Faction - Knights of Rhodes

[Tzar]

Knights of Rhodes

* * * * * * * * * * * UNITS * * * * * * * * * * *

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[Tzar]

by Tiberius ofthe Drake:


Background:The Sovereign Order of Saint John of Jerusalem has its roots in the early 11th century, when in 1023 merchants from Amalfi and Salerno in Italy were allowed to build a Hospital on the sight of the monestary of St.John the Baptist in Jerusalem.The hospital was run by Benadictine monks.

After the first crusade in 1113 the monastic was founded by "Blessed" Gerard Thom. The military wing was not founded until 1119 and the order originally wore black surcoats decorated with white crosses.

Fastforward 172 years to 1291 and the Crusaders are pushed out of the Holy land, after the fall of Acre, by the Muslims. The order flees first to Cyprus and then later ,in 1307, the Knights fled to Rhodes. After two years of fighting, the Knights of St.John conquered the island and made it there own. At the start of the mod, they currently control the island as well as as many local small islands, most notably the island of Kos, and the Anatolian ports of Bodrum(Hallicarnassus) and Kastelorzio.Also the uniform of the Knights had developed into either the Black surcoat and white cross or a Red surcoat with a white cross.

[Tzar]

Originaly posted by "Tiberius ofthe Drake"

Background:The Sovereign Order of Saint John of Jerusalem has its roots in the early 11th century, when in 1023 merchants from Amalfi and Salerno in Italy were allowed to build a Hospital on the sight of the monestary of St.John the Baptist in Jerusalem.The hospital was run by Benadictine monks.

After the first crusade in 1113 the monastic was founded by "Blessed" Gerard Thom. The military wing was not founded until 1119 and the order originally wore black surcoats decorated with white crosses.

Fastforward 172 years to 1291 and the Crusaders are pushed out of the Holy land, after the fall of Acre, by the Muslims. The order flees first to Cyprus and then later ,in 1307, the Knights fled to Rhodes. After two years of fighting, the Knights of St.John conquered the island and made it there own. At the start of the mod, they currently control the island as well as as many local small islands, most notably the island of Kos, and the Anatolian ports of Bodrum(Hallicarnassus) and Kastelorzio.Also the uniform of the Knights had developed into either the Black surcoat and white cross or a Red surcoat with a white cross.

[The_Bulgar_Slayer]

Info on the KoR:

The government of the Order, which was, as such, also the sovereign ruler of Rhodes, was headed by the Master, with the Prior responsible for the Chaplains and the supervision of the religious life of the Order. The adminsitration was delegated to eight Bailiffs of the Convent: the Grand Commander who, with the Treasurer, controlled the Common Treasure, presided over the Accounts committee, acted as Master of the Artillery and selected certain conventual chaplains; the Marshal, later Grand Marshal, who acted as military chief of staff, commanding all the brothers except Grand Crosses and their lieutenants; the Hospitaller or Grand Hospitaller, who superintended the work of the hospitals and infirmaries; the Drapier, from 1539 Grand Conservator, who was the quartermaster of the armed forces of the Order and responsible for the maintenance of certain buildings; the Admiral, or Grand Admiral, a post created when the Order left the Holy Land and who commanded the galleys; the Turcopolier or Turcopilier, who commanded the Turcopoles, the Order's cavalry in Palestine and, on Rhodes and Malta, was responsible for the coast guard; the Grand Chancellor, who counter-signed all the acts of government, held the official seal and regulated all bulls and decrees; and, from 1428, the Grand Bailiff, responsible on Rhodes for the defense of the Castle of Saint Peter and later of the Island of Gozo.


The members of the Order were divided into three principal classes. First the knights, who provided the core of the Order and would ultimately make profession by taking the monastic vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. They alone could be appointed Bailifss of the Convent. Secondly the Chaplains, who were priest-brothers exempted from fighting but whose responsibility was to serve the spritiual needs of the knights and those living in areas under their rule. The Prior was chosen from among their ranks. Thirdly the Serjeants-at-Arms, later Serving Brothers, divided into Brothers of Arms who could, until 1364, become knights, and Brothers of Office, who fulfilled a more lowly role. Until the loss of Malta the Serving-Brothers of Arms, although not noble, could also make full profession as religious-brothers and were no less members of the Order than the knights of Justice. They were called to the elections of the Grand Masters, to which they could contribute their votes, although they were excluded from any senior executive responsibility. Later a fourth division of Sisters were added, divided into Sisters of Justice and Sisters of Grace, who lived in convents with their own Superior but were under the authority of their Langue.

