RHODOS

SULTAN SULEYMAN

TURKISH EMPEROR

SULEYMAN II THE MAGNIFICENT

William Young Ottley after

Portrait Etching

by

Jerôme Hopfer

1500-1563

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cf.

William Robertson

William H. Prescott

History of Charles the Fifth

London 1857

BOOK II.p.160-161

...while the Christian princes were thus wasting each other's strength, Solyman the Magnificent entered Hungary with a numerous army, and investing Belgrade, which was the deemed chief bareer of that kingdom against the Turkish arms, soon forced to surrender.Encouraged by this success, he turned his victorious arms against the island of Rhodes, the seat, at that time, of the knights of St.John of Jerusalem.This small state he attacked with such a numerous army, as the lords of Asia have been accustomed, in every age, to bring into the field.Two hundred thousand men, and a fleet of four hundred sail, appeared against a town defended by a garrison consisting of five thousand soldiers, and six hundred knights, under the command of Villiers de l'Isle Adam, the grand- master, whose wisdom and valour rendered him worthy of that station at such a dangerous juncture.No sooner did he begin to suspect the destination of Solyman's vast armaments, than he despatched messengers to all the Christian courts, imploring their aid against the common enemy.But though every prince in that age acknowledged Rhodes to be the great bulwark of Christendom in the East, and trusted to the galantry of its knights as the best security against the progress of the Ottoman arms; though Adrian, with a zeal which became the head and father of the chuch, exhorted the contending powers to forget their private quarrels, and, by uniting their arms, to prevent the infidels from destroying a society which did honour to the Christian name, yet so violent and implacable was the animosity of both parties, that regardless of the danger to which they exposed all Europe, and unmoved by the entreaties of the grand-master, or the admonitions of the pope, they suffered Solyman to carry on his operations against Rhodes without disturbance. The grand-master, after incredible efforts of courage, of patience, and of military conduct, during a siege of six months; after sustaining many assaults, and disputing  every post with amazing obstinacy, was obliged tat last to yield to numbers; and, having obtained an honourable capitulation from the sultan, who admired and respected his virtue, he surrendered the town, which was reduced to a heap of rubbish, and destitude of every resource.[81]

Charles V. and Francis I., ashamed of having occasioned such a loss to Christendom by their ambitious contest, endeavoured to throw the blame of it on each other, while all Europe, with greater justice, imputed it qually to both.The emperor, by way of reparation, granted the knights of St.John the small island of Malta, in which they fixed their residence, retaining, though with less power and splendour, their ancient spirit, and implacable enmity to the infidels.

[81] Fontanus de Bello Rhodio, ap. Scard.Script.Rer.German.vol.II.p.88  P.Barre, Hist.d'Allem.tom.VIII.p.57

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