22 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 272. 



tioned, and in the following order: first came 

 the reigning prince, and after him the marshal, 

 chief Hospitaller, draper, treasurer, and lastly the 

 Commander of Cyprus. De Villaret was so exact 

 in his government at this period, that he not only 

 established the respective ranks of liis officers, but 

 also made known the number of servants and 

 attendants whom they should have in their ser- 

 vice, and the animals which they were expected or 

 compelled to own. If it should be observed that 

 in the above list no mention is made of a Turco- 

 polier or admiral, the omission is easily explained. 

 At the period now referred to, the Hospitallers 

 and Templars were guests of the king of Cyprus, 

 a monarch so jealous of his sovereignty, that he 

 would permit no interference in the government of 

 his subjects, or the protection of his island.* Had 

 a Turcopolier been named, there would have been 

 no duties for him to perform ; and had the admiral 

 been mentioned, he had no fleet to command. 

 Hence their omission from the list of officers then 

 known in the convent. 



The gifted author of Eothen thus poetically 

 notices the place which for fourteen years had 

 been the island home of tlie Knights of St. John 

 after their expulsion from the Holy Land : 



" Cyprus is beautiful : from the edge of tlie rich flowery 

 fields on which I trod, to the midway sides of the snowy 

 Olympus, the ground could only here and there show an 

 abrupt crag, or a high straggling ridge that upsliouldered 

 itself from out of the wilderness of myrtles and of the 

 thousand bright- leaved shrubs that twined their arms 

 together in lovesome tangles. The air that came to my 

 lips was warm and fragrant as the ambrosial breath of the 

 goddess infecting me, — not (of course) with a faith of the 

 old religion of the isle, but with a sense and apprehen- 

 sion of its mystic power, a power that still was to be 

 obeyed — obeyed by me, for wh}' otherwise did I toil on 

 with sorry horses to where for Her the hundred altars 

 glowed with Arabian incense, and breathed in the fra- 

 grance of garlands ever fresh. 



* ubi templum illi, centumque Sabaao 



Thure calent arae, sertisque recentibus hnlant.' 



^.neid, i. 415." 



Inl307Fulk De Villaret became Grand Master 

 on the decease of his brother, and at a time when 

 the Knights of St. John, greatly assisted by the 

 Genoese and Sicilians, were engaged in a desperate 

 struggle for the possession of Rhodes. Early in 

 the following year this beautiful island was cap- 

 tured ; f an important conquest, which not only 



* Captain Graves, of the Royal Navy, to whom as its 

 president, and to Mr. Innes, its secretary, the Literary 

 and Scientific Institute of this island is so much indebted, 

 not only for its existence, but also for its present flourish- 

 ing condition, has a History of Cyprus now quite ready 

 for publication. To this work Captain Graves has given 

 his continued and constant attention for several years, and 

 its appearance may therefore be looked forward to with 

 much interest, as a valuable contribution to the literature 

 of the day. 



f Historians differ as to the precise period in which 

 the capture of Rhodes took place. KnoUes has stated, in 



gave to the Hospitallers an agreeable residence for 

 more than two centuries, but also enabled them to 

 raise a bulwark against the encroachments of the 

 Ottoman emperors, which for this long period, with 

 their whole power, they could not overthrow. In 

 1328, twenty years after the Order of St. John 

 was established at Khodes, it is clearly shown by 

 the records that a Turcopolier existed in the con- 

 vent, and that " Giovanni de Buibralk " was the first 

 known English knight who held the dignity. From 

 this date until 1660, the office was uninterruptedly 

 filled by Englishmen ; but for what reason it was 

 first granted to one of that language, and ever after' 

 remained v,'ith it, there is nothing in the manu- 

 script reports of the general chapters which have 

 been carefully referred to, or published histories, 

 that we are aware of, to show. Five hundred years 

 ago the Order of St. John was composed of eight 

 different nations, as they were termed; and each 

 had its own peculiar dignity. Thus, the Grand 

 Commander, who by virtue of his office was per- 

 petual president of the common treasury, comp- 

 troller of the accounts, superintendent of stores, 

 governor of the arsenal, and master of the ord- 

 nance, was taken from the language of Provence. 

 The Grand Marshal, who had the military com- 

 mand over all the Order, the Grand Master's 

 household only excepted ; and when at sea com- 

 manded not only the general of the galleys, but 

 the grand admiral himself, came from the language 

 of Auvergne. The Grand Hospitaller, who had the 

 direction of the hospital, was from the language of 

 France. The Admiral, who in the grand marshal's 

 absence had the command of the soldiery equally 

 with the seamen, and could claim the right of 

 being proposed to the council as general of the 

 galleys, whether the Grand Master wished it or 

 not, was an Italian. The Draper, or grand con- 

 servator, who was charged with everything relative 

 to the conservatory, as also to the clothing, and 

 purchasing all necessary articles for the troops 

 and hospital, came from the language of Arragon. 

 The Turcopolier, who commanded the light cavalry, 

 as also all the guards who were stationed in the 

 fortresses near the harbours, or in the castles 

 around the coasts, and gave all passwords and 

 countersigns, came from England. Germany fur- 

 nished the Grand Bailiff" to the Order ; and, lastly, 

 Castile a Grand Chancellor, who could not fill the 

 office unless lie knew how to read and write.* 



Having these several dignities now before us, 

 should it be asked why any particular honour had 

 been granted to any particular language, it might 

 be a question as difficult to answer as that why the 



his Turkish History, p. 163., that it was in 1308 ; while 

 Castelli, p. 83., has recorded that the conquest was not 

 actuallj' effected until 1311. 



* Vide Boisgelin's Ancient and Modern MaUa,vo\.\. 

 pp. 241. 245., from which work the dignities attached to 

 each language are taken. 



