Siege of Rhodes (1522): Suleiman Expels the Knights

The siege of Rhodes in 1522 was a six-month Ottoman campaign that ended more than two centuries of rule on the island by the Knights Hospitaller. Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent landed a huge army on Rhodes in June 1522, and after repeated failed assaults and a long war of mines, the outnumbered defenders under Grand Master Philippe Villiers de L’Isle-Adam surrendered on negotiated terms in December. The Knights eventually moved to Malta, where they would face the Ottomans again in 1565.

Background

The Knights Hospitaller, a Catholic military religious order founded in the crusader era, conquered Rhodes from the Byzantines between 1306 and 1310 after the loss of the Holy Land. From the island they ran a hospital, protected Christian pilgrims and shipping, and sent their galleys against Muslim merchant ships in the eastern Mediterranean.

To the Ottomans, Rhodes was a dangerous outpost close to the Anatolian coast. It threatened sea routes between Istanbul and newly conquered Egypt, used by merchants, grain ships and pilgrims to Mecca. In 1480 a force sent by Mehmed II besieged the city for nearly three months but failed, defeated by Grand Master Pierre d’Aubusson.

After 1480 the Knights rebuilt and modernised the city walls. They thickened them, widened the ditch and added bastions and artillery platforms designed for the gunpowder age, making Rhodes one of the strongest fortresses in Europe.

Preparations

Suleiman the Magnificent had taken Belgrade in 1521, and Rhodes was his next objective. The Knights had elected a new Grand Master, the French nobleman Philippe Villiers de L’Isle-Adam, in 1521, and he hurried to strengthen the defences and appeal for help. Christian Europe, divided by war between France and the Habsburgs, sent almost nothing.

An important reinforcement did arrive: Gabriele Tadini da Martinengo, an Italian military engineer serving Venice in Crete, slipped across to Rhodes. He took charge of countermining, the underground war against Ottoman tunnels.

The defenders were vastly outnumbered. The garrison is usually estimated at around 600 to 700 knights and brothers of the order, with perhaps 5,000 to 6,500 mercenaries, sailors and armed citizens. The Ottoman army is often given as 100,000 men or more, though contemporary figures are unreliable, supported by a fleet of several hundred ships.

The siege

The Ottoman fleet arrived off Rhodes on 26 June 1522, and troops landed and began to dig trenches and position guns. Suleiman arrived on 28 July to take command. Ottoman artillery bombarded the walls for weeks, but the thick ramparts absorbed much of the damage.

The decisive weapon was the mine. Thousands of sappers dug tunnels under the bastions to plant gunpowder charges. Martinengo organised counter-tunnels and listening posts; tradition says he used stretched parchment that vibrated to reveal digging nearby. Many Ottoman mines were found and destroyed, but some exploded.

On 4 September a large mine breached the bastion defended by the English knights, but the attackers were driven back. On 24 September the Ottomans launched a general assault on several sectors at once. After hours of fighting it was repulsed with very heavy losses. Suleiman was furious and removed the commander, his brother-in-law Mustafa Pasha, replacing him with Ahmed Pasha.

The siege continued into the autumn. Around this time the order’s chancellor, the Portuguese knight Andrea d’Amaral, was accused of treason and executed. Historians still debate whether he was guilty.

Surrender

By late November the defenders were exhausted. Ammunition was running low, many knights had been killed or wounded, and the Ottomans held parts of the walls. Suleiman, whose army had also suffered terrible losses and faced a winter campaign, offered terms. Pressure from the citizens of Rhodes, who feared a sack, persuaded the Grand Master to negotiate.

After a brief truce and further fighting, a capitulation was agreed around 20–22 December 1522. The Knights could leave with their weapons, relics and movable goods, and Rhodians who wished could leave with them. Those who stayed were promised safety and freedom of worship.

On 1 January 1523 L’Isle-Adam and the surviving Knights sailed from Rhodes with several thousand islanders. According to a well-known tradition, Suleiman visited the Grand Master before his departure and treated him with respect.

Why Rhodes fell

Rhodes did not fall because its walls failed. The new bastions and deep ditch withstood months of bombardment and several great assaults, and the Ottomans lost far more men than the defenders. What decided the siege was the imbalance of numbers and supplies.

The Ottomans could replace their losses and keep a large army in the field for half a year, supplied by sea from nearby Anatolia. The Knights could not. Every knight killed was almost impossible to replace, gunpowder stocks dwindled, and no relief came from the Christian powers. Pope Adrian VI, elected in January 1522, called for help but could not unite rulers who were at war with one another.

The order also depended on the civilian population, mostly Greek Orthodox Rhodians, who provided many of the fighters and most of the labour. By December many citizens wanted a negotiated settlement rather than a final assault and sack, and their pressure weighed on the Grand Master’s decision.

Suleiman, for his part, had strong reasons to offer generous terms. His army was exhausted, winter was approaching and a prolonged siege risked further losses. Allowing the Knights to leave gave him the island quickly and intact.

Key people

• Suleiman I (1494–1566), Ottoman sultan, who led the siege in person from July 1522.
• Philippe Villiers de L’Isle-Adam (1464–1534), Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller from 1521, who later led the order to Malta.
• Gabriele Tadini da Martinengo (c. 1480–1543), engineer whose countermines prolonged the defence.
• Mustafa Pasha, Ottoman commander replaced after the failed assault of 24 September.
• Ahmed Pasha, Mustafa Pasha’s successor, who directed the final months of the siege.

Timeline

• 1310: The Knights Hospitaller complete their conquest of Rhodes.
• 1480: An Ottoman siege of Rhodes fails.
• 1521: Philippe Villiers de L’Isle-Adam becomes Grand Master.
• 1522, 26 June: The Ottoman fleet arrives at Rhodes.
• 1522, 28 July: Suleiman arrives to lead the siege.
• 1522, 4 September: A mine breaches the English bastion; the assault is repulsed.
• 1522, 24 September: A general Ottoman assault fails with heavy losses.
• 1522, 20–22 December: The surrender of Rhodes is agreed.
• 1523, 1 January: The Knights leave Rhodes.
• 1530: Charles V grants Malta to the order.

Consequences

The loss of Rhodes left the Knights without a home for nearly eight years. In 1530 Emperor Charles V granted them Malta, Gozo and Tripoli, in return for the symbolic annual gift of a falcon. On Malta the order rebuilt its strength and in 1565 withstood the Great Siege of Malta, with some veterans of Rhodes among its leaders.

For the Ottomans, the conquest removed a hostile base off the Anatolian coast and secured sea routes to Egypt and Syria. Ottoman losses are often estimated in the tens of thousands, though exact figures are unknown. Rhodes remained Ottoman until 1912, when Italy occupied it, and became part of Greece in 1947.

The Knights’ walls, gates and Street of the Knights still stand, and the medieval city of Rhodes is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Why it matters

The siege of Rhodes was one of the great fortress sieges of the sixteenth century. It showed both the power of the new gunpowder fortifications and the determination of Suleiman’s army, extended Ottoman control over the eastern Mediterranean and sent the Knights Hospitaller to Malta, setting the stage for a later confrontation.