190 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 200. 



L'Isle Adam was residing in France in 1521, when 

 his brethren at Rhodes made him their chief. The 

 grand priors, commanders, and knights, who were 

 absent from Malta, whether employed in the 

 service of the Order or not, had neither a voice nor 

 ballot in the election ; and the more effectually to 

 prevent their interference, as also that of the 

 Koman pontiff, only three days were allowed to 

 transpire before a successor was chosen, and pro- 

 claimed as the head of the convent. 



Henry VIII. addressed L'Isle Adam as follows : 

 "Reverendissimo in Christo Patri Domini, F. de 

 Villers L. Isleadam, Magno Hierosolymitani Or- 

 dinis Magistro, et consanguineo, et amico nostro 

 carissimo." George II., as the king of a Protestant 

 country, sent a letter to Emmanuel Pinto, bear- 

 ing the follov/ing superscription : "Eminentissimo 

 Principi Domino Emmanueli Pinto, Magno Or- 

 dinis Melitensis Magistro, Consanguineo, et Amico 

 Nostro Carissimo." 



Boisgelin has stated in the first volume of his 

 Histoj'y of Malta, p. 194., that the — 



" King of England addressed the grand master by 

 the following titles : ' Eminentissime princeps consan- 

 guinea et avnice nostcr carissime.' The King of 

 France gave the Order the title of ' Tres chers et bons 

 amis ; ' and the grand master that of ' Tres cher et tres 

 aime cousin,' in the same style as he addressed the 

 Dukes of Tuscany." 



That this note may not occupy too much space 

 in your interesting publication, I would now 

 merely remark that the "convent" was known as 

 the place where the grand master, or his lieute- 

 nant, resided, and the "tongue," according to the 

 code of the Order, v/as the terra applied to a 

 nation. A grand prior was the chief of his lan- 

 guage, who resided in his native country. A 

 " Turcopolier " was the title of the conventual 

 bailiff of the venerable language of England, " and 

 it took its name from the Turcopoles, a sort of 

 light horse mentioned in the history of the wars 

 carried on by the Christians in Palestine." The 

 English knights won for themselves this high 

 honour by their gallantry in the Holy Land, and 

 in remembrance it ever after remained with their 

 tongue. A Turcopolier was the third dignity in 

 the convent, and the last knight who enjoyed it 

 was Sir Richard Shelley, Prior of England. At 

 his decease the grand master assumed the title for 

 himself. The two interesting letters addressed 

 by Sir Richard Shelley to Henry VIII., in which 

 he complained of his majesty's treatment to the 

 Order of St. John, and pleaded in its favour, were 

 published in the English language, and five years 

 iigo were to be seen in the government library of 

 this island. But, on my asking a short time ago to 

 refer to them, I regretted to find that they had 

 been taken from the library by a gentleman who 

 was well introduced to the librarian, and whose 

 conduct in this, and some other transactions where 



valuable books are concerned, cannot be too 

 strongly condenjued. Before returning from this 

 bi-ief digression to the subject of my Note, might 

 I ask if these letters are known in England, and 

 whether copies could be easily procured for a 

 friend who is desirous of having them inserted in 

 a forthcoming publication? 



The Knights of St. John being members of a 

 masonic institution, termed each other brothers, as 

 is customary Avith members of the craft at the 

 present time. And it may not be out of place to 

 remark that several of the chapels, churches, and 

 fortifications of Iilalta are ornamented with ma- 

 sonic signs and emblems, which have been several 

 times referred to, and cleverly explained within 

 the last three years in different numbers of the 

 Masonic Qitarterly Review. Those of your 

 readers who take an interest in masonry may 

 peruse these papers of a distinguished mason, now 

 stationed in the West Indies, with instruction and 

 pleasure. 



Boisgelin has recorded in the first volume of his 

 RiHtorij of Malta, p. 182., that the Order of St. 

 John of Jerusalem "might with propriety be con- 

 sidered as being at the same time hospitaller, re- 

 ligious, military, republican, aristocratical, mon- 

 archical," and lastly, as if these different terms, 

 which, without his explanation, would appear to 

 be incorrect as ap[)lying to one institution, were 

 not sufficient, he has added in a note, that in the 

 last days of its existence it might also have been 

 called deniocratical. He has stated that it was — 



" Hospitaller, from having hospitals constantly open 

 for the reception of the sick of all countries and re- 

 ligions, whom the knights attended in person. Re- 

 ligious, because the members took the three vows of 

 chastity, obedience, and poverty, which last consisted 

 in having no property independent of the Order at 

 large, and on that account the Pope was their superior. 

 Slilitary, from being constantly armed, and always at 

 war with the infidels. Republican, as their chief was 

 chosen from among themselves, and could not enact 

 laws, ar carry them into execution, without their con- 

 sent. Aristocratical, since none but the knights and 

 grand master had any share in the legislative and ex- 

 ecutive power. Monarcliical, from having a superior 

 who could i:ot be dispossessed of his dignity, and was 

 invested with the right of sovereignty over the subjects 

 of the order, together with those of Malta and its de- 

 pendencies. .And lastly, Democratical, from the in- 

 troflnetion of a language which did not require any 

 proofs of nobility."* 



Before taking leave of Boisgelin, it should bo 

 recorded that he was a Knight of Malta ; and his 

 history, one of the best now extant, appeared in 



* The language to which Boisgelin refers, was that 

 of England. A "icw years after the Reformation, and 

 in 1545, the council decreed that it Avas no longer re- 

 quired for those who joined the English tongue to be 

 noblemen. Vide fol. 35. 



