# A History of the Knights of Malta/Chapter 15

CHAPTER XV.
1522—1534.
The surrender of Rhodes took place on the 20th December, 1522, and by the terms of the capitulation a period of twelve days was granted to the knights within which they were to carry out its stipulations. Messengers were despatched to the castle of St. Peter at Budrum, and to the island of Lango, the only two outposts which had been maintained during the siege, directing the immediate withdrawal of the garrisons, which were to retire to the island of Candia.
The provisions of the treaty were not at first carried out by the Turks with much exactitude; many foul outrages were perpetrated by the janissaries after they had obtained possession of the city; churches were desecrated, women violated, the inhabitants plundered, and other excesses committed. For these acts of barbarity the sultan can in no way be held responsible, for the moment he heard of what was taking place, he at once issued a most peremptory mandate to the aga of the janissaries, intimating that that officer should pay the penalty of any further infractions of the treaty with his head. Solyman, indeed, appears throughout this transaction to have been moved by a desire of showing magnanimity and clemency. That such clemency was not one of his usual attributes, the horrors per​petrated with his sanction at the capture of Belgrade fully testify. He was evidently actuated by some unusual motive in pursuing so different a line of conduct with the defenders of Rhodes. The stubbornness of their resistance during a period of six months, and the gigantic losses they had inflicted on his army, must have exasperated him greatly. It redounds, therefore, much to his credit that he did not allow himself to be carried away by any feelings of animosity when the time came for their gratification.
On the day succeeding that on which the capitulation was signed a large fleet was descried on the horizon, bearing down on Rhodes; the idea prevalent in both armies was that this was the long looked-for succour arriving from Europe. The feelings of L’Isle Adam and his fraternity may be conceived as they reflected that had they held out but for two days longer they could have saved their beloved city. When, however, the fleet drew nearer it was seen that the vessels bore the Turkish flag. Solyman had, in fact, some time previously summoned a fresh body of troops from the frontiers of Persia. This reinforcement, amounting to 15,000 men, had now arrived, and it reflects honour on the sultan that he took no advantage of its presence to alter the terms of the capitulation, the ink of which was as yet scarce dry.
​The sultan made a second entry on the 29th December, which Rafts thus describes:—“On the 29th December, the sultan, on horseback, entered the town by the gate of Kyzil Capou (the St. John or Cosquino gate), with the same pomp as on the first occasion; he visited the harbour, and admired the massive chain which closed it, and the engines of war which the infidels had made use of during the siege.”
After this visit to the town, L’Isle Adam received a notification through Achmet pasha that he was expected to pay his respects to the sultan in person. Unwilling as he was to submit to what he considered an act of degradation, the Grand-Master felt that at such a critical moment it would be most unwise to create any irritation in the mind of Solyman. He therefore, on the last day of the year, presented himself in the Ottoman camp, and demanded a farewell audience of his conqueror. Turkish pride kept the poor old man waiting at the entrance of the sultan’s pavilion through many weary hours during that winter day, and it required all the fortitude of L’Isle Adam’s character to bear with composure the slight thus cast on him. At length, the vanity of Solyman having been sufficiently gratified, the Grand-Master was admitted, when the courtesy of his reception in some measure atoned for the previous slight. An eye-witness of the interview states that, on their first meeting, each gazed in silence on the other. The sultan was the first to speak. After some words of condolence and praise for his gallant and protracted defence, Solyman proceeded to make the most brilliant offers to L’Isle Adam, urging him to abandon his religion and to take service under himself. Against such offers the mind of the Grand-Master revolted with horror. “After,” replied he, “a life spent not ingloriously in combating for my religion and maintaining its cause, I could not cast so foul a slur upon my later days as to abandon that religion for any worldly prospects whatever. Even the sultan himself must feel that I should be no longer worthy of that esteem which he has been pleased so graciously to express towards me. I only crave of his magnanimity that the terms of the capitulation may be maintained inviolate, and that I and my followers may be freely permitted to seek our fortunes in a new home.” On this head Solyman assured him that he need have no uneasiness, and the Grand-Master left the ​imperial presence with every mark of respect. The sorrow of the old man, so natural on abandoning the cherished home of his Order, touched the sultan greatly, and he could not forbear exclaiming to his vizier, “It is not without some feelings of compunction that I compel this venerable warrior at his age to seek a new home.” The interview is thus narrated by Hafiz:—“On the 31st December, the chief of the fortress, Mastori Mialo (a corruption of Meghas Mastoris, or Grand-Master), having obtained permission, came to take leave of the sublime sultan at a divan. The sultan desired to make him a gift of a large number of ingots of gold, precious stones, and other valuable offerings, and renewed his permission that the Order might make use of the galleys and other craft which had belonged to them, on condition, as he added with tears in his eyes, that the next day should see them quit the island. On this the chief of the infidels withdrew with a pensive mien, and left for Frengistan.”
