Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 21.djvu/192

Rh 174 ST JOHN, KNIGHTS OF its funds, while others voluntarily remained behind to assist actively in its pious purposes. With its increased utility organization became necessary, and in this organiza- tion is to be found the origin of the Order of Saint John. When Jerusalem was taken by Godfrey de Bouillon (see CEUSADES), his wounded soldiers were tended by Peter Gerard, rector of the Amalfi hospital of St John, and the more wealthy of the crusaders eagerly followed the example of their leader in endowing so useful and so practical an institution. Many of the Christian warriors sought per- mission to join the ranks of the fraternity. At the pro- posal of Gerard a regularly constituted religious body was formed ; the patriarch of Jerusalem invested every approved candidate with a black robe bearing on the breast an eight- pointed white cross and received in return a vow of poverty, obedience, and chastity. In 1 1 1 3 Pope Paschal II. formally sanctioned the establishment of the order by a bull. Five years later Gerard was succeeded by Raymond du Puy, and under his auspices the monastic knights took a fresh oath to become militant defenders of the cause of the Cross. During the first century of its existence the fraternity thus acquired a religious, republican, military, and aristocratic character. The rules introduced by Raymond du Puy became the basis of all subsequent regulations ; the lead- ing members of the hospital or master's assistants were formed into an all-powerful council, which divided the order into knights of justice, chaplains, and serving brethren. There was also an affiliation of religious ladies (dames) and of donate or honorary members. The income of the body corporate was derived from landed property in all parts of Europe. To facilitate the collection of rents, commanderies (first called preceptories) were formed. These gradually acquired the character of branch establish- ments where candidates were received and the same obser- vances practised as in the parent convent. Raymond du Puy twice repulsed the advancing Turks ; and Hugh de Payens, fired by the successes of the Hospitallers, founded the sister order of the Temple. In 1 160 Raymond du Puy died. The rule of his immediate successors was unevent- ful; Gilbert d'Ascali greatly weakened the influence of the order by joining (1168) in an ill-fated expedition to Egypt. Roger Desmoulins, the eighth master, was killed fighting against Saladin before Jerusalem, while his suc- cessor, Gamier de Napoli, died of the wounds he received in the decisive battle of Tiberias, which led to the surrender of Jerusalem to the Moslems in 1187. The seat of the order was now transferred to Margat, a town which still remained in the possession of the Christians, and it becomes difficult to trace the frequent changes of the mastership. The dangerous enmity which arose between the Hospitallers and the Templars necessitated the energetic intervention of the pope. In 1216 Andrew, king of Hungary, was received into the order. The brief occupations of Jeru- salem by the emperor Frederick II. (1228) and by Richard of Cornwall (1234) had little appreciable effect on the waning fortunes of the Hospitallers. A savage horde from the borders of the Caspian advanced against the Christians, and in the final struggle with the Chorasmians the masters of both orders united before the common enemy fell with nearly the whole of their followers (1244). William de Chateauneuf, elected to the mastership by the few sur- vivors, repaired to Acre only to take part in the fruitless crusade of Louis of France. The truce between the rival orders was doomed to be of short duration. In 1259 their armies met in a general engagement, and victory rested with the Hospitallers. A brief period of success in 1281 was powerless to avert the fall of Margat, and in 1289 Acre alone remained in the hands of the Christians. John de Villiers, a man of singular ability, became at this criti- cal juncture master of the order. An overwhelming force was sent from Egypt to besiege Acre, which only fell after a desperate resistance. Under cover of the arrows of their archers the knights sailed for Cyprus (1291). Repeated acts of prowess by sea still served to remind the Moslem corsairs of the survival of their implacable foes. De Villiers died three years later and was succeeded by Odon de Pins, who tried ineffectually to restore the purely con- ventual character of the order. William de Villaret (elected in 1300) shared the dangers of an expedition to Palestine and prepared for the conquest of Rhodes, which was effected in 1310 by his brother and successor. The revenues of the Hospitallers were now augmented from the confiscated estates of their old rivals the Templars. Fulk de Villaret was attacked at Rhodes by Osman, ruler of Bithynia, but with the assistance of Amadeus of Savoy he defeated the invaders. A serious difference which arose between De Villaret and his subordinate knights enabled Pope John XXII. to appoint his nominee John de Villa- nova (1319). It was at this period that the order was divided into the seven lanyues of France, Provence, Au- vergne, Italy, Germany, England, and Aragon. In 1346 De Gozon became grand-master. His administration and that of his immediate successors are only remarkable for a perpetual struggle for supremacy with the papal court. In 1365 Raymond Beranger captured Alexandria in con- cert with the king of Cyprus, but the victors contented themselves with burning the city. Philibert de Naillae had no sooner been elected grand-master than he was sum- moned to join the European crusade against the sultan Bajazet, and took part in the disastrous battle of Nicopolis. The Greek emperor unfortunately invoked the aid of Timur, who overthrew Bajazet, but followed up his success by an attack on Smyrna, the defence of which had been entrusted to the knights. Smyrna was taken and its brave garrison put to the sword. In 1440 and 1444 De Lastic defeated two expeditions sent against him from Egypt. Nine years later Constantinople fell at last into the hands of the Turks. It was evident to the knights that an attack on their sanctuary would follow the triumph of Islam, but it was not till 1480 that the long-dreaded descent on Rhodes took place. Fortunately for the order, Peter d'Aubusson was grand-master, and the skilfully planned attack of the three renegades was valorously repulsed. The heroic D'Aubusson recovered from his wounds, restored the shattered fortifications, and survived till 1503. Nearly twenty years passed away before the sultan Solyman de- termined to crush the knights, who had just elected L'Isle d'Adam as their chief. After a glorious resistance, D'Adam capitulated and withdrew with all the honours of war to Candia (Crete). Charles V., when the news of the disaster reached him, exclaimed, " Nothing in the world has been so well lost as Rhodes," and five years later (1530), with the approval of the pope, ceded the island of Malta and the fortress of Tripoli in Africa to the homeless knights. Peter Dupont succeeded D'Adam in 1534, and in the following year took a prominent part in the emperor's famous expedition against Tunis. The position in Tripoli was from the first precarious, and it was surrendered to the corsair Dragut in 1551. In 1557 John La Valette was chosen grand-master. The construction of fresh forti- fications was hastened and every precaution taken against a surprise. On the 18th May 1565 the Turkish fleet under the redoubtable Dragut appeared in sight and one of the most celebrated sieges in history began. It was finally raised on the 8th September after the death of Dragut and 25,000 of his followers. The city of Valetta afterwards rose on the scene of this desperate struggle. La Valette died in 1568, and no events of importance mark the grand-masterships of De Monte (1568), De la Cassiere (1572), and Verdala (1581). During their terms