. Military and religious life in the Middle Ages and at the period of the Renaissance. der of St-John of Jerusalem)—a defence which lasted twenty-fourdays, and cost the lives of four thousand of the assailants, amongst themthat of the famous pirate Dragut, the vice-sultan of Tripoli. The fort ofSt. Michael, and the suburb of that name, were reduced to ashes by the fireof the enemy ; and it was only the invincible courage of the grand master,Jean de la Valette, and of a small number of his knights, all to the last manprepared to die for their faith—even after more than two thousand of themhad a
. Military and religious life in the Middle Ages and at the period of the Renaissance. der of St-John of Jerusalem)—a defence which lasted twenty-fourdays, and cost the lives of four thousand of the assailants, amongst themthat of the famous pirate Dragut, the vice-sultan of Tripoli. The fort ofSt. Michael, and the suburb of that name, were reduced to ashes by the fireof the enemy ; and it was only the invincible courage of the grand master,Jean de la Valette, and of a small number of his knights, all to the last manprepared to die for their faith—even after more than two thousand of themhad already perished—that still enabled Malta to hold out. MILITARY ORDERS. Fortunately, Don Garcias de Toledo, the viceroy of Sicily, came withsixty galleys to their assistance. During the four months of the siege theTurkish forces fired seventy-eight thousand rounds of artillery, and lostfifteen thousand soldiers and eight thousand sailors. The knights of the order had on their side to deplore the loss of morethan three thousand of their brethren. Their grand master decreed that. Fig. ] 44.—The French Priory at Rhodes (Fifteenth Century).—State of the Ruins in 1828. annually, on the eve of the festival of Our Lady of September, prayersshould be offered up in all the churches of the order, thanking God for theprovidential succours which had delivered the besieged, and that on thepreceding day a commemorative service should be celebrated in honour ofthose who had fallen in defence of the faith. Henceforward neither the town nor the island, which remained the headquarters of the order, was again disturbed by the Turks, and Jean de laValette built a new city in Malta, which was called Valetta, after him. 182 MILITARY ORDERS. The members of the Order of Malta were divided into three classes : theknights, the chaplains, and the serving brothers. The first comprised thosewhose noble birth and previous rank in other armies marked them out formilitary service. The second consiste
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