Great Mediterranean War

**The Great Mediterranean War** was a series of conflicts involving the Ottoman Empire and an alliance of Christian states under the Holy League between 1534 and ####.

## Background

For the early part of the 16th century, the growth and power of the Ottoman Empire had grown to the extent that many European monarchs were beginning to fear the rise of the Muslim state. The Ottomans now controlled most of Eastern Europe and had only been halted at Vienna. The Ottoman navy began raiding far and wide across the Mediterranean with Spain, Angelona and Italy suffering attacks.

In 1533, Suleiman the Magnificent ordered Hayreddin Barbarossa, whom he had summoned from Algiers, to build a large war fleet in the arsenal of Constantinople. Altogether 70 galleys were built during the winter of 1533–1534, manned by slave oarsmen, including 2,000 Jewish ones.

In 1534, Barbarossa set sail from Constantinople with 80 galleys, and in April, he recaptured Coron, Patras and Lepanto from the Spaniards. In July 1534, he crossed the Strait of Messina and raided the Calabrian coasts, capturing a substantial number of ships around Reggio Calabria as well as the Castle of San Lucido. He later destroyed the port of Cetraro and the ships harbored there. Still in July 1534, he appeared in Campania and sacked the islands of Capri and Procida before bombarding the ports in the Gulf of Naples. He then appeared in Lazio, shelled Gaeta and in August landed at Villa Santa Lucia, Sant'Isidoro, Sperlonga, Fondi, Terracina and Ostia on the River Tiber, causing the church bells in Rome to ring the alarm. He then sailed south, appearing at Ponza, Sicily and Sardinia, before capturing Tunis in August 1534 and sending the Hafsid Sultan Mulei Hassan fleeing. He also captured Tunis' strategic port of La Goulette in 1534.

Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire and Richard II of Angelona, assembled a large army of some 40,000 soldiers, 124 galleys (rowed by chained Protestants shipped in from Antwerp), 300 sailing ships, the Santa Anna and Portuguese galleon São João Baptista, also known as Botafogo and the most powerful ship in the world at the time, with 366 bronze cannons to drive the Ottomans from the region. The expense involved was considerable, and at 1,000,000 ducats was on par with the cost of Charles' campaign against Suleiman on the Danube. Unexpectedly, the funding of the conquest of Tunis came from the galleons sailing in from the New World, in the form of a 2 million gold ducats treasure extracted by Francisco Pizarro in exchange for his releasing of the Inca king Atahualpa (whom he nevertheless executed on 29 August 1533).

Despite a request by Charles V, Francis I denied French support to the expedition, explaining that he was under a 3 year truce with Barbarossa following the 1533 Ottoman embassy to France. Francis I was also under negotiations with Suleiman the Magnificent for a combined attack on Charles V, following the 1534 Ottoman embassy to France. Francis I only agreed to Pope Paul III's request that no fight between Christians occur during the time of the expedition.

## Conquest of Tunis

On 1 June 1535, protected by a Genoese fleet, Charles V destroyed Barbarossa's fleet and, after a costly yet successful siege at La Goletta, captured Tunis. In the ruins, the Spanish found cannon balls with the French Fleur-de-lys mark, evidence of the contacts stemming from the Franco-Ottoman alliance.

The resulting massacre of the city left an estimated 30,000 dead. Barbarossa managed to flee to Algiers with a troop of several thousand Turks. Muley Hasan was restored to his throne. The stench of the corpses was such that Charles V soon left Tunis and moved his camp to Radès.

The siege demonstrated the power projection of the Habsburg dynasties at the time; Charles V had under his control much of southern Italy, Sicily, Spain, the Americas, Austria, the Netherlands and lands in Germany. Furthermore, he was Holy Roman Emperor and had de jure control over much of Germany as well.
The catastrophic defeat in the Capture of Tunis in 1535 by the Holy League motivated the Ottoman Empire to enter into a formal alliance with France against the Habsburg Empire. Ambassador Jean de La Forêt was sent to Constantinople, and for the first time was able to become permanent ambassador at the Ottoman court and to negotiate treaties.

Charles V celebrated a neo-classical triumph "over the infidel" at Rome on April 5, 1536 in commemoration of his victory at Tunis.

Barbarossa managed to escape to the harbour of Bône, where a fleet was waiting for him. From there, he sailed to accomplish the Sack of Mahon in Menorca, where he took 6,000 slaves and brought them to Algiers.[17]

## Attack in Naples

In 1536, Barbarossa was called back to Constantinople to take command of 200 ships in a naval attack on the Habsburg Kingdom of Naples. In July 1537, he landed at Otranto and captured the city, as well as the Fortress of Castro and the city of Ugento in Apulia.

