Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/214

188 pater Ordinis Frater Robertus de Juihiaco quondam Magister sacr domus Hospitals Sancti Joannis Hierosolimitani qui obiit Die XXIX Julii Anno Domini MCCCLXXVII Cujus anima requiescat in pace.” “Here lies in Christ the holy brother and father of his Order, Brother Robert do Juiliac, formerly Master of the sacred house of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, who died on the 29th day of July in the year of our Lord 1377, may his soul rest in peace.”

Juan Ferdinand d’Heredia, the castellan of Emposta, grand- prior of Catalonia, Castile, and St. Gilles, the most extraordinary pluralist that had ever been known in the fraternity, was nominated as the new Grand-Master. The career of this man had been so strange, and his influence over the fortunes of the Order both for evil and for good so powerful, that he has with justice been looked on as one of the most conspicuous characters who have figured in its annals. Descended from a noble family in Aragon, he was the younger brother of the Grand Justiciary of that kingdom, a post of honour and importance second only to that of the crown. His brother, who had been for some years married without issue, was anxious to see the family perpetuated through him, and therefore caused him to marry at a very early age. The fruits of this union were only two girls, at the birth of the younger of whom Juan was left a widower. His brother, still eager for an heir, lost no time in securing for him a second alliance, selecting for the purpose a niece of his own wife. From this marriage a son was born, who was regarded both by his father and uncle as the future inheritor of the vast wealth and high dignities of the family, Juan himself being destitute of fortune, and entirely dependent on his brother. His second wife died after giving birth to a daughter, leaving him again a widower with four children, three girls and a boy. Shortly afterwards, to his dismay, and to the complete overthrow of all his expectations, his brother’s wife, who had for so many years been childless, gave birth to a son, whose advent was speedily followed by that of another. This disastrous incident left Juan, who was of a high spirit and haughty temperament, beggared in fortune, and without prospects for the future. Unable to rest quietly in his new position, and to remain through life an abject pensioner on his brother’s