hospitality which they professed by the contributions of the pious throughout Europe.

They had not remained many years in the peaceful enjoyment of these privileges, when Jerusalem was taken by the Turks, the caliph's garrison was put to the sword, and the knights were dispersed.

This event gave occasion to the crusades which took place in the twelfth century; when an enterprising spirit, blending itself with religious zeal, led such as were actuated by it to enlist under the banners of those who successively offered themselves the champions of christianity, in order to rescue the Holy Land out of the hands of the infidels.

The knights hospitallers, having distinguished themselves in the first crusade, preached and conducted by Peter the Hermit, were permitted by pope Calixtus the Second to alter their constitution, and to constitute themselves a military as well as religious order.-It was then divided into three classes. The first consisted of such as, by their noble birth or the rank which they had held in the army, were deemed best qualified to bear arms in defence of the cause which they had embraced.-The second consisted of such as exercised the sacerdotal function; and these attended the army as almoners or chaplains.-The third were such as had neither of these distinctions, and were called serving brethren."

The knights merited the distinctions granted them by their valour. Such was the fame which they had soon acquired in the wars with the infidels, that it was deemed a high honour to be of their order, and all the enterprising young nobles and others courted it. It was then thought expedient to divide them into eight tongues, or nations, which were as follow-Provence, Auvergne, France, Italy, Arragon, England, Germany, and Castile.

In the mean-time, the champions of the crusade, having gained possession of Palestine, had invested Godfrey de Bouillon with the sovereignty by the style of King of Jerusalem: and that monarch and his successor, Baldwin, ceded several fortresses to the knights, in reward of their signal services.

As their greatness was derived from their merit in these wars, so they partook in the adverse fortune which attended the christian cause.—

When Jerusalem was taken by the celebrated Saladin, emperor of the Turks, in 1191, they retired to their fortress of Acre, where they remained till the year 1291; when they were driven thence by the Turks, and retired to Cyprus, the sovereignty of which had been bequeathed to them by its last sovereign, Hughes de Lusignan."

Several events afterwards concurred to increase the wealth and power of the knights.-The first of these was the conquest they made of the isle of Rhodes, then thinly inhabited by Greeks and Saracens, under the protection of the Eastern empire. †-Another was the abolition of the knights templars, on account of the heresy and malepractices of their brethren, and the transfer of great part of their vast possessions to the knights of St. John in 1312.

Their history from this time to the beginning of the sixteenth century was signalized by their wars with the infidels, the particulars of which are too numerous to be related here.-In the year 1522, Soliman the Magnificent, being determined if possible to free himself of the annoyance which the Turkish empire had experienced from them, attacked them with a prodigious force by sea and land.-The grand master, Villiers l'Isle Adam, with only 600 knights and 5000 soldiers, made a gallant defence; but was at length constrained to capitulate, after a siege of six months, upon the mortifying condition, among others, "that all the islands belonging to "them, and the castle of St. Peter, should be surrendered to the Turks."

d

They then withdrew first to Cyprus, and, afterwards, some of them to Italy, where a residence was granted them by CLEMENT THE SEVENTH, at Viterbo; and others to Nice, where they were protected by FRANCIS THE FIRST.

Dr. Robertson says, "that the emperor and the French king, ashamed " of having occasioned such a loss to christendom by their ambitious contests, endeavoured to throw the blame of it on each other, while all Europe, with greater justice, imputed it equally to both. The emperor, by way of reparation," says he, "granted the knights of St. John the small "island of Malta, in which they fixed their residence, retaining, though

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"with less power and splendour, their ancient spirit, and implacable enmity "to the infidels "

A sense of shame or regret may have had some influence in determining the emperor to cede this island to the knights. But if we attend to the terms made with them, it will be evident that policy had still more.

They were to engage to be at continual war with the Turks, and all "corsairs or rovers of whatever nation, or religion; and beside must promise upon oath, (1.) That the kingdom of Spain shall suffer no detri"ment from these ceded countries. (2.) That the right of patronage to "the bishopric of Malta shall continue in the king of Spain as king of Sicily, but that he shall always choose the bishop from among three persons presented by the grand master. (3.) That an Italian shall be captain of the galleys, and not a foreigner, whom the Spaniards may "have any reason to suspect. (4.) That whenever the order should again "become master of Rhodes, or transplant itself elsewhere, these ceded "lands shall revert to the king of Spain as king of Sicily; and, (5.) That, in acknowledgment for this tenure, the order every year, on allsaints-day, shall send a deputation with a falcon to the viceroy of Naples. From this epocha they obtained the name of knights of "Malta."