On the night of the 1st January, 1523, this sad event took place. Four thousand of the Christian inhabitants of Rhodes preferred to follow the fortunes of the knights into exile rather than remain under the sway of the Turk. Amidst a general display of grief the fleet sailed and made its way to Caudia. Misfortune seemed to dog the wanderers on their road. A severe hurricane overtook them, and several of the smaller craft were lost. Others were saved by throwing overboard the little property which the unfortunate refugees had rescued from the town, so that when the scattered fleet. reassembled at Spinalonga there were many on board who were reduced to actual beggary. The governor of Candia welcomed the fugitives with every mark of hospitality, and urged on them the advisability of wintering in the island; but L’Isle Adam felt that he had much before him requiring prompt decision and immediate action. He therefore only remained long enough to refit and to repair, as far as practicable, the damages his fleet had sustained in the late storm.
Whilst waiting for this purpose he was joined by the garrisons of Budrum and Lango, and he also heard of the ​miserable fate of his protégé Amurath, the son of Djem. This young prince had been unable to elude the vigilance of the sultan, and to make his escape with his protectors. His disguise having been discovered he was captured and brought before Solyman, to whom he boldly announced himself a member of the Christian faith. On this the sultan, who was on1y too glad of an excuse to make away with him, ordered him to be strangled in front of the troops. The incident of Amurath’s fate has been but lightly touched upon by the historians of the siege of Rhodes, probably because it seems to cast a slur on the otherwise fair fame of L’Isle Adam. Amurath had many years before thrown himself on the protection of the Order; he had embraced the Christian religion, and had ever since lived peaceably at Rhodes. It was well known that his residence there was a constant source of disquietude and anxiety to the Ottoman sultan. The Grand-Master could not, therefore, have been ignorant of the risk the young prince ran, should he ever fall into that monarch’s power. Yet we find the capitulation of Rhodes agreed on without any mention of his name, and no precautions taken to shield the illustrious convert from the vengeance of his implacable foe. The city was handed over to the sultan, and with it the unfortunate victim who had intrusted his all to the good faith of the knights of St. John. The result was what must have been foreseen, and the feelings of L’Isle Adam, when he learnt the sad fate of the young prince, must have been painfully remorseful.
True, he had much excuse for his conduct. Not only the lives of his own fraternity, but those also of thousands of the citizens, hung upon the terms which he could obtain from the Turks. It is possible that he may have endeavoured to include Amurath in the general amnesty, and that the condition was peremptorily rejected by the sultan. If this were so, L’Isle Adam would have had a very difficult point of conscience to decide. Either he must have given up the lives of all within the city to maintain inviolate his honour towards his guest, and that, too, without by such action saving the young prince, who would have fallen with the others; or, on the other hand, he must sacrifice him for the general ​weal. In doing the latter he seems to have acted with more prudence than chivalry.
L’Isle Adam hastened to quit Candia as soon as possible, being anxious to place himself in close proximity to the court of Rome. He therefore selected the port of Messina as the next point of rendezvous. The larger vessels proceeded there direct, under command of the Turcopolier, William Weston, whilst he himself, with the great mass of his followers, pursued his course more leisurely. In token of the loss his Order had sustained, he no longer suffered the White Cross banner to be displayed, but in its stead he substituted an ensign bearing the effigy of the Virgin Mary, with her dead Son in her arms, and beneath it the motto, “Afflictis spes mea rebus.”
The Grand-Master was welcomed by the Sicilian authorities with the same hospitality as had been displayed in Candia, and the viceroy announced that the emperor invited the members of the fraternity to make their residence in the island for as long a time as they found convenient.
L’Isle Adam’s greatest fear had been that his knights, finding themselves deprived of their convent home, might follow the fatal example of the Templars and retire into their various European commanderies. One of his first steps, therefore, after quitting Rhodes, had been to solicit special authority from the Pope to prevent the dispersion of the homeless wanderers. Adrian, who recognized the wisdom of the request, lost no time in acceding thereto, so that when L’Isle Adam entered the port of Messina he found already awaiting him a bull, in which the Pope, under the severest penalties, enjoined the members of the Order to remain with him wherever he might lead them.
Having established a Hospital, and taken such steps as were in his power to provide for the comfort of his followers, L’Isle Adam caused a rigid investigation to be made into the reason for the non-arrival of reinforcements during the siege. He had himself upon several occasions despatched envoys from the island to hurry on these much-required succours, but none had ever returned. Now that he found them all reassembled at Messina, he called for a full explanation of their conduct. The cause alleged was the unprecedentedly tempestuous state ​of the weather. From various points efforts had been made to bring up the necessary relief, but the incessant violent and contrary winds which had prevailed prevented their departure. One English knight, indeed, Thomas Newport, the bailiff of Aquila, had persisted in the endeavour to force his way to Rhodes in spite of every obstacle, and he fell a victim to his temerity, the vessel with all on board having been lost on the voyage. The explanation was accepted as satisfactory, and the Grand-Master in council pronounced a full acquittal of the accused.
