The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation Volume V Part 9

How the corne was shorne downe halfe ripe and brought into the towne for feare of the Turkes hoste.

During these things, the reuerend lord great master carefull and busie to haue euerything necessary, as men and other strengths, sent vessels called brigantines, for to cause the wafters of the sea to come vnto Rhodes for the keeping and fortifying of the towne, the which at the first sending came and presented their persons and s.h.i.+ps to the seruice of the religion.

[Sidenote: Haruest in April and May.] After that the sayd lord caused to shere downe the Rie of his isle, and caused it to bee brought into the towne, which was done in Aprill: and then in May in some places, he made to shere the wheate halfe ripe, howbeit the most part was left in the fields, because the Turkes hoste was come out of the streights of Constantinople.

And doubting that any number of s.h.i.+ps should come before to take the people of the sayd Isle vnawares, the sayd lord made them to leaue shering of wheate, and caused the people of the furthest part of the Isle to come into the towne.

While that the great master prouided for all things after the course of time and tidings that hee had, there arriued a Carak of Genoa laden with spicerie from Alexandria, the which pa.s.sed before the port of Rhodes the eight day of Aprill, and rid at anker at the Fosse, 7. or 8. miles from the towne, for to know and heare tidings of the Turkish hoste. Then the lord willing to furnish him with people as most behoouefull for the towne, sent a knight of Prouence named sir Anastase de sancta Camilla, commander de la Tronquiere to the captaine of the Carak, praying him to come into the hauen with his s.h.i.+p for the defence of the towne, profering him what he would, a.s.suring him s.h.i.+p. The captaine excused him, saying, that the merchandise was not his owne, but belonged to diuers merchants to whom he must yeeld account. Howbeit at the last after many words and promises to him made hee came into the hauen, the which captaine was named messire Domingo de Fournati, and hee in his person behaued him valiauntly in the time of the sayd siege.

How the great master caused generall musters to be made, and sent a vessell to the Turkes nauie, of whom he receiued a letter.

After the moneth of April the lord master seeing that the Turkes hoste drew neere, and that he had the most part of the wafters within the towne, he caused generall musters of men of armes to be made. And began at the knights, the which vpon holy Rood day in May made their musters, before the Commissioners ordained by the sayd lord in places deputed to each of them called Aalberge. The which Commissioners made report to the lordes that they had found the knights in good order of harnesse and other things necessary for warre, and their araie faire and proper, with crosses on them. When the muster of the knights was done, the lord master thought to make the musters of them of the towne, and strangers together: but his wisedome perceiued that harme should come thereby, rather then good, doubting, that the number of people should not bee so great as he would, or needed to haue, whereof the great Turke might haue knowledge by goers and commers into Rhodes, and therefore he caused them of the towne to make their musters seuerall by bandes and companies, and the strangers also by themselues, to the end that the number should not bee knowen, notwithstanding that there was good quant.i.tie of good men and well willing to defend themselues. And the more to hearten and giue them courage and good will, some knights of the Crosse, decked their men with colours and deuises, and tooke with them men of the towne and strangers, and with great noyse of trumpets and timbrels, they made many musters, as enuying each other which should keepe best aray and order, and haue the fairest company.

It was a great pleasure to see them all so well agree, and so well willing.

The number of the men of the towne amounted and were esteemed, three, or foure thousand, beside men of the villages that might be 1500. or 2000.

