Bajazet and Djem—Djem takes refuge at Rhodes—He proceeds to France, and thence to Italy—Exculpation of D’Aubusson—His last days and death—Conquests of Selim, and accession of Solyman the Magnificent—Fall of Belgrade—Election of L’Isle Adam, and his correspondence with the sultan—Preparations for a fresh siege—Review of the Knights—Appearance of Rhodes—Character of L’Isle Adam—Ceremony at St. John’s—Military spectacle—Arrival of the enemy’s fleet.
Bajazet and Djem—Djem takes refuge at Rhodes—He proceeds to France, and thence to Italy—Exculpation of D’Aubusson—His last days and death—Conquests of Selim, and accession of Solyman the Magnificent—Fall of Belgrade—Election of L’Isle Adam, and his correspondence with the sultan—Preparations for a fresh siege—Review of the Knights—Appearance of Rhodes—Character of L’Isle Adam—Ceremony at St. John’s—Military spectacle—Arrival of the enemy’s fleet.
The repulse of the infidels from the walls of Rhodes raised the order and its grand master to even a higher reputation than they had yet enjoyed. The name of D’Aubusson and his gallant knights rang through Europe, and excited an enthusiasm of admiration; and singular incidents followed on the death of Mahomet II. which served to extend the esteem and influence of the order even among the infidels themselves.
Mahomet left two sons, Bajazet and Djem;[17]the first a mild and pacific prince, the other generous and warlike, and no mean scholar for his age and nation. Hardly was Bajazet on the throne, when he made proposals of peace to Rhodes. D’Aubusson, unwilling to accede thereto on his own authority, sent, like a dutiful son of the Church, to consult the Holy See. But ere an answer came, a strange thing happened. A struggle for the imperial power between the partisans of the rival princes ended in the defeat and flight of Djem; and as the fate of a fallen prince, whose arms had been turned against his successful competitor, could be small matter of doubt, according to the ordinary policy of the Ottoman court, Djem, now a friendless fugitive, knew that his life was not worth an hour’s purchase should he fall into his brother’s hands. Whither should he go, orwhere apply for refuge? His decision was a singular one: something perhaps in his own frank and generous nature had endeared the name of D’Aubusson to his imagination; certain it is that he felt a warm and enthusiastic admiration for the heroic order which had defied his father’s invincible arms, and it was to the hospitality and magnanimity of the Knights of St. John that he resolved to trust his fortunes.
Before his messengers could reach the capital of Rhodes, the position of the unfortunate prince became still more desperate. Alone on the coast of Lycia,—for he had sent his followers away, bidding them seek their own safety,—a party of fifty mamelukes suddenly appeared from behind a rock and attempted to seize him. Throwing himself from his saddle, he leapt into the sea and struck out to a poor fishing-boat that he knew to own a Christian for its master; for, after the fashion of the times, it bore at its prow a rude wooden cross, without which no fisherman of that day would have thought of venturing to sea. The mamelukes, urging their steeds into the water, were close behind him,—a price was on his head living or dead; but as they almost touched their prize, the strong arm of the rowers lifted him over the side, and a few strokes of the oar sufficed to place the boat and its crew beyond the reach of the pursuers. Djem knew that his only safety was now to remain among the Christians; and hastily writing the following lines, he attached the letter to an arrow, and shot it among the mamelukes on the shore.
“King Djem to King Bajazet his inhuman brother.[18]“God and the Prophet are witness of the unhappy necessity that drives me to take refuge among the Christians. Not content with depriving me of my just rights to the empire, you pursue me from country to country, and to save my life you force me to seek refuge among the Knights of Rhodes, the bitter enemies of our house. If our father could have foreseen such a profanationof the Ottoman name, he would have strangled you with his own hands; but Heaven will not fail to avenge your cruelty, and I trust yet to live to be witness of your punishment.”
“King Djem to King Bajazet his inhuman brother.[18]
“God and the Prophet are witness of the unhappy necessity that drives me to take refuge among the Christians. Not content with depriving me of my just rights to the empire, you pursue me from country to country, and to save my life you force me to seek refuge among the Knights of Rhodes, the bitter enemies of our house. If our father could have foreseen such a profanationof the Ottoman name, he would have strangled you with his own hands; but Heaven will not fail to avenge your cruelty, and I trust yet to live to be witness of your punishment.”
