He ended: "You have
already tried my government, you know well that which you may hope to
expect. I believe that in all justice I shall receive your suffrages."
Naturally the assemblage was stupefied at hearing a man thus recommend
himself; on reflection, however, they decided that he had spoken no less
than the truth, and Gozon de Dieu-Donne, "the hero of the serpent," became
twenty-sixth Grand Master of the Order. He died in 1353, when he was
succeeded by Pierre de Cornillan, and upon his tomb were graven these
words:
"Cy Gist le Vainqueur du Dragon."
In the years 1480 and 1485 under the Grand Master Pierre D'Aubusson, Rhodes
withstood two great sieges from the Turks. The first of these is described
at length by the knight Merri Dupuis "temoin oculaire" who sets down: "Je,
Mary Dupuis gros et rude de sens et de entendement je veuille parler et
desscrire au plus bref que je pourray et au plus pres de la verite selon
que je pen voir a lueil." The description of that of 1485 is written by
another eye-witness, the Commandeur de Bourbon, to whom "ma semble bon et
condecent a raison declairer premierement les causes qui out incite mon
poure et petit entendement a faire cest petit oeuvre."
But we have no space to follow these gallant Knights, and it must suffice
to say that on both occasions, after incredible exertions and terrible
slaughter on both sides, the attacks of the Turks were eventually repulsed.
Pages:
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312