The eight day of the same moneth, the Turkes hearing of those tidings, made a fire for a token in a place called le Fisco, in the maine land right against Rhodes. And certaine dayes afore they had made another, that is to weet, when the s.h.i.+p of a knight named Menetow went thither, and had with him the clarke of the gallies named Iaques truchman, the which vnder shadow to speake with him, was withholden of the Turkes. For the great Turke had commanded to take him or some other man of the Rhodes to haue perfect knowledge in what estate the towne was then in euery thing. And they of the towne weening that the second fire was for to deliuer Iaques, the reuerend lord great master sent one of his gallia.s.ses, whose patron was called messire Boniface of Prouence, to know the cause thereof. And when hee arriued at the sayd place of le Fisco, he demaunded of the Turkes wherefore they had made the token of fire. And they said that it was because their lord had sent a letter to the great master, but as yet it was not come, and desired him to tary till it were brought. The patron as warie and wise in the businesse of the sea, thought in himselfe that the Turkes made such prolonging to some euill intent, or to surprise his vessell being alone, wherefore hee bade them giue him the letter speedily, or els he would goe his way, and neither tary for letter nor other thing: and told them of the euill and dishonest deed that they had done the dayes afore, to withhold the clarke vnder their words and safeconduct: and therewith he turned his gallia.s.se to haue gone away. The Turkes seeing that, gaue him the letter, the which he tooke, and when he was arriued at Rhodes, he presented it to the lord great master, which a.s.sembled the lordes of his counsell, and made it to be red. The tenor whereof was such as foloweth.

The copie of the letter that the great Turke sent to the Iord great master, and to the people of the Rhodes.

Sultan Solyman Basha by the grace of G.o.d, right mightie emperor of Constantinople, and of himselfe holding both the lands of Persia, Arabia, Syria, Mecha, and Ierusalem; of Asia, Europe, Aegypt, and of all the Sea, lord and possessor: To the reuerend father lord Philip, great master of Rhodes, to his counsailors, and to all the other citizens great and small, greeting. Sending conuenient and worthy salutations to your reuerances, wee giue you to weet, that we haue receiued your letters sent vnto our imperiall maiestie by George your seruant, the tenor whereof we doe well vnderstand: and for this occasion we send vnto you this our present commaundement, to the end that we will that ye know surely how by our sentence we will haue that Isle of Rhodes for many damages and euill deeds which we haue, and heare from day to day of the sayd place done to vs and our subiects, and ye with your good will shall hold it of vs and doe vs obeisance, and giue the citie to mine imperiall maiestie. And we sweare by G.o.d that made heauen and earth, and by 26000. of our prophets, and by the 4. Misafi that fell from the skies, and by our first prophet Mahomet, that if ye doe vs homage, and yeeld you with good will vpon these othes, all you that will abide in the sayd place, great and small, shall not need to feare perill nor damage of mine imperiall maiestie, neither you, your goods, nor your men: and who so will goe to any other place with his goods and houshold, may so doe, and who so will dwell and inhabits in any other places vnder mine Imperiall maiestie, may remaine where they like best, without feare of any person. And if there bee any of the princ.i.p.als and woorthy men among you that is so disposed, wee shall giue him wages and prouision greater then hee hath had. And if any of you will abide in the sayd isle, yee may so doe after your auncient vsages and customes, and much better. And therefore if that Imperiall maiestie, or els know yee that wee will come vpon you with all prouisions of warre, and thereof shall come as it pleaseth G.o.d. And this wee doe, to the end that ye may know, and that ye may not say, but we haue giuen you warning. And if ye doe not thus with your good will, wee shall vault and vndermine your foundations in such maner, that they shalbe torne vpside downe, and shal make you slaues, and cause you to die, by the grace of G.o.d, as we haue done many, and hereof haue ye no doubt. Written in our court at Constantinople the first day of the moneth of Iune.

How the Turkes came to land in the Isle of Lango, and were driuen to their s.h.i.+ps againe by the Prior of S. Giles.

When the lord great master and his counsell had heard the tenor of the letter, they would giue none answere to the great Turke, but that he should be receiued with good strokes of artillerie. So that to a foolish demaund behooued none answere. And it was very like that he would haue nothing. For sixe dayes after, that was the 14. day of the said moneth of Iune, the Brigantines that went toward Sio to know of the said armie, came againe and sayd, that of a trueth the said armie was comming; and that nigh to Lango an Isle of the religion, and 100. mile from Rhodes, they had seene and told 30. sailes that were most part gallies and fustes: the which vessels set men on land in the isle of Lango. Then the prior of S. Giles, Messire pre Iohn de Bidoux commander of the said place, taried not long from horsebacke with his knights and people of the isle, and he met so well with the Turkes, that he droue them to their s.h.i.+ps, and slew a certaine number of them: and of the side of Pre Iohn some were hurt, and his horse was slaine.

