The Battle of Lepanto (Ναύπακτος in Greek, İnebahtı in
Turkish) took place on 7 October 1571 when a galley fleet of the Holy
League, a coalition of the Republic of Venice, the Papacy (under Pope Pius V), Spain (including
Naples, Sicily and Sardinia),
the Republic of Genoa, the Duchy of Savoy, the
Knights Hospitaller and others, decisively defeated the main fleet of
Ottoman war galleys.
The five-hour battle was fought at the northern edge of the Gulf of Patras, off
western Greece, where the Ottoman forces sailing westwards from their naval station in
Lepanto met the Holy League forces, which had come from Messina, on the morning of Sunday 7 October.[1] The battle gave the Holy League temporary control over the Mediterranean, protected Rome from
invasion, and prevented the Ottomans from advancing into Europe. This was the last major naval
battle to be fought solely between rowing vessels.
Forces
- See Battle of Lepanto order of battle for a detailed list of
ships and commanders involved in the battle.
The Holy League's fleet consisted of 206 galleys and six galleasses (large converted merchant galleys carrying substantial artillery),
and was ably commanded by Don John (or Don Juan) of Austria, the illegitimate son of Emperor Charles V and half
brother of King Philip II of Spain. Vessels had been contributed by the various
Christian states: 109 galleys and six galleasses from Venice, 80 galleys from Spain and Naples/Sicily, 12 Tuscan galleys hired by the Papal States, three galleys each from Genoa, Malta, and Savoy, and some privately owned galleys. All members
of the alliance viewed the Turkish navy as a significant threat to their maritime trade in the Mediterranean Sea. The various Christian contingents met the main force, that of Venice (under
Veniero), in July and August 1571 at Messina,
Sicily. Don John arrived on 23 August.
This fleet of the Christian alliance was manned by 12,920 sailors. In addition, it carried almost 28,000 fighting troops:
10,000 Spanish regular infantry of excellent quality, 7,000 German and 6,000 Italian mercenary, and
5,000 Venetian soldiers. Also, Venetian oarsmen were free citizens unlike the slaves used by the Turkish navy and were therefore
able to bear arms and fight for their city.
The Ottoman galleys were manned by 13,000 sailors and 34,000 soldiers. Ali
Pasha (Turkish: "Kaptan-ı Derya Ali Paşa"), supported by the corsairs Chulouk Bey of Alexandria and Uluj
Ali (Ulich Ali), commanded an Ottoman force of 222 war galleys, 56 galliots, and some
smaller vessels. The Turks had skilled and experienced crews of sailors, but were somewhat deficient in their elite corps of
Janissaries.
Deployment
The Christian fleet formed up in four divisions in a North-South line. At the northern end, closest to the coast, was the Left
Division of 53 galleys, mainly Venetian, led by Agostino Barbarigo, with Marco Querini and Antonio da Canale in support. The Centre Division consisted
of 62 galleys under Don Juan himself in his Real, along with Sebastiano Venier, later Doge of Venice, and Marcantonio Colonna. The Right Division to the south consisted of another 53 galleys under the
Genoese Giovanni Andrea Doria, great-nephew of the famous Andrea Doria. Two galleasses,
which had side-mounted cannon, were positioned in front of each main division, for the purpose, according to Miguel de Cervantes (who served on the galleass Marquesa during the battle), of preventing
the Turks from sneaking in small boats and sapping, sabotaging or boarding the Christian vessels. A Reserve Division was
stationed behind (that is, to the west of) the main fleet, to lend support wherever it might be needed. This reserve division
consisted of 38 galleys - 30 behind the Centre Division commanded by Álvaro de Bazán, and four behind each wing. A scouting group was formed, from
two Right Wing and six Reserve Division galleys. As the Christian fleet was slowly turning around Point
Scropha, Doria's Right Division, at the off-shore side, was delayed at the start of the battle and the Right's galleasses
did not get into position.
The Turkish fleet consisted of 54 galleys and 2 galliots on its Right under Chulouk Bey, 61 galleys and 32 galliots in the
Centre under Ali Pasha in the Sultana, and about 63 galleys and 30 galliots in the South off-shore under Uluj Ali. A small reserve existed of 8 galleys, 22 galliots and 64 fustas,
behind the Centre body. Ali Pasha is supposed to have told his Christian galley-slaves: "If I win the battle, I promise you your
liberty. If the day is yours, then God has given it to you."
The battle
The Left and Centre galleasses had been towed half a mile ahead of the Christian line, and
were able to sink two Turkish galleys, and damage some more, before the Turkish fleet left them behind. Their attacks also
disrupted the Ottoman formations. As the battle started, Doria found that Uluj Ali's galleys extended further to the south than
his own, and so headed south to avoid being out-flanked. This meant he was even later coming into action. He ended up being
outmanœuvered by Uluj Ali, who turned back and attacked the southern end of the Centre Division, taking advantage of the big gap
that Doria had left.
