a mild and equable climate, which, while far removed from the scorching heat of the tropics, was at the same time free from the chilling blasts of more northern latitudes, with a soil of such fertility as to render the whole island one vast garden, broken into alternate masses of hill and dale, of which the rich and varied undulations were clothed with the most brilliant verdure, it was indeed a spot likely to attract the attention and excite the desires of a body of men who, like the Hospitallers, were in search of a permanent home. The following description of the ancient Rhodes is taken from Newton’s “Travels in the Levant”:—

“Founded B.C. 408, and laid out by the same great architect, Hippodanus, who built the Pirus, Rhodes was probably one of the earliest of the Hellenic cities of which the plan was designed by one master mind. Hence that symmetry in the arrangement of the city which the rhetorician Aristides, writing in the second century A.D., describes in a well-known passage. Rhodes, he says, was built in the form of an amphitheatre; the temples and public buildings were grouped together so as to form one composition, of which the several parts balanced each other as in the design of a single edifice. The whole was encompassed by a wall, which, with its stately towers and battlements, he compares to a crown. Thetemples and other public buildings were adorned with celebrated works in painting and sculpture, and according to Pliny the city contained no less than 3,000 statues, of which 100 were of colossal size. The maritime greatness of Rhodes was due not only to its geographical position, but also to the convenience of its harbours and to the perfect equipment of the dockyards and arsenal, which from Strabo’s description occupied a large space in relation to the rest of the city, and like those of Carthage and Halicarnassus were probably screened from observation by high walls and roofs. Any curious interloper found within these forbidden precincts at Rhodes or at Carthage was liable to the punishment of death. Aristides, in describing the harbours, specially praises their convenience in reference to the prevailing winds. They are so disposed, he says, as if for the express purpose of receiving the ships of Ionia, Caria, Cyprus, and Egypt. Towering above these harbours stood the famous bronze Colossus, which from its position on the shore was probably intended to serve as a sea mark and a lighthouse. So vast a surface of polished metal reflecting the bright sky of Rhodes must have been visible from a great distance at sea, and must have been to the Rhodian mariner an object as familiar as the statue of Athene Promaehos was to those who sailed past the Attic Sunium.”

During the ages of her early civilization the hardy population of Rhodes furnished a constant supply of seamen, who in the pursuit of commerce were to be met with at every point in the Mediterranean, and whose skill and energy raised the reputation of their island to a very high pitch amongst the commonwealths of Europe. When in later years Rhodes fell under the control of the effete empire of Constantinople, it gradually beeame inoculated with the same vices and the same decay which were slowly but steadily effecting the overthrow of the mother country. At the time when the knights raised their banner in the island its inhabitants had lost all that energy and strength of character which of old distinguished them, and had bowed in abject submission under the yoke of the Saracen pirates whom they had received within their ports.

Villaret’s first act, after having secured possession of the town was to embark on board the fleet, with a large portion of his forces, for the purpose of visiting the various small islands in the vicinity. By this means he speedily enforced submission to his authority in the islands of Nisyrus, Leros, Calamos, Episeopia or Telos, Calchos, Symia, and Cos, in none of which did he meet with any serious opposition. At Cos he determined to establish as soon as possible a subsidiary fortress, perceiving its importance as a point of support. Having completed these precautionary measures for the protection of his new acquisition, Villaret returned to Rhodes in order to take the necessary steps to establish his convent there. Prom the time of the first landing of the Hospitallers until their final settlement in undisputed sovereignty over that and the neighbouring islands, a period of nearly four years had elapsed, the whole of which had been passed in a constant succession of struggles. While these events were occupying the energies and engrossing the attention of the knights of St. John, changes of the most vital importance had been taking place in Europe, by which their future fortunes were greatly affected, and to which it will be necessary now to refer.