Djem was received at Rhodes with the courtesy due to his rank, and with all pomp and ceremony. A horse richly caparisoned was prepared for him, and so mounted he passed through the streets thronged with spectators, and strewn for the occasion with sprigs of myrtle and odoriferous flowers, which, as they were pressed by his horse’s hoofs, emitted a delicious fragrance. Splendid hangings every where met his eye, and his ear was regaled with strains of martial music. The grand master himself came forth to greet him, mounted also on a noble steed, and followed by a brilliant train. It was a strange and might have been an embarrassing meeting: on the one side, the head of that great military order, whose very vocation it was to do battle with the infidel; and on the other, the brother of the reigning sultan, nay himself, in pretension, the very commander of the forces of Islam; and that too within those walls which had so lately and so successfully defied the Moslem arms. But it would seem that in the whole matter the order acted but in accordance with their grand duty ofhospitality. To be the asylum of the destitute and oppressed was so natural to them, that their gates opened to receive the fugitive who claimed their protection, almost without a question of his faith; for a Hospitaller to have refused to receive a guest would have been a disgrace upon the name; and moreover the rules of chivalry exacted the most scrupulous courtesy to enemies. The question, therefore, of Djem’s reception was soon settled; and the treatment he received during his forty days’ residence there was noble and princely, as the unfortunate fugitive himself acknowledged in the manifesto he drew up before leaving them, to place himself under the protection of the French king. For, indeed, he felt Rhodes itself was too near his brother’s court; secret assassins could easily be found to reach him there;and so, with D’Aubusson’s consent, he departed, falling at his feet and embracing them as he bade his generous entertainer farewell, and vowing, were he ever restored to his rights, to observe an inviolable friendship with the Order of St. John. In France he met with but a cold reception, and retired to a priory of the order; being supported partly by an appanage which the grand master obtained from Bajazet for him by dint of skilful treaty, and partly by the private liberality of D’Aubusson himself. So munificent, indeed, was the grand master’s bounty, that the chapter general declared, after an examination of the accounts, that he ought to be reimbursed out of the treasury of the order the large sums he had expended on the prince.[19]
This singular episode in the history of the order has been represented by some as an artful stroke of policy on the part of the grand master; though, indeed, it would be difficult to see what he could gain by the open protection of Bajazet’s rival at the very moment when terms of peace were being negotiated with that monarch. As for any violation of safe-conduct, it does not appear how far such stipulation, if stipulation there were, extended; and Taaffe is of opinion that anyhow it was faithfully observed in according him a safe and honourable reception at Rhodes, and freedom to depart when he pleased. It seems incontestable, indeed, that in the terms of pacification afterwards made with Bajazet, the strict guardianship of Djem, so as to prevent his making further attempts against his brother’s crown, formed one of the conditions; but it does not seem unfitting, or in any way unworthy of D’Aubusson’s reputation, that, whilst protecting the life of the fugitive prince, he should also prevent him from forming new plots againstthe sultan, whose claims to the sovereignty as elder brother could scarcely be disputed. Our own history tells us how difficult a trust is the guardianship of a fallen and a hostile prince: in the end it must ever take the form of imprisonment; but that he was treated harshly or “like a prisoner,” the author we have quoted above declares to be “ridiculously untrue.” Reasons there were every way why he should be detained in honourable ward, were it only to keep a curb on Bajazet, and to save Christendom and the world from a renewal of the horrible atrocities of Turkish warfare. Besides, Djem’s partisans were known to be the most virulent of all the infidels in their hatred of Christians in general, and of the Knights in particular; and had he been allowed to put himself at their head, the greatest evils might have resulted to religion and civilisation.
The unhappy prince is supposed to have died of poison in Italy, whither by his own desire he had been removed from France. But the affair, even on the confession of those who are strong as to the fact, is involved in perhaps inextricable mystery; and indeed the whole history of those times, and of the papal court in particular, has been so overlaid with falsehood, that it is impossible, with all the existing materials before us, and after a careful and impartial collation of conflicting authorities, to arrive at any satisfactory conclusion. But anyhow they who most blame the grand master and the order for allowing the Turkish prince to pass out of their safe keeping, never so much as hint at their participation in his death. On the contrary, they say that the first step taken for carrying out the design against his life was the removal of his faithful Hospitallers. They describe the horror and indignation felt at Rhodes when the unhappy news arrived; and declare that it was as a death-blow to the grand master, who felt that such a catastrophe was a blot on the honour of Christian hospitality, and deeply lamented the loss of one whom in their short intimacy he had learnt to regard with interest and even with affection.
However, were any exculpation of D’Aubusson and his order required, it may be found in Djem’s own letter to the grand master, written shortly before his death, wherein he deplores his separation from the Knights, and assures them of his eternal gratitude; declaring, by the way, that, except that he was deprived of his usual guard of knights, which vexed him much and caused him infinite grief, he was “honourably and sufficiently well treated.”[20]
D’Aubusson’s was a proud position during the three-and-twenty years that his government lasted after the siege of Rhodes. The Pope presented him with a cardinal’s hat; all nations were proud of him; the emperor refused to declare war against the sultan without his assent; and the English king, sending him a present of guns and Irish horses, says courteously in his letter, “The guns are for the defence of Rhodes, but the horses for the use of him whom I love and reverence as my father.” When, towards the close of his life, a new Christian league was formed against the infidel, including the emperor, the republic of Venice, and the kings of France, Castile, Portugal, and Hungary, with most of the Italian princes, a general consent was given to the papal decree which named him generalissimo of the Christian armies. But the result of this great league was like most of those which preceded it. War between the European sovereigns themselves soon broke it up, and each power made peace with the Moslem on his own terms; so that the order was, as usual, left alone and unsupported to carry on the war.
