Juan de Austria - 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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The Battle of Lepanto

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:31:53 +0000

Painting of the Battle of Lepanto (1663-1665), commissioned for the Chapel of the Rosary in the Convent of Santo Domingo (Murcia), where it remains today. Painted by Juan de Toledo, an artist who specialised in naval scenes, and Mateo Gilarte, who was commissioned to paint the image of the Virgin and Child and the four medals of the protagonists of the battle: Philip II, John of Austria, Pius V and Ali Baya.

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The Spain of Philip II: an empire without an emperor. Memory of Spain

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:27:59 +0000

Episode 13 of the documentary series “Memories of Spain”. The descriptor on the rtve a la carte website gives the following summary: Philip II (1527-1598) assumed the Spanish throne in 1556. The programme reviews the most important aspects of his reign: his marriages, the death of Prince Don Charles, Lepanto and Don Juan of Austria, the death of Escobedo by Antonio Pérez, etc. Scenes from TVE archive programmes such as ‘Cervantes’ by Alfonso Ungría, ‘Santa Teresa’ by Josefina Molina and ‘Commemoration of Philip II’ by Salvador Pons are used. It is advised by Ricardo García Cárcel and lasts 52:28 minutes

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