D'Aubusson, PIERRE

D'Aubusson, PIERRE, Grand-master of the order of St John of Jerusalem, surnamed 'the Shield of the Church,' was born of a noble French family in 1423. At an early age he entered the service of the Emperor Sigismund, and served under the Archduke Albrecht of Austria against the Turks. Returning to France, he served with the Armagnacs against the Swiss, and covered himself with glory at their defeat near St Jacob (1444). He next joined the order of the Knights of Rhodes, and rose rapidly into power, becoming grand-master in 1476. He laboured to bring about a confederation of all the Christian powers to counteract the triumph of the Turks that followed the fall of Constantinople. Mohammed II.'s career of conquest, which threatened to spread over Western Europe, was stayed alone by the obstinate bravery of D'Aubusson and his little colony of Christian soldiers in the island of Rhodes. In May 1480 an army of 100,000 Turks invested the town, but were forced to raise the siege after a month's desperate fighting, leaving behind them as many as 9000 dead. Mohammed was filled with fury, and a second attack was only averted by his death in 1481. D'Aubusson died in 1503. See HOSPITALLERS.