When the last sail of the French fleet disappeared from Lesbos, the rendezvous of the Christian allies, D’Aubusson gave way to a sadness not unusual to him, as to many a great mind besides, which, with its eye fixed on its own lofty and noble views, ever meets with littleness and disgusts in the world around. He feltthere was a stain on the honour of Christendom, and the chill of that disappointment is said never to have left him. Still he would not have abandoned all attempts to restrain the Ottoman power; and seeing the siege of Lesbos to be impracticable, he would nevertheless have made some strong and imposing demonstrations against Constantinople, more, however, to maintain a continual and vigilant reconnoissance than to provoke actual hostilities; and for this purpose he directed himself to England. But in London also he met with “ice that would not melt, seas and mountains that brought forth nothing.” He was then in his seventy-eighth year, and seeing there were no hopes, as things then stood, of effecting any thing for the Christian cause, he returned to Rhodes, and spent the last two years of his life in regulating the affairs of his people and of his order. The last edicts which bore his authority were full of a religious spirit: they were directed against blasphemy and public swearing, against luxury in dress, and other abuses. The great captain never forgot that he was also a religious; and none ever enforced religious discipline among his subjects with more effectual severity.
His last hour was worthy of his name. Gathering his knights around his bed, he bade them adhere to their rule; and after many holy words spoken with a calm and sweet serenity, he closed his eyes, and expired without a struggle. No prince or grand master was ever so lamented. In the funeral procession (to adopt Taaffe’s description), first went every religious corporation in Rhodes; next came the Greek patriarch and all his clergy; then the Latin clergy of the order; a little before the bier two hundred of the principal Rhodians clothed in black, and bearing lighted torches in their hands; and following them, the Knights, carrying their colours drooping, so as to sweep the ground; the bier with the corpse borne on the shoulders of the priors, and the grand crosses of the order; after which marched the long troop of mourners, two hundred and fifty in number; and loud was the weeping from the windows,streets, terraces, and roofs, and the wailings and lamentations of the whole populace. Over his tomb was broken his truncheon of command, together with his spurs; and so were concluded all the doleful formalities with singular testimonies of heart-felt grief. Never was son or parent more truly mourned than was D’Aubusson by his knights and Rhodian subjects. They saw in him the honour of chivalry, the father of the poor, the saviour of Rhodes, the sword and buckler of Christendom; and his death was the signal for hostilities which, during his life, had never been pursued by Bajazet, who, strange to say, really loved and honoured the famous grand master as much as he doubtless feared him as an adversary.
Bajazet had nothing of the ferocity or warlike genius of his race. The civil war in which he found himself engaged on first coming to the throne had obliged him to recall Ahmed Keduk from Otranto, which was compelled after an obstinate defence to capitulate to the Duke of Calabria. The infidels thus dispossessed of the only place they held in Italy were happily never able to recover their footing on its shores. His reign was chiefly signalised by great improvements in the Turkish navy, and increasing power at sea. He carried on frequent wars with the Venetians and Hungarians, and took the cities of Lepanto, Coron, and Modon. The carnage at the last-named place was immense; the inhabitants being put to the sword without regard to sex or age; nearly all the nobles perished; and the bishop, Andrew Falconi, was slain while in the act of exhorting the people to fight for their faith and liberties. The conquerors set fire to the town after its capture, and the conflagration lasted five whole days. In resisting the encroachments of the Mameluke sultans of Egypt Bajazet was less successful; the result of the contest being in his adversary’s favour, who, at the peace that was concluded between them, retained three strong places which he had seized and occupied. On the whole, therefore, the Ottoman power may be considered to haveremained stationary during his reign; and had he been followed by princes of no more energy, or no better success in war, the decline of the Turkish empire might have dated from his accession, or at any rate would have been anticipated many years. But the dynasty of the sultans boasts a worthy representative in his son and successor Selim. Seizing the reins of government, he commenced his rule by becoming the murderer of his brothers and nephews, if not of his father, and made great preparations for a second invasion of Rhodes. On one occasion, indeed, his fleet, as it returned from Alexandria, menaced the island, but withdrew after making hostile demonstrations. His death, eight years after his accession, prevented the execution of the design; but a glance at his conquests during that short period may show how the circle of the Ottoman power was gathering closer and closer round the devoted island: Egypt, Syria, and Arabia, were now added to the Turkish dominions, which thus became nearly double in extent; and the crescent ruled over every country of the East, save the yet unconquered soil where waved the banner of the Knights of the Cross. Selim may be regarded as the very impersonation of the worst qualities of Mahometanism in general, and of the Turkish character in particular. One instance of his fanaticism may suffice. He had resolved on extirpating the very profession of Christianity from his dominions; and to this end actually ordered the conversion of all the churches into mosques, and the reception of the Koran by all his Greek subjects, under pain of death. From this sanguinary determination he was diverted only by the strong remonstrances of the Greek patriarch, whose efforts were seconded by those of the grand vizier and chief mufti. He reminded him of the solemn pledges given by Mahomet on the capture of Constantinople, and appealed to the very Koran itself against such wholesale slaughter and direct infraction of treaties. Selim yielded thus far that he consented to tolerate the practice of the Christian religion; but he would no longer allow some of thefinest buildings of the city to be devoted to its worship; these he gave up to the Mussulmans, and directed structures of wood to be erected in their stead. Thus was completed the degradation of the once Christian metropolis of the East; and, except that their religious assemblies were not forbidden, and their priests were not proscribed, and the saying of Mass was not made a capital offence, and there was no ruinous fine for non-attendance at the Moslem service, the Greek subjects of the Porte were reduced to the same condition as were the Catholics of England in the reign of Elizabeth.