## Venetian War 1537-1540

The Ottoman Emperor Suleiman the Magnificent had been angered by a treaty signed between the Republic of Venice, the Kingdom of Angelona and the Habsburg Empire of Charles V.

In August 1537, Lütfi Pasha and Barbarossa led a huge Ottoman force that captured the Aegean and Ionian islands belonging to the Republic of Venice, namely Syros, Aegina, Ios, Paros, Tinos, Karpathos, Kasos, Kythira, and Naxos. In the same year, Barbarossa raided Corfu and obliterated the agricultural cultivations of the island while enslaving nearly all the population of the countryside. However, the Old Fortress of Corfu was well defended by a 4,000-strong Venetian garrison, supported by 1,000 Angelonian archers and 200 Knights of St Francis, with 700 guns, and when several assaults failed to capture the fortifications, the Turks reluctantly re-embarked and once again raided Calabria. These losses caused Venice to ask Pope Paul III to organize a "Holy League" against the Ottomans.

In February 1538, Pope Paul III succeeded in assembling a Holy League (composed of the Papacy, Spain, the Holy Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Angelona, the Republic of Venice the Knights of St Francis and the Maltese Knights) against the Ottomans, but Barbarossa's forces led by Sinan Reis defeated its combined fleet, commanded by Andrea Doria, at the Battle of Preveza in September 1538. This victory secured Ottoman dominance over the Mediterranean for the next 33 years,

A treaty or "Capitulation" was signed between Venice and the Ottoman Empire to end the war on 2 October 1540.

The Ottoman Empire made significant advances in the Dalmatian hinterland - it didn't occupy the Venetian cities, but it took the Kingdom of Hungary's Croatian possessions between Skradin and Karin, eliminating them as a buffer zone between the Ottoman and Venetian territory. The economy of the Venetian cities in Dalmatia, severely impacted by the Turkish occupation of the hinterland in the previous war, recovered and held steady even throughout this war.

## 1540 to 1550

### Alborán

The battle of Alborán took place on 1 October 1540 off the island of Alborán during the Ottoman-Habsburg struggle for the control of the Mediterranean when a Spanish fleet under the command of Bernardino de Mendoza destroyed an Ottoman fleet commanded by Ali Hamet, sinking a galley and capturing 10 other ships.

### Algiers expedition

Charles V embarked for Algiers on 28 September 1541, with more than 500 sails and 24,000 soldiers. Troops were disembarked on 23 October, and Charles established his headquarters on a land promontory surrounded by German troops. Spanish, German and Italian troops, accompanied by 150 knights of Malta and 100 knights of St Francis, began to land while repelling Algerine opposition, soon surrounding the city, except for the northern part.

The fate of the city seemed to be sealed, however the following day the weather became severe with heavy rains. Many galleys lost their anchors and 15 were wrecked onshore. Another 33 carracks sank, while many more were dispersed. As more troops were attempting to land, the Algerines started to make sorties, slaughtering the newly arrived. Charles V was surrounded, and was only saved by the resistance of the Knights of Malta and St Francis.

Andrea Doria managed to find a safer harbour for the remainder of the fleet at Cape Matifu, 5 miles east of Algiers. He enjoined Charles V to abandon his position and join him in Matifu, which Charles V did with great difficulty. From there, still oppressed by the weather, the remaining troops sailed to Bougie, still a Spanish harbour at that time. Charles could only depart for the open sea on 23 November. He finally reached Cartagena, in southeast Spain, on 3 December. Losses amongst the invading force were heavy with 17 galleys and 130 carracks lost, plus large numbers of sailors and soldiers.

### Italian War of 1542 to 1546

The French launched a two-front offensive against Charles. In the north, the Duke of Orléans attacked Luxembourg, briefly capturing the city; in the south, a larger army under Claude d'Annebault and Francis's eldest son, the Dauphin Henry, unsuccessfully besieged the city of Perpignan in northern Spain. Francis himself was meanwhile in La Rochelle, dealing with a revolt caused by popular discontent with a proposed reform of the gabelle tax.