At the death of Pope Benedict XI., the conclave of cardinals assembled to elect his successor found themselves divided into two factions, which might be distinguished as French and Italian. Fortunately for the interests of Philip the Fair of France, the leader of the French party was Cardinal Dupré, a consummate politician, and one well versed in the intrigues of a court. Perceiving that his party was not sufficiently numerous to carry the election of a French nominee, and trusting that he might meet the views of his monarch in a different way, he, on behalf of his French colleagues, suggested to the adverse faction that he would leave to them the nomination of three candidates for the post, provided they would consent to the election of whichever one of the three he might select. The Italians, perceiving that by putting forward three of their own side as candidates, they could insure the election, acceded at once to the proposal, and submitted the names of three rampant Ultramontanes for Dupré’s choice. Amongst these was Bertrand de Got, archbishop of Bordeaux, a man of unprincipled character, loose morality, and overweening ambition. Dupré conceived that Philip might, if he acted judiciously, find a willing tool in the person of this prelate, although at that moment he was an open and avowed enemy. He therefore despatched a secret messenger to the king, informing him of the decision at which the cardinals had arrived, and that the nomination of the archbishop of Bordeaux lay within the power of the French party. Philip at once wrote to Bertrand, appointing a secret rendezvous, with a view to his acceptance of certain most advantageous offers. The result of this clandestine interview was that the king undertook to procure his nomination to the chair of St. Peter, he, on his side, pledging himself to carry out the views of the former on all matters relating to church government in France. It is generally supposed that one of the clauses of this secret treaty related to the Order of the Temple, and that by it the expectant Pope pledged himself to exercise the whole authority of his new position, to support the king in effecting the speedy and complete destruction of that fraternity. Between the Templars and Philip a bitter hatred had gradually been engendered, much fostered by the numerous acts of arrogance and insubordination of which its members bad been so frequently guilty.

In order to carry out this design, Bertrand, as soon as he had been elected to the Papacy, under the title of Clement V., prepared to take the first step towards their annihilation by securing the person of the Grand-Master, James de Molay. For this purpose he wrote, as we have already seen, to the chiefs of both Orders, requiring their immediate presence at Lyons, where his court was at that time established. The ostensible purpose for which the summons was issued was to deliberate as to the propriety of organizing a new Crusade. John de Vihiers declined obeying the mandate, not from any suspicion of treachery or danger, but because he was at the moment deeply engaged in his designs upon Rhodes. James de Molay, who was really the person Clement desired to entrap, most unfortunately for himself and his Order, proved more obedient, and lost no time in repairing to France, where he arrived in the early part of the year 1307. He took with him a large accumulation of treasure, the property of the fraternity, which, for greater security, he lodged in the Temple at Paris. He was at first treated with every consideration by both king and pontiff. Various discussions took place between Clement and himself, both as to the advisability of a new Crusade and also as to a projected union of the two Orders. Indeed, Clement was so urgent on this latter point that it seems not unlikely he trusted by some such amalgamation, in which the Templars might lose all individuality, and become merged in the Order of St. John, to avoid proceeding to those extremities against them which the ruthless Philip contemplated, and to the execution of which he stood pledged by his promises to that monarch. Be this as it may, Molay strenuously opposed the suggestion, and in a lengthy document which history has preserved, he adduced numerous arguments to support his antagonism to the measure. From this moment his fate was sealed. If the Pope made his proposal as a compromise, whereby the lives and property of the Order were to be preserved, the refusal of Molay prevented its success, and thenceforward he determined to let matters take their course.

The pear was now ripe. The moment had arrived for which Philip had so long and so steadily plotted, and the fatal blow was to be no longer delayed. Secret orders were issued to the judicial authorities in every province of France, directing them simultaneously to set on foot a complete and speedy survey of all the Temple precoptories within their respective districts. They were to make themselves thoroughly acquainted with the number and persons of all knights resident therein, and on October 13th these were to be all surprised and taken prisoners. An inquiry under the Inquisition was to be afterwards instituted, the application of torture being authorized in order to extort such confessions from the unfortunate captives as might justify the proceedings which were being taken against them.

