1571 - History Lab

File on the merits and services of Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:33:04 +0000

File on the merits and services of Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, containing the following documents: 1.- Memorial (apparently in Cervantes’ own handwriting) in which he sets out his merits and services performed in Italy, in the battle of Lepanto and elsewhere, on the occasion of requesting the granting of any of the four vacant posts he sets out: the accounting of the New Kingdom of Granada, the governorship of Soconusco, the accounting of the galleys of Cartagena de Indias, or the corregimiento of the city of La Paz (1590). Folios 1-2 2.- Certification given by the Duke of Sesa confirming the merits and services of Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1578). Folio 3. 2.- Information at the request of Rodrigo de Cervantes, father of Miguel de Cervantes, made in Madrid before a court mayor to prove that he is his son, that he is noble, the services he contracted in Italy, that he was captive in Algiers and that because his father is poor he will not be able to ransom him (1578). Folios 4-13. 3.- Information made in Algiers before the Trinitarian Redemptor Father Fray Juan Gil and before the notary Pedro de Rivera, at the request of Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, in which the services he has done and the great labours he suffered in his captivity are stated. All verified with the certification of the said redeeming father (1580). This information was made a few days after the rescue of Cervantes. Folios 14-52.

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Plan of the order of battle of the armies at the Battle of Lepanto

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:32:58 +0000

The first of the Holy League’s objectives (1571) was to recruit a navy of galleys to confront the Turkish navy. In the end, 206 galleys and 6 galleys (large, heavily armed galleys) under the command of Juan de Austria, Luis de Requesens, Álvaro de Bazán, Gianandrea Doria, Agostino Barbarigo and Marcantonio Colonna were ordered. On 7 October 1571 they were confronted by just over 300 Turkish ships off the coast of Naupactos in the Gulf of Patras. The League’s superiority was due to its cannon (the Turks much preferred to sweep the decks with arrows) and the quality of the Spanish infantry on board. The battle was nothing more than a battle of infantry on ships: the League fought in three blocks: one along the coast, with Venetian galleys commanded by Agostino Barbarigo; one in the centre, commanded directly by John of Austria and Marcantonio Colonna; and one towards the open sea, under the command of Gianandrea Doria. The reserve was commanded by Álvaro de Bazán. In the central clash the Turkish admiralty ship, the Sultana, almost took the League’s admiral, the Royal, but the help of Marcantonio Colonna’s galleys reversed the situation and the Turkish admiralty was taken, annihilating all its crew, including Admiral Ali Paschá.By the end of the day the League had sunk 50 ships, taken about 140, taken 10,000 Turkish prisoners and freed the Turkish prisoners.despite the resounding victory (“the highest occasion that the past centuries have seen, the present nor the future centuries hope to see”, in the words of Miguel de Cervantes – who fought on the galley Marquesa – in the prologue to his Don Quixote) neither the League nor Spain nor Venice knew how to profit from it. Two years later the Turkish navy had completely recovered and Venice ceded Cyprus to the Ottoman Empire.

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Resources on the Battle of Lepanto

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:30:03 +0000

The link contains documents and images related to the Battle of Lepanto. The documents relate to the galleys that made up the King’s Armada in 1571, with which the battle of Lepanto was won, and the slaves that were taken from the Turkish armada as a result of the victory over the Turks. It also includes a royal decree from Philip II, in which he thanks the nobleman Álvaro de Bazán, Marquis of Santa Cruz, for his participation in the battle, and a woodcut depicting Don Juan de Austria and his lieutenant Miguel de Moncada. In the lower part of the image, the Turkish admiral Ali Baya appears in the foreground. The Battle of Lepanto was a naval battle that took place in early October 1571. It pitted the Turkish navy against the Catholic fleet, known as the Holy League, for control of the eastern Mediterranean in the face of the advance of Islam and the continuous Turkish-Berber offensives. Given the imbalance of means and resources on both sides, the Catholic fleet led by Don John of Austria, Philip II’s half-brother, defeated the Turkish-Berber armada, made up of janissaries and thousands of Christian renegades, led by Admiral Ali Baya, in just a few hours. Despite the Christian victory, Lepanto did not mark the end of Turkish power in the eastern Mediterranean.

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