Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/437

Rh to the post. Although his claims were by no means equal to those of either Botigella or De Grolée, ho had nevertheless greatly distinguished himself during the siege of Rhodes, where he had lost an eye whilst defending the Spanish quarter.

The memory of D’Omedes has been much vilified by the French historians, and apparently somewhat undeservedly. These writers had evidently been imbued with warm feelings of partisanship in the struggle between the emperor and their own king. Everything Spanish was, therefore, regarded by them with a jaundiced eye, and the memory of D’Omedes, whose election was of itself calculated to awaken jealousy, has borne the brunt of this unfavourable bias. At the same time it must be admitted that some of his acts were arbitrary and unjustifiable, and that he was too often influenced by a partiality for his own nation.

A feeling of jealousy against his late rival Botigella, prompted him to remove that knight from the command of the galleys. in his place he appointed a young Florentine, named Strozzi, who in after years became notorious as one of the most adventurous and daring corsairs in the Mediterranean. At the time of his appointment he had done but little to distinguish himself, and his claims for the post were not for one moment to be compared with those of Botigella. The real reason of the change was that D’Omedes did not consider it safe to continue so important a trust in the hands of a man who had been his disappointed competitor, and whom he suspected of being still violently inimical.

The condition of the city of Tripoli had never ceased to give rise to feelings of anxiety. Though everything had been done that the limited means of the Order admitted, the place was still but feebly fortified. Each succeeding governor, as he returned to Malta, impressed upon the council the necessity of taking further steps to strengthen the place. These representations became at length so urgent that the Grand-Master appealed to the emperor either to assist in increasing its strength or to permit the knights to abandon it. The reply of Charles to this petition was a demand on them to join him in an expedition which he was contemplating against Algiers, still the stronghold of Barbarossa, and the chief haunt of the