The plague having at this juncture broken out amongst the exiles, the authorities of Messina ordered L’Isle Adam to leave the port. With the permission of the viceroy the refugees were all transferred to the gulf of Baiss, where they remained for a month. At the expiration of that time, the pestilence having disappeared, they proceeded to Civita Vecchia, whence the Grand-Master pushed on to Rome to pay a personal visit to the Pope. He was received with the greatest distinction, and Adrian pledged himself to use every possible exertion to obtain for the knights a new home, where they might establish themselves on a footing as advantageous to themselves and to the support of Christian power in the Levant, as that which they had held at Rhodes. These promises were unfortunately rendered futile by the death of the pontiff, which occurred shortly after. The honour of guarding the conclave which was assembled for the election of a successor once more devolved upon the knights of St. John. Giulio di Medici ascended the papal throne under the title of Clement VII., and great hopes were entertained that he would prove a powerful support to the fraternity from the fact that he had himself been a knight of St. John, the first Hospitaller who had ever attained to the chair of St. Peter. These hopes were to a large extent fulfilled. Clement had no sooner assumed his new position than he reiterated all the promises of his predecessor, and pledged himself to exert his influence in obtaining a suitable home for the convent. The islands of Elba, Cerigo, and Candia were severally named, but the objections to each seemed insurmountable. At last the idea of the island of Malta, with its dependency Gozo, was suggested, ​and this seemed the proposal which met with the most general consent.
A request was consequently made by the Grand-Master, supported by the authority of the Pope, to Charles V., emperor of Germany, in whose possession these islands then were as an offshoot of the kingdom of Sicily, for their transfer to the Order of St. John. To this application the emperor returned a favourable answer, as he was delighted at the prospect of setting up a new and formidable barrier against the aggressions of the Turk, who, now that Rhodes had fallen, appeared likely to threaten the kingdom of Sicily. He fettered his offer, however, by two very unpalatable conditions; one that the city of Tripoli on the north coast of Africa should be coupled with the islands, and the other that the Order should render fealty to him. The city of Tripoli was a charge which would greatly impede the free action of the knights, and exposed as it was would lock up a large portion of their available force. As regarded the question of fealty, one of the main principles involved in the foundation of the Order was its cosmopolitan character. Embodying within itself, as it did, members of every nation in Europe, it was impossible that fealty should be rendered to any one sovereign without offence to the others. Still, the emperor’s gift was not to be hastily rejected, and L’Isle Adam trusted that with a little patience he might succeed in softening the severity of the conditions.
Meanwhile a body of commissioners, eight in number, one of each langue, was appointed to visit the islands in question, and to report to the council then residing at Viterbo on their capabilities. L’Isle Adam was the more disposed to let matters take their course quietly and slowly, since a prospect had suddenly developed itself of his being able to recover possession of the city of Rhodes. Achmet pasha, to whom, as we have already seen, the command of the Turkish army was intrusted, upon the degradation of Mustapha, had been despatched into Egypt to quell an insurrection there. Having succeeded in this, his ambition prompted him to renounce allegiance to the sultan, and to establish himself as a sovereign prince over the kingdom. As a support in his new and insecure position, he sought the assistance of such European powers as he con​sidered likely to lend their aid in a movement tending to enfeeble the Ottoman empire. To L’Isle Adam he addressed himself more particularly, informing him that he had it within his power to restore to the fraternity its lost stronghold of Rhodes. The new commander of fort St. Nicholas was, he said, a creature of his own, who, if an adequate force were landed on the island, would surrender his post and join the invaders. L’Isle Adam was so struck with the plausibility of the scheme that he despatched the commander Bosio to Rhodes disguised as a merchant, that he might inquire into the general state of the island, and enter, if possible, into a negotiation with the commandant of fort St. Nicholas.
This knight performed his mission with admirable tact, and on his return to Viterbo gave a promising picture of the feasibility of the enterprise. The fortifications had been left unrepaired since the siege, and were consequently in a ruinous condition. The Christian inhabitants of the island had found the Turkish yoke very different from the just government of the knights, and were eager to enter into any project for the recovery of the fortress. The commandant of St. Nicholas had pledged himself to join the movement provided it were supported by an adequate force; it therefore only remained for L’Isle Adam to collect sufficient troops and at once take possession of his old home. Unfortunately this, simple as it seemed, was a matter involving much delay, since the Order, in its then beggared position, did not possess the means of raising such a force, but was compelled to seek assistance for the purpose. This there was but little present hope of obtaining, owing to the distracted condition of European politics. The king of France was at that moment a prisoner in the hands of the emperor, having been captured at the battle of Pavia, and a league was being formed between the Pope and the rulers of France and England to check, if possible, the overpowering advance of Charles.