These instructions were faithfully carried into effect. On the appointed day every Templar then within the limits of the French dominions was seized, and either cast into a dungeon or placed in close confinement within his own preceptory. The principal witnesses by whom the accusations brought against the Order were to be substantiated consisted of two reprobates, both under sentence of perpetual imprisonment; one of them, Nosso de Florentin, an apostate Templar, and the other, Squire de Florian, a citizen of Béziers. Both of these worthies had been confined in the same dungeon, where they had found ample time, during their hours of enforced idleness, to concoct their charges. These proved to be of so extravagant a nature that it required the full amount of ignorance prevalent in those days to render them credible. Absurd and maliciously false as they most palpably were, the inventors trusted to be enabled, by their means, to purchase liberation from the punishment which their own heinous crimes had justly brought down upon them.

These charges, which were afterwards framed into a regular act of inquisition, embraced no less than seventy-seven different items. The first thirteen imputed to the fraternity a total disbelief in God, our Saviour, the crucifixion, the blessed Virgin and the other saints; it was therein also alleged that they performed divers acts of sacrilege, such as spitting and trampling upon the cross and the image of our Saviour. Two articles accused them of worshipping a cat as a mark of contempt for the Christian religion. Then followed eight items accusing them of a repudiation of the sacraments of the church. Six more recorded their belief in the power of the superiors of the Order to grant absolution. Then followed six others, imputing to the fraternity a number of acts during the reception of novices which cannot be further alluded to. Three more made it a crime that the reception was performed in secrecy. Abominations, too disgusting to be named, were the subject of the next seven, after which came twenty-one more, accusing them of the worship of idols, and the remaining articles related to matters of heretical depravity. The idol alluded to as an object of worship was described as having two carbuncles for eyes, “bright as the brightness of heaven,” and as being covered with an old skin embalmed, having the appearance of a piece of polished oil cloth. In their rites and ceremonies to this attractive object of worship they were supposed to roast infants, and to lubricate their idol with the fat. It was also said that they burned the bodies of their deceased brethren, and made the ashes into a powder, which they administered to the novices of the fraternity, to confirm them in their idolatry, together with other abominations too absurd and horrible to be recapitulated.

On the 19th October, 1307, the Grand Inquisitor commenced his examination of the knights confined within the Temple at Paris, whose number amounted to 140. These unfortunate men were, one after the other, subjected to the most fearful tortures under the practised hands of the Dominicans, at that time justly esteemed the most expert torturers of the age.

Whilst these revolting barbarities were being perpetrated in France, Philip had written to Edward II., who had just ascended the throne of England, enumerating the various accusations then being brought against the Order, and urging upon that monarch the advisability of his following the same line of conduct. To this letter Edward sent a reply, the tone of which shewed a strong disbelief in the imputations cast upon the Templars. He distinctly refused to take any active measures in the matter without a strict preliminary inquiry. It may be assumed that the result of this investigation was favourable to the accused, since we find Edward writing to the kings of Aragon, Castile, Portugal, and Sicily, on the 4th of December in the same year, requesting them to pay no attention to the accusations then being brought against the fraternity. He at the same time wrote to the Pope, stating his conviction that these rumours of foul and discreditable practices were utterly without foundation. Unfortunately for the Templars, the Pope had just addressed a bull to Edward, dated the 22nd of November, which must have reached him within a few days after he had despatched his own letter. In this document his Holiness reiterated all the accusations that had been previously brought forward, and which, he asserted, were confirmed by the confessions extorted from the knights who were prisoners in France. He therefore directed Edward, in that tone of arrogant superiority with which the pontiffs in those days were wont to address the monarchs of Europe, to cause all the Templars in his dominions to be taken into immediate custody, and their property to be lodged in the hands of trustees, that it might be held in safety until he should send further instructions on the subject.