In the north, Chulouk Bey had managed to get between the shore and the Christian North Division, with six galleys in an
outflanking move, and initially the Christian fleet suffered. Barbarigo was killed by an arrow, but the Venetians, turning to
face the threat, held their line. The return of a galleass saved the Christian North Division. The Christian Centre also held the
line with the help of the Reserve, after taking a great deal of damage, and caused great damage to the Muslim Centre. In the
south, off-shore side, Doria was engaged in a melee with Uluj Ali's ships, taking the worse part. Meanwhile Uluj Ali himself
commanded 16 galleys in a fast attack on the Christian Centre, taking six galleys - amongst them the Maltese Capitana,
killing all but three men on board. Its commander, Pietro Giustiniani, Prior of the Order
of St. John, was severely wounded by five arrows, but was found alive in his cabin. The intervention of the Spaniards
Álvaro de Bazán and Joan de
Cardona with the reserve turned the battle, both in the Centre and in Doria's South Wing. Uluj Ali was forced to flee with
16 galleys and 24 galliots, abandoning all but one of his captures. During the course of the battle, the Ottoman Commander's ship
was boarded and the Spanish tercios from 3 galleys and the Turkish janissaries from seven galleys fought on the deck of the Sultana. Twice the Spanish were repelled with
great loss, but at the third attempt, with reinforcements from Álvaro de Bazán's galley, they prevailed. Müezzenzade Ali Pasha
was killed and beheaded, against the wishes of Don Juan. However, when his head was displayed on a pike from the Spanish
flagship, it contributed greatly to the destruction of Turkish morale. The battle concluded around 4 pm.
The Turkish fleet suffered the loss of about 210 ships -- of which 117 galleys, 10 galliots and three fustas were captured and
in good enough condition for the Christians to keep. On the Christian side 20 galleys were destroyed and 30 were damaged so
seriously that they had to be scuttled. One Venetian galley was the only one kept by the Turks. All others were abandoned by them
and recaptured.
Uluj Ali, who had captured the flagship of the Maltese Knights, succeeded in extricating most of his ships from the battle
when defeat was certain. Although he had cut the tow on the Maltese flagship in order to get away, he sailed to Istanbul,
gathering up other Ottoman ships along the way and finally arriving there with 87 vessels. He presented the huge Maltese flag to
Sultan Selim who thereupon bestowed upon him the honorary title of "kιlιç" (Sword); Uluj thus became known as Kιlιç Ali Pasha.
The Holy League had suffered around 13,000 soldiers, sailors and rowers dead, but freed about as many Christian prisoners.
Turkish casualties were around 25,000, and at least 3,500 were captured. The Holy League credited the victory to the
Virgin Mary, whose intercession with God
they had implored for victory through the use of the Rosary. Andrea Doria had kept a copy of the
miraculous image of our Our Lady of Guadalupe given to him by King
Philip II of Spain in his ship's state room.[2] Pius V instituted a new Catholic feast day of Our Lady of Victory to commemorate the battle, which is now celebrated by the Catholic Church as the feast of Our Lady of the
Rosary.[3]
Aftermath
The engagement was a crushing defeat for the Ottomans, who had not lost a major naval battle since the fifteenth century. To
half of Christendom, this event encouraged hope for the downfall of "the Turk", whom they regarded as the "Sempiternal Enemy of
the Christian". Indeed, the Empire lost all but 30 of its ships and as many as 30,000 men, and some Western historians have held
it to be the most decisive naval battle anywhere on the globe since the Battle of
Actium of 31 BC.
Despite the massive defeat, however, the Holy League's disunity prevented the victors from capitalizing on their triumph.
Plans to seize the Dardanelles as a step towards recovering Istanbul, formerly Constantinople, for Christendom, were ruined by bickering amongst the allies. With a massive effort, the
Empire rebuilt its navy (150 galleys and 8 galleasses)[4], adding eight of the largest capital ships ever seen in the Mediterranean. Within six months this
new fleet was able to reassert Ottoman naval supremacy in the eastern Mediterranean. On 7 March 1573 the Venetians thus
recognized by treaty the Ottoman possession of Cyprus, which had fallen to the Turks under
Piyale Pasha on 3 August 1571, just two months before Lepanto, and remained Turkish for the
next three centuries, and that summer the Ottoman navy ravaged the geographically vulnerable coasts of Sicily and southern Italy.
A Turkish Grand Vizier famously said "In wresting Cyprus from you we deprived you of an arm; in defeating our fleet you have
only shaved our beard. An arm when cut off cannot grow again; but a shorn beard will grow all the better for the razor."
