Nicolas Durand,sieur de Villegaignon,also Villegagnon was a Commander of the Knights of Malta,and later a French naval officer who attempted to help the Huguenots in France escape persecution.
Occhiali was an Italian farmer,then Ottoman privateer and admiral,who later became beylerbey of the Regency of Algiers,and finally Grand Admiral of the Ottoman fleet in the 16th century.
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 11 September 1565.
The Battle of Djerba took place in May 1560 near the island of Djerba,Tunisia. The Ottomans under Piyale Pasha's command overwhelmed a large joint Christian Alliance fleet,composed chiefly of Spanish,Papal,Genoese,Maltese,and Neapolitan forces. The allies lost 27 galleys and some smaller vessels as well as the fortified island of Djerba. This victory marked perhaps the high point of Ottoman power in the Mediterranean Sea.
Fra' Claude de la Sengle was the 48th Grand Master of the Order of Malta,from 1553 his death. His successor was Fra' Jean Parisot de Valette.
Fra' Philippe de Villiers de L'Isle-Adam was a prominent member of the Knights Hospitaller at Rhodes and later Malta. Having risen to the position of Prior of the Langue of Auvergne,he was elected 44th Grand Master of the Order in 1521.
Fra' Juan de Homedes y Coscón was a Spanish knight of Aragon who served as the 47th Grand Master of the Order of Malta,between 1536 and 1553.
The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem,commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller,was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headquartered in the Kingdom of Jerusalem until 1291,on the island of Rhodes from 1310 until 1522,in Malta from 1530 until 1798 and at Saint Petersburg from 1799 until 1801. Today several organizations continue the Hospitaller tradition,specifically the mutually recognized orders of St. John,which are the Sovereign Military Order of Malta,the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John,the Bailiwick of Brandenburg of the Chivalric Order of Saint John,the Order of Saint John in the Netherlands,and the Order of Saint John in Sweden.
Salah Rais was the 7th King of Algiers,an Ottoman privateer and admiral. He is alternatively referred to as Sala Reis,Salih Rais,Salek Rais and Cale Arraez in several European sources,particularly in Spain,France and Italy.
Gabriel de Luetz,Baron et Seigneur d'Aramon et de Vallabregues,often also abbreviated to Gabriel d'Aramon,was the French Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire from 1546 to 1553,in the service first of Francis I,who dispatched him to the Ottoman Empire,and then of the French king Henry II. Gabriel de Luetz was accompanied by a vast suite of scientists,Jean de Monluc,philosopher Guillaume Postel,botanist Pierre Belon,naturalist Pierre Gilles d'Albi,the future cosmographer AndréThévet,traveler Nicolas de Nicolay who would publish their findings upon their return to France and contribute greatly to the development of early science in France.
The siege of Tripoli occurred in 1551 when the Ottomans besieged and vanquished the Knights of Malta in the Red Castle of Tripoli,modern Libya. The Spanish had established an outpost in Tripoli in 1510,and Charles V remitted it to the Knights in 1530. The siege culminated in a six-day bombardment and the surrender of the city on 15 August.
The capture of Mahdia was an amphibious military operation that took place from June to September,1550,during the struggle between the Ottoman Empire and the Spanish Habsburgs for the control of the Mediterranean. A Spanish naval expedition under the command of the Genoese condottiero and admiral Andrea Doria and the Spaniard Bernardino de Mendoza,supported by the Knights of Malta under their Grand Master Claude de la Sengle,besieged and captured the Ottoman stronghold of Mahdia or Mahdiye,defended by the Ottoman Admiral Turgut Reis,known as Dragut,who was using the place as a base for his piratical activities throughout the Spanish and Italian coasts. Mahdia was abandoned by Spain three years later,and all its fortifications were demolished to avoid a re-occupation of the city by the Ottomans.
The Invasion of Gozo took place in July 1551,and was accomplished by the Ottoman Empire against the island of Gozo,following an unsuccessful attempt to conquer nearby Malta on 18 July 1551. It was followed by a victorious campaign with the siege of Tripoli.
Dragut,known as "The Drawn Sword of Islam",was a Muslim Ottoman naval commander,governor,and noble,of Turkish or Greek descent. Under his command,the Ottoman Empire's maritime power was extended across North Africa. Recognized for his military genius,and as being among "the most dangerous" of corsairs,Dragut has been referred to as "the greatest pirate warrior of all time","undoubtedly the most able of all the Turkish leaders",and "the uncrowned king of the Mediterranean". He was described by a French admiral as "A living chart of the Mediterranean,skillful enough on land to be compared to the finest generals of the time. No one was more worthy than he to bear the name of king".
Malta was ruled by the Knights Hospitaller,or Order of Saint John,as a vassal state of the Kingdom of Sicily from 1530 to 1798. The islands of Malta and Gozo,as well as the city of Tripoli in modern Libya,were granted to the Order by Spanish Emperor Charles V in 1530,following the loss of Rhodes. The Ottoman Empire managed to capture Tripoli from the Order in 1551,but an attempt to take Malta in 1565 failed.
Fra' Jean "Parisot" de la Valette was a French nobleman and 49th Grand Master of the Order of Malta,from 21 August 1557 to his death in 1568. As a Knight Hospitaller,joining the order in the Langue de Provence,he fought with distinction against the Turks at Rhodes. As Grand Master,Valette became the Order's hero and most illustrious leader,commanding the resistance against the Ottomans at the Great Siege of Malta in 1565,sometimes regarded as one of the greatest sieges of all time.
The Raid on Żejtun was the last major attack made by the Ottoman Empire against the island of Malta,which was then ruled by the Order of St. John. The attack took place in July 1614,when raiders pillaged the town of Żejtun and the surrounding area before being beaten back to their ships by the Order's cavalry and by the inhabitants of the south-eastern towns and villages.
The Conquest of Tripoli was a maritime campaign led by Pedro Navarro which captured the city of Tripoli in North Africa in the name of the Crown of Aragon in 1510.
Tripoli,today the capital city of Libya,was a presidio of the Spanish Empire in North Africa between 1510 and 1530. The city was captured by Spanish forces in July 1510,and for the next two decades it was administered as an outpost which fell under the jurisdiction of the Spanish Viceroy of Sicily. The city was granted as a fief to the Knights Hospitaller in 1530,and the latter ruled the city until 1551.
Tripoli,today the capital city of Libya,was ruled by the Knights Hospitaller between 1530 and 1551. The city had been under Spanish rule for two decades before it was granted as a fief to the Hospitallers in 1530 along with the islands of Malta and Gozo. The Hospitallers found it difficult to control both the city and the islands,and at times they proposed to either move their headquarters to Tripoli or to abandon and raze the city. Hospitaller rule over Tripoli ended in 1551 when the city was captured by the Ottoman Empire following a siege.
Order of Saint John 