At this juncture, L’Isle Adam was requested by the regent of France to act as an escort to the duchess of Alençon, the sister of the captive monarch. That fair lady trusted to her charms, which were very great, for she was one of the most beautiful women in Europe, and to her wit, to obtain terms for ​the liberation of her brother less rigorous than those which the emperor seemed determined to extort. L’Isle Adam gladly accepted the commission, as it would enable him to obtain a personal interview with both monarchs, an object he had much at heart, lie proceeded to Marseilles, for the purpose of escorting the lovely princess to her destination. This action gave great umbrage to the emperor’s ministers in Italy, who conceived that such a step was a declaration of support to the French cause; they therefore at once sequestered the whole of the Order’s property in that country; L’Isle Adam did not allow this arbitrary act to prevent him from pursuing the course he had proposed; he therefore accompanied the duchess to Madrid, and aided her with all the keenness of his political sagacity in treating for the liberation of her brother. In this matter he was, in fact, the more successful of the two. At the expiration of her safe conduct she was compelled to return to France, and it was after her departure that L’Isle Adam succeeded in concluding a treaty between the two kings, whereby Francis regained his liberty. The favourable issue of this negotiation, which had in vain been attempted by the leading politicians of Europe, reflected the highest credit on the tactics of L’Isle Adam, who now added the character of a talented diplomatist to that he already had acquired of being one of the leading captains in Europe.
A heavy ransom having been one of the conditions upon which the liberty of the French monarch depended, a general levy was made throughout his dominions to raise the necessary funds. The privileges of the Order of St. John exempted its property in France from any share in this contribution, ​still the knights were anxious to join in the good work of releasing a monarch who had always proved himself a friend to their interests. They therefore waived the right of exemption, and joined in the taxation on the same terms as the other ecclesiastical bodies in the realm, merely requiring from the king letters patent, declaratory of the fact that this contribution was perfectly voluntary, and was, under no circumstances, to be treated as a precedent. A deed to that effect was signed by the king at St. Germain, on the 19th March, 1527.
This matter having been settled, L’Isle Adam availed himself of the opportunity afforded by the presence of the two sovereigns, to submit his project for the recapture of Rhodes. The emperor entered warmly into the scheme, and offered a contribution of 25,000 crowns, at the same time informing the Grand-Master that, should this design fail, he might still accept the island of Malta. Gladdened by the success of his mission, L’Isle Adam left Spain in 1526 and proceeded to France, where he trusted to obtain additional assistance for the undertaking. Whilst there he was informed that Henry VIII. was much piqued at the fact that he should neglect to pay a personal visit to the court of England as he had done in Spain and France, and was therefore seizing upon the revenues of the Order, and also demanding from the knights of the English langue military service in his garrison of Calais. Undeterred by the severity of the winter and his own age, L’Isle Adam decided on at once proceeding to London to mollify the offended potentate. He therefore despatched the commander, Bosio, to cardinal Wolsey, to inform him of the intended visit. Henry, appeased by this mark of deference, directed that he should be received with all honour, and every preparation was made to give a hearty welcome to the hero of Rhodes. After having reposed for some days at the priory of Clerkenwell, L’Isle Adam paid his respects at the palace, where he was received with the most gracious cordiality. To assist him in his design upon Rhodes, Henry promised him the sum of 20,000 crowns, which he afterwards gave in the form of artillery. He at the same time suspended all his obnoxious proceedings against the fraternity.
The Grand-Master now returned to Italy, trusting to be at ​length enabled to organize his expeditionary force. There he found everything in a state of the utmost confusion. The Pope had drawn down upon himself the vengeance of the emperor by joining in the league against him. The constable de Bourbon, who was that monarch’s commander in Italy, had under Charles’s direction led his troops to Rome, where, having carried the city by storm, he handed it over to pillage. After holding out for a month in the castle of St. Angelo, the Pope was himself captured and taken away prisoner to Naples. This political storm completely destroyed the prospects of the knights, and it was not until nearly two years afterwards, when peace had been signed between the emperor and the Pope, that the Grand- Master was able to gain any further hearing on behalf of the interests of his fraternity. During this protracted interval the favourable opportunity was lost. Achmet pasha had been assassinated, the plots of the Rhodians discovered, and consequently all hope of success in that quarter was over. . It only remained to revert to the original project of the occupation of Malta, and the Pope, who was now reconciled to the emperor, exerted his influence for the abatement of the distasteful conditions on which the islands had been originally offered.
The result of his interposition was that an act of donation received the imperial signature at Syracuse on the 24th of March, 1530, by which deed Charles vested in the Order of St. John the complete and perpetual sovereignty of the islands of Malta and Gozo, and the city of Tripoli, together with all their castles and fortresses. The only conditions attached to the gift were that the knights should never make war upon the kingdom of Sicily; that they should annually present a falcon to the viceroy as an acknowledgment; that the nomination to the bishopric of Malta should be vested in the emperor from amongst three candidates to be selected for that purpose by the Grand-Master; that this dignitary should have a seat in the council ranking next in precedence to him; together with several other minor clauses touching the extradition of Sicilian criminal refugees, and the selection of commanders to the galleys of the Order in the Mediterranean. The whole concluded with a proviso that should the brethren at any time desire to abandon the islands, they were not to transfer them to any other power ​without the previous knowledge and consent of the emperor. Such were the terms upon which, after much negotiation, Charles was at length induced to surrender the then almost valueless islands of Malta and Gozo to a community whose indefatigable perseverance and lavish expenditure were destined to convert the former into one of the most powerful fortresses in the world.