[The_Bulgar_Slayer]

Preliminary Unit List, work in progress:

Infantry

Local Militia: These are the light spearmen who can always used to defend their city against invading forces. They are lightly armed with padded armour, a spear, and large Byzantine triangle shield.

Servientes: These are the servents of the knights who can be called upon to fight with the knights should the situation require it. They are lightly armed with whatever polearm they can get ahold of be it halbreds, voulgiers, or pikes.

Galley Soldiers: Medium infantry that can fight on both land and sea, they are equipped with chain mail, maces, and shields and are are known for their fierce fighting in melee combat.

Dismounted Brothers of Arms: These are the fighting class of Hospitaller sergeants that are trying to earn their knighthood. Armed with a spear, chain mail and kite shield, their goal to become a knight makes them fierce fighters

Dismounted Knights Hospitaller: Both mounted and on foot, the Knights of St. John are not to be taken lightly. They are equipped with heavy mail and partial plate armour, a poleaxe for anti-cavalry, and a long sword. Fighting axe or sword in hand, they can dominate any battlefield.

Dismounted Knights of the Grand Cross: These are the elite bothers of the knighthood, having served for a minimum of fifteen years under of the flag of St. John. Fighting with their lieutenants, they carry long swords, western triangle shields, and new plate armour. They are quite a force to be reckoned with.

Missile

Greek Archers: LOcals recuited to garrison the towns, they can also be used in the field if necessary. Armed with little armour, a bow, and no shield they are equipped strictly for defense and should be used as such.

Galley Archers: More heavily armed and highly trained than some other archers, they have a bow, light mail armour, and small circle shield. They are both effective at range and can be used in melee combat if necessary.

Rhodian Slingers: One of the oldest surviving units in its day. Their profession dates back on Rhodes alone to some 4000 years ago. They carry a sling, small circle shield, and virtually no armour, but are highly trained and can be especially deadly to lightly armed troops.

Greek Crossbowmen: Adopting the Western crossbow, these local troops typically form a large part of any town defense. They are armed with a crossbow and padded armour. They are not as heavily equipped as thier Western counterparts and should avoid melee if possible.

Latin Crossbowmen: Armed with the West's favorite new weapon, these men can be deadly to even heavily armed soldiers. Armed with the crossbow and chain mail armour they have both adequate protection and can bring death at a range.

Cavalry:

Greek Cavalry: Local light cavalry is something the knights are actually in need of, and even though these men have little armour their speed can be of great use to the knights. They are armed with a spear, javelins, and a Byzantine triangle shield.

Turcopoles: Used as a coast guard on Rhodes, these Christian Turks can be a big help on the battlefield providing the knights with cavalry archer support. Armed with a bow, small circle shield, and padded armour, they fill an otherwise empty void for the knights.

Brothers of Arms: Though ligter armed than the knights themselves, these men do fill the pressing need for medium cavalry. AEquipped with a spear, chain mail armour, and a kite shield they are both fairly fast and have an effective charge.

Knights Hospitaller: Arguably the most famous crusading order still in existance, these men will fight to the death for the Holy Cross. They carry a heavy lance, long sword, Western triangle shield, heavy mail and partial plate armour. A charge by these brothers will result in severe losses to any enemy.

Knights of thr Grand Cross: The veterans, guards, and lieutenants protecting the Grand Master, these are the hardest and most experienced brothers in the whole order. Decked out in full plate armour, a heavy lance, long sword, and western triangle shield, they have an incredibly powerfull charge and are equally deadly in melee combat.


Mercenaries will include Western Knights, Cretan Archers, Turkish Archers, Italian Infantrymen, Spanish Almogavars, Genoese Crossbowmen, etc...

[Son of Mao]

Rhodian Slingers: One of the oldest surviving units in its day. Their profession dates back on Rhodes alone to some 4000 years ago. They carry a sling, small circle shield, and virtually no armour, but are highly trained and can be especially deadly to lightly armed troops.

With the animations converter this can actually happen.

[Wallachian]

A few good pics of the Knights St. John

1350 - 1400

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1450 - 1500

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1500 - 1550

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[2Shy]

Look at this amazing illustration:

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[Wallachian]

Very cool image but judging by the armour and the helmet it may be past our era. The morion was popular during the 16th - 17th centuries so it would be a bit later eras.

[VINC.XXIII]

such moriones are from 1540 circa.

