Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/429

Rh langue of Provence. A duel ensued, in which the knight was killed, not without grave suspicions of treachery on the part of his opponent. Several of the Provençal knights, under this impression, sought out the offending party. Finding him surrounded by his friends, a struggle ensued, in which some of the Italians were wounded and the remainder driven to seek refuge in the palace of the grand-prior. The members of that dignitary’s household, who were very numerous, enraged at this attack upon their countrymen, armed themselves and sallied forth for vengeance. Without distinguishing the offending Provençal knights from those of the other French langues, they assaulted them all indiscriminately. As there was always an under-current of discontent at the predominance of the French element permeating the convent, the Italians soon found themselves joined by the members of the Spanish and Portuguese langues, and thus a regular civil war broke out. The prior of Rome did his best to appease the tumult. He placed under arrest and confined in his galley those of his suite who had been guilty of this breach of the peace. That step was not, however, considered by the French knights to be a sufficient reparation. They therefore attacked the galley of the prior, and laying hands on the prisoners murdered four of them in cold blood. This lawless proceeding at once revived the discord, and a regular engagement between the antagonistic langues took place in the streets of the Bourg. In vain the Grand-Master despatched message after message to the combatants directing them to disperse under threat of the severest penalties. His menaces were unheeded, and the remainder of the day was spent in strife and confusion. Towards night, however, the bailiff of Manosque, who was possessed of great influence with both the rival factions, succeeded by personal intervention in quelling the disorder and dispersing the combatants.

Severe measures were necessary for the punishment of so serious an outbreak, and L’Isle Adam directed a searching investigation to be made to detect the ringleaders. The result of this inquiry led to the expulsion of four knights on account of the murders committed on board the galley of the grand- prior of Rome. Bosio, the Italian historian, asserts that several of the most guilty were condemned to death, and thrown into