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Feudal Tenure and Latin Colonization at Rhodes: 1306-1415Author(s): Anthony T. LuttrellSource: The English Historical Review, Vol. 85, No. 337 (Oct., 1970), pp. 755-775Published by: Oxford University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/563540

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1970

Feudal enurendLatincolonizationt Rhodes:

I306-I41I

DURING the two centuries before the conquest of Rhodes the

Hospitallersof the Orderof SaintJohn of Jerusalemaccumulateda varied experience of the techniques of colonization on theirextensive Europeanestatesas well as in the East. They learnedto

encouragesettlersby offeringthem both feudaland other forms of

tenure, whether to safeguardthe Hospital's possessions in Syria,1

to exploit its rich Gascon lands through the creationof numerouscommunitiesknown as sauvetes,2or to repopulateand defend the

plainsof Castile.3Driven out of Syriaat the fall of Acrein 1291,the

Hospitallersestablished heirheadquartersirston Cyprusandthen,after 1306, at Rhodes, where the old problems of settlementanddefence had to be solved in new circumstances.4 By 313 the

Hospital had acquired, and needed to protect, a number of towns and

castles, taken from both Greeks and Turks on the mainland as well

as on Rhodes and the nearby islands.5 The Master of the Hospital

Fr. Foulques de Villaret, who had skilfully managed the conquest ofRhodes from the Greeks, was said to have held 'many castles in

Turkey' which he had captured from the infidels,6 and his exploits

against the Turks won praise from the Venetian Marino Sanudo who

was with him at Rhodes.7

Under its Byzantine rulers the Rhodian archipelago had suffered

from Turkish incursions, and the campaign which its conquest in-

volved reduced the Greek population even further.8Men and horses

I. J. Riley-Smith,The

Knights fSt.

Johnn

Jerusalemnd

Cyprus:.

loo-3Io

(London,967); see also J. Prawer, 'Colonization Activities in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem',Revuebelgedephilologie t d'histoire,vol. xxix (I95I).

2. P. Ourliac, Les sauvetes uComminges:tudes et documentsur les villagesondespar les

Hospitaliersdans a regiondes coteauxcommingeoisToulouse, I947).

3. S. Garcia Larragueta, 'La Orden de San Juan en la crisis del Imperio Hispanicodel siglo XII', Hispania,vol. xii ( 952); see also his El gran prioradode Navarra de laOrdendeSanJuandeJerusalen:iglosXII-XIII, 2 vols. (Pamplona, 957).

4. J. Delaville le Roulx, Les Hospitaliers Rhodesjusqu'aa mortde Philibertde Naillac:

13o10-421 (Paris, 1913); the more recent bibliography for the fourteenth century canbe traced through A. Luttrell, 'Intrigue, Schism, and Violence among the Hospitallersof Rhodes: 1377-1384', Speculum, ol. xli (1966). The precise chronology and details

of the conquest of Rhodes, which took place between 1306 and 1310, remainuncertain.5. Text infra,document i.6. Text (composed by I357) in L. de Mas-Latrie, 'Notice sur les Archives de Malte

a Cite-la-Valette,' Archivesdes missions cientifiquest littiraires, i ser., vi (Paris, 1857),29. A Turkish chronicle mentioned Christian attacks around Ephesus c. I305-8, whichP. Lemerle, L'emiratd'Aydin, Byzance t l'Occident: echerchesur 'La Gested'UmurPacha'

(Paris, I957), pp. 25-26, considers likely to have been Byzantine attacks.

7. Istoria del Regnodi Romania, n C. Hopf, ChroniquesGreco-RomanesneditesoupeuconnuesBerlin, I873), p. 167.

8. Statistics are lacking; L. Livi, Prime lineeper unastoriademograficai Rodi e delleisoledipendenti all'etd classicaai nostrigiorni(Florence, 1944), pp. 81-82, guessed at a

population of about Io,ooo for Rhodes in1306.

755



were scarce, yet there was land to spare and the Hospitallers were

naturally anxious to grant it out in order to build up a dependable

Latin element as a counterpoise to the Greeks. They began torefortify the castle at Rhodes, and they sought colonists from the

West to defend their new territories and to sustain the struggle with

the Turks: 'they worked on the said castle and strengthened it on all

sides, and they acquired many fine people who wished to come to

Rhodes to increase and augment the place; and afterwards theyreduced to obedience several places in Turkey which gave them

tribute." A statute passed at the Chapter-General of the Order held

at Rhodes in April I 3I declared ambitiously that the Hospitalneeded to maintain a force of I500 men-at-arms, to be composed of

iooo foot and 500 horse, for the defence of the whole island.2 At

about the beginning of 1312 the Hospitallers were able to win a naval

victory against the Turks,3 but nonetheless they were in need of

ships and sailors as well as soldiers and animals.

The acquisition of Rhodes and the nearby islands, which tech-

nically formed part of the Christian though schismatical empire of

Byzantium, had originally been the subject of anagreement, described

as a paragiumseusocietas,concluded near Limassol in Cyprus on 27May 1306 between the Hospitallers and the Genoese corsair Vignolode Vignolo, who sported a dubious title to the islands of Kos and

Leros and could provide some of the necessary shipping. The

Hospital was to hold Rhodes, Kos and Leros, which were explicitlyexcluded from the paragium,but Vignolo was to retain the casaleon

Rhodes already granted him by the emperor of Constantinople, and

to have one other casaleof his choice on Rhodes. In all the other

islands, however acquired, two-thirds of the revenue and produce

were to go to the Hospital and one third to Vignolo, the collectors

being appointed jointly. On Kos and Leros, which he purportedly

gave to the Hospital, and on the other islands to be captured Vignolowas to be vicarius eujusticiarius;his powers were to include the rightto create notaries, to appoint baillis and other officials, and to punishall except brethren of the Hospital with death and mutilation, the

I. Les GestesdesChiprois, n Recueildes Historiensdes Croisades:Documents rmeniens,

ii (Paris, 1906), 865. There is no evidence that these mainland conquests, briefly held

and unidentifiable, were ever colonized, but Ludolph de Suchem, De itinere TerraeSanctae,ed. F. Deycks (Stuttgart, 1851), p. 27, wrote c. 1340:.. .fortissimum n Turchia

parvumhabent astrum.2. Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale, MS. franc. 13531, fo. 37; Biblioteca Vaticana, MS.

Vat. Lat. 3i36, fo. 67. Madrid, Archivo Hist6rico Nacional, Ordenes militares, San

Juan - Arag6n, in legajo 7I7, fo. 5v (misdated 'mcccvi)' wrongly gives: m. et .v.chomesdarmaset .v.c homes cavalet .m. ape.

3. On 22 Apr. 13 2 the Aragonese envoy at the Council of Vienne reported 'que ara

hic havia vengudes letres, quels Espitallers della mar havien hauda bataylaab los Turcs

e quen havia morts mes de MD dels Turchs e dels Espitallers tro a LXXXV': H. Finke,

PapsttumundUntergang es Templerordens,i (Munster, 1907), doc. 146; this document

has hitherto been overlooked.

October756 FEUDAL TENURE AND



LATIN COLONIZATION AT RHODES

Order reserving an overall appellate jurisdiction.l There was no

mention of Vignolo holding these lands in fief or owing any kind

of service. The paragiumwas not a feudal contract. Nor was it apareageof the type so commonly used to create new settlements in

France, and which must have been familiar to many of the numerous

French Hospitallers. The agreement was not in force for long.

