ROMSO Cyprus Knowledge Base

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Robert Hales (* around 1325 in High Halden, Kent; † 1381 in London) was Prior of the Order of St. John and Lord High Treasurer of England.

Sources from Hale’s life are sparsely handed down. In 1358 he stayed for the Johanniter on Rhodes. In the same year he was commander of several ballies in England. In 1362, he was personally back in England. In 1365 he was one of a hundred Saint Johns who assisted Peter I of Cyprus in his attempt to take Alexandria. The crusade against Alexandria ended with a victory of the Crusaders, the plundering of the city and a massacre of its inhabitants. For Hales, the venture ended with great personal fame, which he could use to make a career in England.

Hales was appointed in 1372 as the supreme prior of the Order of St. John in England. Thus he automatically held the highest baron rank of the kingdom and came in protocol before all other barons. As a Lord High Treasurer he tried to introduce a poll tax in England, and made himself extremely unpopular about these attempts among the people. Hales was murdered in 1381 during the peasant uprising by the English rebels around Wat Tyler. They had stormed the Tower of London, stormed Hales and his companion from the fortress, and immediately afterwards executed Hales on Tower Hill.

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Prior (Order of Malta)
Lord High Treasurer (England)
Crusaders (crusade against Alexandria)
Politicians (14th century)
History of England in the Middle Ages
English
Born in the 14th century
Died in 1381
Man