RHODES OP THE KNIGHTS.
Rhodes of the Knights. By Baron de Bolabre. (The Clarendon Press. 318. 6d. net.)—The Knights of St. John took possession of Rhodes in A.D. 1309. Aggrandised a few years later by the suppression of their great rivals, the Tomplars, they became very rich and powerful. Then a period of decay set in, simultaneous with the growth of the Ottoman power. The island was attacked in 1444 by an Egyptian force, and again in 1480 by the Turks under the command of the renegade Palaeologus. This was a very formidable business, lasting for two months, and resulting in a loss of twenty-five thousand to the besiegers. In 1522 the final siege took place. The Knights, who could command but a small defending force, held out for five months, and then capitulated on honourable terms. This is a brief account of their occupation. Its history is "writ largo" in the remains of the town, The names, for instance, indicate the constitution of the Order. It had its eight "tongues," three of them, substantially French, having been instituted before the French Monarchy was consolidated. Of the nineteen Masters, all but five belonged to one of the three French tongues,—Provence, Auvergne, and France ; Provence claims the first six, Auvergne and France four each. These names, and the names of the other less numerous and influential tongues, appear again and again in the various fortifications. We .have, for instance, the "Walls of Auvergne," the "Tongue of
Castile," the "Ditch of France." Of those remains, of the "Out- lying Castles," and other cognate matters Baron de Belabre give' us in this volume an elaborate and amply illustrated amount.
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