v08_1206 - RHODES - GRANDS MAÎTRES DE L'ORDRE DE L'HÔPITAL ET DE SAINT-JEAN DE JÉRUSALEM - DIEUDONNÉ DE GOZON Gros ou gigliato n.d. Rhodes

RHODES - GRANDS MAÎTRES DE L'ORDRE DE L'HÔPITAL ET DE SAINT-JEAN DE JÉRUSALEM - DIEUDONNÉ DE GOZON

(1346-7/12/1353)

Rhodes was taken from the Byzantines in 1308. When the Knights of the Hospital evacuated Cyprus, they took refuge in Rhodes and were to remain there until the fall of the island, in 1522, taken by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. In 1530, the Hospitallers obtained from Charles V the Island of Malta as their new place of residence. In 1346, Dieudonné de Gozon succeeded Hélion de Villeneuve (1319-1346), second Grand Master of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem in Rhodes. Dieudonné, hardly arrived in Rhodos, had to fight the Turks whose fleet anchored in the accesses of the island. He succeeded in setting fire to the Turkish ships and taking five thousand prisoners. Following numerous tax collection problems, Dieudonné wished to resign from his duties. He wrote several times to Pope Innocent VI who finally granted him his authorization, but this came too late; Dieudonné indeed died on December 7, 1353. His arms were "Gules with a band of azure, bordered in silver, with a border compony of silver and gules". In 1353, Pierre de Corneillan succeeded Dieudonné de Gozon.