Vignolo de Vignolo participated in the conquest of Rhodes,2 but

when the Hospitallers seized Genoese shipping which was contra-

vening papal prohibitions by trading extensively in Egypt and Syria,the Genoese reacted with bitter attacks on the Hospital. Some time

before June 1311 Vignolo's ship was captured by the Genoese while

on its way from Rhodes to Candia3; he was not heard of again.4The Hospital attempted at first to continue the old-fashioned

feudal ways of attracting settlers which had been familiar to its

brethren in Syria. In 3I3 Fr. Foulques de Villaret, acting with the

assent of the senior brethren of the Hospital at Rhodes, appealed for

colonists from the West, circulating a magistral bull dated 14 Maywhich was written on parchment and sealed with the Master's leaden

seal.5 Much of the bull was composed in feudal terms. It began by

speakingof the

castles,towns and fertile lands

conquered bythe

Hospital on the islands and the mainland, and of the need for

colonists to cultivate these lands and to defend them against the

schismatical Greeks and infidel Turks from whom they had been

taken by force. The Hospitallers offered possessions to be held in

feudumperpetuum o any who would come from beyond the seas to

settle on their side of the sea - in cismarinispartibus.The extent of the

fief would vary with the settler's condition, and was to be measured

according to the annual value of the land in libraetournois or the

equivalent. A miles who came to settle with his wife and familywould receive lands valued at 65 librae;if he came without wife and

family the value would be 5o librae. Such a knight and his successors

would be obliged to maintain a good war-horse and either a good

pack-horse (ronsinum) r a mule, and two men, one of them aptusad

arma. A noble who was not a knight would receive a fief valued at

40 librae if he came with his wife and family, or at 30 librae if hecame without; each such noble was to maintain a horse and afolloweron foot, either a crossbowman (arbalestarius)or a lance (lancearius).

I. [Royal] Malta [Library, Archives of the Order of St. John], cod. 326, fos. I87a-I88v: text in J. Delaville le Roulx, Les Hospitaliers n TerreSainteet a Chypre: 10oo-13o

(Paris, 1904), pp. 274-276 n. 2.

2. Ibid.p. 276.

3. Venice, Archivio di Stato, Commemoriali, i, fo. i66v; cf. Delaville, Rhodes,pp.IO-II.

4. A statue of 1314 referred to 'le casal qui fu de sira vinhol' (Biblioteca Vaticana,MS. Vat. Lat. 3136, fo. 69).

5. What is apparentlythe only known example of this appeal is in the archives of the

Priory of Navarre (text infra,document I); few documents issued at Rhodes in the years

following 1306survive in the

originalor in

copy.

1970 757



A noble who became a knight, or a noble or knight who married in

Rhodes, would have his fief augmented according to his new status.

Furthermore a knight or noble who maintained a good packhorseworth 200 gros tournois of silver would have his fief increased to the

value of an extra 20 libraeannually. Any servienspedes or agricultorwho came to settle would receive lands and feudal possessions (tamin terrisquampossessionibusheodalibus)o an annual value of 5 or 3librae respectively for himself and his successors. All settlers who

came would be maintained at the expense of the Hospital during the

first year, and any knight or noble who needed a horse or other

animals to fulfil his obligations would initially be provided with

them.The settlers were to enter a contract with the Hospital by which

they and their successors would be bound to serve the Order within

the Hospital's lands as often as necessary and at their own expense.

They were also obliged to give service outside those lands at their

own expense on any expedition which took no more than a day,but if they served longer than that the Hospital would pay their

expenses according to their status. The Hospitallers had been

accustomed to somewhat similar conditions in Syria, where theconstant danger meant that vassals were bound to serve the whole

year round, not just for forty days as in the West. In the kingdomof Jerusalem vassals were also, apparently, supposed to serve outside

the kingdom for a period of time to be fixed in advance; if they were

kept beyond the time agreed they had to be paid. After the barons of

Cyprus refused to follow the king to Syria in 1272, it was established

that they were obliged to do service outside the kingdom for four

months in twelve, and also that they had to follow where the king

or his son went in person.1The bull of 3 3 made more generous offers to those who would

maintain a ship ready to serve the Hospital. Any settler prepared to

provide a galley of from 112 to z20oars, which the bull said was to

be properly equipped as laid down in the Customs of the Kingdomof Jerusalem and Cyprus, would receive lands and possessions in

pheudum erpetuumo an annual value of 2,000ooouronensesgrossiargenti

theoretically worth o00 librae-, or alternatively of I,ooo besants of

Rhodes. Any settler providing some other armed vessel (lignum

armatum)would be recompensed according to the size of the shipand the number of its oars. These lands would be free of all other

burdens, except ecclesiastical obligations and the naval service owed

to the Hospital. To sailors who would settle in the Order's territories

the Hospital offered a non-feudal stipendium.A galley-captain (comitus

galee) would receive 20 besants of Rhodes a month ad vitam suam,

to be raised to 30 besants when at sea, and an officer or navigator

i. J. La Monte, FeudalMonarchyn theLatin Kingdom f Jerusalem:Ioo to 1291 (Cam-

bridge, Mass., I932), pp. 141-3, 155-7.





(naucherius)en besants monthly ad vitam suam, 5 when at sea. A

galley sailor or oarsman (galiotus) was offered the normal pay of a

galiotuswhile he was at sea, and when ashore his victuals: suapanaticapro substentacioneue vite.

The most important single arrangement to follow upon this appealinvolved the island of Nisyros and had a largely defensive purpose.At the time Rhodes was attacked in 1306, the Venetians were besieg-

ing Nisyros, which lay to the north of Rhodes, and they were

attempting to gain control of the nearby island of Kos. Possession

of these islands was a strategic necessity to the Hospitallers at

Rhodes. In fact, the Hospital also seized the isles of Skarpathos and

Kassos, situated between Rhodes and Crete, from the VenetianAndrea Cornaro. The Venetians reacted sharply, and in 1314 the

Hospital proposed a compromise by which Andrea Cornaro would

hold the islands from the Hospital in tenutam tpossessionem, phrasewhich may have disguised an intention to establish a feudal type of

relationship. The proposal was rejected, and by June 1316 the

Hospitallers had abandoned Skarpathos and Kassos.1 However the

Order retained direct control of Kos, and it secured a position on

Nisyros.Years later it was believed that

Nisyroshad been received

by the Assanti of Ischia as the ransom of a Turkish lord they had

captured with their galley decorso.2The Assanti certainly had a pirate

galley, and if they did secure Nisyros they presumably sought pro-tection for their dangerously exposed island by agreeing to hold it as

vassals and to owe naval service to the Hospital.A document given by Fr. Foulques de Villaret at Rhodes on I 5

August I316 recorded the enfeoffment of Nisyros to the brothers

Giovanni and Bonavita Assanti of Ischia in recognition of their

many outstanding services against the Hospital's enemies. The islandwas to pass to their heirs and legitimate descendants in perpetuity,but was not to be alienated to any outside person: in nullam aliam

personamextraneamtransferatur.The Hospital reserved the superior

lordship and the merumet mixtum imperium,while the brothers did

homage and fealty as vassals, binding themselves and their heirs to

maintain a galley of 120 oars permanently equipped and ready to

I. Details and references in A. Luttrell, 'Venice and the Knights Hospitallers of

Rhodes in the Fourteenth Century', Papersof theBritishSchoolat Rome,xxvi (1958),I96-7, 202; Z. Tsiripanlis, 'Pages from the Medieval History of Nisyros: I306-1453'[in Greek], Dodekanesiaka,i (I967), 30-38. A rubric in the lost Venetian Misti read:'Per comunes amicos cognoscatur utrum magistrum Hospitalis debeat inducere domi-num Andream Cornarioin tenutam et possessionem Scarpantiet insularumacceptarum':text in R. Cessi - P. Sambin, Le deliberaZionielConsigliodeiRogati (Senato):Serie Mixto-rum',i (Venice, I960), 146.

2. 'Relation du pelerinage a Jerusalem de Nicholas de Martoni, notaire italien:

1394- 395', ed. L. Legrand, Revuedel'Orientlatin, iii (I895), 582; this story rings true;Martoni reported wrongly (cf. infra, p. 762) that it was Antonio Assanti who cap-tured the Turk, but correctly that Nisyros reverted to the Hospital on the death ofAntonio's son.