The death of Selim (September 22, 1520) raised to the throne of the Ottoman empire its greatest monarch, in the person of Solyman the Magnificent, whose name is so familiar to the students of that period of history which we might denominate “the age of Charles V.” He succeeded to the vast power left him by his father at the same time that Charles was elected to the imperial dignity: their strength was well matched, and it may be said that, by a kind of instinct, they felt themselves rivals from the moment of their accession. But the policy and character of Solyman differed widely from those of the princes who had preceded him in the government of the East. The influence of European civilisation was gradually making itself felt; and the Turks, learning something of refinement from the nations whom they subjugated, were beginning to exhibit some modification in that savage barbarism which had hitherto alone distinguished them. Solyman’s government of his empire was conducted on principles of justice and equity,—virtues unknown under rulers whose only laws had been the cimeter or the bowstring; and the increased intelligence of the Turkish administration, while it in no wise softened the merciless character of its hostilities, added in no small degree to its power, and consequently to the danger of its Christian adversaries. Among various notes and memoranda left by the Emperor Selim, pointing out with remarkable sagacity the steps necessary to be taken for assuring the safety of his enormousdominions, the possession of two places was named as essential for the preservation of the empire:—they were Belgrade and Rhodes, both which had successfully defied the arms of Mahomet. Solyman determined on both enterprises; and preparations for the siege of Belgrade were commenced in the very year of his accession.
This bulwark of Christendom was compelled to capitulate on the 29th of August 1521. The Hungarians made a most gallant defence and resisted twenty desperate assaults; but to the overwhelming numbers of the beleaguering army and the incessant fire of the Turkish batteries were added the disaffection and treachery of allies and mercenaries. Schism again came to the aid of the infidels; and Belgrade, like Constantinople, fell into the power of the Turks. According to established custom Solyman took formal possession of the place in the name of the false prophet by “saying prayers” in the cathedral, which thus became a mosque, and was then, to use the expression appropriated to such profanations, “purged from idolatry” by the destruction of the altars and the removal of every Christian ornament and symbol. Having thus completed his first great conquest, and established a Turkish stronghold on the Hungarian frontier, the youthful sultan marched back in triumph to Constantinople.
The result meanwhile was watched at Rhodes with anxious interest; for all very well knew, should Belgrade fall, where the next blow would be aimed. Fabricius Carretto was then grand master; the same to whom D’Aubusson was thought to have predicted his election during the storming of St. Nicholas; a man of literary and refined habits, learned in all the learning of the age, which it must be remembered was the age of the Medici and of the revival of letters, skilled in all dead and living languages, a gallant warrior, and at the same time a pacific and popular prince; the brother-in-arms of D’Aubusson, and the friend and correspondent of Leo X. He died in the month of January 1521; and with the daily expectation of a second siege, the choice ofhis successorwasa matter of interest not merely to Rhodes, but to Christendom. The votes fell on one worthy in every way to rank among the galaxy of illustrious princes who adorned the opening of the sixteenth century: Philip Villiers de l’Isle Adam must be added to the list which already included Francis, Charles, Leo, and the Sultan Solyman. He was at Paris when the news of his election reached him, but instantly set out for Rhodes, arriving there, after happily escaping from a fire which broke out in his vessel, a violent tempest, and the corsair Curtogli,[21]who lay in wait for him off Cape St. Angelo, and through whose fleet the dauntless grand master passed under cover of the night. His arrival in Rhodes was joyfully welcomed. There had been no declaration of war on Solyman’s part; yet it was scarcely needed, for Belgrade had fallen, and the intelligence was conveyed to L’Isle Adam in a letter from Solyman himself, the friendly terms of which threw but a transparent veil over the threats they were intended to convey.
