A
brief biography of Robert Surtees
Robert Surtees was born in 1779 at Mainsforth, Durham. . He studied
law at Christ Church, Oxford, but without being called to the bar,
he returned to the family estate at Mainsforth, which he inherited
on his father Robert’s death in 1802, and where he lived for
the rest of his life. He devoted himself to the study of local history
and antiquities, and to collecting material for his ‘History
and antiquities of the County Palatine of Durham’ which was
published in four volumes from 1816 until the last in 1840, after
the author’s death.
The work contains a large amount of genealogical and antiquarian information;
written in a humorous and readable style. Surtees was also a talented
ballad writer, and so successfully imitated the style of old ballads
that he even managed to deceive Sir Walter Scott, who included a piece
by Surtees called “The Death of Featherstonehaugh” in
his Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, under the impression that it
was ancient. In 1807 Surtees married Anne Robinson of Herrington,
and he died at Mainsforth on the 11th of February 1834; he is buried
at Bishop Middleham. As a memorial to him the “Surtees Society”
was founded in 1834 with the purpose of publishing ancient unedited
manuscripts relevant to the history of Durham County.
The Order
of the Knights of Rhodes and the Legend of the Dragon of Rhodes
In “The Curse of the Lambton Worm”, a possible connection
between the legend of the Lambton Worm to a 14th century legend about
the Dragon of Rhodes is mentioned. Sir John Lambton, as a Knight of
Rhodes himself, would have been fully aware of the legend and would
no doubt have recounted the story on his return to England. The legend
of the Dragon of Rhodes, and details of the Order of the Knights of
Rhodes is expanded below:
The Order of the Knights of Rhodes was founded from the Order of St.
John, or the Hospitallers, which was an order of sworn brethren which
had arisen at the time of the first Crusades. The Order of St John
was begun in Jerusalem by monks who assisted penniless pilgrims who
arrived at the city by not only feeding and housing them, but also
doing their best to cure the many diseases that they caught on the
journey. The Hospitallers obtained permission from the Pope to become
warriors as well as monks so that they could further the Christian
cause in Jerusalem. They were thus all in one – knights, priests,
and nurses; and their monasteries became both castles and hospitals;
where the sick pilgrim or wounded Crusader was sure of medical care,
and, if he recovered, an escort to safety.
Around 1309 the island of Rhodes became home to this Order, and they
became known as the Knights of Rhodes, in existence until 1522.
A few years after the Order of the Knights of Rhodes was founded on
the island, Rhodes was ravaged by an enormous creature living in a
swamp at the foot of Mount St. Stephen, about two miles from the city
of Rhodes. It devoured sheep and cattle when they came to the water
to drink, and even young shepherd boys went missing. Known locally
as a dragon, it has been suggested that a crocodile or serpent might
have been brought over by storms or currents from Africa, which could
have grown to a formidable size unnoticed among the marshes, or grown
with the re-telling of the story! Pilgrims visiting the Chapel of
St. Stephen, on the hill above its lair, put their lives at risk as
it was rumoured that they may be devoured by the dragon before they
could climb the hill.
Several brave knights had tried to kill the creature, but the dragon
was said to have been covered with impenetrable scales and all had
perished in the attempt. At last the Grand Master, Helion de Villeneuve,
forbade any further attempts to kill the creature.
A young French knight, however, named Dieudonné de Goza (also
known as de Gozo or de Gozon), who had seen the creature but had never
managed to attack it, was unwilling to give up. He requested leave
of absence, returned to his father’s castle in Languedoc, and
had a model made of the monster. He had noticed that the creature’s
belly was unprotected by scales, but was impossible to reach due to
its huge teeth and lashing tail. He made the stomach of his model
hollow and filled it with food, then trained two fierce young mastiffs
to attack the underside of the monster, while he earfuld attacking
the monster from above, mounted on his warhorse.
When he was satisfied that the horse and dogs were trained, he returned
to Rhodes, landing in a remote part of the island for fear of being
prevented from carrying out his plan. Having prayed at the chapel
of St. Stephen, he left his two French squires, instructing them to
return home if he were slain, but to watch and come to him if he killed
the dragon, or was injured by it. He then rode down the hill towards
the haunt of the dragon. It roused itself as he came, and at first
he charged it with his lance, which was useless against the scales.
His horse was quick to notice the difference between the true and
the false monster, and reared up, so that Dieudonne was forced to
leap to the ground and was knocked down by the monster’s lashing
tail; but the two dogs attacked the creature as they had been trained,
and the knight, regaining his feet, plunged his sword into the creature.
When the servants finally arrived, they found the knight lying apparently
dead under the carcass of the dragon, but they managed to revive him
and brought him into the city amid the ecstatic shouts of the whole
populace, who conducted him in triumph to the palace of the Grand
Master.
There was, however, a great moral to be learnt from this tale –
which was probably recounted to all the succeeding probationary Knights
of Rhodes, including Sir John Lambton – for despite praising
the knight for his brave actions, the Grand Master, Villeneuve, was
angry with his disobedience and dismissed him from the Order. As he
pointed out, the discipline of the Order of Rhodes was humility and
implicit obedience to the Grand Master, and Dieudonné had broken
this vow and followed his own self-will. Dieudonné was, however,
eventually reinstated, and the dragon’s head was set up over
the gate of the city, where historians allegedly saw it even in the
seventeenth century, describing it as larger than that of a horse,
with a huge mouth and teeth and very large eyes. Dieudonné
de Goza was elected to the Grand Mastership after the death of Villeneuve
in 1346, and was reputed to be a great soldier, much loved by all
the poor peasants of the island, to whom he was exceedingly kind.
He died in 1353, and his tomb is said to have been inscribed with
these words:
“Here lies the Dragon Slayer.” |