759970



serve the Hospital; the galley was to be renewed periodically, and

the Order promised to provide the bread and biscuit, and certain

other provisions. Except in the case of legitimate impediment, oneof the brothers was to serve on it in person. Subsequently Nisyros

passed to Giovanni's son Jacopo and to Bonavita's son Ligorio who

held it jointly infeudumpro indivisoas convassalli.Years later Ligoriowas condemned for piratical attacks against Rhodian and Cypriotmerchants. He had broken his oath of homage; the king of Cyprus

pressed for action against him; he failed to appear when summoned

to justice and was deprived of his half of the fief, which was held to

have reverted to the Hospital. Some time later, on i July 1341,the Master sold Ligorio's half, at a price which was finally lowered to

1,200 gold florins, to Jacopo Assanti, who wanted to keep the whole

fief in the family and had claimed it as Ligorio's kinsman.1

In the contract of I3I6 the Hospitallers undertook that if the

galley were lost while in the Order's service, the Hospital would

replace it: 'dare promittimus et debemus unam galeam aliam in

restaurum, secundum usus et consuetudines regni Jherusalem, quiet que in eo consueverint in concessionibus galearum hujus modi

antiquitus observari.' This was apparentlya

specialcase of the

practice, known in the kingdom of Jerusalem and elsewhere as restor,

by which a vassal secured the replacement of any equipment,

normally a horse, lost while serving his lord.2 The various versions

of the Assises of Jerusalem and Cyprus seem not to have contained

any reference to galley service in return for a fief or to the restorof a

galley, though on at least one occasion, in 1232, the king of Jerusalem

granted fiefs, presumably in money, to the poulainsdouport at Acre,who served at sea.3 The exceptional arrangements made at Rhodes

presumably represented an adaption to maritime circumstances ofnormal feudal customs known to the Hospitallers in Jerusalem and

Cyprus.4The pay offered to sailors in the appeal of 313 was possibly

I. Texts with further details in Malta, cod. 323, fos. 241-243v, printed in Delaville,

Rhodes,pp. 361-4 (I316), 370-3 (134I); it was not clear who was to provide the crew.

These and some of the other Malta documents used below were cited, briefly and some-

times inaccurately, in G. Bosio, Dell 'Istoriadella Sacra Religione.. di San Giovanni

Gierosolimitano,i (2nd ed., Rome, 1629), 83, 105, 137, 146, i6i, and in K. Hopf,GeschichteGriechenlandsomBeginndesMittelaltersbis auf die neuereZeit, 2 vols. (Leipzig,

I867-8), i. 395, 463; ii. 31, 148-50. Bosio and Hopf used the terms feudo and Lehen

without strict justification. That part of Tsiripanlis (pp. 37-41 etpassim)most relevantto the present topic is largely derived from Bosio, Hopf and Delaville, and repeatstheir

errors.2. Recueil ... Lois, i (1841), 613-15.

3. '. . .asses de Poulains dou port, qui avoient ne say quans vaisseaus armees, et le

roy lor douna fies, faissant le servize de mer' (GestesdesChiprois,p. 712).

4. According to M. Mollat, 'Problemes navals de l'histoire des croisades', Cahiersde

civilisationmidievale, (1967), 349, the count of Tripoli maintained a permanent navy

by conceding money-fiefs in return for the service of an armed galley, but he cites a

sole concession of I199: text in R. Rohricht, RegestaregniHierosolymitani:097-129r

(Innsbruck, 1893), no. 754; Mollat adds 'L'usage se developpa au XIIIe s.', but there

seems to be no evidencefor that.

760 OctoberE;UDAL TENURE AND




as good as that given elsewhere,' but the uncertainties and dangersof settling in distant Rhodes probably proved unattractive. The

Hospitallers always had difficulty in raising a fleet, and were usuallydependent on hiring Genoese and other galleys, while they had to

man their own few vessels through a system of compulsory service,the servitudomarina, mposed on a section of the Rhodian populace.2

On 6 October 1347 Chiqui and Niccolo, sons of the late JacopoAssanti, who jointly held Nisyros in fief, were permitted on account

of their youth to commute the service of the armed galley for an

annual payment of 200 gold florins; either party was to be able to

revert to galley service at will, but in that case the Hospital could

demand the money payment again when it wished. Nisyros wasruled for the young brothers by Novello Manocha of Ischia, who

so oppressed the islanders that in November 1347 the Master at

Rhodes had to send the Preceptor of Kos, Fr. Bertrando de Cantesio,to suppress a rebellion against Novello. Subsequently, on 20 May

366, Borrello Assanti of Ischia, burgensis f Rhodes, was granted the

small islands of Kalkia and Piskopia, which lay between Rhodes and

Nisyros, at 200 gold florins a year; in this case, though Borrello had

toprovide guard-service according

to acontract,

thedocument

made

no mention of his becoming a vassal of the Order. The Hospitalreserved the superior lordship, the falcons of the island for the use

of the Master, and the rights of wreck. Borrello was to begin at

once to build a tower with a water-cistern of agreed sizes on Limonia,an islet off Kalkia; he was to maintain three men to guard it, whilethe Order would provide another three. He was to have the rightto buy a half of all goods sold by the islanders, but he was not toexact any service from them which had not been exacted by the

Hospitallers in the past.3On 7 December 1374 the Master of the Hospital authorized the

i. The 313 text makes one besant of Rhodes equivalent to 2 gros tournois of silver;the besant blanc of Cyprus was then also worth about 2 gros tournois: J. Richard,Chypre ous esLusignans Paris, I962), pp. I6-I 8. At this time the gros of Cyprusweighedbetween 4.60 and 4.68 silver grams: A. Seltman, 'Light-weight coins of Peter I andPeter II of Cyprus,' Numism,tic Chronicle, ser., vi (I966), 235. Thus the Hospitallersoffered 60 gros tournois (perhaps 253 silver grams) monthly to a galley-captain; halfthat to an officer. In about I 320, the Venetians paid i8o grossi perhaps 382 silver grams)or even more to a captain, and half that to a mate (nauclerius): . Lane, VeniceandHistory(Baltimore, I966), pp. 266-7. Such comparisons are notoriously unreliable; the Rhodian

officers were to be paid at a lower rate while not at sea, but would perhaps have en-joyed lower living costs.

2. E. Rossi, Storia della Marinadell 'Ordinedi San Giovannidi Gerusalemme,i Rodi edi Malla (Rome - Milan, 1926). The present author is publishing his communicationon the Rhodian servitudomarinagiven at the XIII International Congress of ByzantineStudies (Oxford, I966).

3. Malta, cod. 317, fos. 240-240V, 242v (I347); cod. 319, fos. 299-299v (I366).

Cf. G. Gerola, 'I monumenti medioevali delle tredici Sporadi,' Annuario dellaRegiaScuolaArcheologica i Atene, ii (I916), 7-27, who describes a small tower on Limonia(p. ii; figs. 9- o). The turrisantiquaon Limonia was in need of repair in 1476: text inA. Gabriel, La Cite deRhodes:MCCCX-MDXXII, i (Paris, 1921), 147. Bosio, ii. IoS,and others state that Borrello held

his lands in fief.

76I970



heirs of Antonio Assanti, who had succeeded him at Nisyros, to com-

mute the feudal service of the galley they owed for five years, again

for 200 gold florins annually. On 8 April 1382 the Master Fr. JuanFernandez de Heredia licensed the Hospitaller Fr. Domenico de

Alamania to purchase the island; and on the same day he called uponthe governor of Nisyros to construct the galley owed to the Hos-

pital and produce it according to the contract. The Master and the

majority of Hospitallers followed the Avignonese obedience in the

papal schism, and probably they feared resistance at Nisyros from

supporters of the Roman pope, the Neapolitan Urban VI; Ischia

was close to Naples, and a year later on 12 April 1383 Bartolomeo

Assanti of Ischia, the son and heir of Antonio Assanti and pre-

sumably an Urbanist, secured a vidimusof the charters of 13 6 and

I341. By I386 however Bartolomeo himself had died, leaving no

male descendant of his body; Nisyros therefore reverted to the

Hospital and was granted ad vitam to Fr. Domenico de Alamania,who had apparently not exercised the right to purchase which he

had been given in I382; the grant was confirmed by Fr. JuanFernandez de Heredia at Avignon on 30 May I386. A few days

later,on 12

June,the Urbanist 'anti-Master' Fr. Riccardo

Caracciolo,who was also a Neapolitan, conceded Nisyros to his brother Jacopoon conditions similar to those imposed in earlier enfeoffments, an

arrangement which must have remained purely fictitious. Subse-

quently, Fr. Domenico having renounced his rights to Nisyros, Fr.