Ermanno Olmi have hired best specialists of this period(1520-1526) to make its film.
most earlier "moriones" are those ones:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[Wallachian]

Yes I think the morions should not be in the mod, they start exactly at the end of the timeframe.

[Bladelok]

Sorry, I meant 14th, 15th century

I apologise for the untidy manner the picture was scanned, but I took these images from a HUGE book.

Uploaded this picture under direct request of Wallachian

[Hrobatos]

wonderfull pictures! thats great as this faction is curently under construction, if you got some more please upload it here!

[Bladelok]

Found some more:

13th - 14th century Knight and Sergeant



14th - 15th century Knight and Sergeant



Late 15th century Knight



Philippe Villiers De L'Isle-Adam: Last Grandmaster of the Order in Rhodes (1521 - 1522) and first one of the Order in Malta (1530 - 1534).



Extra Pictures:

[Bladelok]

If I may add an observation, if you're looking for Realism I'd suggest distinguishing between Langues (German, French etc etc) for the Knights (especially on Foot). Reason being is that the Langue, and hence the place of origin of a Knight determined his weapon specialty. I had discovered that German Knights of the Order, for example, were highly skilled with Zweihanders and were employed by the Order as Shock troops. You could use the Gothic Armour model for that, don't you agree?

[Wallachian]

Thanks a lot for your help mate! These images will all come in handy! Here's your first +rep

About the Langues, it might be an ideea but we already have our roster planned out. We will definetly use the Langues in the traits and ancilaries section. If you check the Map & Gameplay preview you will see that the factions have their generals coming from different families (for examples the Romans which have the houses of Angeloi, Doukas and Vatatzedes). In the same way we will split the generals from the Knights factions based on the Langues. So if the Grand Master comes from the Spanish Langue and one of your generals comes from another Langue like say German their relations will not be as good and discontent can occur.

We will have brand new models for all the units. The late knights will definitely wear the Gothic and also the Italian armour.

[Bladelok]

You're welcome If I come across anything else I'll post more, in the meantime I'm in the process of obtaining a book "Armoury of the Knights" which would provide even more useful pictures (It costs quite some money at 45 euros, but I've been planning to buy it for 12 years). All the pictures I've posted so far come from books that are either about fortifications or the history of the Knights in General or about the Siege of Malta of 1565, so they're not the best books for intel on the units I'm afraid.

[Bladelok]

An incredible find! Managed to get the ebook version of the same book. More pictures to come!

Left, 14th century sergeant, Right, 14th century Knight.



Early 16th century Arquebuses



15th century crossbowmen



Knight in Gothic Armour



North Italian and Gothic Sallet Helmets



Hospitaller man-at-arms wearing brigandine armour



Late 15th century bombard



1480 Siege of Rhodes depictions by Caoursin



Early 16th century armour



More pictures to come I've hit the motherload.

[Wallachian]

Fantastic photos, keep it up! We already have some of them, mostly the ones by Caorsin but still great. A good source for us was David Nicolle's Knights Hospitaller, both parts and also Knights of Christ plus numerous other paintings and concept arts.

[Bladelok]

The book I'm getting these pictures from is unfortunately not the ideal book for the 1345-1530 timeframe, but it does provide some useful pictures as a form of "prelude" to post-medieval weapons and armour. The book is mostly about the Grandmaster's Palace Armoury in Valletta, Malta, and since the Knights arrived in Malta in 1530 there it doesn't have the right equipment for the timeframe (I've also been there myself). There is only one authentic mail hauberk, which is quite damaged, and there is a general lack of 14th and early 15th century weapons and armour. Instead there is a huge proportion of 16th and 17th century plate armour, rapiers and halberds, 16th century crossbows and matchlock and flintlock muskets, and this is reflected in the book. I'm sure the armoury (if there is one open) in Rhodes is perfect, but unfortunately I live in Malta, not Rhodes xD

Anyhow, here are the last batch of useful pictures from the book. I admit, very few pictures considering that the whole book has 411 pages, but like I said, that's because the Palace armoury in Malta has very few Medieval equipment.

A variety of Polearm designs found in Rhodes:



L'Isle-Adam's clothing on his arrival at the 1530 capital city of Malta, Mdina:



An artillery piece (or a piece of it) that was mounted on the Order's 'Mother' ship of 1522, the Gran Carracca "Sant' Anna"



That's all folks, but I'll be sure to post more images as soon as I find new ones.