(Tradition says at sunset as the sheep were being driven in from the fields the knights—emulating the ruse Ulysses played upon Polyphemus—slipped in under sheepskins.) The possession of Phileremos was important because it put them astraddle the main mountain ridge and less than ten miles south of Rhodes itself. In the meantime, Pope Clement V had optimistically confirmed the Hospitallers in their possession of the island—optimistically because it was to be another two years before the city finally fell.

The long and unexpected resistance of the Rhodians proved a great drain on the Order’s resources, so that it even had to go so far as to mortgage its revenues for twenty years to a Venetian moneylender. One thing the Hospitallers learned during this long campaign was that the city they desired was eminently defensible. Indeed, if it could hold out so well with its Byzantine walls and its Greek defenders, what could it not do if garrisoned by the Order of St John and fortified by all the expertise that they had acquired in the East? In the end the city of Rhodes fell to them not through military operations but through a sheer stroke of luck. The Emperor at Constantinople, hearing of the island’s investment, and wanting to restore it to his own control, despatched a ship laden with reinforcements. Carried off course by a sequence of storms, it finally had to run south-east to Cyprus to seek safety. Coming to anchor under the walls of Famagusta the vessel was seized on the orders of a Cypriot knight, who then prevailed upon its Rhodian master to change sides and to talk the Rhodians into surrender. With their reinforcements gone, and with adequate terms presented to them, the citizens of Rhodes had no option but to surrender. On August 15th, 1309, the city opened its gates to the Order of St John. Fulk de Villaret was now in possession of a fertile and fruitful island with two excellent harbours, as well as a number of usable anchorages along the coasts, and a base from which to operate against the enemy.

What the Rhodian Greeks thought about it all is never mentioned by the commentators—for the commentators are Latins. History is almost invariably written by the victors. One good thing was that in the three years of operations there had been little bloodshed and the Greeks were born adaptors—provided always that their liberty was respected and the practice of the Orthodox religion was tolerated. They may even have consoled themselves with the thought that the Order would bring increased prosperity to their homeland and that it was at any rate better to have these foreign Christians occupying their city than the infidels whose shadow already lay heavy over the waters.

One year later the Order officially moved its headquarters from Cyprus to Rhodes. In the division of the spoils with their Genoese partner, Vignolo, the Knights retained all of Rhodes with the exception of two villages, together with the islands of Lemnos and Cos, from which Vignolo had previously been operating. In return for his assistance Vignolo was to receive one-third of all revenues—which included the proceeds from any profitable piracy. The Order could afford to be seemingly so generous. Vignolo would die one day, whereas the Order of St John was self-perpetuating. Although heavily in debt for the moment, Fulk de Villaret could afford the luxury of a smile. For the first time since their expulsion from the Holy Land the Order was in possession of a permanent home, and one which gave every indication of being a pleasant and prosperous one. He had an excellent base for the conduct of operations against the enemy and for the first time in nineteen years the Knights had a real raison d’être. More than that, by the Pope’s confirmation, the Order was now the legitimate owner of the state of Rhodes. The Order, in fact, was Sovereign. Its only obligations were to the Pope and to its original mission of serving the poor and the sick. Not for them the fate of the Templars. So long as they continued to practise their mission they could feel fairly secure about their lands and legacies in Europe. One of the first things that was immediately set in train was the building of a hospital in the city of Rhodes.

 

 

 

Chapter 9

RHODIAN SPRING

 

It was in Rhodes that the Knights gradually perfected the form of their Order; established the greatest fortress town in the Mediterranean; and became the master seamen of the East. With the occupation of Rhodes they also obtained the rulership of the adjacent Dodecanese islands, Cos and Calymnos, Leros, Piskopi, Nisyros, and Symi. Scattered like a necklace across the eastern Aegean—many of the islands were fertile, and nearly all had useful small harbours. These were to prove themselves the outer defences of Rhodes. Just as in Syria and the Holy Land the Knights had built their castles on a series of concentric fortifications, so now they acquired islands that were to serve the same function for their new home.