Jean de la Valette

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Jean de la Valette
Grandmaster coat of arms of Jean de la Valette

Jean de la Valette , also Jean Parisot de La Valette , (* 1494 in Parisot , today in the Tarn-et-Garonne , France ; †  August 21, 1568 in Birgu , Malta ) was the 49th Grand Master from 1557 until his death of the Order of Malta and founder of today's capital of Malta, Valletta .

Life

Early life

Valette came from a noble family based in the Rouergue in France. At the age of twenty he decided to join the Order of St. John , which at that time was still based on the Mediterranean island of Rhodes . He became Grand Prior of St. Gilles in the tongue of Provence. In 1541 he was badly wounded in a sea battle with an Ottoman fleet and captured and shared the lot of a galley slave for a year before returning to a prisoner exchange made possible by the German Grand Prior Georg Schilling von Canstatt by capturing a high-ranking enemy was released.

Promotion to Grand Master

In the years that followed, Valette held almost all of the order's important offices. Among other things, he took over the difficult post of governor of Tripoli , which was, however, also a kind of punitive exile , as he had repeatedly violated the rules of the order . Thanks to his military skills, he was promoted to admiral of the order's fleet in 1554 , a post that was actually reserved for Italian knights.

In 1557, at the age of 63, he was unanimously elected Grand Master of the Order, which now had its seat in Malta. He immediately demonstrated his pronounced sense of justice by pardoning Gaspard de Vallier , who was wrongly accused and imprisoned by former Grand Master Jean de Homedes for the loss of Tripoli . Then he set about strengthening the independence of the order by having the Spanish King Philip II grant the Order of Malta jurisdiction in feudal disputes . With the Viceroy of Sicily , he succeeded in ensuring that the order no longer had to seek enfeoffment. He also achieved that the rights and privileges that previously applied to the Maltese nobility were also transferred to the order.

Defense against the Turks

His most difficult task was the preparations to ward off the emerging Turkish attack . This began on May 18, 1565 with a 40,000-strong invasion force under Admiral Piyale Pascha and General Mustafa Pascha . Valette's tactical skills and military experience prevented the capture of Malta, and on September 8, 1565, the Turks abandoned the siege. In the end Valette had concentrated on the defense of Birgus , where he had gathered the Maltese troops and blew up the bridge to Fort St. Angelo . “There is no going back, only victory or death!” He is supposed to have said. When the wall near the St. Michaels Bastion partially collapsed and attackers invaded in droves, Valette, who was already over 70 at the time, is said to have personally led the counterattack. The knights and allies of the order were so motivated by this act and the attacking Turks were equally shocked and discouraged that the attack could be successfully repelled and the breach closed again. The St. Michaels Bastion ( Senglea ) can be visited today.

After this grand victory, Pope Pius V offered him the cardinal dignity , but Valette refused.

Founding of Valletta and Death

Monument to Jean de la Valette in Valletta

On March 28, 1566, he laid the foundation stone for Malta's future capital, which was named after its completion in 1571. Jean Parisot de la Valette was already dead by this point; he died on August 21, 1568 while praying in Fort St. Angelo in Birgu. Today it is believed that he succumbed to heat stroke after a day of hunting. He was buried in the order church of Birgu. His remains were later reburied in St. John's Co-Cathedral in Valletta. On his tomb there is the inscription: "He was the protective shield of Europe".

literature

Adaptation in the novel

  • Wolfgang Hohlbein used the siege of Malta as the background for his horror novel " The Hunted ". De la Valette was described as an aged but brave and highly intelligent military leader whose determination and intransigence the island owed its salvation.
  • Tim Willocks has written an extensive novel about the siege of Malta by the Turks, " The Sacrament ", in which de la Valette is also described in his historical role as Grand Master of the Order and Commander-in-Chief of the Defenders.
  • David Ball wrote "Asha, Son of Malta" (" Ironfire ") a novel in which the siege of Malta by the Turks in the sixteenth century and the heroic defense of the island by the Knights of Malta under the command of Jean de la Valette is a focus of action.

Web links

Commons : Jean de la Valette  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
predecessor Office successor
Claude de la Sengle Grand Master of the Order of Malta
1557–1568 		Pierre de Monte
personal data
SURNAME La Valette, Jean de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES La Valette, Jean Parisot de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION 49. Grand Master of the Order of Malta
DATE OF BIRTH 1494
PLACE OF BIRTH La Valette-du-Var , France
DATE OF DEATH August 21, 1568
PLACE OF DEATH Birgu , Malta