This deed was presented to the commander Bosio by the emperor in person, and that knight instantly hurried off to place the precious document in the hands of the Grand-Master. During the journey he met with an accident from the overturning of his carriage, and the ignorance of an unskilful surgeon caused a comparatively trivial injury to terminate fatally. Feeling his end at hand, and knowing the anxiety of his chief on the subject of the Maltese donation, he sent the deed forward under charge of a Rhodian gentleman by whom he had been accompanied.
The gift of the emperor was promptly confirmed by a papal bull, on the receipt of which L’Isle Adam sent two knights of the grand-cross to Sicily to receive from the viceroy a formal investiture of the territory. As soon as this ceremony was completed, they proceeded to take possession of their new acquisition, and to place members of the fraternity in command of the various posts when handed over to them. A dispute arose with the viceroy on the subject of the free exportation of corn and the privilege of coining money within the new possession, which prevented the Grand-Master from proceeding to Malta for some months. These difficulties were at length adjusted, and then he at once set sail from Syracuse, and landed safely in his new home.
The first view which greeted the wanderers was certainly not reassuring or attractive. Accustomed as they had been to the luxuriant verdure of Rhodes, the fertility of which had gained it the title of the garden of the Levant, they were but ill- prepared for the rocky and arid waste which met their eyes in Malta. Few persons who now behold the island, occupied as it is with the commerce of Europe and Asia, presenting a busy scene of wealth and prosperity, with its massive defences rising in frowning tiers around its harbours, can picture to themselves ​the desolate and unprotected rock which fell into the possession of the Order of St. John in the year 1530.
The antecedent history of Malta is not important, and may be very briefly narrated. It was originally colonized by the Phœnicians, and in many parts it is rich in remains of that people. About 755 n.c. the Greeks, returning from the siege of Troy, overran the Mediterranean, founded some cities in Calabria, and amongst other acquisitions established themselves in Malta, driving out the Phœnicians. Prior to this event the island had been known by the name of Ogygia, which was now changed into that of Meitas. It remained in the undisturbed possession of the Greeks for 200 years, at the expiration of which period the Carthaginians disputed with them its sovereignty, and eventually succeeded in wresting it from their hands. In the second Punic war Sempronius established the dominion of Rome in Malta, driving out its Carthaginian inhabitants. The Greeks were, however, allowed to remain, and their laws and customs were not interfered with. The island was attached to the government of Sicily, and was ruled by a pro-prætor or deputy governor, dependent on that province. Whilst under Roman sway, Malta attained a high pitch of civilization and refinement. Situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, within a short distance from the shores of three continents, it speedily became a thriving mart for much of the commerce of Rome. Its manufactures of cotton and linen, and its public buildings—chiefly temples erected in honour of its favourite deities—were justly celebrated throughout that part of the world. On the division of the Roman empire, the island of Malta fell to the lot of Constantine, and from that moment its decadence may be first dated. In the fifth century it was seized successively by the Vandals and Goths; and although in the next century, Belisarius, the general of Justinian, drove out the barbarians, and once more established Roman dominion, the island never recovered its former prosperity.
The rapid spread of Mahometanism in the eighth and ninth centuries brought Malta under the sway of the Saracens, who, in the early portion of the latter century, exterminated the Greek population, and established a government in their place dependent on the emir of Sicily. Much that is Saracenic, both in ​building and language, still remains to mark this period of occupation. Indeed, the Maltese may be said, as a race, to partake more of the Arabic than of the Italian type to this day. At the close of the eleventh century, count Roger, the Norman, expelled the Saracens, and established a principality in Sicily and Malta, which was subsequently converted into a monarchy under his grandson. From that time the island followed the fortunes of the kingdom of Sicily through many changes of dominion, until at length both fell into the possession of Spain after the tragedy of the Sicilian Vespers.
Its decadence during these successive stages had been continuous, and when the emperor handed it over to L’Isle Adam there was not much left to tempt the cupidity or aggression of neighbouring powers. It contained neither river nor lake, and was very deficient in springs. Its surface was almost bare rock, with but little earth, and its vegetation was in consequence poor and insignificant. Scarce a tree was to be seen throughout the island, with the exception of a few caroubas and shumacks, and the eye roamed in vain for a patch of green to relieve the glare of the white rock. The wretched villages in which the inhabitants dwelt, termed casals, partook of the general air of poverty and misery which everywhere prevailed. Its western side was rugged and inhospitable, offering no shelter to shipping, or even to boats, but the east and north were broken up into numberless creeks and harbours, some of which were of sufficient capacity to afford anchorage to the largest fleets.
This was, indeed, the great point of attraction to the knights. They had for so many years been accustomed to look to maritime enterprise as the principal source from whence their wealth and prosperity were to be derived, they had made their name so widely known, and so highly esteemed in the waters of the Mediterranean, that they were not prepared willingly to resign the position which their naval superiority had given them by the establishment of their new home in any ​locality which did not afford them facilities for pursuing their favourite calling. This, and this alone, was the motive which induced them to accept the island of Malta, and to establish on it their convent. Nature had done everything, both in the central position of the island and in the configuration of its eastern coast, to render it suitable for naval enterprise, and L’Isle Adam determined to strain every nerve to remedy the numerous disadvantages under which it otherwise laboured.