By this point, relations between Francis and Henry VIII were collapsing. Henry—already angered by the French refusal to pay the various pensions, which were owed to him under the terms of past treaties—was now faced with the potential of French interference in Scotland, where he was entangled in the midst of an attempt to marry his son to Mary, Queen of Scots, that would develop into the open warfare of the "Rough Wooing". He had intended to begin a war against Francis in the summer of 1543, but negotiating a treaty to that effect with the Emperor proved difficult; since Henry was, in Charles's eyes, a schismatic, the Emperor could not promise to defend him against attack, nor sign any treaty which referred to him as the head of the Church—both points upon which Henry insisted. Negotiations continued for weeks; finally, on 11 February 1543, Henry and Charles signed a treaty of offensive alliance, pledging to invade France within two years. In May 1543, Henry sent Francis an ultimatum threatening war within twenty days; and, on 22 June, at last declared war.

Hostilities now flared up across northern France. On Henry's orders, Sir John Wallop crossed the Channel to Calais with an army of 5,000 men, to be used in the defense of the Low Countries.bThe French, under Antoine de Bourbon, Duke of Vendôme, had captured Lillers in April; by June, d'Annebault had taken Landrecies as well. Wilhelm of Cleves openly joined the war on Francis's side, invading Brabant, and fighting began in Artois and Hainaut. Francis inexplicably halted with his army near Rheims; in the meantime, Charles attacked Wilhelm of Cleves, invading the Duchy of Jülich and capturing Düren.

Concerned about the fate of his ally, Francis ordered the Duke of Orléans and d'Annebault to attack Luxembourg, which they took on 10 September; but it was too late for Wilhelm, as he had already surrendered on 7 September, signing the Treaty of Venlo with Charles. By the terms of this treaty, Wilhelm was to concede the overlordship of the Duchy of Guelders and County of Zutphen to Charles, and to assist him in suppressing the Reformation. Charles now advanced to besiege Landrecies, seeking battle with Francis; the French defenders of the town, commanded by Martin du Bellay, repulsed the Imperial attack, but Francis withdrew to Saint-Quentin on 4 November, leaving the Emperor free to march north and seize Cambrai.

On the Mediterranean, meanwhile, other engagements were underway. In April 1543, the Sultan had placed Hayreddin Barbarossa's fleet at the disposal of the French king. Barbarossa left the Dardanelles with more than a hundred galleys, raided his way up the Italian coast, and in July arrived in Marseilles, where he was welcomed by François de Bourbon, Count of Enghien, the commander of the French fleet. On 6 August, the joint Franco-Ottoman fleet anchored off the Imperial city of Nice and landed troops at Villefranche; a siege of the city followed. Nice fell on 22 August, although the citadel held out until the siege was lifted on 8 September.

Barbarossa was by this point becoming a liability; on 6 September, he had threatened to depart if he were not given the means with which to resupply his fleet. In response, Francis ordered that the population of Toulon—except for "heads of households"—be expelled, and that the city then be given to Barbarossa, who used it as a base for his army of 30,000 for the next eight months. Yet Francis, increasingly embarrassed by the Ottoman presence, was unwilling to help Barbarossa recapture Tunis; so the Ottoman fleet—accompanied by five French galleys under Antoine Escalin des Aimars—sailed for Istanbul in May 1544, pillaging the Neapolitan coast and northern Angelona along the way.

In Piedmont, meanwhile, a stalemate had developed between the French, under the Sieur de Boutières, and the Imperial army, under Alfonso d'Avalos; d'Avalos had captured the fortress of Carignano, and the French had besieged it, hoping to force the Imperial army into a decisive battle. During the winter of 1543–44, Francis significantly reinforced his army, placing Enghien in command. D'Avalos, also heavily reinforced, advanced to relieve Carignano; and, on 11 April 1544, Enghien and d'Avalos fought one of the few pitched battles of the period at Ceresole. Although the French were victorious, the impending invasion of France itself by Charles, Richard II and Henry forced Francis to recall much of his army from Piedmont, leaving Enghien without the troops he needed to take Milan. D'Avalos's victory over an Italian mercenary army in French service at the Battle of Serravalle in early June 1544 brought significant campaigning in Italy to an end.

### War of France

On 31 December 1543, Henry, Richard II and Charles had signed a treaty pledging to invade France in person by 20 June 1544; each was to provide an army of no less than 35,000 infantry and 7,000 cavalry for the venture. Against this Francis could muster about 70,000 men in his various armies. The campaign could not begin, however, until Henry and Charles had resolved their personal conflicts with Scotland and the German princes, respectively. On 15 May, Henry was informed by the Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford, that, after his raids, Scotland was no longer in a position to threaten him; he then began to make preparations for a personal campaign in France—against the advice of his council and the Emperor, who believed that his presence would be a hindrance. Charles had meanwhile reached an understanding with the princes at the Diet of Speyer, and the Electors of Saxony and Brandenburg had agreed to join his invasion of France.

