British and Irish Visitors to and Residents in Rhodes, 1409–1522

In the fifteenth century Rhodes and the Dodecanese were among the more substantial and prosperous of the remaining Latin states in the Eastern Mediterranean, the government of the Order of St John over the islands providing employment, security, food, welfare and an effective administrative and judicial system under which commercial and social relations were usually conducted without unmanageable tension between Latin and Greek, or rich and poor. ¹ The Order ruled over a population that was largely Greek with a capital, in Rhodes town, that was a cosmopolitan entrepôt of middling size in which Greeks rubbed shoulders with Latins of predominantly Italian, Provençal or Catalan origin, Jews, Cypriots, Syrians, and sometimes Egyptians and Turks. ² This situation was further complicated by the presence of several hundred professed Hospitallers, of their servants, and of stipendiary and other soldiers from a variety of backgrounds. ³ Slaves acquired by the pirates and traders operating from or calling at Rhodes complete the list of long-term residents, and might include orthodox Christians as well as Turks and Jews. ⁴ Most voluntary visitors to the islands were traders, soldiers or sailors seeking employment, or pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem, but there were also crusading expeditions or enthusiasts and occasionally scholars interested in learning Greek or in other intellectual pursuits. ⁵