Juan Fernandez de Heredia granted it on 31 January I392 to

Buffillo Brancaccio, at the instigation of his brother Niccolo Bran-

caccio, a cardinal-protector of the Hospital. Buffillo and his male

heirs were to hold it infeudumnobileat 200 florins annually; he was

invested with the pacis osculumand performed homage and fealty,and for a few years at least he paid the 200 florins due.1

Nisyros was no mere barren isle. The Veronese lawyer Niccolo

de Martoni, who visited it in 1394 and I395, reported that there were

three castles, one of them very strong, and several casalia.He men-

tioned that Nisyros produced great quantities of fruit, and that the

export of dried figs alone brought in 2,200 ducats a year.2 A later

description of Nisyros in about 1420 again mentioned the figs,

spoke of five strong towns, and stated that large quantities of

sulphur, vomited from its volcano, were collected and sold tomerchants.3When Fr. Fantino Quirini was granted Nisyros in 1433,

i. Malta, cod. 320, fo. 59 (1374: text in Delaville, Rhodes,pp. 379-80); cod. 321,

fo. 220 (1382); cod. 323, fos. 241-242V (1383); cod. 324, fos. I37v-I38v (1386); cod.

325, fos. I59-i6ov; cod. 326, fos. 133-134 (1392); cod. 328, fos. I75-175V (I394).

Caracciolo's act of I386 is in cod. 281, fos. 93-93V; cf. Delaville, Rhodes,p. 256, n. 3;

Luttrell, 'Intrigue, Schism,.. .', passim.2. 'Relation ... de Nicholas de Martoni,' pp. 582-3, 639-40.

3. Descriptiondes iles de l'Archipelpar ChristopheBuondelmonti:ersiongrecquepar un

anonyme,d. E.

Legrand (Paris, I897),pp.

3I-32, I87-9, plate I7.

762 OctoberEUDAL TENURE AND




it was made a condition that he must pay the rusticiof the island who

worked the volcanic sulphur their accustomed wage.1

The one fourteenth-century example of a fief on the island ofRhodes itself was a special case, for it involved the family of the

Genoese Vignolo de Vignolo who had collaborated in the conquestof the island. Vignolo disappeared in about I3I , but his agreementwith the Hospital was not altogether forgotten and on 3 January

I325 the Master Fr. Helion de Villeneuve granted the casale of

Lardos, near Lindos on Rhodes, to Fulco de Vignolo, phisicusand

citizen of Genoa; Fulco was a brother of the late Vignolo de Vignoloand had himself participated in the conquest of Rhodes. Fulco was

to domicile himself with his wife and children in the island, and heand his heirs were to hold Lardos, with its lands, waters, slaves,villeins and so on, infeudumnobile n perpetuity, paying a yearly cens

of four rotulaof wax. Fulco was to do homage and fealty; he could

neither sell nor alienate his fief without a licence from the Hospital,which also retained the merumet mixtur imperiumand the power to

inflict the pena sanguinis.The settlement was finally concluded in

1329, when Fulco renounced all other claims under the agreement

of 306 and bound himself to servethe

Hospital:ad defencionem ac custodiamdicte Insule Rodi servire ad expensassuasde uno homine latino et uno Roncino armorumarmatisbonis et sufficien-tibus infraipsaminsulam et extrain turquiamvel alibi quo ibit exercitus

hospitalis quando et quotiens opus fuerit et per nos fuerint super hoc

requisiti.Nos et domus nostra teneamurproviderein expensishomini et

equo predictis quamdiuservientextra insulampredictam.2

The conditions concerning military service were broadly similar

to those contained in theappeal

ofI313.

Doubts arose later as to

their interpretation, and in I365/6 the Master referred certain prob-lems concerning the Vignolo fief to three judges at Rhodes. The

Hospitallers' attempts to raise forces for the Alexandria crusade of

I365 may have precipitated the question, though military service

was not the only matter at issue. The judges ruled that Fulco's

heirs had jurisdiction at Lardos only in civil and pecuniary cases

involving the men of the casale, and in criminal cases concerningverbal quarrels and minor violence punishable with fines. All other

causes, including those punishable with prison or corporal punish-ment, were reserved to the Hospital's courts. The judges held that

the men of the casale owed no obligations to the Order outside the

casale, except in the construction of roads and bridges they them-

selves used daily, and of those fortifications in which they would

themselves take refuge in time of danger. Villani of the casalewho

failed to do the customary custodia,presumably a guard-duty, wereto be punished by the Hospital. Finally the judges ruled on the

76397o

i.Malta,

cod.350, fOs. 242V-243. z. Malta, cod. 32.6,fos. i86-i87vV



question as to whether the heirs were bound to provide the service

of a man and horse in addition to their own service in person:

an dictus CondammagisterFulco et heredes de uno homine latino et de

equo armatisextra eorumpersonam prefatereligioni servireteneantur.

The judges declared, ambiguously, that the heirs were obliged to

supply the man and horse as agreed in the contract of 1329, and to

do custodiawithin the casale,and that the man was bound to serve

whenever and wherever the Hospital required:

quod debent tenere unum hominem latinum, et equum, armatumproutin

privilegiocontinentur et custodiam facere in Casali de lardo, et si

opus fuerit teneatur,ire quo placueritdomino, et ei fuerit preceptum.

In March 1382 one-third of Lardos was held in fief, despite the

earlier regulations limiting the inheritance to legitimate descendants,

by Ferrante de Vignolo bastardus.After his death that third was

judged to have escheated to the Hospital, and on 6 November I391the Master enfeoffed it to Nicolino de Lippe, citizen of Rhodes, on

terms similar to those of 1329, except that there was an explicitinsistence that the fief should pass only to legitimate male descen-

dants of the vassal. Yet subsequently Stefano de Vignolo, who heldthe other two-thirds of the fief, complained that as neposand closest

of kin to Ferrante he should be invested with Ferrante's third. On

20 May 1393 the Master did instruct that this be done but the

decision was apparently reversed, for on 28 August I402 the rich

financier Dragonetto Clavelli was enfeoffed, on the usual terms, with

the whole fief. At the same time the Master confirmed Clavelli's

purchase of the other two-thirds from Simone de Vignolo, who had

inherited them from the late Stefano of whom he was son andheir;Clavelli and his descendants were to hold Lardos in perpetuity in

feudumnobile.Clavelli had already purchased Nisyros, together with

a maga.enum n Rhodes, from Buffillo Brancaccio for 5,ooo ducats,

the sale being confirmed on 29 September I401 by the Master who

on this occasion insisted on altering the contract; Clavelli became a

vassal and dominusof Nisyros, but on his death the island was to

revert to the Order and not pass to his heirs.' Dragonetto Clavelli

thus acquired both the Hospital's fiefs, and was so wealthy and

powerful that in 14I 3 he was described as 'almost lord' of Rhodes.2

I. Malta, cod. 3I9, fos. 326-326V (I365/6); cod. 2I3, fo. 218 (1382); cod. 326, fos.

I27V-I28v, 133 (1391); cod. 327, fo. IIIV (I393); cod. 331, fos. I65V-I66V (1401); cod.

332, fos. I64V-I66V(I402). Ferrante was dead by I39I, yet the Master's document of

1402 referred to Ferrante's third passing latelyto Clavelli: 'nuper ad vos [readnos?]de jure per mortem ferrandi de vingnolo...' Bosio (ii. i6i), Hopf (ii. 148) and Dela-

ville (Rhodes,p. 224, n. I) used these documents inaccurately. The undocumented

genealogies of the Vignolo and Assanti in Hopf, Chroniques,. 491, are not reliable.

2. Viaggio a Gerusalemme i Nicole da Este descrittoda Luchinodal Campo, ed. G.

Ghinassi, in Miscellaneadi opuscoli nediti o rari dei secoliXIV e XV, i (Turin, i86I),

114-15; misdatedin

Delaville, Rhodes,p. 224,n.

i,to

1443.





Lardos and Nisyros were exceptional cases. Nisyros was a small

island which the Hospitallers were probably reluctant to govern

and defend themselves, while the position of the Vignolo at Lardosderived from the family's special part in the conquest of Rhodes.

Dragonetto Clavelli's wealth secured him both fiefs at a time when

the Hospital was in financial difficulties following the disastrous

crusade at Nicopolis. Clavelli held Nisyros and Lardos until his

death in, or shortly before, January I415. He bequeathed all his

possessions to his wife Agnese Crispo, who sold them to Fr.