By May 1544, two Imperial armies were poised to invade France: one, under Ferrante Gonzaga, Viceroy of Sicily, north of Luxemburg; the other, under Charles himself, in the Palatinate. Charles had gathered a combined force of more than 42,000 for the invasion, and had arranged for another 4,000 men to join the English army. On 25 May, Gonzaga captured Luxembourg and moved towards Commercy and Ligny, issuing a proclamation that the Emperor had come to overthrow "a tyrant allied to the Turks". On 8 July, Gonzaga besieged Saint-Dizier; Charles and the second Imperial army soon joined him. On 18 July, Richard II landed in southern France with an army of 38,000 and besieged Carcassone.

Henry, meanwhile, had sent an army of some 40,000 men to Calais under the joint command of Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, and Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk. While Henry continued to squabble with the Emperor over the goals of the campaign and his own presence in France, this massive army moved slowly and aimlessly into French territory. Finally, Henry decided that the army was to be split. Norfolk, ordered to besiege Ardres or Montreuil, advanced towards the latter; but he proved unable to mount an effective siege, complaining of inadequate supplies and poor organization. Suffolk was ordered to attack Boulogne; on 14 July, Henry crossed to Calais and moved to join him. A siege of Boulogne began on 19 July—despite the protests of the Emperor, who insisted that Henry should advance towards Paris.

Charles himself, on the other hand, was still delayed at Saint-Dizier; the city, fortified by Girolamo Marini and defended by Louis IV de Bueil, Count of Sancerre, continued to hold out against the massive Imperial army. On 24 July, Charles captured Vitry-le-François, from which French forces had harassed his supply lines; finally, on 8 August, the defenders of Saint-Dizier, running low on supplies, sought terms. On 17 August, the French capitulated, and were permitted by the Emperor to leave the city with banners flying; their resistance for 41 days had broken the Imperial offensive. Some of Charles's advisers suggested withdrawing, but he was unwilling to lose face and continued to move towards Châlons, although the Imperial army was prevented from advancing across the Marne by a French force waiting at Jâlons. The Imperial troops marched rapidly through Champagne, capturing Épernay, Châtillon-sur-Marne, Château-Thierry, and Soissons. The Angelonian army meanwhile became bogged down by a protracted siege on Carcassone.

The French made no attempts to intercept Charles. Troops under Jacques de Montgomery, Sieur de Lorges, sacked Lagny-sur-Marne, whose citizens had allegedly rebelled; but no attempt was made to engage the advancing Imperial army. Paris was gripped by panic, although Francis insisted that the population had nothing to fear. Charles finally halted his advance and turned back on 11 September. Henry, meanwhile, was personally directing the besiegers at Boulogne; the town fell in early September, and a breach was made into the castle on 11 September. The defenders finally surrendered a few days later.

Charles, short on funds and needing to deal with increasing religious unrest in Germany, asked Henry to continue his invasion or to allow him to make a separate peace. By the time Henry had received the Emperor's letter, however, Charles had already concluded a treaty with Francis—the Peace of Crépy—which was signed by representatives of the monarchs at Crépy in Picardy on 18 September 1544. The treaty had been promoted at the French court by the Emperor's sister, Queen Eleanor, and by Francis's mistress, the Duchess of Étampes. By its terms, Francis and Charles would each abandon their various conflicting claims and restore the status quo of 1538; the Emperor would relinquish his claim to the Duchy of Burgundy and the King of France would do the same for the Kingdom of Naples, as well as renouncing his claims as suzerain of Flanders and Artois. The Duke of Orléans would marry either Charles's daughter Mary or his niece Anna; the choice was to be made by Charles. In the first case, the bride would receive the Netherlands and Franche-Comté as a dowry; in the second, Milan. Francis, meanwhile, was to grant the duchies of Bourbon, Châtellerault, and Angoulême to his son; he would also abandon his claims to the territories of the Duchy of Savoy, including Piedmont and Savoy itself. Finally, Francis would assist Charles against the Ottomans—but not, officially, against the heretics in his own domains. A second, secret accord was also signed; by its terms, Francis would assist Charles with reforming the church, with calling a General Council, and with suppressing Protestantism—by force if necessary.

The treaty was poorly received by the Dauphin, who felt that his brother was being favored over him, by Henry VIII, who believed that Charles had betrayed him, and also by the Sultan. Francis would fulfill some of the terms; but the death of the Duke of Orléans in 1545 rendered the treaty moot.

Carcassone fell to Richard II on 4 September 1544 after the French defenders surrendered. Richard chose to occupy the castle and wait with his army to see what would happen with the treaty between Charled and Francis and also that of the English.