It would have seemed a sufficiently desolate outlook for the Order had it received these islands without conditions, but the emperor, who well knew how to make the best of a bargain, had insisted on the occupation of the city of Tripoli as an absolute condition of their transfer. The report of the oemmissioners despatched to inspect this new acquisition was eminently discouraging. Situated at a distance of more than 200 miles from Malta and surrounded by piratical enemies, it was not only scantily fortified at the time, but what was far worse, seemed incapable of receiving much accession to its strength. The sandy nature of the soil, presenting a very treacherous foundation, rendered the erection of ramparts and the sinking of ditches a matter of extreme difficulty, if not absolutely impracticable. It was to be feared, therefore, that any garrison which the knights might despatch for the protection of the place would run great risk of being overwhelmed before succour could reach them. They felt, however, that in this matter they had no choice. The only course for them to pursue, was to endeavour, by the utmost exercise of skill and energy, to counterbalance the natural disadvantages of this most unwelcome addition to their responsibilities.
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​laws. The keys were then presented to him, and he made his entry amidst the acclamations of the people, who trusted, and not without reason, that a new era was about to dawn on them under the vigorous sway of the Hospital.
The first care which occupied L’Isle Adam on his arrival at Malta was the selection of a suitable and defensible position for his convent. The fortifications which he found existing were of the most paltry description. The Città Notabile was indeed surrounded by a rampart and ditch, but of so miserable a character as to be almost worthless. The only other attempt at a defensive work was a little fort, called St. Angelo, which, although considered the main protection to the island and its harbours, was very feeble, and only armed with two or three small pieces of artillery.
In order the better to comprehend the locality here referred to, and the alterations which were carried into effect under the directions of the Grand-Master, it will be well to enter into a short description of this part of the island. The main harbour is divided into two parts by an elevated and rugged promontory projecting from the mainland in a north-easterly direction, and called Mount Soeberras. The height of this tongue of land is such as to give it command over all the surrounding points. The eastern of the two ports thus formed is in its turn divided into three creeks by two minor promontories which jut out from the mainland on its eastern shore. Of these two peninsulas the one nearest the entrance of the harbour was that on the extremity of which stood fort St. Angelo. Behind the fort, and extending back as far as the mainland, was a small town, or rather village, known by the name of the Bourg. The other promontory was called St. Julian, and was not in any way occupied. The western harbour, which did not present such facilities for safe anchorage as the main port, contained within it an island which greatly interfered with its use. It was further much subdivided by the sinuosities of its coast line. On this Bide there was no attempt at any work of defence or even habitation.
The practised eye of L’Isle Adam was not long in perceiving ​the advantages of the position of Mount Sceberras, dominating, as it did, both harbours, and owing to its formation secure from attack, except on the land side. Here he naturally thought of establishing his convent, and fortifying the promontory, but unfortunately the funds necessary for such an undertaking were not forthcoming. The Order had for the preceding eight years led a wandering life, accompanied by a large body of Rhodians, to the number of nearly 4,000. Most of these had subsisted mainly on the charity of the fraternity, which was distributed to them under the name of the bread of Rhodes. This expenditure had gone far towards exhausting the public treasury, so that L’Isle Adam now found himself absolutely unable to carry out any work of magnitude, even though it might clearly prove to be of the most vital necessity. lie therefore decided upon establishing himself, as a temporary measure, in the fort of St. Angelo, and fixing the convent in the adjacent Bourg. Such additions to the defences of the fort as his means permitted were at once constructed, and a line of intrenchment was drawn across the head of the promontory where it joined the mainland, so as to enclose the Bourg, and cover it as far as possible from the surrounding heights.
The Grand-Master was at this moment the less disposed to undertake any costly work in Malta because he still clung to the hope of establishing his convent in some more advantageous position. When the commander, Bosio, had visited Rhodes with the object of ascertaining the feelings of its inhabitants, he had at the same time opened negotiations in the town of Modon. This was a port in the Morea which had been captured by the Turks some few years before the last siege of Rhodes. The position of the town rendered it well adapted for maritime enterprise, and L’Isle Adam was the more anxious to obtain possession of it since its proximity to Rhodes would enable him to take the first favourable opportunity for recovering his old home. Two renegades, one the commandant of the port and the other the head of the custom house, had notified to Bosio their willingness to assist the knights in seizing the place, provided a sufficient force were despatched to make success a certainty. ​On the 17th of August, 1531, L’Isle Adam sent forth a fleet of eight galleys, under the command of Salviati, grand-prior of Rome, to attempt the capture. On arriving near Modon, Salviati hid his squadron in a sheltered creek in the island of Sapienza, which lies off the mouth of the harbour. He at the same time smuggled into the port two brigantines, ostensibly laden with timber, beneath which lay concealed a body of soldiers. The renegades, faithful to their promise, admitted these vessels, and the commandant, in order further to facilitate the seisure of the town, plied the janissaries of his garrison with wine until they were reduced to a state of helpless intoxication. At break of diy the troops landed from their hiding places, massacred the drunken guard, and obtained possession of the principal gate of the city. A gun was then fired as a signal to the rest of the fleet to show themselves and follow up the advantage which had been gained. A strong south-west wind was blowing, and this being directly contrary, prevented Salviati from hearing the report. Several hours were thus lost before any succour arrived. Meanwhile, the governor of the city, recovering from his first panic, and seeing how slender the force was by which he was attacked, collected the townspeople and led them on against the intruders. These were well-nigh overpowered, when at length, Salviati, who had been summoned from his hiding place by a boat despatched for the purpose, made his appearance, and once more turned the fortunes of the day. The Turks were driven into the citadel, and the remainder of the town fell into the hands of the knights. Unfortunately, a body of 6,000 men lay encamped within a few miles of Modon. A request for aid having been sent to them by the governor beleaguered in the citadel, they soon made their appearance and compelled the invaders to retire. Before embarking on board their galleys, however, they completely sacked the town and carried off a vast amount of plunder, as well as 800 unhappy Turks as prisoners. Thus laden they returned to Malta.
