Hospitaller conquest of Rhodes
Hospitaller conquest of Rhodes | |||||||
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Part of the Crusades | |||||||
Prise de Rhodes, 15 août 1310 (oil on canvas by Éloi Firmin Féron, 1838-1839) | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Knights Hospitaller | Byzantine Empire | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Foulques de Villaret | Andronikos II | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
unknown | unknown | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
unknown | unknown |
The Hospitaller conquest of Rhodes took place in 1306–1310. The
Sources
The conquest of
Background
Founded in
Rhodes was an attractive target: a fertile island, it was strategically located off the southwestern coast of
The repudiation of the
The Cypriot chronicles indicate that Foulques de Villaret entered into a contract with a Genoese, named as Boniface di Grimaldi by Gérard de Monréal and Vignolo de' Vignoli by the two Italian chronicles. The latter are probably correct, since a document survives, dated 27 May 1306, concluded between Villaret and other representatives of the Order and Vignolo.[11][12] The latter thereby ceded his rights on Kos and Leros to the Hospitallers, with the right of retaining Lardos and one more estate of his own choice on Rhodes. In the other islands near Rhodes they would conquer, Vignolo would enjoy extensive rights as "vicarius seu justiciarius", albeit the Knights themselves and their servants would be under the direct jurisdiction of the Grand Master. Vignolo and the Knights would jointly appoint the tax collectors for the islands other than Rhodes, and would divide their income, with two thirds going to the Order and one third to Vignolo.[13] Pope Clement V was most likely kept in the dark about the Hospitallers' designs on Rhodes, as no mention of it is made in the contemporary correspondence between the Pope and Villaret.[12]
Conquest of the island
On 23 June, Villaret and Vignolo sailed from Limassol, with two war galleys and four other vessels, carrying a force of 35 Knights, 6 Levantine horsemen, and 500 foot soldiers. To them were added some Genoese ships. The expedition first put in at
This success encouraged the Knights to resume the siege of the capital, but the locals defended it with success, and asked for reinforcements from Emperor Andronikos II. In a letter of 30 April 1307, preserved in the royal archives of Aragon, some details are given: the Emperor sent eight galleys to aid the city, and the Hospitallers were forced to lift the siege after killing 80 Greeks and losing about a dozen of their own and about 40 horses.
Villaret continued his close relations with the Genoese, who were not only expert sailors and shipbuilders, but also familiar with the Aegean and, just like the Hospitallers, rivals to the Venetians; thus in 1308–1309 Villaret placed contracts for twelve galleys and a navis magna in Genoese shipyards.[23] Villaret remained in the West for two years, but by September 1309 he was seeking permission to return to the East to oversee the completion of the conquest. He left Genoa for Naples in November, and arrived at Brindisi in January 1310. There, the Hospitallers refused to ship any member of the massive, disorderly mob constituting the Crusade of the Poor, who all desired to take part in an unauthorised crusade to the Holy Land. Villaret's fleet reportedly numbered 26 galleys, including Genoese ships, carrying a force of 200–300 Knights and 3,000 foot soldiers, but the bad weather delayed their departure until spring.[20][18] The ostensible aim of this expedition was to assist Cyprus and the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, but Villaret, again most likely without the knowledge of the Pope, used it to finish his conquest of Rhodes.[23]
The city of Rhodes was finally captured on 15 August 1310, according to both the biographies of Clement V and the reports of Christopher of Cyprus. The latter reports that the Hospitallers had amassed 35 galleys for the operation.[24] According to the three Cypriot chronicles, however, the city was not captured by force, but through a stroke of luck: a Genoese ship sent by the Emperor with victuals for the besieged garrison was blown off course to Famagusta on Cyprus. The ship captain was captured by a Cypriot knight, Peter the Younger (Pierre le Jaune, Piero il Giovene), who brought him to Rhodes before the Grand Master. To escape execution, the ship captain convinced the garrison to surrender on the condition that their lives and property would be spared.[15][11]
Dating controversy
The chronology of the conquest was for long accepted to have been in two stages, with the first landing and conquest of the island in 1306 and the final capture of the city of Rhodes in 1310.
Aftermath
Following the completion of the conquest, the Hospitallers moved their convent and hospital from Cyprus to Rhodes. Efforts were made to attract Latin settlers, both to replenish the local population that had dwindled to some 10,000, and to provide men for military service.
References
- ^ a b Failler 1992, pp. 114–118.
- ^ Failler 1992, pp. 118–119.
- ^ Failler 1992, pp. 126–128.
- ^ Failler 1992, pp. 121–122.
- ^ Luttrell 1975, pp. 278–280.
- ^ Luttrell 1975, pp. 280–281.
- ^ Failler 1992, p. 122.
- ^ Luttrell 1975, p. 281.
- ^ Luttrell 1975, pp. 282–283.
- ^ Luttrell 1975, p. 282.
- ^ a b Failler 1992, pp. 122–124.
- ^ a b Carr 2015, p. 66.
- ^ Luttrell 1975, p. 283.
- ^ Luttrell 1975, pp. 283–284.
- ^ a b c d Luttrell 1975, p. 284.
- ^ a b Failler 1992, p. 123.
- ^ Failler 1992, pp. 123–124, 126.
- ^ a b Failler 1992, p. 119.
- ^ Failler 1992, p. 127.
- ^ a b Luttrell 1975, p. 285.
- ^ Failler 1992, pp. 126–127.
- ^ Failler 1992, p. 126.
- ^ a b Carr 2015, p. 67.
- ^ Failler 1992, pp. 119–121.
- ^ Failler 1992, p. 128.
- ^ Failler 1992, pp. 128–132.
- ^ Failler 1992, p. 130.
- ^ Luttrell 1975, p. 286.
- ^ Luttrell 1975, pp. 286–287.
- ^ Carr 2015, pp. 67–68.
- ^ Luttrell 1975, pp. 288–289.
Sources
- Carr, Mike (2015). Merchant Crusaders in the Aegean, 1291–1352. Boydell & Brewer. ISBN 978-1-843839903.
- Failler, Albert (1992). "L'occupation de Rhodes par les Hospitaliers". Revue des études byzantines (in French). 50: 113–135. .
- Luttrell, Anthony (1975). "The Hospitallers at Rhodes, 1306–1421". In ISBN 0-299-06670-3.
- Luttrell, Anthony (1988). "The Hospitallers of Rhodes Confront the Turks, 1306–1421". In Gallagher, P. F. (ed.). Christians, Jews, and Other Worlds: Patterns of Conflict and Accommodation. New York and London: University Press of America. pp. 80–116.
- Luttrell, Anthony (1997). "The Genoese at Rhodes: 1306–1312". In Balletto, L. (ed.). Oriente e Occidente tra Medioevo ed età moderna: Studi in onore di Geo Pistarino. Genoa: Acqui Terme. pp. 737–761. OCLC 606372603.