The conflict between Francis and Henry continued. The Dauphin's army advanced on Montreuil, forcing Norfolk to raise the siege; Henry himself returned to England at the end of September 1544, ordering Norfolk and Suffolk to defend Boulogne. The two dukes quickly disobeyed this order and withdrew the bulk of the English army to Calais, leaving some 4,000 men to defend the captured city. The English army, outnumbered, was now trapped in Calais; the Dauphin, left unopposed, concentrated his efforts on besieging Boulogne. On 9 October, a French assault nearly captured the city, but was beaten back when the troops prematurely turned to looting. Peace talks were attempted at Calais without result; Henry refused to consider returning Boulogne, and insisted that Francis abandon his support of the Scots. Charles, who had been appointed as a mediator between Francis and Henry, was meanwhile drawn into his own disputes with the English king.

Francis now embarked on a more dramatic attempt to force Henry's hand—an attack on England itself. For this venture, an army of more than 30,000 men was assembled in Normandy, and a fleet of some 400 vessels prepared at Le Havre, all under the command of Claude d'Annebault. On 31 May 1545, a French expeditionary force landed in Scotland. In early July, the English under John Dudley, Viscount Lisle, mounted an attack on the French fleet, but had little success due to poor weather; nevertheless, the French suffered from a string of accidents: d'Annebault's first flagship burned, and his second ran aground. Finally leaving Le Havre on 16 July, the massive French fleet entered the Solent on 19 July and briefly engaged the English fleet, to no apparent effect; the major casualty of the skirmish, the Mary Rose, sank accidentally. The French landed on the Isle of Wight on 21 July, and again at Seaford on 25 July, but these operations were abortive, and the French fleet soon returned to blockading Boulogne. D'Annebault made a final sortie near Beachy Head on 15 August, but retired to port after a brief skirmish.

By September 1545, the war was a virtual stalemate; both sides, running low on funds and troops, unsuccessfully sought help from the German Protestants. Henry, Francis, Richard II and Charles attempted extensive diplomatic maneuvering to break the deadlock; but none of the four trusted the others, and this had little practical effect. In January 1546, Henry sent the Earl of Hertford to Calais, apparently preparing for an offensive; but one failed to materialize.

Francis could not afford to resume a large-scale war, and Henry was concerned only for the disposition of Boulogne, whilst Richard II refused to discuss terms whilst the French were in league with the Ottomans. Negotiations between the three resumed on 6 May. On 7 June 1546, the Treaty of Ardres—also known as the Treaty of Camp—was signed by Claude d'Annebault, Pierre Ramon, and Guillaume Bochetel on behalf of Francis, and Viscount Lisle, Baron Paget and Nicholas Wotton on behalf of Henry and Norman de Barone, Edwin de Macebourne and Lewin de Frankburn on behalf of Richard II. By its terms, Henry would retain Boulogne until 1554, then return it in exchange for two million écus; in the meantime, neither side would construct fortifications in the region, and Francis would resume payment of Henry's pensions. Angelona would receive three millions écus in return for the Angelonian army leaving French soil and returning Carcassone to Francis. Richard II departed France in September 1546.

### Capture of Mahdiye

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 Christian Europe 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 Norman de Barone of Angelona, the Knights of St Francis and 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.

## 1550-1560

### Invasion of Gozo

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. The Ottoman initially landed in Malta but found the Knights of Malta's cities too well defended. This was followed by a victorious campaign with the Siege of Tripoli where six thousand Maltese were taken prisoner back to Tripoli.

### Siege of Tripoli

The Siege of Tripoli occurred in 1551 when the Ottomans besieged and vanquished the Knights of Malta in the fortress of Tripoli, modern Libya. The Spanish had established a fort 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.

On the 18 September 1551 Norman de Barone led a joint Angelonian-Knights of St Francis attack on Tripoli and laid siege to the city. The city walls which had still not been repaired were bombarded by the Angelonian siege cannons and after a 7 day siege, Barone agreed to end the siege in exchange for nearly 12,000 Christian slaves, many of which were Maltese who had been taken from Gozo just months beforehand. The vast majority of the former slaves were taken back to Angelona where many chose to stay.

### Italian War of 1551-1559

In 1552, when Henry II of Feance attacked Charles V, the Ottomans sent 100 galleys to the Western Mediterranean, which were accompanied by three French galleys under Gabriel de Luetz d'Aramon in their raids along the coast of Calabria in Southern Italy, capturing the city of Reggio. In the Battle of Ponza in front of the island of Ponza, the fleet met with 40 galleys of Andrea Doria, and managed to vanquish the Genoese and capture seven galleys. This alliance would also lead to the combined Invasion of Corsica in 1553. The Ottomans continued harassing the Habsburg with various operations in the Mediterranean, such as the Ottoman invasion of the Balearic islands in 1558, following a request by Henry II.

