giue you to weet, that we haue receiued your letters sent vnto our
imperiall maiestie by George your seruant, the tenor whereof we doe well
vnderstand: and for this occasion we send vnto you this our present
commaundement, to the end that we will that ye know surely how by our
sentence we will haue that Isle of Rhodes for many damages and euill deeds
which we haue, and heare from day to day of the sayd place done to vs and
our subiects, and ye with your good will shall hold it of vs and doe vs
obeisance, and giue the citie to mine imperiall maiestie. And we sweare by
God that made heauen and earth, and by 26000. of our prophets, and by the
4. Misafi that fell from the skies, and by our first prophet Mahomet, that
if ye doe vs homage, and yeeld you with good will vpon these othes, all you
that will abide in the sayd place, great and small, shall not need to feare
perill nor damage of mine imperiall maiestie, neither you, your goods, nor
your men: and who so will goe to any other place with his goods and
houshold, may so doe, and who so will dwell and inhabits in any other
places vnder mine Imperiall maiestie, may remaine where they like best,
without feare of any person. And if there bee any of the principals and
woorthy men among you that is so disposed, wee shall giue him wages and
prouision greater then hee hath had. And if any of you will abide in the
sayd isle, yee may so doe after your auncient vsages and customes, and much
better. And therefore if that Imperiall maiestie, or els know yee that wee
will come vpon you with all prouisions of warre, and thereof shall come as
it pleaseth God. And this wee doe, to the end that ye may know, and that ye
may not say, but we haue giuen you warning. And if ye doe not thus with
your good will, wee shall vault and vndermine your foundations in such
maner, that they shalbe torne vpside downe, and shal make you slaues, and
cause you to die, by the grace of God, as we haue done many, and hereof
haue ye no doubt. Written in our court at Constantinople the first day of
the moneth of Iune.