If we consider the force and character of the knights, we shall be convinced that the alliance and support of such a fraternity, who, from their very institution, were enemies to the Turks, of whom Charles stood in dread, and who, in this situation, would become the centinels of the Mediterranean, were cheaply purchased with the cession of an island of so little intrinsic value.

In 1583, their fortress of Valetta, the chief strength of the island, was invested by a Turkish fleet consisting of one hundred and fifty-nine large galleys and galleons, with 30,000 troops on board. But it was defended with such determined bravery by the knights and their auxiliaries that the besiegers were obliged to retire, after a siege of four months, with the loss of a great part of their forces.-After that, nothing memorable occurred till the reduction of the fortress by the French in 1798.

According to captain Morgan, who published the History of Algiers in 1728" their naval force at that time consisted of seven stout ships of

war,

! Robertson's Charles the Fifth. 5. and 2. 153.

Busching. 3. 220.

"war, none carrying fewer than 50 guns, beside galleys and privateers of "all sizes; with which they were perpetually harassing the coasts of Barbary, and bringing home prizes to Malta.""

Busching gives us the following concise description of this celebrated little island. After saying that it was anciently called Iberia, afterwards Ogygia, and by the Greeks Melita, and adverting to the mention made of it in the scripture account of St. Paul's voyage to Rome, he proceeds thus: " its "length is computed to be 20,000 paces, its greatest breadth 12,000, and its circumference 60,000, or sixty Italian miles. It is entirely rocky, and produces no more corn than barely suffices to maintain the inhabitants for six months. Many ship-loads of earth have indeed been brought "here from Sicily, and the rocky bottom covered therewith, in order to "render some places more fruitful, but the soil has in a short time crum"bled into dust, there being but little rain to preserve it in a proper

adhesion. The wine produced in this island is not sufficient for its consumption, and it also is deficient in wood. On the other hand it has fruits and cotton, a plenty of honey, good pastures, considerable "fisheries, sea-salt, and a profitable coral fishery. Its annual revenues are computed at 76,000 scudi. The number of its inhabitants amounts in "all to about 60,000. The common language of the country is a corrupt Arabic, but in towns Italian is spoken.

"The most ancient inhabitants of this island, of whom we have any "account, were the Phocacians, who were driven out by the Phoenicians, and they in their turn by the Greeks. Afterwards it seems to have "been under the dominion of the Carthaginians, from whom the Romans "took it. Upon the declension of the Roman empire it was first subdued by the Goths, then by the Saracens, but wrested from them by the "Normans in the year 1090, after which time it had the same masters as Sicily, till Charles the Fifth gave it to the knights of St. John "of Jerusalem."

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The knights, according to Clarke are 1000; of which number 500 reside in the island; and the remainder are dispersed through France, Spain, Italy, and Germany, and are to attend when summoned.—After their accession of property by the suppression of the knights templars, they are said to have had 20,000 manors in different kingdoms.

h Anderson. 2. 39.

i

i Clarke's Hist. of Knighthood. 48.

NAPLES

NAPLES AND SICILY.

POPE'S FEODAL CLAIMS.

THE pope's feodal claims in the kingdom of Naples having been disputed during this period, it may be interesting to the reader to be made acquainted with the grounds of them." The title of investiture which the 66 pope claims for the kingdom of Naples," says Busching, " commenced " in the middle of the eleventh century, when pope Leo the Ninth invested "count Humphry the Norman and his heirs with Apulia, Calabria, and "whatever he should conquer in Sicily. Though this investiture properly "at first meant no more than that the pope wished success to the Norman "arms, and pronounced their future enterprises and conquests lawful, which greatly animated the Normans, yet this same papal investiture was made "more absolute in the year 1059, under Nicholas the Second, by his granting to duke Robert Guiscard the dukedoms of Apulia, Calabria and Sicily, and by investing him with them as fiefs; and Richard submitted "to the like tenure for the principality of Capua. The Normans were willing to become vassals to the court of Rome, so much the more as thereby they were secured both from the emperors of the east and west; " and having afterwards conquered the other principalities of which the present kingdom of Naples consists, they also submitted to the pope's "investiture for them, and Robert even transferred the city of Benevento to the see of Rome; whence it is that, in the investiture of the kingdom " of Naples, the pope excepts this city, and the king, in acknowledg"ment of the pope's feodal right, sends every year to him a white palfrey and a purse of 6000 ducats."

EXTENT

VOL. IV.

2 Z

a

Busching. 3. 134.