Aubusson, Pierre d'

AUBUSSON, PIERRE d'. - Cardinal, b. in 1423, d. at Rhodes in 1503. Enrolled early in the Order of the Knights of Rhodes, he rose through its ranks to the grand mastership in 1476. He demonstrated his great valor when, after Venice's agreement with the Turk (1478), he remained alone to defend Rhodes and the whole Christian West from the Muslim threat; he took every possible measure to protect the island, gathered the knights there for its defense, and when, in 1480, Rhodes was attacked by formidable enemy forces, he succeeded, in an epic struggle, in driving them back into the sea. When the sultan died the following year and his heirs, Bayezid and Jem (Djem), came to blows over the succession, d'A. received the latter, who had been defeated, with a broad safe-conduct and a promise of custody, hoping to profit from it, both to keep Bayezid from new offensive enterprises and to attempt to wrest Greece and the Archipelago from him at an opportune moment. For greater security Jem was transferred to France, still under the custody of the Order (1482). For his political designs Innocent VIII wished to have Jem in Rome; in exchange d'A. received the cardinal's hat in March 1489. Alexander VI then claimed for himself the custody of Jem, and d'A. could not oppose it. Charles VIII, entering Rome in 1494, demanded the surrender of Jem, who died shortly afterward, not without suspicion of poison.