The failure of this enterprise destroyed the last hope which L’Isle Adam had entertained of finding a more congenial home than Malta. Nothing, therefore, remained but to take such further measures as should best insure security to his convent. ​Many additions were made to the fortifications and armament of St. Angelo. The ramparts surrounding the Bourg, now begin- fling to grow from a poor little village into a considerable town, were strengthened by the addition of detached works. The fortifications of the Città Notabile were restored and increased, and its protection intrusted to an ample garrison. At Tripoli similar precautions were taken. A vessel having arrived from England laden with artillery, the present of Henry VIII. to the Order, which has been already mentioned, a portion of its cargo was despatched thither to add to the armament of that exposed station.
A chapter-general was at this time convened in which were decreed several reforms rendered highly necessary by the degeneracy of the fraternity. A material change had been for a long time past gradually developing itself in the feelings and aspirations of those who sought to assume the badge of the White Cross. The religious element, which had for so long predominated in the constitution of the brethren and in the lives of the members, had almost entirely died out. True, there was the same outward observance of the ceremonies of their creed. Each postulant still took the three monastic vows. He was still told to consider himself a poor soldier of Jesus Christ, and to dedicate his life to the defence of his faith and the relief of the poor. These exhortations, however, had gradually come to be regarded in the light of a mere form. The knights of St. John had, on so many a battle-field and behind so many a well-defended rampart, earned for themselves a glorious reputation, that the badge of their founder, the White Cross of Gerard—originally assumed as a token of Christian humility, and an emblem of the eight cardinal virtues—was now coveted as a decoration which marked its wearer as a member of one of the proudest and most celebrated institutions of the age. Worldly aspirations and worldly dignities had long since taken the place of those celestial rewards which in earlier times had been the object of the postulants’ ambition. It is true, that whenever an attack was made either on their religion or their home, the knights of St. John were still ready to shed the last drop of their blood in defence of both, but the religious enthusiasm which had nerved so many of their predecessors during the desperate struggles of the twelfth ​and thirteenth centuries had vanished, or at most, only shewed itself in very feeble and fitful flashes. In its place, the haughty bearing and the arrogant assumption of a prosperous military fraternity, priding itself as much on its wealth and territorial power as on its warlike achievements, gradually became the distinguishing characteristics of the Order.
L’Isle Adam had watched with sorrow the rapid advance of this decadence, which the events of late years had much accelerated. The last days of his life were, from this cause, doomed to be spent amidst scenes of domestic strife and political discord. Well would it have been for him had he fallen gloriously during the memorable siege so imperishably connected with his name. It was, however, otherwise decreed, and he was fated to pass his last hours in the midst of turmoil most distressing to his noble heart.
One subject of dispute sprang from the succession to the newly-created bishopric of Malta. By the act of donation already referred to Charles had reserved to himself and his successors the right of nomination to this post by selection from amongst three candidates to be named by the fraternity. When the first vacancy occurred the Grand-Master was most desirous that the dignity should be conferred on Thomas Bosio, the brother of the commander whose diplomatic services have been so frequently mentioned. He was already vice-chancellor of the Order, but L’Isle Adam thought that the late commander’s services should be repaid by raising his brother to a still higher dignity. He therefore named him as one of the three candidates for the vacant post, and at the same time wrote a pressing letter to the Pope, entreating him to use his influence with the emperor to obtain the appointment for Bosio. This the Pope promptly did, and received a reply from the emperor assuring him that his request should be complied with. A considerable delay, however, took place before the nomination was made public, but eventually the deed selecting Bosio for the vacant office was deposited in the hands of the ambassador of the fraternity then resident at the court of the emperor. All seemed now satisfactorily arranged. The Grand-Master despatched Bosio to Rome with the emperor’s deed of nomination, and with instructions to tender his chief’s thanks for the share his Holiness ​had taken in the matter. What was the consternation of the bishop designate when the Pope announced to him that he had already appointed another person.
The object Clement had in view by thus nullifying his own request is not very clear. It probably arose, in the first place, from pique at the delay of the emperor in acceding to his wishes, and afterwards from a desire to retain so valuable a piece of patronage in his own hands. All remonstrance on the part either of the emperor or the Grand-Master was unavailing, and the dispute remained unsettled until the death of the Pope three years later. His successor, Paul III., anxious to conciliate the emperor, eventually confirmed the appointment to Bosio.
