Dieudonné de Gozon was the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes from 1346 to 1353. He was born to a noble family in

Languedoc The Province of Languedoc (; , ; oc, Lengadòc ) is a former province of France. Most of its territory is now contained in the modern-day region of Occitanie in Southern France. Its capital city was Toulouse. It had an area of approximately ...

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. He carried the nickname ''Extinctor Draconis'' which means "The Dragon Slayer" in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

The Dragon of Rhodes

It is so told that there was a dragon in the island of

Rhodes Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the So ...

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, hiding in the local swamp, and killing the cattle of the local farmers. Despite the orders of the previous Grand Master not to disturb the beast, Gozon slew the dragon, and hung the head on one of the seven gates of the medieval town of

. The head was on display until around 1837, when it was disposed of by workers responsible for repairing the castle. In 1347 and 1348 the Grand Master proved his gallantry when the Order marched to the help of King

Constantine V of Armenia Constantine III (also Constantine V; french: Constantin V d'Arménie; hy, Կոստանդին, Western Armenian transliteration: ''Gosdantin'' or ''Kostantine''; April 17, 1313 – December 21, 1362) was the King of Armenian Cilicia from 1344 ...

, threatened by the army of the Sultan of

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References

*Pavlidis, Vangelis. ''Rhodes, A Story 1306 - 1522.'' Rhodes: Kasseris Publications. *Hasluck, Frederick W. "Dieudonné de Gozon and the Dragon of Rhodes." Annual of the British School at Athens 20 (1914), 70-79. {{DEFAULTSORT:Dieudonne De Gozon De Gozon, Dieudonne De Gozon, Dieudonne 1353 deaths Rhodes under the Knights Hospitaller 14th-century French people