Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/172

146 they were engaging was at variance with the leading principles of the institution, and not befitting its knightly character. Having been compelled to abandon the Holy Land, they conceived that they were rendering little or no service to the cause of Christianity by the maintenance of a desultory and predatory warfare amidst the piratical islands of the Levant. As a cure for these evils they proposed the abandonment of their new stronghold. This was a remedy which would probably have proved most agreeable to themselves, but, at the same time, it must inevitably, if carried into effect, have soon brought about the complete annihilation of the Order. Fortunately, the views of these fainéant knights did not find favour with the majority of the chapter. Instead of abandoning the island of Rhodes, measures for its more complete protection received the sanction of the assembly.

This chapter-general was held in the year 1331, and in 1332, Villanova, after a delay of thirteen years from the date of his election, proceeded to Rhodes. Here he found that under the lieutenancy of Gerard de Pins the fortifications of the town had been considerably augmented and developed, and a spirit of discipline had been introduced into the convent, to which for many years it had been a stranger.

Whilst strengthening his position at home, Gerard de Pins had, at the same time, been called on to resist the aggressions of a foreign foe. Orcan, the son and successor of Othman, deeming that the dissensions caused by the deposition of Villaret had created a favourable opportunity for attack, decided on renewing the attempt on the island in which his father had so miserably failed. He assembled a large fleet upon the shores of the province of Caria, where he was joined by many of the former inhabitants of Rhodes, who had been expelled from the island by Villaret. Thus reinforced he set sail for his destination. Gerard, who had received timely notice of the contemplated descent, determined not to await the shock of the onset behind the walls of his fortress, but to meet the enemy boldly on that element where his knights had lately been so victorious. Manning such of his galleys as were then lying in the harbour, and being joined by six Genoese vessels which had assembled