This solution of the affair did not, however, take place till after the death of L’Isle Adam, so that the disappointment he experienced in his attempt to provide for the brother of one who had rendered such great services to the fraternity still remained to embitter his last moments. Another dark cloud which at this time gathered over him was the loss with which the Order was threatened in England through the religious revolution then taking place in that country. Long before Henry VIII. had renounced his allegiance to the Church of Rome he had displayed symptoms of greed against the English langue. The haughty monarch could ill brook that so many broad acres should be held in his own land by a power which yielded him no allegiance, and he had more than once availed himself of the most flimsy pretexts to encroach upon the property of the Hospital. Now, however, he had thrown aside the mask and placed himself at the head of the religious movement which had for years been fermenting within his kingdom, and he soon shewed that he purposed nothing short of the complete spoliation of the langue. His measures to that effect did not receive their final development during the life of L’Isle Adam; still, enough was apparent to leave him full of anxious forebodings for the future.
He was further fated before his death to become the witness of a disturbance within his convent of a nature so serious as almost to endanger the existence of the brotherhood. The quarrel originated in a dispute between one of the secular retainers of the grand-prior of Rome and a young knight of the ​langue of Provence. A duel ensued, in which the knight was killed, not without grave suspicions of treachery on the part of his opponent. Several of the Provençal knights, under this impression, sought out the offending party. Finding him surrounded by his friends, a struggle ensued, in which some of the Italians were wounded and the remainder driven to seek refuge in the palace of the grand-prior. The members of that dignitary’s household, who were very numerous, enraged at this attack upon their countrymen, armed themselves and sallied forth for vengeance. Without distinguishing the offending Provençal knights from those of the other French langues, they assaulted them all indiscriminately. As there was always an under-current of discontent at the predominance of the French element permeating the convent, the Italians soon found themselves joined by the members of the Spanish and Portuguese langues, and thus a regular civil war broke out. The prior of Rome did his best to appease the tumult. He placed under arrest and confined in his galley those of his suite who had been guilty of this breach of the peace. That step was not, however, considered by the French knights to be a sufficient reparation. They therefore attacked the galley of the prior, and laying hands on the prisoners murdered four of them in cold blood. This lawless proceeding at once revived the discord, and a regular engagement between the antagonistic langues took place in the streets of the Bourg. In vain the Grand-Master despatched message after message to the combatants directing them to disperse under threat of the severest penalties. His menaces were unheeded, and the remainder of the day was spent in strife and confusion. Towards night, however, the bailiff of Manosque, who was possessed of great influence with both the rival factions, succeeded by personal intervention in quelling the disorder and dispersing the combatants.
Severe measures were necessary for the punishment of so serious an outbreak, and L’Isle Adam directed a searching investigation to be made to detect the ringleaders. The result of this inquiry led to the expulsion of four knights on account of the murders committed on board the galley of the grand- prior of Rome. Bosio, the Italian historian, asserts that several of the most guilty were condemned to death, and thrown into ​the sea in sacks. None of the other historians, however, make such a statement, nor is it confirmed by the criminal records of the Order. There it appears that four French knights, named respectively do Piscie, Regnault, d’Orleans, and de Vareques were deprived of their habits in the month of May, 1533, the two first for having killed four men in a galley, and the other two for being ringleaders in a tumult, and causing the death of the above four men. As, however, it was the custom of the fraternity, when capital punishment was deemed advisable, to deprive the culprit of his habit, and then to hand him over to the civil tribunal to be dealt with as an ordinary malefactor, it is possible that in the present instance that step was taken. In any case, the punishment inificted seems to have had the required effect of restoring peace to the convent.
* ↑ It is worthy of note that one of the vessels, the great carrack of Rhodes, was commanded by William Weston, who was elected Turcopolier immediately on their arrival at Candia.
* ↑ On the occasion of the first interview which took place between the rival sovereigns after the conclusion of the treaty, L’Isle Adam being present, both monarchs having to pass through a doorway, the emperor drew back, offering the precedence to the king. This the latter declined. Charles immediately appealed to the Grand-Master to decide this subtle point of etiquette, and he extricated himself from the difficulty by the following ingenious answer addressed to the king of France:—“No one, Sire, can dispute that the Emperor is the mightiest prince in Christendom, but as you are not only in his dominions, but within his palace, it becomes you to accept the courtesy by which he acknowledges you as the first of European monarchs.”
* ↑ Vide Appendix No. 9.
* ↑ This deficiency of trees still exists to a great extent, although of late years efforts have been made by successive governors to supply the want, by which it is hoped to mitigate the severity of the summer drought. These efforts are not very warmly seconded by the inhabitants, nor, indeed, looked on with much favour by them, as they hold strongly by th doctrine that much foliage breeds fever.
* ↑ A picture hangs in the palace at Malta representing this scene, an engraving from which is here given.
* ↑ Now called Methone. It i a little south of Navarino.