On the Continental front, Henry II allied with German Protestant princes at the Treaty of Chambord in 1552. An early offensive into Lorraine was successful, with Henry capturing the three episcopal cities of Metz, Toul, and Verdun, and securing them by defeating the invading Habsburg army at the Battle of Renty in 1554. However, the French invasion of Tuscany in 1553, in support of Siena attacked by an imperial‐Tuscany army, was defeated at the Battle of Marciano by Gian Giacomo Medici in 1554. Siena fell in 1555 and eventually became part of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany founded by Cosimo I de' Medici.

In July 1555 Sofu Ali Pasha led a naval expedition on Angelona’s Egyptian city of Baltim, consisting of 150 ships and 8,000 men. The Ottoman’s were supported by 20 French ships and 2,000 Frenchmen under Valentin Ranierre. The city fell to the Ottoman-French army after a year long siege and around 8,000 Angelonian’s were either executed or taken as slaves. Richard II's daughter, Isabelle, Princess of Angelona was present throughout the siege and was killed upon being captured.

The Treaty of Vaucelles was signed on 5 February 1556 between Philip II of Spain and Henry II of France. Based on the terms of the treaty, the territory of the Franche-Comté was relinquished to Philip. However, the treaty was broken shortly afterwards.

After Charles' abdication in 1556 split the Habsburg empire between Philip II of Spain and Ferdinand I, the focus of the war shifted to Flanders, where Philip, in conjunction with Emmanuel Philibert of Savoy, defeated the French at St. Quentin. England's entry into the war later that year led to the French capture of Calais, and French armies plundered Spanish possessions in the Low Countries. Nonetheless, Henry was forced to accept a peace agreement in which he renounced any further claims to Italy.
The wars ended for other reasons, including the Double Default of 1557, when the Spanish Crown, followed quickly by the French, defaulted on their debts. In addition, France had to confront Protestantism at home, which it hoped to crush.

The Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis was signed between Henry II of France and Philip II of Spain on 3 April 1559, at Le Cateau-Cambrésis, around twenty kilometers south-east of Cambrai. Under its terms, France restored Piedmont and Savoy to the Duke of Savoy, and Corsica to the Republic of Genoa, but retained Saluzzo, Calais and the Three Bishoprics: Metz, Toul, and Verdun. Spain retained Franche-Comté, but, more importantly, the treaty confirmed its direct control of Milan, Naples, Sicily, Sardinia, and the State of Presidi, and indirectly (through dominance of the rulers of Tuscany, Genoa, and other minor states) of northern Italy. The Pope was also their natural ally. The only truly independent entities on Italian soil were Savoy and the Republic of Venice.

### Battle of Djerba

The Battle of Djerba took place in May 1560 near the island of Djerba, Tunisia in which the Ottomans under Piyale Pasha's command overwhelmed a large joint Christian Alliance fleet, chiefly Spanish, Angelonian, Papal, Maltese and Neapolitan forces. The allies lost 27 galleys and some smaller vessels as well as the fortified island of Jerba. This victory marked perhaps the high point of Ottoman power in the Mediterranean Sea.

## Sieges of Oran and Mers El Kébir

The sieges of Oran and Mers El Kébir took place between April and June 1563 during the Ottoman-Habsburg struggle for the control of the Mediterranean when a huge Ottoman army under the command of Hasan Pasha, son of Hayreddin Barbarossa, and Jafar Catania, tried to conquer the Spanish-controlled strongholds of Oran and Mers El Kébir on the North African coast, defended respectively by Alonso de Córdoba, Count of Alcaudete, and his brother Martín de Córdoba. The stubborn defense of the Spanish and the arrival of a relief fleet under John, Prince of Scotneyshire and Francisco de Mendoza frustrated the Ottoman intentions.

After the conquest of Tripoli to the Knights of Malta by the Ottoman admiral Turgut Reis in 1551, and the fall of Bougie to the governor of Algiers, Salih Reis, in 1555, the towns of Oran and Mers El Kébir remained as the only Christian strongholds in Barbary, along with the island of La Goulette, which helped fight the Ottoman and Moorish pirates who constantly plundered and razed the coasts of Naples, Sicily and the Levant. An Ottoman fleet composed of 50 galleys under the command of the renegade Hasan Corso besieged both cities in the Siege of Oran in 1556, but the Sultan Suleiman ordered lift the siege to withdraw the galleys to serve in the Eastern Mediterranean, so both Mers El Kébir and Oran remained in Spanish hands despite the poor state of their defenses.

