Page:The Book of Orders of Knighthood and Decorations of Honour of All Nations.djvu/69

Rh they maintained themselves for nearly a whole century. After the loss, however, of Ptolemais, the last refuge of the Christians in the Holy Land, Villiers, the Grand Master, saved himself with the remnant of the Knights in the island of Cyprus, where king Lusignan consigned to them the half demolished town of Limisso.

There they built a fleet, and soon became one of the first maritime powers in the Mediterranean. In 1308, their power was increased by its union with the Order of St. Samson of Jerusalem. The Grand Master, Villaret, now resolved to remove his residence to Rhodes, which the Saracens had taken from the Greek Emperor Andronicus. The Pope approved of the plan, promised support, and vested in him the right of appointing the future Archbishop of Rhodes. The knights succeeded in conquering (15th August, 1309) the island, whence they called themselves the 'Knights of Rhodes.' The Council of Vienna conceded to them (1311) the greatest part of the possessions of the dissolved Order of the Templars, at which period their power may be said to have reached its zenith.

In a glorious battle (1321) Gerard du Pius, the Vicar General of the Order, destroyed the great Moslem fleet, and in conjunction with the Venetians and the King of Cyprus, the Knights conquered (1341) Smyrna; which Timur, however, wrested from them after an obstinate resistance. The same Vicar General freed the King of Armenia from the Turks (1347), destroyed the fleet of the Egyptian pirates in the harbour of Alexandria, and conquered that town (1365). He likewise destroyed, near the island Longo, the fleet of Sultan Al Nager al Daher (1440), and repulsed successfully four years afterwards a second attack of the Sultan upon Rhodes. Even Muhamed II. when he besieged (1480) Rhodes with one hundred thousand men, and one hundred and sixty ships, was compelled to raise the siege, after having suffered heavy losses; and when after