Philibert de Naillac, Master of Rhodes.1 Nisyros was in any case

due to revert to the Hospital on Clavelli's death, and the fief of

Lardos must also have returned to the Order. Nisyros was there-after held by brethren of the Hospital under various arrangements.2For example, Fr. Fantino Quirini, Prior of Rome, became appaltatorof Nisyros in 1432, and on 8 May 1433 he was granted the island for

life at 600 florins annually; but that was not a feudal arrangement.3The Order did not altogether abandon feudal forms of contract.

On 26 October 1422 Antonio Cattaneo, whose father Ottobono

was a Genoese of Rhodes who had been Governor of Smyrna,was enfeoffed with the Rhodian casaleof

Salacos,but on terms which

differed from those previously imposed for Lardos and Nisyros.The fief was not to be alienated but it could pass to the vassal's

heirs of either sex even if they were not his direct descendants. The

contract was to last twenty-nine years and could be renewed twice,but after eighty-seven years it was to lapse. The vassal was not to

construct towers or fortifications. He was to pay an annual censusof

I50 florins, but there was no mention of military service. The

document still described the lord investing the vassal cumvireto seu

baculoquemgestamus n manibusand the kiss or pacis osculumwhichcompleted the act of homage.4 Despite these formal survivals,feudal institutions had not really been established on Latin Rhodes.

There was no complex system of feudal tenures and money-fiefs,sub-infeudations and ligeances, assises and feudal courts, such asexisted in Jerusalem and Cyprus, and the legal structures and con-stitutional theories that went with feudal arrangements in the largercrusading states would simply have been irrelevant in Rhodes.5

When the Master wanted to deprive Ligorio Assanti of his part of

i. Malta, cod. 338, fos. I9ov-I92; cod. 339, fo. I9oV;cod. 347, fos. I75, I75V.2. Hopf, ii. 148-50, 167; texts in L. de Mas-Latrie, Histoire del'ile de Chypre ous le

regne esprinces ela maisondeLusignan,ii (Paris, I86i), I5-I6, 96. Hopf's statement that

Agnese Crispo held Nisyros until 1422 through an agent, Sofredo Crispo alias Calvi,seems to lack foundation.

3. Malta, cod. 349, fo. 78v; cod. 350, fos. 242V-243.Bosio, ii. 204, incorrectly statesthat Nisyros was granted infeudo.

4. Malta, cod. 346, fos. 172-174. Salacos was still a fief in 1480 when its feudatariuswas Gregorio Imperiale of Genoa (cod. 387, fos. 164-165).

5. Cf. J. Prawer, 'The Assise de Teneure nd the Assise de Vente:a Study of Landed

Propertyin the Latin

Kingdom',Economic

HistoryReview,2

ser., iv no.I

(I95 I).

765970



the fief of Nisyros he took action coramjudice ordinariocurieRodi

while, in the absence of a formal feudal court, the dispute over Lardos

in about I 365 was referred to an ad hoccommission of three, a legumdoctor,ajudex ordinarius urieRodi and ajudex Maleficiorum.1

The documents of I3I6, of 1329 and of 1341 all referred to

heredesand successoreswithout specifying that they must be male;thus the enfeoffment of 316 was pro se suisqueiliis, nepotibus tpro-

tonepotibusmnibus, x ipseac illis imperpetuum escendentibus,umtaxat

legitimis.Ferrante de Vignolo held a third of Lardos in 1382, and

following his death the Hospital, at least at one point in I393,

agreed that his third should pass to Stefano de Vignolo, who

claimed it as nepos of Ferrante and his closest of kin. The en-feoffments of Lardos in 139I and of Nisyros in 1392 both made the

emphasis on the masculine element explicit. Nisyros had escheated

to the Hospital because Bartolomeo Assanti had died leaving no male

descendant of his body, and it was granted to Buffillo Brancaccio

and to the male heirs of his body. Subsequently, in the grants of

Lardos in 1402 and of Salacos in 1422, the insistence was dropped.The Hospital maintained the principle of the indivisibility of the

fief.Both

Lardos and Nisyros were held jointly, that is shared ratherthan divided, and in both cases until about 390 the vassals all came

from a single family. Jacopo and Ligorio Assanti, for example, held

Nisyros infeudumpro indiviso, hey were jointly responsible for pro-

viding the service of its galley and in 1341 they were termed con-

vassalli,while Ferrante de Vignolo was described in 1393 as havingbeen feudatariuset condominuspro tertiaparte indivisacasalisde Lardo.

When Dragonetto Clavelli was enfeoffed with Lardos on 28 August

1402, he was to pay the four rotula of wax which the casale owed

insimul cumaliis condominis icti casallis; this was a fictional provisionsince Clavelli also held the other two parts of Lardos, but it expressedthe principle that the obligations of the fief were to be rendered

jointly.2 There were casaliaheld jointly by Latins and Greeks or byLatins and Muslims in Greece and in Syria, and in these it was the

revenue rather than the land that was divided.3 Something similar

may have been the case with the Rhodian fiefs, although they were

not shared between Latins and other peoples.The colonization of conquered lands through the granting of fiefs

to Latin settlers had been common in the crusading kingdoms of

Jerusalem and Cyprus where the Hospitallers had been both feudal

lords and vassals, but conditions were different at Rhodes, a small

island on which the Hospital was itself the ultimate superior and

I. Delaville, Rhodes,p. 371; Malta, cod. 3I9, fos. 326-326v.2. Malta, cod. 325, fos. I59-I6ov (I392); cod. 332, fos. I65V-I66V (1402); and other

texts cited supra.3. Cf. J. Richard 'Un partage de seigneurie entre Francs et Mamelouks: les Casaux

deSur',Syria,vol. xxx ( 953); D. Jacoby, 'Un regime de coseigneurie greco-franque enMoree: lesCasauxde

Parfon',Melanges 'archeologiet

d'histoire,vol. lxxv

(I963).





recognized no overlord. The method of colonizing land through the

installation of vassals had also been used in most parts of Latin

Greece and especially by the Venetians in Crete, though the con-ditions of the Venetian feudati in Crete and elsewhere in the Latin

Orient were so unlike those of ordinary Western vassals that the

word feudumand its variants came to have very different meanings.1The humble men, such as the servienspedesnd the agricultorwho were

offeredpossessionesheodalesn the appeal of 1313, would have owed

military service without being vassals; although they were to hold

per pactum, there was no mention of homage. Their status would

have been similar to that of the men of Tinos and Mykonos, two

Aegean islands under Venetian control, who held small hereditarypheudaand owed service at sea as crossbowmen, but who were not

all technically vassals; their service was explicitly stated to be like

that of alii vasalli et ceterihabenteshuiusmodifeuda.2They held 'feudal

possessions' or 'fiefs' and owed military service by contract, but

were not considered to be vassals.

The response to the appeal of 1313 was apparently very limited.

Poverty-stricken Westerners who felt clear on the often dubious

pointof their own noble

status,3which the document did not

define,may have hoped, if the appeal did reach them, that they would

prosper in Rhodes, but few - if any - went there. Presumably theycould before leaving secure assurances about their journey and about

the value of the lands and the contract they would receive, yet the

risks of the whole enterprise must have been apparent. The islands

were comparatively poor and their future uncertain. The conditions

of military service may have daunted some, while the accusations

against the Templars and their dissolution in 1312 doubtless in-

fluenced others. In the end, it was only Italians who were alreadyinvolved in the East who acquired fiefs. Furthermore, in Rhodes, as

in the kingdom of Jerusalem, it proved easier to attract Latins to

the town than to settle them on the land to farm and defend it. A

cosmopolitan community of merchants, bankers, bureaucrats,

lawyers and priests soon grew up in the port at Rhodes,4 but the

colonization of the rest of the island went more slowly. The Chapter-General held at Rhodes in September 335 empowered the Master,

I. F. Thiriet, La Romanievenitienneu moyenage: le developpementt l'exploitationdudomainecolonialvenitien XII-XV siecles) (Paris, I959), pp. I26-28, 27I-9 et passim;D. Jacoby, 'Les archontes grecs et la feodalite en Moree franque', Centrede Recherched'histoire t civilisation yzantines:Travauxet memoires, ol. ii (1967).