Whether this bull had really the effect of convincing Edward of the justice of the accusatons, or whether he felt himself unable to cope with his ecclesiastical superior, or, again, whether he foresaw, in the impending dissolution of the Order, a prospect of securing for himself or for some of his unworthy favourites a goodly slice of that fair patrimony which the Templars had so long enjoyed within his dominions, and whose broad acres seemed now likely to fall a prey to the strongest arm, whichever of these reasons influenced the king, it is very certain, that in obedience to the orders of the Pope, all the brethren in England, save such as were fortunate enough to elude the grasp of the law, were seized within their preceptories on the 8th of January, 1308. The number thus made prisoners amounted to 229. It will not be necessary to enter into any details of the proceedings which were carried on in the two countries, the accusations being practically the same, and the result not very dissimilar. Whilst, however, the examinations of the prisoners were prosecuted in England with comparatively little cruelty, those undergone by the unfortunate victims of Philip’s malevolence were coupled with every species of torture which the diabolical ingenuity of the Dominicans could devise. A large number perished under the hands of the questioners, and many more sought a temporary relief from their agonies by confessions which admitted the justice of the accusations brought against them.

There still remained steadfast an heroic band, whose powers of endurance had enabled them to survive the tortures under which their weaker brethren had succumbed, and the constancy of whose courage had carried them through even that fearful trial, and had given them the power manfully and firmly to maintain their innocence to the last. Of these noble examples of the true Christian soldier, fifty-four were burnt alive in Paris in a single day. They died, testifying to the last to the fair fame of their Order, and the fearful injustice of the persecution to which they had fallen victims.

It was at length determined, between the Pope and the king, that matters should be brought to a close; a solemn council was therefore convoked in the winter of 1311, to decide upon the ultimate.fate of the fraternity. The members of this council, ecelesiastics though they were, and antagonistic as they had so often proved themselves to the Templars, shrank, when the critical moment arrived, from the task of utterly annihilating an Order which for so many years had, by its noble deeds in the Christian cause, gained for itself the applause of every gallant spirit throughout Europe. Neither Philip nor Clement was to be turned from his fell purpose by the reluctance of a council of scrupulous ecclesiastics. The latter, in virtue of that plenary authority to which his position entitled him, decreed, on his own responsibility, and without even the form of sanction from the council, the utter and immediate suppression of the fraternity. After much discussion, and a variety of counter propositions, it was decided that all the estates of the Templars throughout Europe were to be transferred to the knights of St. John, the revenues arising therefrom to be consecrated to the defence of the Holy Land, and of the pilgrims who still continued annually to seek its shores.

The concluding act of the bloody drama remained yet to be performed. The Grand-Master and the three grand-priors of Normandy, France, and Aquitaine still languished within the dungeons of their persecutor. The extremity of the torture to which they had been subjected had elicited from each of these dignitaries a partial confession of some of the absurd accusations brought against them, and it was deemed advisable, in order to justify the atrocious cruelties and the scandalous spoliation of which the fraternity had been the victims, that these confessions should be reiterated with the utmost publicity by the unfortunate knights. For this purpose a scaffold was erected in front of the cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, and on the 18th of March, 1313, the citizens were summoned to hear the confessions of these, the four principal officers of the Order, read aloud and confirmed by themselves. As soon as the prisoners had taken their places on the scaffold the bishop of Alba, after a violent harangue, in which he recapitulated the principal accusations that had been brought against the Templars, read aloud the contents of a document purporting to be an admission of their guilt on the part of the Grand-Master and his three confreres. When called upon to confirm these confessions, the priors of France and Aquitaine admitted the truth of the statements, and by this act of cowardice on their part purchased an ignominious reprieve of their doom. James de Molay, however, advancing to the edge of the scaffold, repudiated in a loud tone of voice his previous admissions. He announced to the assembled multitude that not only had they been originally extorted from him in a moment of weakness under the agony of torture, but further that they had been distorted and interpolated in a most scandalous and barefaced manner by the inquisitors before whom the examinations had been conducted, and who, he stated, deserved the death to which Saracens condemn those who have been convicted of lying and forgery. The prior of Normandy commenced to make a similar recantation, but the authorities hurriedly brought his address to a close, and the two recusants were taken back to their prison. The indignation of Philip was unbounded at this unexpected result of a proceeding by which he had contemplated a complete justification for the severity of his previous persecutions, and he determined to wreak a fearful vengeance on the authors of his disappointment. Without the delay of an hour the fiat for their instant execution was issued, and on that same evening James de Molay and his fellow-victim Guy, the prior of Normandy, were both burnt before a slow fire on a small island in the river Seine. The spot where this tragedy took place is now marked by the erection of the equestrian statue of Henry IV.