In 1574 the Ottomans retook the strategic city of Tunis from the Spanish supported
Hafsid dynasty, that had been re-installed when Don Juan's forces reconquered the city
from the Ottomans the year before. With their long-standing alliance with the French coming into play they were able to resume
naval activity in the western Mediterranean. In 1579 the capture of Fez completed Ottoman
conquests in Morocco that had begun under Süleyman
the Magnificent. The establishment of Ottoman suzerainty over the area placed the
entire coast of the Mediterranean from the Straits of Gibraltar to Croatia (with the exceptions of the Spanish controlled trading city of Oran and
strategic settlements such as Melilla and Ceuta) – under Ottoman
authority. However the loss of so many of its experienced sailors at Lepanto sapped the fighting effectiveness of the Ottoman
navy, a fact underlined by their minimizing confrontations with Christian navies in the years immediately after. Historian Paul
K. Davis said:
"This Turkish defeat stopped Turkey's expansion into the Mediterranean, thus maintaining western dominance, and confidence
grew in the west that Turks, previously unstoppable, could be beaten."[5]
Thus, this victory for the Holy League was primarily important not because the Turks lost 80 ships sunk and 130 captured by
the allies, and 30,000 men killed (not including 12,000 Christian galley slaves, who were freed; allied losses were 7,500 men and
17 galleys), but because this was a victory which heralded the end of Turkish supremacy in the Mediterranean.[1]
Depictions in Art and Culture
The significance of Lepanto has inspired artists in various fields. There are many pictorial representations of the battle,
including two in the Doge's Palace in Venice: by Paolo
Veronese (above) in the Sala del Collegio and by Andrea Vicentino on the
walls of the Sala dello Scrutinio, which replaced Tintoretto's Victory of
Lepanto, destroyed by fire in 1577. Titian's Allegory of the Battle of Lepanto, using
the battle as a background, hangs in the Prado in Madrid. The picture at the top of this article is the work of an unknown artist.
The American abstract painter Cy Twombly refers with 12 big pictures ('Lepanto', 2001) to
the battle, one of his main works.
The English author G. K. Chesterton wrote a poem Lepanto, first published in 1911 and republished many times since. It provides a series of poetic visions of the major characters in the
battle, particularly the leader of the Christian forces, Don Juan of Austria (John of
Austria). It closes with verses linking Miguel de Cervantes, who fought in
the battle, with the "lean and foolish knight" he would later immortalize in Don
Quixote.
The Italian author Emilio Salgari references the Battle of Lepanto in his novel
Il Leone di Damasco published in 1910.
See also
Notes
- ^ Luggis, Telemachus: "Sunday, 7 October 1571" pp. 19-23 Epsilon Istorica,
Eleftherotypia, 9 November 2000. See also Chasiotis, Ioannis "The signing of 'Sacra Liga Antiturca' and the naval battle
of Lepanto (7 October 1571)", Istoria tou Ellinikou Ethnous. Ekdotiki Athinon, vol. 10, Athens, 1974
- ^ Badde, Paul. Maria von
Guadalupe. Wie das Erscheinen der Jungfrau Weltgeschichte schrieb. ISBN 3548605613.
- ^ http://www.udayton.edu/mary/questions/yq/yq103.html
- ^ J. Norwich, A History of Venice, 490
- ^ Davis, Paul K. "100 Decisive Battles: From Ancient Times to the
Present"
References
- Anderson, R. C. Naval Wars in the Levant 1559-1853 (2006), ISBN 1-57898-538-2
- Bicheno, Hugh. Crescent and Cross: The Battle of Lepanto 1571, pbk., Phoenix, London, 2004, ISBN 1-84212-753-5
- Chesterton, G. K. Lepanto with Explanatory Notes and Commentary, Dale Ahlquist, ed. (San Francisco: Ignatius Press,
2003). ISBN 1-58617-030-9
- Cook, M.A. (ed.), "A History of the Ottoman Empire to 1730", Cambridge University Press, 1976; ISBN 0-521-20891-2
- Currey, E. Hamilton, "Sea-Wolves of the Mediterranean", John Murrey, 1910
- Hanson, Victor D.. Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise of
Western Power, Anchor Books, 2001. Published in the UK as Why the West has Won, Faber and Faber, 2001. ISBN
0-571-21640-4. Includes a chapter about the battle of Lepanto
- Hess, Andrew C. "The Battle of Lepanto and Its Place in Mediterranean History", Past and Present, No. 57. (Nov.,
1972), pp. 53–73
- Stevens, William Oliver. A History of Sea Power New York: Doubleday, Doran & Co., 1942
- Harbottle's Dictionary of Battles, third revision by George Bruce, 1979
- Oliver Warner's Great Sea Battles (1968) has "Lepanto 1571" as its opening chapter. ISBN 0-89673-100-6.
- The New Cambridge Modern History, Volume I - The Renaissance 1493-1520, edited by G. R. Potter, Cambridge University
Press 1964
External links
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Coordinates:
38°12′N,
21°18′E
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