When the enemies were entered into their gallies, they went to a place called castle Iudeo on the maine land, betweene the sayd isle of Lango and the castle of S. Peter.

How part of the nauie and armie of the great Turke came before the citie of Rhodes.

The 18. day of the said moneth of Iune, these 30. gallies went from the sayd place, and pa.s.sed, by the Cape of Crion, entering the gulfe of Epimes beside Rhodes, and were discouered from the shade of the hill of Salaco, a castle in the isle of Rhodes. On the morrow they came out of the gulfe by plaine day, and sailing along by the coasts, they entered into a hauen on maine land called Malfata, where they abode three dayes. Then they went from thence, and returned to the gulfe of Epimes, where they abode two dayes and two nights.

The 24 day of the same moneth they issued out of Epimes, and trauersing the chanell, they came to the yle of Rhodes in a place before a castle called Faues, and they went to land, and burnt a great field of corne the same day, which was the feast of S. Iohn Baptist our patron. The guard of a castle named Absito in the yle of Rhodes discouered and spied the great hoste, and in great haste brought word to the lord master, and sayd that the sayd hoste, that was in so great number of sailes that they might not be numbred, was entered into the gulfe of Epimes. The 30 sailes that lay in the yle arose in the night, and went to the sayd hoste in the gulfe.

The 26 day of Iune the sayd great hoste arose and went out of Epimes an houre after the sun rising, and trauersing the chanell, they came to a place called the Fosse, eight miles from the towne. And the 30 first sailes turned backe toward the cape of S. Martin and other places to watch for s.h.i.+ps of Christian men, if any pa.s.sed by to Rhodes. The great hoste abode still till noone or one of the clocke, and then arose, not all, but about 80 or 100 s.h.i.+ps, as gallies, gallia.s.ses, and fusts: and pa.s.sed one after another before the towne and hauen of Rhodes three miles off, and came to sh.o.r.e in a place nigh to land, called Perambolin, sixe miles from the towne. In the which place the sayd hoste abode from that time to the end of that vnhappy siege.

The number and names of the vessels that came to besiege Rhodes.

The number of the s.h.i.+ps were these: 30 gallia.s.ses, 103 gallies, aswell b.a.s.t.a.r.ds as subtill mahonnets, 15 taffours, 20 fusts, 64 great s.h.i.+ps, sixe or seuen gallions, and 30 galleres, besides the nauy that waited for Christain men, if any came to succour vs. These were the vessels that came at the first to lay the siege. And sith that sayd host came out of Perambolin, there came from Syria 20 other sailes, aswell gallies as fusts.

And many other s.h.i.+ps came sith, and ioyned with the sayd army in the time of the sayd siege. And it was sayd that there were 400 sailes and moe.

The same day that part of the host came to the sayd place, the reuerend lord great master ordeined a great brigandine to send into the West, to certifie our holy father the pope, and the Christian princes how the Turks army was afore Rhodes. And in the sayd vessel he sent two knights, one a French man named Sir Claude Dansoyuille called Villiers, and Sir Loys de Sidonia a Spaniard: and they went to the pope and to the emperour.

After the comming of the Turks nauy into the sayd place, if was 14 or 15 dayes or they set any ordinance on land, great or small, or any quant.i.ty of men came on sh.o.r.e, whereof we marueiled. And it was tolde vs by some that came out of the campe, and also by the spies that the lord great master had sent abroad arayed as Turks that they, abode the commandement of their great lord, vntill the hoste by land were come into the campe. Howbeit there came some number for to view the towne, but they went priuity, for the ordinance of the towne shot without cease.