The correspondence between the sultan and the grand master may fairly be looked upon as a curiosity in the history of diplomacy, and as such we subjoin the letters.
“Solyman Sultan, by the grace of God King of Kings, Sovereign of Sovereigns, most high Emperor of Byzantium and Trebizond, most powerful King of Persia, Arabia, Syria, and Egypt, Supreme Lord of Europe and Asia, Prince of Mecca and Aleppo, Possessor of Jerusalem, and Ruler of the Universal Sea, to Philip Villiers de L’Isle Adam, Grand Master of Rhodes, wishes health.
“Solyman Sultan, by the grace of God King of Kings, Sovereign of Sovereigns, most high Emperor of Byzantium and Trebizond, most powerful King of Persia, Arabia, Syria, and Egypt, Supreme Lord of Europe and Asia, Prince of Mecca and Aleppo, Possessor of Jerusalem, and Ruler of the Universal Sea, to Philip Villiers de L’Isle Adam, Grand Master of Rhodes, wishes health.
“We congratulate you on your new dignity, and on your arrival in your states, desiring that you may reign there happily with yet greater glory than your predecessors have done. It only rests with you to share in our good graces. Accept our friendship, therefore; and, as a friend, be not the last to congratulate us on the conquests we have just achieved in Hungary, where we have made ourselves masters of the important cityof Belgrade, having caused all such as dared to resist us to fall under our redoubtable sword. Farewell.”
“We congratulate you on your new dignity, and on your arrival in your states, desiring that you may reign there happily with yet greater glory than your predecessors have done. It only rests with you to share in our good graces. Accept our friendship, therefore; and, as a friend, be not the last to congratulate us on the conquests we have just achieved in Hungary, where we have made ourselves masters of the important cityof Belgrade, having caused all such as dared to resist us to fall under our redoubtable sword. Farewell.”
“Brother Philip Villiers de L’Isle Adam, Grand Master of Rhodes, to Solyman, Sultan of the Turks.
“Brother Philip Villiers de L’Isle Adam, Grand Master of Rhodes, to Solyman, Sultan of the Turks.
“I have well understood the purport of your letter, delivered to me by your ambassador. Your proposals of peace are as agreeable to me as they are disagreeable to Curtogli. That corsair omitted no efforts to surprise me on my passage from France; but not having succeeded in his project, and being unable to resolve on quitting these seas without causing us some damage, he has tried to carry off two of our merchant vessels on the coast of Lycia; but the galleys of the order have compelled him to fly. Farewell.”
“I have well understood the purport of your letter, delivered to me by your ambassador. Your proposals of peace are as agreeable to me as they are disagreeable to Curtogli. That corsair omitted no efforts to surprise me on my passage from France; but not having succeeded in his project, and being unable to resolve on quitting these seas without causing us some damage, he has tried to carry off two of our merchant vessels on the coast of Lycia; but the galleys of the order have compelled him to fly. Farewell.”
This letter was despatched by a Greek merchant, the grand master not judging it expedient to trust one of his knights in the hands of the wily sultan. But anxious to entrap a representative of the order whose presence at his court might be turned to good account, Solyman, in his second letter, pretended never to have received the reply to his first; it was intimated by his emissaries that it had not been delivered on account of the meanness of the messenger, who all the while had been seized, and tortured, to extract from him all the information he could give. Solyman meantime writes as follows:
“They assure us that the letter which our magnificence wrote to you has reached you, causing you more astonishment than pleasure. Rest assured that I do not mean to content myself with the taking of Belgrade, but that I shortly propose to myself a yet more important enterprise, of which you will soon have warning; for, indeed, you and your knights always keep a place in my memory.”
“They assure us that the letter which our magnificence wrote to you has reached you, causing you more astonishment than pleasure. Rest assured that I do not mean to content myself with the taking of Belgrade, but that I shortly propose to myself a yet more important enterprise, of which you will soon have warning; for, indeed, you and your knights always keep a place in my memory.”
This was a little more intelligible in its irony, and the grand master’s answer was in the same tone.
“I am truly glad that you remember me and my order. You speak to me of your conquests in Hungary, and of your design of undertaking fresh ones, whosesuccess you trust will be similar. I would have you consider that, of all the projects which men form, none are more uncertain than those which depend on the fate of arms. Adieu.”
“I am truly glad that you remember me and my order. You speak to me of your conquests in Hungary, and of your design of undertaking fresh ones, whosesuccess you trust will be similar. I would have you consider that, of all the projects which men form, none are more uncertain than those which depend on the fate of arms. Adieu.”