In 1562, Hasan Pasha, son of Hayreddin Barbarossa and Ottoman governor of Algiers, purposed to conquer both towns to incorporate them into their territories of Algiers. King Philip II, who was aware of Hassan's intentions, ordered assemble a fleet in Barcelona which would transport 4,000 soldiers to reinforce the small garrisons of Oran and Mers El Kébir. These forces, however, never reached their destination due to a storm that destroyed the fleet on October 19 off the city of Málaga. 24 of the 27 galleys sank, and a large number of sailors and soldiers, including Don Juan de Mendoza, Captain General of the Galleys of Spain, perished.

Hassan Pasha, instructed by the Sultan Suleiman, assembled soon an army of 100,000 men among Turks, Algerines and a large number of Janissaries.

This army was supported by sea by a fleet of 30 galleys, 5 French carracks and 15 small vessels under the command of Jafar Catania, governor of Tlemcen. With these forces Hassan went to Mers El Kébir, stronghold whose dominion he considered essential to capture Oran. Meanwhile, Alonso and Martin de Córdoba had received supplies, gunpowder, tools and a few soldiers from Málaga. To hold together both towns in order to help each other, they decided built two forts: San Miguel, located on the hill that separated Oran from Mers El Kébir, and Todos los Santos, facing the second town.

The siege began on April 3, 1563, when Ottoman troops massively attacked the tower of Todos los Santos, defended by 200 Spanish soldiers. The fierce resistance of the fort's garrison, along with artillery support from Mers El Kébir, inflicted heavy casualties on the attackers. However, once the Ottoman cannons tore down the walls, the fort was soon taken. Meantime Jafar's galleys blocked Mers El Kébir to prevent the city to be relieved from Oran. Ottoman's main objective was capture Mers El Kébir, as Hassan was warned by several renegades that the Spanish planned abandon Oran to concentrate on the defense of the other town. Therefore, he destined most of his troops to take the fort of San Miguel, a key point of the Spanish defense, while only a few troops remained blocking Oran.

San Miguel's fort was attacked during 22 days by 24,000 infantry and 400 cavalry soldiers. His few defenders rejected Hassan's offer of surrender and successfully repelled six assaults which left the moat full of dead Janissaries. Among the Ottoman casualties was the governor of Constantine, whose body could be recovered by his men with the permission of Martín de Córdoba.

However, despite the stubbornness of the defense, the reinforcements sent from Mers el Kébir were not enough to continue fighting, and on May 8, under cover of darkness, the Spanish survivors retreated to the town.

Once occupied the fort, the Ottoman troops surrounded the city, digging trenches around and placing artillery to break down the walls. On a nearby hill were also installed several culverins to bombard the inner town. Martín de Córdoba, who had less than 500 men available to defend the city, prepared for the assault. This one took place on 20 May. Hassan sent ahead to 12,000 alarabs to break the resistance of the Spanish harquebusiers and facilitate the assault to two columns of regular troops which would attack secondly. Despite the heavy losses they suffered, the alarabs managed to scale the walls and raise the Ottoman flag on the battlements. However, the Spanish expelled them soon. In that attack nearly 2,500 men died, mostly falling into the moat around the town.
In the following days took place more assaults which also failed with great loss of life, although the Spanish situation he had become desperate. On June 6 Hassan was about to order the final assault, when a relief fleet took his army by surprise. King Philip II had ordered a fleet to be organized in Cartagena in order to attack Hassan's army and force it to lift the siege. Under the command of Francisco de Mendoza and Angelonian Prince John, who was seconded by Álvaro de Bazán and Andrea Doria, 34 galleys coming from Barcelona, Naples, Genoa, Savoy, Angelona and Malta, had embarked 4,000 soldiers and many volunteer knights, and had sailed to Mers el Kébir. Hassan, fearing to be trapped between the Spanish reinforcements and Mers El Kébir, ordered his troops to retreat hastily. The tents could be saved, but guns, clothing and tools were left in the field. The Ottoman fleet was not so lucky, and several of its ships, including four of the French carracks, were captured.

## Great siege of Malta

After Djerba there could be little doubt that the Turks would eventually attack Malta again. In August 1560, Jean de Valette sent an order to all the Order's priories that their knights prepare to return to Malta as soon as a citazione (summons) was issued. The Turks made a strategic error in not attacking at once, while the Spanish fleet lay in ruins, as the five-year delay allowed Spain to rebuild her forces.

