Heg. 928, upper part of the town, which contained the prin- J.C. 1522. cipal churches, the grand master's palace, the & 929. inns, and the dwellings of the knights, was abandoned by them. All lodged near the walls in order to be both day and night ready for the attacks, L'ifle Adam was to have an eye on all the pofts; he appointed four grand croffes to fecond him in this important duty, the chancellor Damaral, the turcopolier John Bouk, Peter Decluis, grand prior of France, and Gregory Morgut, grand prior of Navarre. Whilft the grand mafter was thus preparing to receive the enemy, they perceived by night on the coaft of Lycia, which faces the ports of Rhodes, fires refembling fignals. A French knight, called Menetou, was fent in a felucca to examine these fires. He took with him a Rhodian, called Jaxi, who understood and spoke the Turkish language with propriety. Having approached the fhore near these fires, the caufe of their voyage, they faw, around, fome Turks, who appeared to them to be merchants. Jaxi having inquired of them for a merchant who came on these coafts, and with whom he had been acquainted; they replied, that he should see him, if he would come on fhore. Menetou, hoping to procure fome intelligence, permitted Jaxi to land, on condition of the Turks' furnishing him with a hostage. The latter having brought to the veffel the best in appearance, or at least the beft clothed, among them; Heg. 928, J.C.1522 them; ás foon as the Turk was on board, Jaxi & 929. debarked; but he was no fooner landed, than the Turks bound this unfortunate man, and placed him by force on a horse, in fight of Menetou, who immediately ordered the pretended hostage. to be put in irons. This was only a poor peasant of the canton, whom thefe Turks had clothed in a veft of filk, and obliged to follow them. They were unable to procure any information at Rhodes from this miferable being. The Turks conducted Jaxi with every expedition to Conftantinople. The vizier Mustapha had him put to the rack; in the horror of the torture, he difcovered every thing he knew, and more than he knew of the ftate of the place, the number of foldiers and knights, and died a few hours after. The certainty of there not being more than fix thousand regular troops in the isle of Rhodes, induced the emperor to undertake the fiege; but he would not commit any kind of hostility, 'till after a formal declaration of war. He fent therefore fome fpahis to this fame coaft of Lycia where the unfortunate Jaxi had been taken. As foon as new fignals were perceived, a felucca left the port of Rhodes; but not one on board would land, whatever folicitations were made them by the spahis from the fhore. The Turks, seeing that they could not prevail on them, threw into the veffel a ftone to which a letter was faftened. This was the declaration of war, which, being brought brought to Rhodes, was read in open council. J.C. 1522. The following where the contents of it. "The depredations which you commit every day on our faithful fubjects, and the injury "which you do our highness, oblige us to com"mand you to remit to us forthwith the ifle and "fortrefs of Rhodes. If you do it willingly, "we fwear by the God who made Heaven and "Earth, by the great prophet Mahomet, by the "twenty-fix thoufand prophets fallen from the << Heavens, by the four writers of the evangelical "hiftory, by the adorable fouls of our fathers Heg. 928, & 929. and grandfathers, and by the facred head of our highness, that you fhall be permitted to go "out of the island and the inhabitants to remain "there, without any injury being done to them But if you do not immediately com"ply with our orders, you fhall all be put to "the fword, and the towers and walls of Rhodes "fhall be reduced to the height of the herb that grows at its foot." ❝or you. mence On this, the grand mafter ordered public comprayers to implore the affiftance of Heaven. ment of After having caufed all the neighbouring iflands the fiege. belonging to the Order to be laid waste, they brought away all the inhabitants that were able to carry arms, and fuch as were willing to go to Rhodes to live. The enemy's fleet foon appeared; it was compofed of four hundred fail, both great and small veffels, which carried a hundred and Heg. 928, J.C.1522. fifty thousand men, foldiers or pioneers. This & 929. army was commanded by the grand vizier Muftapha Kirlou. He had for lieutenants the corfair Curtogli, and Peri bafhaw, who had been intrufted with the education of Solyman. The fleet entered a road called Parambolin, fix miles from Rhodes. For the first thirteen days there was no act of hoftility on either fide; the Turks landed their artillery and provifions, after which they refolved to attack the place, without stopping at the other forts in the island, which would be obliged to furrender as foon as the town fhould be taken. The fourteenth day Rhodes was invested, and the trenches opened towards the left flank of the place out of the reach of the cannon. But as foon as the Turks had erected a battery, it was beaten down by a battery set against it. Brifk and frequent fallies fcoured the trenches and filled up the works. The knights, as vigilant within as without, difcovered a confpiracy of Turkish flaves, who had refolved to fet fire at the fame time to feveral places of the town. A foldier of the garrifon caught a woman placing matches in a place filled with fodder. wretch being put to the torture named her accomplices, who were rather numerous, mentioned the hour agreed upon, and the different places in which this plot was to be, executed. They were all taken and put to death. Meanwhile the fiege did not advance. The janiffaries, who This were were not under the eyes of the emperor, had but little confidence in a young general, who was not yet known by any victory. The artillery of the befieged, numerous and well served, destroyed all the works of the Turks. Six thousand men, who seemed to multiply themselves, withstood a hundred and fifty thousand with the greatest success. Peri bafhaw wrote to Solyman, that his prefence was neceffary to give vigour to the troops; that Rhodes had already refifted the arms of Mahomet II. because that prince had not deigned to attack it in perfon; and that the courage of the best foldiers languished, when it was not animated by the fight of their fovereign. .C. 1522. Heg. 928, & 929. goes to the The bafhaw's information drew Solyman from Solyman Conftantinople. He put to fea immediately with ege. an escort rather than a reinforcement. Every thing changed countenance on his arrival. The example which he gave himself, his eyes unceafingly fixed on the ramparts of Rhodes, his promifes and menaces, made the janiffaries return to their duty. These brave foldiers became again what they had formerly been; but the refiftance of the knights was only more obftinate. The fultan had brought with him a Greek renegade engineer, who caufed mines to be made under the baftions. It is faid that Martinengue invented in this fiege the use of countermines, and the fecret of difcovering the fubterraneous works of the enemy by means of a drum. |