2. Venice, Archivio di Stato, Senato Mar, II, fos. 23-23v (cf. Thiriet, pp. 400-I).

3. Cf., for example, E. Perroy, 'Social Mobility among the French noblesse n theLater Middle Ages', Past andPresent,vol. xxi (1962).

4. Cf. A. Luttrell, 'Interessi fiorentini nell'economia e nella politica dei Cavalieri

Ospedalieri di Rodi nel Trecento', Annali della ScuolaNormaleSuperiore i Pisa: Lettere,storiaefilosofia,2 ser., vol. xxviii (I959); 'Aragoneses y catalanes en Rodas: I350-I430',VII CongresoeHistoriadela CoronadeAragon:crdnica, onenciasycommunicaciones,ol. ii

(Barcelona, I962).

767970



acting with the counsel of the senior brethren or proceres,to lease

lands: 'possit dare gentibus terras insule sub censu annuo in emphi-

teosim perpetuam'.1 Thus on 6 September 1338, for example, theMaster granted certain uncultivated lands in Rhodes which the

Order could not easily till to Domenico de Leone and Manoli

Cosma, habitatores f Rhodes, and to their heirs and successors, to

be held sub certo censuannuo n emphiteosim erpetuam,the Hospital

reserving certain rights: 'laudimio iure prelationis et maiori dominio

nobis et nostre domui semper salvis et specialiter reservatis'.2

Properties in the town and throughout the island were granted

through non-feudal tenures to both Greeks and Latins, includingbrethren of the Hospital. For example, between i May 1347 and 20

March 1348 over twenty grants or confirmations involving lands

outside the castrum nd burgus f Rhodes were recorded in the Master's

register. Many of these grants declared that the Hospital itself could

not easily work the lands involved and preferred to lease them at an

annual rent. The non-feudal, Roman Law conditions under which

these grants were made varied considerably. Usually the land was

granted in emphyteusis to the grantee and his heirs in perpetuity,

the hereditary grantee paying an annual rental while the Hospitalreserved its superior lordship or dominium.Many of the documents

mentioned other Roman Law features, notably the jus praelationiswhich bound the grantee to offer the grantor the chance of buyingback the property before it could be alienated to anyone else, and

the laudimia,the grantor's right to one-fiftieth of the value of the

property in the case of such alienation. Sometimes the grant was for

life or for ten years only, or it was conditional upon the replantingof the land.3 Lands on the island of Kos were granted in the same

way, and on 22 October 1358 it was decided that uncultivated landthere was to be let at the highest possible rent in perpetual emphy-teusis.4 These grants did not involve military service, and were not

dissimilar from certain arrangements the Hospitallers had made in

Syria where in an attempt to colonize their lands they had grantednon-feudal tenures, reserving the Order's dominiumand receivingan annual census.5

Many of these grants in emphyteusis were made in recognitionof past services, and they did not in themselves create an obligationto serve. The arrangements for military service at Rhodes werealmost entirely non-feudal in character.The brethren of the Hospitalstationed in the islands and the various classes among the Latin

I. Malta, cod. 280, fo. 37v (I335); see also fos. 43 (1337), 52 (I344).2. Malta, cod. i6, no. 28 (text infra, document 2); a similar grant of 2 Apr. 1339

(cod. 317, fo. 247).

3. Malta, cod. 317, fos. 237-254; cod. 317 contains the earliest series of documents

concerning Rhodes surviving in a magistral register.4. Malta, cod. 316, fos. 300-300o.

5. Prawer, 'Colonization Activities', pp. 1087-95.





and the Greek inhabitants provided military service in one form or

another. The Order employed stipendariior mercenaries on Kos,1 at

Smyrna2 and, in the fifteenth century, at the Hospitallers' castle at

Halikarnassos on the Turkish mainland3; the stipendarii, such asthose on the galleys, were normally bound to the Hospital by an

oath of homage: subsacramentofidelitatist homagii.4Each casaleseems

to have had a turcopulus, military official of some sort who, in 13 51,received eight besants of Rhodes, three modiaof wheat and five modia

of barley each month.5

Occasionally the Hospital granted a life pension in return for

services. An early example was the Cypriot Pierre le Jaune, who had

playedan

importantrole

inthe

conquestof Rhodes.6

In 13I or 1314the Master and Convent, acting in Chapter-General, granted him

5oo white besants of Cyprus a year for his lifetime from the rents of

the Cypriot casaleof Kolossi; this grant was subsequently confirmed

by the next Master and, on 2 May 1323, by the pope.7 This was for

past services. There was the different and possibly rare case of

Opetino de Garinbaldis, burgensiset habitator of Rhodes, who in

return for service to the Hospital was granted a provisioseustipendiawhich was confirmed to him and his heirs in perpetuity on 20 May

1347; he was to have 50obesants of Rhodes a year and four modiaof wheat a month on condition that he and his heirs remained at

Rhodes and performed the service they would continue to owe in

marjet in terra.8His status was like that established for sailors in the

appeal of 1313 in that his stipendiadepended on the continued per-formance of military service, but different in that the stipendiacould

pass to his heirs. He was not, apparently, a land-holder nor a vassal

holding a money-fief, a class which had been common in Syria. In

fact, at Rhodes there was no group of vassals obliged to give service

in return for fiefs.The appeal for colonists made in 1313 envisaged a pattern of

settlement based on feudal contracts and adapted from the institu-tions of Jerusalem and Cyprus. The response was poor, however,and subsequently the Hospitallers did little to encourage the creationof a class of hereditary Latin feudatories who might have establishedthemselves in castles of their own and been able to enforce the

development of feudal rules advantageous to themselves, and whowould have

acquiredvested interests in

the exploitation of the landand its people. The provision that Nisyros was not to pass to

I. Malta, cod. 317, fo. 233V (I347).

2. Malta, cod. 32I, fos. 210, 214v (1381); cod. 322, fo. 284V (1383).3. Malta, cod. 339, fo. 245V 1409); 350, fo. 241v (433).4. Malta, cod. 317, fo. 233 (347).

5. Malta, cod. 318, fo. 21o (I35I); cod. 321, fo. 2i8 (I382).6. GestesdesChiprois,pp. 864-5. 7. Archivio Vaticano; Reg. Aven. i8, fo. 475.8. Malta, cod. 317, fos. 233-233V (text infra, document 3); stipendariiappear only

rarely in the fourteenth-century documents, and this seems to be the only survivingtext of its kind for that period.

769970

VOL. LXXXV-NO. CCCXXXVII CCC



Clavelli's heirs, and the lapsing of the fiefs of Nisyros and Lardos

after I415 were significant. When Antonio Cattaneo was enfeoffed

with Salacos in 1422, he owed no military service and he was not tofortify his fief. To a considerable extent the Order could rely for

the defence and administration of the islands on its own brethren

who, since they took vows of chastity and their lands in Rhodes

normally returned to the Hospital on their death, could scarcelyfound dynasties of feudal colons whose management of their pro-

perties would provoke local opposition. The Order's periodic

attempts to exclude females and collaterals from the succession

indicated an anxiety to control the fief rather than to encouragesettlement.1 The provision against collaterals ran contrary to the old

practice in Jerusalem, though it was the law in Cyprus where,

however, there was no distinction against females.2 In the few

special cases in which a fief was created, the vassals were all Italians

who were of little importance in the West, and increasingly theywere successful businessmen and financiers who were investingtheir wealth in land, and who paid a fixed sum of money in lieu of

military service.

Thesepolicies

must have contributed to thegeneral acceptanceof the Hospital's government by the bulk of the population. The

comparative absence of resistance at Rhodes either from the indi-

genous Greeks or from Latin settlers contrasted strongly with the

continual disturbances on Cyprus or on Crete, where a feudal

framework had been created as a means of imposing a foreign settler

class on the Greek populace. The situation in Rhodes was more like

that at Chios, where the Genoese also achieved generally good rela-

tions with the inhabitants; the Genoese occupied Chios following a

pact with the Greeks whose tenure of their lands was guaranteed,so that much of the land outside the town and the area known as the

Kampos immediately to the south of the town was left to the Greeks,

while the few Latins with country estates did not hold them feudally.3At Rhodes, the aim was to build up a Latin population and to

colonize the land, and it was eventually done in non-feudal ways.4

BritishSchoolat Rome ANTHONY T. LUTTRELL

i. C. Cahen, 'La f6odalit6 et les institutions politiques de l'Orient latin', in Oriente d

OccidenteelMedioEvo,ed. Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (Rome, 1967); J. Prawer, 'Lanoblesse et le regime feodal du royaumelatin de J6rusalem',Le moyen ge,vol. lxv (I959).

