Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/330

300 This Grand-Master was Almeric D’Amboise, grand-prior of France. He was the younger brother of George D’Amboise, archbishop of Rouen, cardinal legate of the Hoiy See, and prime minister to the French monarch. At the time of his nomination Almerio was at the court, where in his position of grand-prior he was an honoured adviser of the king. Indeed, so much were his services appreciated that on his departure to assume the reins of government at Rhodes, Charles presented him with the sword which his ancestor St. Louis had carried at Damietta, together with a piece of the true cross. The nine years during which his sway extended were marked by a series of naval combats, in which the Order reaped much distinction. The death of Djem having freed Bajazet from all necessity to remain on good terms with the fraternity, he at once entered into a treaty with the sultan of Egypt, the object of which was the attack of Rhodes and the annihilation of the naval supremacy of the knights in the Levant. In pursuance of this treaty, he despatched a celebrated Turkish corsair named Kémal, or Camalis, with a powerful fleet to ravage the islands of the religion. This expedition proved a complete failure. Driven successively from Rhodes, Symia, Telos, Nisyrus, and Lango, he at length directed his efforts against Leros, an