Albert of Schwarzburg Albert of Schwarzburg ( died 15 March 1327 ) , in contemporary sources also Albertus Alamanus ( " Albert the German " ) or Albertus de Nigro Castro , was a member of the Saxon – Thuringian House of Schwarzburg who became a member of the Knights Hospitaller , rising to be marshal and grand preceptor of the Order , and fighting with success against the Turks . Biography . Albert was the third son of Count Günter V ( IX ) of Schwarzenburg ( died 1292 / 3 ) and his first wife , Irmgard . The date of his birth is unknown and can only be approximately placed between his parents ' marriage in 1267 , and the second marriage of Günter V in 1283 . Albert appears for the first time in 1306 , as witness in a charter at Limassol in Cyprus . He was already a marshal of the Knights Hospitaller , then based in Cyprus . He was a particular favourite and protégé of the then - Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller , Fulk of Villaret ( 1305 – 1319 ) , who promoted him steadily to higher offices . Thus in 1307 , Villaret made Albert the Order ' s preceptor in Cyprus , and allowed Albert to pay only half the stipulated annual dues ( " responsions " ) to the Order . This act , a sign of Villaret ' s increasingly authoritarian behaviour and corruption , outraged many of the other leading members of the Order , and contributed to the discontent with Villaret ' s leadership , culminating in his violent deposition in 1317 . In 1310 , as the Order ' s highest - ranking representative on Cyprus , Albert played a crucial role in securing the restoration of King Henry II following the death of Henry ' s brother Amalric , who had deposed and exiled the king in 1307 . The Hospitallers were among Henry ' s staunchest supporters , and in July , Albert led a contingent of knights to the capital Nicosia to secure it in preparation for Henry ' s return . Henry , still in exile in Armenian Cilicia , named Fulk of Villaret as one of his lieutenants in Cyprus ( along with the nobleman Aygue of Bethsan ) , but Villaret , unable to come to Cyprus in person due to the ongoing conquest of Rhodes , gave the post to Albert . In this capacity , Albert served Henry on his return in August 1310 , and helped him to secure his rule . In October 1312 , Albert was appointed grand preceptor and the Order ' s representative to the Holy See and the courts of Western Europe , where he travelled as far as England . In his letter of accreditation , Fulk of Villaret fulsomely praised Albert ' s " discretion , honesty , loyalty , good administrative skills , diligence , and hard work " . Among his major tasks in this post was the absorption of the property of the recently dissolved Knights Templar , which had been transferred to the Hospitallers in May 1312 . By 1315 , Albert was back in Cyprus ( he may be the grand preceptor who survived from a shipwreck early in the year ) as preceptor of the island , a post he kept until his resignation in 1317 , when the Pope demanded that the responsions for Cyprus be once again paid in full . For the next tree years , Albert was active in campaigns against the Turkish raiders around the Order ' s new base at Rhodes . In 1318 he defeated a Turkish raid , while in the next year , with assistance from Martino Zaccaria , he scored a major victory in a sea battle off Chios on 23 July and recovered Leros , whose Greek inhabitants had risen in revolt . Finally , in 1320 he turned back an attempted Turkish invasion of Rhodes with great loss . In 1319 , the Pope also granted Albert half of the preceptory of Cyprus ( the other half going to Maurice of Pagnac ) for ten years , as well as the island of Kos , in case of its recovery from the Turks . Between 1323 and 1325 , Albert travelled in central Europe , first as a visitor to the Order ' s lands in Bohemia and Denmark , and then in several missions as envoy on behalf of the Holy Roman Emperor Louis the Bavarian to the Papal court in Avignon . From 1324 , Albert also served as the Order ' s prior in Germany . He died on 15 March 1327 and was buried at the priory of Würzburg .