2. Receuil... Lois, i. 235, 504; late examples, texts of 1432 to I44I, in Richard,

Chypre, pp. 39-50.

3. P. Argenti, The Occupation f Chios by the Genoese nd their Administrationof the

Island:r346-1d66, 3 vols. (Cambridge, 1958), i. 569-76 etpassim;texts in vol. iii.

4. Wider aspects of this colonization, such as the territorial pattern of expansion,settlement within the city, the status of the burgenses,f the Greek nobility and of the

brethren of the Hospital who held lands, still await study in the documents at Malta,

a task being undertaken by Professor Lionel Butler of St. Andrew's University. Pro-

found thanks are due to Dr. David Jacoby of the University of Jerusalem for a number

of invaluablesuggestions.





DOCUMENT I1

Archivo Hist6rico Nacional, Madrid: Secci6n de Ordenes militares- SanJuan de Jerusalen: Llengua de Arag6n, legajo 718 (original archment,

slightlydamaged;ealmissing).

Universis Christi fidelibus ad quos presentes littere pervenerint. FraterFulco de Vilareto dei gratia sancte domus hospitalis sancti Johannis

Jerusalem Magister humilis et pauperumChristi Custos salutem in eo

qui est omnium vera Salus. Universitati vestre tenore presentium patefiat,Nos et domum nostram divina disponente clemencia acquisivisse pervim armorum in partibus cismarinis a grecis cismaticis et Turchis de

saracenis inpiis inimicis orthodoxe fidei tam in Insulis quam in terrafirma, castra, villas et fortelliccia, ac terras fertiles et in cunctis fructibus

copiosas, que cultu et solacio indigent populi christiani, ad ipsorumturchorum destructionem et exterminium, et ad exaltacionem fidei ortho-

doxe. Nos itaque ferventi cupientes desiderio et vias ac modos indagantes

quibus ipsas villas castra et terras bonis gentibus ac hominibus nobilibus

et aliis de ultramarinis partibus oriundis stabilire et populare possimus qui

ipsa loca et terras contra predictos turchos et grecos deffendant, ac eis

cum vexillo sancte crucis viriliter resistant, et in societate nostra ac pro-cerum domus nostre

ipsos dampnificentdestruant radicitus et

evellant,de consilio voluntate et expresso assensu fratrum et procerum domus

nostre nobis assistencium duximus ordinandum, ut quibuscumque

personis citra mare venire volentibus causa habitandi in locis et terris

predictis, ipsa loca et terras in feudum perpetuum concedamus. Et de

ipsis terris et locis cuique iuxta statum suum et condicionem talem

partem conferamus quod honorifice possint vivere prout qualitas et

condicio ipsorum cuiuslibet postulabit. Quocirca universitatem vestram et

vestrum quemlibet Requirimus et Rogamus, et vos in domino sollicite

exortamur quatinus pro acquirendo honore et vestrarum animarum

salute, ac dictorum inimicorum fidei confusione, et catholice fidei exalta-tione, ad Nos citra mare ex causa predicta cicius quem poteritis veniatis,et Nos ac conventus noster cismarinus de locis et terris predictis cuilibetvestrum talem partem tribuamus, quod de ea et Nobis ac domo predictamerito poteritis contentari, sub modis, formis, et condicionibus infra-

scriptis.Promittimus siquidem et convenimus bona fide dare et concedere in

feudum perpetuum cuilibet militi et suis heredibus qui citra mare venirevoluerit cum uxore et familia sua causa habitandi in locis et terris que

nostre tam in Insulis quam in terra firma subiacent dicioni, terras et pos-sessiones que valebunt comuni extimacione in reditibus annuis sexa-

gintaquinque libras turonenses bone monete vel valorem earundem admonetam curribilem in Insula nostra Rodi. Et si solus venerit sine uxoreet familia habebit in Redditibus annuis, tam in terris quam in possessioni-bus feudalibus quinquaginta libras turonenses bone monete vel valoremearundem in moneta predicta. Et si contingerit ipsum in partibus cis-marinis uxorari habebit feudum militis uxorati. Ita tamen quod idem

i. The docummntsare transcribed without alterations in spelling, punctuation orgrammar,although these are clearly dubious or faulty in places.

1970 771



miles et successores sui debeant et teneantur tenere secum continue duoanimalia videlicet unum bonum et sufficientem equm, et unum ronsinumvel unam

mulatiam,ac duos homines

prosuo

servicio, quorumunus sit

homo aptus ad arma.

Et cuilibet nobili qui non sit miles qui citra mare venire voluerit, cum

uxore et familia sua, causa habitandi in terris et locis predictis, et suis

heredibus promittimus et convenimus dare et concedere in feudum per-

petuum terras et possessiones, valentes comuni extimacione in Redditibus

annuis Quadraginta libras turonenses bone monete vel valorem earundem

in moneta supradicta, et si contingerit ipsum militem fieri habebit feudum

militis quod superius est expressum. Et si solus venerit sine uxore et

familia habebit in redditibus annuis tam in terris quam in possessionibus

feudalibus triginta libras monete predicte, et si in partibus cismarinisuxorem acciperet, habebit pheudum nobilis uxorati, vel militis si miles

extiterit tempore matrimonii contrahendi. Item tamen quod idem nobilis,et successores sui, teneantur et debeant tenere secum continue, unum

bonum et sufficientem equm, et unum servientem peditem arbalestarium

vel lancearium.

Promittimus etiam et convenimus dare et concedere cuilibet nobili et

innobili et suis heredibus, qui citra mare venire voluerit causa habitationis

predicte, et secum tenere voluerit continue unum bonum Ronsinum de

valore ducentorum turonensium grossorum argenti supra terras et pos-sessiones in feudum perpetuum valentes comuni extimacione vigintilibras turonenses monete antedicte. Et quilibet serviens pedes quioccasione predicta citra mare venerit habebit pro se et suis successoribus in

Reditibus annuis, tam in terris quam possessionibus feudalibus, quindecimlibras dicte monete. Et etiam quilibet agricultor qui eadem occasione

venerit citra mare habebit in reditibus annuls et eius sucessores, tam in

terris quam possessionibus pheodalibus, Tresdecim libras monete eiusdem.

Promittimus etiam insuper et convenimus bona fide prefatis militibus

et nobilibus, ac eorum uxoribus familiis et animalibus, ac predictisnobilibus aut innobilibus, qui Ronsinum predictum tenebunt, et servienti-

bus peditibus et agricultoribus predictis conpetenter et decenter providereaut provideri facere in victu suo ad expensas nostras et domus per totum

unum annum continuum et completum, conputandum a die qua pactumet convenciones nobiscum fecerint de remanendo et habitando in locis

et terris nostris predictis, et dare seu dari facere puro dono infra dictum

annum cuilibet dictorum militum et nobilium qui equos ut supradictumest tenere debent, unum bonum et sufficientem equm et alia animalia queratione dictorum feudorum tenere debebunt et habere. Volumus tamen

quod inter nos et personas predictas per pactum expressum conveniaturet inhiatur convencio, quod ipsi milites et nobiles et alie gentes supra

expressate et eorum successores debeant et teneantur sequi Nos et pro-ceres dicte domus quotiens opus fuerit in facto armorum per totam

terram hospitalis in qua ipsi habitabunt, et per unam dietam extra dictam

terram nostram suis propriis sumptibus et expensis. Et si nos aut proceresdicte domus vellemus procedere ad eundum longius nos et domus

predicta tenebuntur facere [ ......... ] sumptibus et earum [ ..... ]

necessariis conpetenter providere ad expensas nostras et domus, et ipsismilitibus et nobilibus aliisque gentibus stipendia nostra tribuere iuxta





qualitatemet conditionem cuiuslibetipsorumquamdiu n servicio nostroet domus [ .....] et unam dietampredictammorabunteundo stando etetiam tradando.