The promulgation of the papal mandate announcing the extinction of the Order of the Temple had been followed by a bull carrying out the decision of the council, before mentioned, namely, that its property should be transferred to the knights of St. John. For a considerable time this mandate remained a complete nullity; eventually a small portion of the forfeited revenues did find its way into the treasury of the Hospitallers. In Castile, Aragon, and Portugal the respective monarchs created new military Orders, taking for themselves the position of Grand-Masters under the title of perpetual administrators. The ostensible purpose of these new establishments was the provision of a barrier to repel the inroads of the Moors, the real motive being that by this means they retained all the property of the defunct fraternity in their own hands. In France Philip laid claim to the sun of 200,000 livres as a reimbursement of the money which the prosecution of the Templars had cost him, and his son extorted a further sum of 60,000 livres before he could be brought to permit the transfer of the much-coveted lands to the Hospitallers. In England the overthrow of the brotherhood was followed by a general scramble for the good things thus left without an owner. Much was seized by Edward for himself; more was transferred to favourites about the court, whilst in other cases claims were put in by the heirs of the original donors which were acceded to. The Pope, indignant at this secular appropriation of so much ecclesiastical property, wrote most urgently and menacingly upon the subject. Ultimately the dread of papal fulminations led to the enactment of a bill in parliament in the year 1324, by which the Hospitallers were put into legal possession of their rights. They found, however, to their cost, that in those troublous times there was a vast difference between legal rights and actual possession. The struggle between themselves and the many vultures who had settled upon the prey was continued for a lengthened period, and rendered the addition to their property in England a matter far more nominal than real.

Such was the sad end of the Order of the Temple, an institution coeval with that of the Hospital, and which had stood side by side with it on many a well-fought field, and during many a protracted struggle. Now, whilst the one Order had by its recent conquest of Rhodes raised itself to a still higher position in the estimation of the world, the sun of its rival’s glory had set in gloom, and was for ever quenched in blood.

The accusations by which its overthrow had been achieved were in themselves so preposterous and ludicrous that they were evidently only a cloak behind which to conceal the actual motives which influenced its persecutors. At the present time it seems extraordinary that such childish and absurd fabrications should have entered the imaginations of men like Philip and his co-adjutors—men distinguished for the vigour of their judgment and the wisdom of their policy, unscrupulous though it too often was. The result, however, proved that they rightly gauged the intelligence of the age, and that their fables were suited to the capacity of those for whose benefit they had been concocted. No statement was too gross, no imputation too transparent for the vulgar prejudices and credulity of the fourteenth century. Under cover of popular ignorance, and beneath the mask of pious enthusiasm, a bitter vengeance was wreaked for many a bygone injury and many a forgotten insult; forgotten, that is, by the haughty Templar in all the pride of his wealth and position, but not by those who were quietly biding their time, and by whom it was carefully nursed in silence and in secret until the fatal hour should arrive when it might be promptly and amply avenged.

Still, although it cannot for one instant be denied that the pretences under cover of which the annihilation of the fraternity was accomplished, were utterly false and without a shadow of foundation, it does not therefore follow that the Order is to be acquitted of all evil, and to be surrounded by that halo of martyrdom which it has been the object of so many panegyrists to spread over its later days. The motives ordinarily attributed to Philip, Clement, and the other authors of their overthrow, will not suffice entirely to account for the catastrophe, though doubtless they may have had much weight in the matter. If it were avarice alone that prompted the act, how came it that Clement, who was the principal agent in the transaction, never dreamt of appropriating their revenues to himself, or even to the ecclesiastics under his own immediate control; but on the contrary, exerted his authority to the utmost to transfer them intact to the rival fraternity of the Hospital? Again, how came it that that Order did not itself share the same fate? Had the amount of their worldly possessions been the only object by which the decision of the judges was influenced, the Hospitallers would have been their first victims. They were more numerous and endowed with far larger revenues, if not in England, at all events in France, where the plot was first hatched; they would therefore have afforded a far richer booty to the spoiler than could have been extorted from the Templars. Had this motive of avarice been the only incentive which prompted Philip, who was the original author of the scheme, he was not the person to have tamely submitted to be defrauded of any portion of his gains at the very moment when they had fallen within his grasp through an abject dread of the ecclesiastical fulminations which were the only weapons Clement could have wielded against him. The Pope was, moreover, a creature of his own, elected by his nomination and pledged to support him in all his undertakings. What then had he to fear, even though he had retained in his own possession every acre of land which throughout. the breadth of his fair kingdom had once been lorded over by the red cross knights?

