| Attack on Monastir (1603) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Ottoman–Habsburg wars | |||||||
 Monastir in 17th Century | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Knights Hospitaller |  Ottoman Tunis | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Alof de Wignacourt | Unknown | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 5 galleys | Unknown | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Heavy | Unknown | ||||||
The attack on Monastir was an attempt by the Maltese knights of Hospitallers to attack and sack the Tunisian city of Monastir; the attack, however, failed.
In April 1603, the Maltese knights launched a raid against the Ottoman-held cities of Patras and Nafpaktos. The Maltese simultaneously attacked both of them. The raid was successful, capturing 76 guns and 400 prisoners. [1] In July of the same year, distressing news arrived in Malta regarding the intentions of the Ottoman Sultan, as he was preparing a large force of galleys to attack the island of Gozo to take revenge for the destruction of the previously mentioned castles. A preparation was made, but nothing came as the Ottomans did not appear due to the plague. [2]
Free from this worry, the Hospitaller grandmaster, Alof de Wignacourt, and the council decided to resume raids against the Ottomans. In October, it was decided to attack the Tunisian city of Monastir. On October 6, five Maltese galleys set out to attack the city. The Maltese knights landed at night; however, the Tunisian forces were alerted and quickly attacked the Maltese, routing them and forcing them to reembark. [3] The attack had failed due to the treachery of a French soldier who alerted the Tunisians. [4]
The Great Siege of Malta occurred in 1565 when the Ottoman Empire attempted to conquer the island of Malta, then held by the Knights Hospitaller. The siege lasted nearly four months, from 18 May to 8 September 1565.
Aruj Barbarossa, known as Oruç Reis to the Turks, was an Ottoman corsair who became Sultan of Algiers. The elder brother of the famous Ottoman admiral Hayreddin Barbarossa, he was born on the Ottoman island of Midilli and died in battle against the Spanish at Tlemcen.
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Hospitaller Malta, known in Maltese history as the Knights' Period, was a de facto state which existed between 1530 and 1798 when the Mediterranean islands of Malta and Gozo were ruled by the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. It was formally a vassal state of the Kingdom of Sicily, and it came into being when Emperor Charles V granted the islands as well as the city of Tripoli in modern Libya to the Order, following the latter's loss of Rhodes in 1522. Hospitaller Tripoli was lost to the Ottoman Empire in 1551, but an Ottoman attempt to take Malta in 1565 failed.
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