Pretereapromittimuset convenimus quod cuilibet qui in locis et terris

predictis habitare voluerit et tenere continue pro servicio nostro etdomus unamgaleamde centum duodecimusque ad centumviginti remos

paratamet furnitamomnibus suis ycharriisac apparatibus uxta usus etconsuetudines Regni Jerusalem et cipri dabimus et concedamus in

pheudumperpetuumterrasac possessiones valentes annuatim duo miliaturonensesgrossos argenti, vel mille bisancios de Rodo, de quibus se etdictam galeamvalent subsceptare.Et quilibet qui tenere voluerit in ser-vicio nostro et domus aliud lignum armatum,habebitin reditibusannuis

tam in terris quam possessionibus feodalibus pro eodem modo et foroquo recipietdicta galeaiuxta ipsius ligni magnitudinemet eius remorum

quantitatem,quasterraset possessiones,promittimuset convenimus dareet concedere prenominatis personis francas quietas, et liberas, ab omni

prestacioni juris et servitutis, excepto quocumque jure ecclesiastico, etomnibus aliis [...] nobis et domui facere tenebuntur racione dictorum

pheudorumprout superiusest prepactum.Ceterum promittimus et convenimus dare cuilibet comito galee ad

vitam suam qui in Insula nostra Rodi, vel in alio loco terrarumdicte

domus habitarevoluerit et esse in servicio nostro et domus pro stipendiissuis quolibet mense viginti bisancios de Rodo, et quando navigabittrigintaBisancios. Et cuilibet naucherio decem bisancios quolibet mense

pro stipendiissuis ad vitam suam, et quando navigabitpro servicio dictedomusquindecimbisancios.ItemquilibetgaliotusquiadInsulamnostramRodi veniet, ab instantimense augusti inantea,causahabitandiin eademhabebit et recipiatquolibet mense quando navigabitin servicio nostro etdomus stipendia que dabimus aliis galiotis, et quando non navigabithabebit continue et recipiet a nobis et domo suam panaticampro sub-stentacione sue vite. In quorum omnium testimonium et certitudinem

Bulla nostra plunbea presentibus est appensa.Datum Rodi die quarta-decima mensis madijanno domini m.ccc. terciodecimo.

DOCUMENT II

Royal MaltaArchives, Valletta;Archives of the Order of St.John, codex

i6, no. 28 (originalparchmentithholesforeal; nkveryadedand ealmissing.)

Noverint universi et singuli Quod Nos frater Elionus de Villanova dei

gratia sacre domus hospitalis sancti Johannis Jerosolimitani magisterhumilis et pauperumchristi custos Et Nos conventus domus eiusdemAttendentes quod nos et domus nostra habemus terrasaliquasIn insulanostra Rodi que per domum nostram habiliterexcoli non possunt que sisub certo censu annuo in emphiteosim perpetuam donarentur essetaccomodum nobis et nostre domui supradicte,eaproptervolentes quan-tum decenter possumus conditionem domus nostre facere melioremdominico de leone et manoli cosma habitatoribus Rodi modiatas terre

octuaginta quarum viginti quinque sunt culte Relique vero hereme etinculte sitas in dicta Insula nostra Rodi in contrataseu territoriocapitis

I97o 773



sancti martinjconfrontatasa levante cum ser Petro de Jacob et ascenditet confinat cum bartholomeo de PetraRossaet ascenditmontaneamaquis

pendentibuset vadit usque ad locum vocatum vathiurianonet descenditversusponentemflumenflumenusquein locumubi sunt canes et descendit

usque ad mare Item in contratapredicta in loco dicto yclimaquedeset

yacladopi modiatas terre triginta quarum quindecim sunt culte alie

quindecimhereme et Inculte confrontatasincipiendo a dicto flumine etvadit versus meridiemper montaneasaquis pendentibusubi positus est

lapis signo crucis signatus et Revolvitur versus transmontanam t venitdescendendousque ad montaneam n qua fuerit scubie sive gayte et feritad lentisclos et descendit per crestam montanee et vadit subtus aeram

angarieservorumdel Salaco et subtus fontem et Remanendicta aeraet

fons extra dictos confineset deinde vadit Recte ad quandamcarrobleriumet ferit recteusquead flumenet deinde vadit versustransmontanasusquead mare et vadit usque ecclesiamsanctimartinjet deindevadit admareetferit ubi incepimusdictos confines Eorumque heredibuset succesoribusin emphiteosimperpetuamauctoritatepresentiumconcedimuset donamussub canone seu annuo censu centumviginti asperorumper eos et eorumheredeset successoresnobis et nostre domui in festo sanctemariemensis

septembrisanno quolibetsolvendorumdanteset concedentesharum serievobis et vestris heredibus et successoribus licentiam auctoritatem et

potestatemfaciendi inantea de dictis terrisquicquidvobis et eis placueritperpetuo faciendumdicto canone sive censu asperorumcentum vigintiac laudimio iure prelationis et maiori dominio nobis et nostre domui

sempersalviset specialiterreservatismandantesinsuperpresentium enoreuniversis et singulis fratribus domus nostre presentibus et futuris

quacumqueauctoritate dignitate vel officio fulgentibus ne contra pre-sentis nostre littere continentiamet tenoremaliquatenusvenire presumatquinymo illam studeant inviolabiliterobservareIn cuius rei testimoniumbulla nostra communjs plumbea presentibusest appensa data Rodi sub

signo nostri magistri die Sexto SeptembrisAnno Incarnationis dominiM?.ccc?. ricesimooctavo.

DOCUMENT III

Royal MaltaLibrary,codex 317, f. 233-233v (text copiednto the Master's'Liberbullarum').Fraterdeodatusetc. Et Nos Conventusdomus eiusdem. dillecto nobis in

Christo, Opetino, de Garinbaldisburgensi et habitatorjnostro Rodj.Salutem n domino. Supplicationj ue nobis exhibite continentiquod cum

propterfideliagrataet acceptaservicia,per nostreprestitaReligionj,Necminus quja dudum ut Insule dicte de lerro, et de Calamonostre domujdonarenturlocum non modicum tenueras, per Religiosum in Christonobis carissimum,fratremGuillermumde Rellanjadomus eiusdem tunclocum tenentem Magistri, in Conventu memorato, et partibus alijstransmarinjs, unc autemprioremSanctiegidijprovisionemseu stipendia,Centum quinquagintabisanciorum de Rodo per annum, et modiorumfrumentiquatuorpro mense quolibet, tibj et tujs de Consilio et assensufratrum et procerum conventus memorati per inperpetuum assignavjt

persuas litteras

opportunas,et

qujahuiusmodi

assignationislittere

quas





nobis cum nostrumhijsdiebus non longe preteritiscelebrabamus enerale

capitulum, ut tibi et tujsconfirmaremuseasdemprebuerascasualitersunt

amisse, illas tibj renovarj mandare, et assignationem provisionis etstipendiorumpredictorumtibj et tujs confirmare,de certa nostra scientia

et specialj gratia dignaremurfavorabiliterannuentes, Quja in dicta tua

supplicatione contenta veritatem conperimus continere, Assignationemdictorum bisanciorum,Centum quinquagintaper annum, et modiorumfrumentipro mense quolibet habendorum,quatuoret recipiendorum,a,nostris granerio et thesauro, tu et tuj perpetuo, tibj et tujs harum serie

renovantes, illam ad invicem habito consilio, et tractatu assignationislitterarumprescriptarumdicti prioris sancti Egidij inde tibj et tujs con-cessarum amissione

aliquatenus

non obstante, tenore

presentiumtibj et

tujs eredibus per inperpetuumde nostra certa scientia et specialjgratiaconfirmamus,Ita tamen quod tu et tuj tenearis et teneantur habitare etstarein InsulanostraRodj, et exequjdiligenteret fideliter acere,in marj,et in terra illa servicia, que per nos et nostram Religionem prelibatamtibi et eis precipienturet iniungentur facienda. Mandantes universis et

singulisfratribusdomus nostrepresentibuset futurjs,cuiuscumque tatus

gradusvel conditionis existantne contrapresentesnostras[litteras]reno-vationem et confirmationemaliquatenusvenire presumantquinymo illasstudeant inviolabiliter perpetujs temporibus observare. In cuius rei

testimonium bulla nostra comunjs plumbea presentibus est appenssa.dataRodj die Vicesima mensis Maij.Anno Septimo.

I970 775