We must needs look deeper than this for the motives which prompted the annihilation of one Order, whilst aggrandizing the other on its ruins. At this distance of time, and in the absence of any conclusive evidence on the subject, it would be unjust to assert positively what these motives may have been. That the Templars had of late years achieved for themselves a reputation far from enviable is an indisputable fact; that dissoluteness, riot, and debauchery of every kind had for some time past been rampant within their preceptories must be admitted by every impartial student of history. To drink like a Templar had become a by-word throughout Europe. Nor were their vices confined to intemperance only; they had become cankered and corrupted through the vitiating influences of inactivity and sloth. The objects for which they had been originally called together in the bands of brotherhood, and which had been their invigorating influence during two centuries, had been abandoned by them voluntarily and for ever. The Templar in his saddle traversing the sandy plains of Palestine was an institution of the country, and, as such, grew and flourished, the European preceptories being only so many offshoots and nurseries from which the parent stem was nourished. Now that stately tree had been felled; Syria had been abandoned, and naught was left but its clinging roots, ramifying within the soil of every country in Europe, devoid of strength sufficient to enable it to spring up afresh, and yet drawing from the impoverished land, in the midst of which it had been planted, that sustenance which could ill be spared. It was the universal feeling that the day of the Order was over.

Philip and Clement were therefore only carrying out the popular verdict when they swept it away from the earth for ever. Even at the present time there are not wanting those who, without accepting the outrageous and absurd accusations enumerated above, still consider that there existed in the fraternity some unholy compact which held them together by its secret spell. There was in their mode of reception, and in many of the other formulæ of the Order, so much that was hidden from the vulgar gaze, and such strict secrecy practised, that it is not impossible, nay, it is not even unlikely, that this belief may have much truth in it. It is a curious fact that the Hospitallers, against whom no similar accusations were levelled, abjured all secrecy in their forms and ceremonies, and it is not easy to imagine the object of so much mystery if there were nothing which required concealment. Sir Walter Scott has, in his romance of “Ivanhoe,” placed in the mouth of Brian de Bois Guilbert, a knight of the Temple, during his interview with Rebecca the Jewess, a confession that within the secret conclave of his Order difference of creed was held in derision as a nursery tale, and that their wealth was dedicated to ends of which their pious founders little dreamed, and which were concealed from all such as embraced their profession on the ancient principles of the Order. Sir Walter, who was undoubtedly a careful portrayer of character, and one thoroughly well versed in the traditions of the age of which he wrote, would never have ventured upon such a trait as this had he not been well assured of its probability. All the concurrent testimony of the time points in that one direction, and thereby accounts for the apparent anomaly which left the one fraternity intact whilst the other was destroyed.

Nevertheless, whatever may have been, their crimes, whatever their vices, it is impossible to study this last sad scene in their eventful career without a strong feeling of pity for their cruel fate. However they may have degenerated in their later years, they had for two centuries borne their part nobly in the struggles of the East, and had earned for themselves a reputation which should have saved them from so disastrous an end. Within these pages their name will not again appear; from this time their brethren of the Hospital will be left to struggle on alone; but the ill-disciplined gallantry and the impetuous valour of the Templar, now that he is no more, may well be pleaded in palliation of those crimes which so unfortunately darkened his fair fame.