Shortly after this, a brigantine of the order was captured close to Rhodes, and the war may be said to have begun. Meanwhile there were not wanting traitors in Rhodes, who busily furnished the sultan with every information he required; one being a Jewish physician, who even received baptism for the purpose of blinding the Rhodians to his true character; another, yet more dangerous and powerful, being found unhappily in the ranks of the order, in the person of Andrew Damaral, chancellor, and grand prior of Castile. Old differences with L’Isle Adam, and a bitter jealousy of his elevation to power, contributed to induce this man to betray his trust; and it is said the final loss of the island was the result of his duplicity, as he had given a false report of the quantity of powder in the place; so that no sufficient supplies were laid in before the siege, when the vigilance of L’Isle Adam was employed in furnishing every other magazine.
Great preparations were indeed made: the ramparts were strengthened, the storehouses of forage and general provisions were replenished; fresh artillery was imported from Europe; and embassies numberless, and uniformly without result, were despatched to the Christian sovereigns to implore a timely succour. But all was in vain; Charles V. and Francis I. were just then playing their tournament for the world’s applause; and in the rivalry of a miserable ambition were deaf to the call of duty. So Rhodes was left to take care of herself, the only ally she gained being the celebrated engineer, Gabriel Martinengo, who at great personal sacrifices joined the order, and was found of inestimable service during the siege.
There was a grand review and inspection of the knights and regular troops held before the grand master; a splendid and inspiriting sight. Each language drawnup before its inn—the knights in full armour, their scarlet surcoats, worn only in time of war, displaying the cross on every side; their numbers about six hundred, with some 5000 troops under their command; a handful of men soon to be matched with the swarms of an Ottoman armament. Each language was reviewed by a knight of its own division, every one touching his cross, and swearing that his arms and armour were his own. England was nobly represented, and her knights bore a distinguished part in the conflict that ensued; nor indeed can we avoid the observation, that so long as the English language existed in the order, its preeminent valour is noticed by all historians, and, as is well known, the important office ofTurcopolier, or leader of the cavalry, belonged of right to the English nation.
Again we have occasion to notice and to admire the religious unity displayed at a time when jealousies between rival rites might so easily have sown seeds of dangerous dissensions. The two patriarchs, Greek and Latin, united in communion, knew no rivalry save that of enthusiasm in the common cause; and the spirit of the people was greatly animated and sustained by the eloquence of a Greek monk. The Greek archbishop harangued the populace in the streets: he was a noble old man, wise and gentle, but full of ardour; and he stood opposite an image of our Lady, holding the crucifix aloft, while he addressed his audience in strains of glowing fervour, and called on them to have trust in God and His dear Mother, and to dwell on those lofty thoughts of religion which are stronger than tower or bastion for defence; and to be firm and constant in faith and loyalty, and yield as true a service to their present grand master as they had yielded to the glorious D’Aubusson. The traditions of Rhodes, and its ancient glory, were not forgotten; and such words had the effect on the people which might have been expected: the Rhodians were like one man in their fearless vigorous resolve to suffer all things before surrender or disgrace.
It is touching to read how every historian of the order, before entering on the sad history of its downfall at Rhodes, gives, as it were, one last lingering glance over the lovely island, never again to be what it had now been for more than two hundred years. That lofty capital, with the upper town, crested with the battlemented palace of the grand master, surrounded by the dwellings of his knights; those picturesque streets, with all the curious carvings and ornaments of early ages, the knightly escutcheons on the walls and the arched doorways, which still remain;[22]the city, round in its form, but presenting from the sea the appearance of a graceful and brilliant crescent; the forts still guarded as before, but greatly strengthened in their defences, within whose bosom the cool clear waters bathed the very foot of the houses, and mirrored in their bright expanse the picture of that pile of palaces, which, half in shade and half in sunshine, gave back the rays of the sun from their marble walls with the brilliancy of gold. How lovely it all was! and the forty years which had elapsed since the last invasion had sufficed to restore to their pristine beauty the gardens and richly cultivated country that girdled it from the land; so that if you ascended the high steeple of St. John’s church, (still standing as a mosque,) you might have gazed over the fairest landscapepainter’s eye could desire to rest upon, and might have caught the rich scent of the roses on those peaceful fields, and watched the waving of the corn, and the rustling leaves of vines and orange-trees,—all soon to be laid waste, and trampled down in mire and blood. It was June; the very noontide of summer beauty lay upon the sloping hills of Rhodes; and many an eye, as it gazed for the last time on the lovely scene, was blinded with the tears of a prophetic feeling which told that the halcyon days of Rhodian glory were gone for ever.
