Foulques de Villaret (died 1 September 1327), a native of Languedoc-Roussillon

Languedoc-Roussillon

Languedoc-Roussillon is one of the 27 regions of France. It comprises five departments, and borders the other French regions of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Rhône-Alpes, Auvergne, Midi-Pyrénées on the one side, and Spain, Andorra and the Mediterranean sea on the other side.-Geography:The region is...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, was the 25th Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller

Knights Hospitaller

The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta , also known as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta , Order of Malta or Knights of Malta, is a Roman Catholic lay religious order, traditionally of military, chivalrous, noble nature. It is the world's...

, succeeding his paternal uncle Guillaume de Villaret

Guillaume de Villaret

Guillaume de Villaret , a native of Languedoc-Roussillon was the 24th Grand Master of the Knights Hospitallers, a position he held from 1296 to his death. He was succeeded by his nephew, Foulques de Villaret, whose career he had done much to advance.-Biography:Before his position as Master, he had...

 in 1305. His uncle had done much to foster his early career in the Order. He was appointed Admiral in 1299, and Grand Commander two years later. By 1303 he was Lieutenant of the Master, and so advanced to Master on his uncle's death.

Under his leadership they launched a successful attempt at the conquest of Rhodes

Rhodes

Rhodes is an island in Greece, located in the eastern Aegean Sea. It is the largest of the Dodecanese islands in terms of both land area and population, with a population of 117,007, and also the island group's historical capital. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within...

, (1308 to later 1309). Other islands were also taken (Kastellórizo, Bodrum). The Order then moved its headquarters to Rhodes.

However, despite the huge benefits to his Order from the suppression of the Knights Templar

Knights Templar

The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...

 (the Templars' assets were assigned to the Hospitallers by the Pope in 1312), de Villaret's campaigns of territorial expansion ran the Order heavily into debt. These debts were not paid off until the mid-1330s. De Villaret seems to have been a difficult and overbearing man, and eventually alienated his Order. Allegations were made of increasingly arrogant, even tyrannical behaviour, although none of the allegations are specific, and one Italian account of the lives of the Grand Masters claimed that he was treated unjustly.

In 1317, the Order attempted a coup against him. A group of knights went to assassinate him at his residence at Rhodini, but his chamberlain aided his escape. He fled to the Hospitaller castle at Lindos

Lindos

Lindos is an archaeological site, a town and a former municipality on the island of Rhodes, in the Dodecanese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Rhodes, of which it is a municipal unit. It lies on the east coast of the island...

, where he was besieged by his own Order. They had, in the meantime, elected Maurice de Pagnac as Grand Master in his place, and wrote to Pope John XXII

Pope John XXII

Pope John XXII , born Jacques Duèze , was pope from 1316 to 1334. He was the second Pope of the Avignon Papacy , elected by a conclave in Lyon assembled by Philip V of France...

 in July to justify their actions.

The Pope summoned both Grand Masters to his court at Avignon

Avignon

Avignon is a French commune in southeastern France in the départment of the Vaucluse bordered by the left bank of the Rhône river. Of the 94,787 inhabitants of the city on 1 January 2010, 12 000 live in the ancient town centre surrounded by its medieval ramparts.Often referred to as the...

 to settle the dispute. Meanwhile, Brother Giraud de Pins administered the order in the Pope's name. The Pope reappointed de Villaret – but only so that he could tender his resignation formally. Brother Hélion de Villeneuve

Hélion de Villeneuve

thumb|Hélion de Villeneuve.Hélion de Villeneuve was a French-born Grand Master of the Knights of St. John. He was the brother of Saint Roseline.He died on the island of Rhodes....

 was named as Master on 18 June 1319, the elderly de Pagnac having died in the meantime. The Pope appointed de Villaret Prior of Capua

Capua

Capua is a city and comune in the province of Caserta, Campania, southern Italy, situated 25 km north of Naples, on the northeastern edge of the Campanian plain. Ancient Capua was situated where Santa Maria Capua Vetere is now...

 for life on 29 June, but after more problems there, he was transferred to the Priory of Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

 in 1325. That, too, seems to have been unsuccessful, and after April that year, he received only a pension. He returned to his homeland, and lived as a mere Brother of the Order at his sister's home in Teyran

Teyran

Teyran is a commune in the Hérault department in Languedoc-Roussillon in southern France....

, near Montpellier

Montpellier

-Neighbourhoods:Since 2001, Montpellier has been divided into seven official neighbourhoods, themselves divided into sub-neighbourhoods. Each of them possesses a neighbourhood council....

. He died on 1 September 1327, and was buried in the former Templar Church in Montpellier.

Sources and Further reading

• Luttrell, Anthony. "Notes on Foulques de Villaret, Master of the Hospital 1305-1319" in The Hospitallers of Rhodes and the Mediterranean World (Aldershot 1992).