,!

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THE HISTORT OF TIIE ORDER OF [book ill.

harm on either side, since they counterbalancedeach other. 1 The order was in great esteem thenboth in Europe and the Levant, most of the chiefcaptains in Spain and Italy being Knights ofRhodes; and as for the Pontifical States (at thattime a principal Italian power) nearly all its go-vernors of celebrity, including even the Duke ofSpoleto, were of the same. 2 Sir Deodate findingmany of his commanders so protected by the Popeand the Kings of France and Castile, Arragon,Portugal, England, and others, that he was unableto reduce them to obedience, he renewed his abdi-cation in too urgent terms to be refused; and whileconsent (making itself precious) was coming, heemployed his hours in the useful toil of adding tothe fortifications of the city of Rhodes, when inDecember of 1353, he had a stroke of apo-plexy, that at his great age was instantdeath. 3 His successor was Sir Peter de Cornillan,or Cormelian, a Provencal gentleman, Prior ofSt Gilles, and remarkable for the regularity of hislife, and austere and ancient manners; as the newPontiff well observes in his brief to theknights, approving highly of their choice,

1353

1354

1 Bosio: par. ii., lib. ii., anno 1356.

2 Id.: anno 1348.

3 Seb. Paoli: Serie Chron., ii. 464.-anno 1353.

-Bosio : par. ii. lib. ii.,