The suburbs were destroyed as before; and this time with so vigorous a good will as to draw forth particular notice and commendation from the eye-witnesses. Villas, farm-houses, and cottages demolished; trees cut down; corn uprooted, though the harvest was already ripening in that sunny land; nothing was left that could afford shelter, or food, or materials of war to the invader. The country people came pouring into the city, bringing with them provisions, animals, furniture, instruments of agriculture, all in strange confusion: “the women, with their hair dishevelled, scratching their cheeks,[23]as is the custom of the place, weeping sore, and supplicating their Lord and God, with their tiny children lifting up their clasped hands to heaven, and praying Him to have compassion on them.” The citizens were armed and organised, and the sailors and harbour-men enrolled and charged with the defence of the port; the peasants set to work as pioneers; and the slaves compelled to labour in digging trenches and repairing and strengthening the fortifications. And lastly, our Lady of Philermos was brought in in solemn procession, and deposited in the church of St. Mark, clergy and people assisting in crowds; for now, as before, the defence of Rhodes was solemnly committed to her patronage.
Nor was it long before open declaration of war was made, couched in the following terms:
“To the Grand Master and his Knights, and to all the Inhabitants of Rhodes, warning:
“To the Grand Master and his Knights, and to all the Inhabitants of Rhodes, warning:
“The piracies which you continue to exercise against my faithful subjects, and the insult you audaciously offer to my imperial majesty, oblige me to command you instantly to render up your island and fortress into my hands. If this you do forthwith, I swear by the God who made heaven and earth,—by the hundred and twenty-four thousand prophets,—by the four sacred books which fell from heaven,—and by our great prophet Mahomet,—that you shall have free liberty to depart from the island, and the inhabitants to remain therein without hurt or damage. But if you yield not instant obedience to my orders, you shall all pass under the edge of my invincible sword; and the towers, the bastions, and the walls of Rhodes shall be reduced to the level of the grass that grows at their feet.”
“The piracies which you continue to exercise against my faithful subjects, and the insult you audaciously offer to my imperial majesty, oblige me to command you instantly to render up your island and fortress into my hands. If this you do forthwith, I swear by the God who made heaven and earth,—by the hundred and twenty-four thousand prophets,—by the four sacred books which fell from heaven,—and by our great prophet Mahomet,—that you shall have free liberty to depart from the island, and the inhabitants to remain therein without hurt or damage. But if you yield not instant obedience to my orders, you shall all pass under the edge of my invincible sword; and the towers, the bastions, and the walls of Rhodes shall be reduced to the level of the grass that grows at their feet.”
To this peremptory summons of the sultan it was resolved in council of the Knights that the only answer accorded him should issue from the cannon’s mouth. Rhodes now knew that the hour of peril was at hand; the inhabitants of the neighbouring islands belonging to the order, many of them expert in war, were summoned in, and set to garrison the various forts under command of chosen knights; but ere the enemy appeared, and when every preparation had been made, each man being assigned his post and duty with a particularity the details of which might only fatigue the reader, the grand master ordered that all should make ready for action by fasts and prayer,—he himself setting the example; for whenever the cares of business and government left him a moment free, he was to be seen at the foot of the altar. The knights and citizens trusted as much in his prayers as in his valour, and were used to say that Heaven itself was interested in the cause of so holy a prince. All through the siege he wore the same sweet gracious look; a smile ever ready upon his lips; nothing of hurry or passion in his manner, but thetranquillity that became him as a religious, well fitted with the gallant bearing of the knight. You might see him kneel down at times in his armour, just putting aside his helmet, to pray on the spot where he stood. He ate with the common soldiers, and sometimes went on guard at night like a private sentinel; and this from that true poverty of spirit for which he was remarkable, and which made men revere him as a saint at the same time that they followed him as a captain. Indeed, it was whispered that something of a supernatural, superhuman character attached to him; and they scarce knew whether to wonder most at his gifts of valour or of prayer.
It was early on the morning of the 26th of June 1522, when the sentinel on the top of St. Stephen’s Hill espied the Turkish fleet advancing on the eastern side, and at the distance of about a mile. Tidings were instantly sent to the grand master, who received them as though it were a matter of which he was already well informed. It was within the octave of the feast of St. John; and the custom was in Rhodes to make a daily procession during that time, which the grand master would not permit to be interrupted this year, nor even on this day. Despite, therefore, the excitement and consternation that prevailed, all was conducted as though the city were in profoundest peace. The populace assembled in St. John’s church; and after High Mass, the procession was made round the church as heretofore, only with something of unusual solemnity and care. Then the grand master came before the altar, and, going up the steps, reverently opened the tabernacle door, and took out the Most Holy Sacrament in the Ostensorium;—first genuflecting, and remaining for a moment in prayer, he took It in his hands, and turning, exhibited It to the people; after which he prayed for them all,—for Rhodes, and for its church and children, that God would turn away the danger, and give His servants the blessings of peace. So, replacing the Blessed Sacrament in the tabernacle, heleft the altar, and causing the church-doors to be shut, gave out the orders for every one to proceed to his post.