All this while the gallies and gallia.s.ses went and came to land, bringing vitaile and people. At the which s.h.i.+ps pa.s.sing nigh the town, were shot many strokes with bombards, which made some slaughter of our enemies: and when the most part of them was past, they began to set ordinance on the land with great diligence. Then the lord great master departed from his palace, and lodged him nigh a church called The victory, because that place was most to be doubted: and also that at the other siege [Footnote: This refers to the siege of Rhodes in 1480, by Mohammed II., the conqueror of Constantinople.] the great businesse and a.s.sault was there.

How the lord great master made his pet.i.tion before the image of S. Iohn, and offered him the keyes of the towne.

The day before were made many predications and sermons, and the last was in the church of S. Iohn Baptist. When the sermon was done, a pontificall Ma.s.se was celebrate with all solemnities, and all the reliques taken downe, and the lord great master and all his knights with great deuotions and reuerence heard it. And when the Ma.s.se was ended, the lord great master made a pitious oration or prayer before Saint Iohn Baptist his protectour: and aboue all other words, which were too long to tell, he besought him meekly that it would please him to take the keyes of that miserable city.

The which keyes he presented and layed vpon the altar before the image, beseeching S. Iohn to take the keeping and protection thereof, and of all the religion, as by his grace he had giuen to him vnworthy, the gouerning vnto that day: and by his, holy grace to defend them from the great power of the enemies that had besieged them.

How the women slaues would haue set fire in the towne.

The eight day of Iuly it was knowen that the Turkish women being slaues and seruaunts in many houses of the towne, had appointed to set fire in their masters houses at the first a.s.sault that should be made, to the end that the men should leaue their posterns and defenses to go and saue their houses and goods. And it was found that a woman of Marchopota being a slaue, was first moouer thereof, the which was taken and put to execution.

The same day some of our men went out for to skirmish with the Turkes, and many of them were slaine with shot of our artillerie, and of our men but one.

How the Turkes layd their artillerie about the towne, and of the maner and quant.i.tie of their pieces and gunshot.

The 18. day of Iuly, for the beginning and first day they set vp a mantellet, vnder the which they put three or foure meane pieces, as sacres, wherewith they shot against the posterns of England and Prouence. But the mantellet was soone broken and cast downe, and their pieces destroyed with the shot of the wall, and they that shot them were most part slaine. As this first mantellet was broken, by the great and innumerable people that they had they set all their ordinance on land, and caried it to the places where it should be bent, or nigh thereby.

And the 29. day of the same moneth, they set vp two other mantellets. One beside a church of saint Cosme and Damian, and another toward the West. And from these mantellets they shot great pieces, as Culuerings, double gunnes, and great bombards [Footnote: For particulars of the artillery used from the 14th to the 16th Centuries, see Vol. iii, page 207. note.] agaynst the wals of England and Spaine, to the which mantellets the ordinance of the towne gaue many great strokes, and often brake them. And the more to grieue the towne and to feare vs, they set vp many other mantellets in diuers places, almost round about the towne, and they were reckoned foure score: the which number was well lessened by the great quant.i.tie of strokes of artillerie shot out of the towne from many places.

The artillerie of the Turkes was such as followeth.

First there were sixe great gunnes, cannons perriers of bra.s.se, that shot a stone of three foote and a halfe: also there were 15. pieces of iron that shot stones of fiue or sixe spannes about. Also there were 14. great bombards that shot stones of eleuen spans about. Also there were twelue basiliskes, whereof they shot but with 8. that is to weet, foure shot agaynst the posterns of England and Spaine, and two against the gate of Italy: the other two shot sometime against Saint Nicholas tower. Also there were 15. double gunnes casting bullets as basiliskes. The meane shot, as sacres and pasuolans, were in great number. The handgunshot was innumerable and incredible. Also there were twelue potgunnes of bra.s.se that shot vpward, whereof eight were set behind the church of S. Cosme and Damian, and two at saint Iohn de la Fontaine toward the port of Italy, and the other two afore the gate of Auuergne, the which were shot night and day: and there were three sorts of them, whereof the greatest were of sixe or seuen spannes about. And the sayd stones were cast into the towne to make murder of people, which is a thing very inhumane and fearefull, which maner of shooting is little vsed amongst christian men. Howbeit by euident myracle, thanked be G.o.d, the sayd pieces did no great harme, and slew not past 24. or 25. persons, and the most part women and children, and they began to shoot with, the said pieces from the 19. day of the same moneth, vnto the end of August, and it was accounted that they shot 2000. times more or lesse.

Then the enemies were warned by the Iewe that wrote letters to them of all that was done and sayd in the towne, that the sayd potgunnes did no harme: wherefore they were angry, for they thought that they had slaine the third part of our people: and they were counselled by him to leaue that shooting, for it was but time lost, and pouder wasted, and then they shot no more with them. It is of a trueth that they shot with the sayd potgunnes 12. or 15. times with bullets of bra.s.se or copper, full of wild fire, and when they were in the ayre, they flamed foorth, and in falling on the ground, they brake, and the fire came out and did some harme: But at the last wee knew the malice thereof, and the people was warie from comming neere to them, and therefore they did hurt no more folke.

How the captaine Gabriel Martiningo camee to the succor of Rhodes, and all the slaues were in danger to be slaine.

The 24. day of the same moneth a brigantine arriued that was sent afore into Candie, wherein came a worthy captaine named Gabriel Martiningo with two other captains. And there went to receiue him messieur prou Iohn prior of S. Giles, and the prior of Nauarre. Then after his honourable receiuing as to him well apperteined, they brought him before the lord great master that louingly receiued him, and he was gladly seene and welcommed of the people, as a man that was named very wise and ingenious in feats of warre.

Then came a Spaniard renegado from the host, that gaue vs warning of all that was done in the field, and of the approaching by the trenches that our enemies made.

And in likewise there arose a great noise in the towne, that the slaues Turks that wrought for vs in the diches had slaine their keepers, and would haue fled, which was not so. Neuerthelesse, the rumour was great, and they rang alarme: wherefore the sayd slaues comming to prison, as it was ordeined in al the alarmes, were met of the people, which in great anger put them to death: so that there were slaine an hundred and moe the same day. And if the lord great master had not commanded, that none should hurt them, they had bene all slaine, and there were fifteene hundredth of them: which slaues did great seruice in time of the siege: for they laboured dayly to make our defences, and to cast earth out of the ditches, and in all works they were necessary at our needs.

How the great Turke arriued in person before Rhodes.

The 25 day of the sayd moneth many of our men went out for to skirmish in the field and made great murder of Turks, and in likewise did our artillery. And it is to be noted that the 28 day of the same moneth the great Turke in person pa.s.sed le Fisco a hauen in the maine land with a galley and a fust, and arriued about noone, where his army lay, the which day may be called unhappie for Rhodes. For his comming, his presence and continuall abiding in the fielde is and hath beene cause of the victorie that he hath had. When the gallie that he came in was arriued, all the other s.h.i.+ppes of the hoste hanged banners aloft in their toppes and on their sayle yerdes.

Soone after that the Turke was arriued, he went to land, and mounted on his horse, and rode to his pauilion which was in a high place called Megalandra, foure or fiue miles fro the towne but of the danger of the gunne shot. And on the morrow, as it was reported to vs, hee came to a Church nigh the towne called Saint Steuen, for to viewe the Towne and fortresses, whereas they had set vp mantellets for to lay their ordinance.

The last day of Iuly, one of our briganidines went out with a good company of men arrayed as Turkes, and some of them could speake Turkish, and went by night to lande through the Turkes hoste, and demaunded if there were any that would pa.s.se ouer into Turkie, that they should haste them to come. The Turkes weening that they had beene of Turkie, there entred a 12. persons, the which were carried to Rhodes, by whom we knew what they did in the campe.

The first day of August the Captaine Gabriel Martiningo was made knight of the order of the religion by the lord great Master, and was made the first auncient of the Italian nation, of the first baliage or priorie that should be vacant. And in the meane season the religion should giue him twelue hundred ducates for pension euery yeere, and the same day he was receiued to the Councell in the roome of a baylife.

The fift day of the sayd moneth our master gunner was slaine with a gunne, which was great losse for vs at that time.