As he himself returned to his palace after this touching ceremony, word was brought him that the enemy’s fleet was close to land; he heard the news with his usual tranquillity, and only ordered the city-gates to be closed. An hour afterwards the palace-gates were thrown open, and there rode out a brilliant and gallant train. Many knights in armour and scarlet surcoats, the three standards floating over their heads, each borne by chosen men, to whom they had been solemnly delivered in charge; and one, whereon the white cross was quartered with the arms of the grand master, was carried by a young Englishman, who found an early death at the very beginning of the siege. L’Isle Adam, in golden armour, was at their head; and as the procession came along, and the trumpets sounded with a loud triumphant flourish, such a thrill of glad and glorious enthusiasm stirred through the crowd as banished fear; and they rushed to window and terraced roof to watch the coming of the Turkish fleet, and almost to welcome its advance. What a magnificent spectacle! In the streets below that gorgeous chivalric procession, the finest steeds and the brightest armour, and the gallantest hearts of Christendom! Suddenly, and as though by some preconcerted signal, on every rampart and battlemented wall, from the inns of the various languages and all the posts of separate command, there wave a thousand flags. Each nation has its own proud ensign and its own representative among the Knights of Rhodes. There you may see the golden lilies of France floating not far from the royal lions of England; there is the plain cross of Savoy, first borne in honour of the order; there are the white flag of Portugal, and the time-honoured banners of Castile and Auvergne; and you know that beneath the silken folds of each are posted brave and gallant hearts, who will add fresh honour to their old renown. Look out over the port to the tower of St.Nicholas, the key of Rhodes; twenty Provençal knights are there, claiming, as Provence ever would, the post of danger and of glory. The rest of the French you may distinguish drawn up with admirable regularity from the tower of France to the Ambrosian gate; and thence to the gate of St. George stand the Germans—you may tell them by the imperial standard. Spain and England stand together; the banner of the Turcopolier, Sir John Buck, waves out over their ranks; only nineteen English are there, but every man a hero, and ready for a hero’s death. The grand master will head them himself; for it is thought the English bastion will bear the hardest brunt; but his ordinary post of command when not in action will be opposite the church of our Lady of Victories. It stands below you,—and from the platform in front you may reach each post in a few moments,—a stately and a noble building; but Rhodes has many such, though none to equal St. John’s, whose delicate tapering steeple, “buried in air, and looking to the sky,—the deep blue sky” of Rhodes,—catches the eye when you are miles off at sea, and seems to place the glittering cross that crests its summit half way ’twixt earth and heaven. If you watch, you may see the four chief grand crosses, and their companies of relief, as they are termed, going the rounds of the ramparts. There is an hourly inspection of the defences day and night; and when the grand crosses are not there, six hundred men take it by turns to make the circuit, under two French and two Spanish knights, with rather summary directions how to treat malefactors or traitors. Very little of trial by jury, but a brief court-martial and a running noose.
Préjan de Bidoux has the charge of the batteries; he is the governor of Cos: but after beating off thirty Turkish galleys from his own island, he sent off straight to Rhodes, to beg the grand master’s leave to come and join in the defence; and so soon as the joyful permission was granted, he threw himself into a small vessel, and was in the port before the Turks could stop him, thoughit is thought his brigantine must have pushed through the very midst of their fleet.
Lastly, those venerable unwarlike forms, bearded and saint-like, at whose approach knights and sentinels and glittering ranks kneel down as for a father’s blessing, are not the least among the defenders of Rhodes. Leonard Balestein is the Latin metropolitan, reckoned the most eloquent preacher of his day; Clement, the Greek archbishop, you have already heard of; and they love one another as brothers; so that, as they go from post to post, they are seldom to be met apart.
All this you may see as you look down upon the city. But glance over the ocean, and another spectacle awaits you. The blue line of the Levant, sparkling in the summer sunshine, and kissed into life and motion by a northern breeze; and on its heaving bright expanse 300 Turkish sail, gathered from every coast that owns the Ottoman rule,—from Egypt, Syria, and every part of Asia,—and having on board, in addition to the regular crews, 8000 chosen soldiers and 2000 pioneers; whilst 100,000 men under Solyman himself are advancing along the western coast of Asia Minor.[24]Alas for Rhodes and her 6000 defenders! We may well be pardoned this glance at her as she stands in the last hour of her beauty and display. The 26th of June sees her indeed magnificent to the eye, and in all the pomp and pride of chivalry and warlike show; but soon that gay and martial music will be exchanged for the thunder of artillery, and those battlemented bannered walls will be crumbling to the dust.
We must, however, commence a fresh chapter before entering on the story of the last siege of Rhodes.