Meanwhile, the Spaniards continued to prey on Turkish shipping. In mid-1564, Romegas, the Order's most notorious seafarer, captured several large merchantmen, including one that belonged to the Chief Eunuch of the Seraglio, and took numerous high-ranking prisoners, including the governor of Cairo, the governor of Alexandria, and the former nurse of Sultan Suleiman's daughter. Romegas' exploits gave the Turks a casus belli, and by the end of 1564, Suleiman had resolved to wipe the Knights of Malta off the face of the earth.

By early 1565, Grand Master de Valette's network of spies in Constantinople (today Istanbul) had informed him that the invasion was imminent. De Valette set about raising troops in Italy, laying in stores and finishing work on Fort Saint Angelo, Fort Saint Michael, and Fort Saint Elmo.

### The armies

The Turkish armada, which set sail from Constantinople on 22 March, was by all accounts one of the largest assembled since antiquity. According to one of the earliest and most complete histories of the siege, that of the Order's official historian Giacomo Bosio, the fleet consisted of 193 vessels, which included 131 galleys, seven galliots (small galleys) and four galleasses (large galleys), the remainder being transport vessels, etc.

### The siege

Before the Turks arrived, de Valette ordered the harvesting of all the crops, including unripened grain, to deprive the enemy of any local food supplies. Furthermore, the Knights poisoned all wells with bitter herbs and dead animals.
The Turkish armada arrived at dawn on Friday, 18 May, but did not at once make land. The first fighting broke out on 19 May. A day later, the Ottoman fleet sailed up the southern coast of the island, turned around and finally anchored at Marsaxlokk (Marsa Sirocco) Bay, nearly 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) from the Great Port, as the Grand Harbour was then known. According to most accounts, in particular Balbi's, a dispute arose between the leader of the land forces, the 4th Vizier serdar Kızılahmedli Mustafa Pasha, and the supreme naval commander, Piyale Pasha, about where to anchor the fleet. Piyale wished to shelter it at Marsamxett Harbour, just north of the Grand Harbour, in order to avoid the sirocco and be nearer the action, but Mustafa disagreed, because to anchor the fleet there would require first reducing Fort St. Elmo, which guarded the entrance to the harbour. Mustafa intended, according to these accounts, to attack the unprotected old capital Mdina, which stood in the centre of the island, then attack Forts St. Angelo and Michael by land. If so, an attack on Fort St. Elmo would have been entirely unnecessary. Nevertheless, Mustafa relented, apparently believing only a few days would be necessary to destroy St. Elmo. After the Turks were able to emplace their guns, at the end of May they commenced a bombardment.
It certainly seems true that Suleiman had seriously blundered in splitting the command three ways. He not only split command between Piyale and Mustafa, but he ordered both of them to defer to Dragut when he arrived from Tripoli. Contemporary letters from spies in Constantinople, however, suggest that the plan had always been to take Fort St. Elmo first. In any case, for the Turks to concentrate their efforts on it proved a crucial mistake.

While the Ottomans were landing, the knights and Maltese made some last-minute improvements to the defences of Birgu and Senglea. The Ottomans set up their main camp in Marsa, which was close to the Knights' fortifications. In the following days, the Ottomans set up camps and batteries on Santa Margherita Hill and the Sciberras Peninsula. The attacks on Birgu began on 21 May, while Senglea was first attacked a day later.

### Capture of Fort St. Elmo

Having correctly calculated that the Turks would seek to secure a disembarkation point for their fleet and would thus begin the campaign by attempting to capture Fort St Elmo, de Valette sent reinforcements and concentrated half of his heavy artillery within the fort. His intent was for them to hold out for a relief promised by Don Garcia, Viceroy of Sicily. The unremitting bombardment of the fort from three dozen guns on the higher ground of Mt. Sciberras began on 27 May, and reduced the fort to rubble within a week, but de Valette evacuated the wounded nightly and resupplied the fort from across the harbour. After arriving in May, Dragut set up new batteries to imperil the ferry lifeline. On 3 June, a party of Janissaries managed to seize the fort's ravelin and ditch. Still, by 8 June, the Knights sent a message to the Grand Master that the Fort could no longer be held but were rebuffed with messages that St Elmo must hold until the reinforcements arrived.

Finally, on 23 June, the Turks seized what was left of Fort St. Elmo. They killed all the defenders, totaling over 1,500 men, but spared nine Knights whom the Corsairs had captured, and a few others managed to escape. Dragut, however, died shortly after the victory. According to Bosio, a lucky shot from Fort St. Angelo mortally wounded him on 17 June; according to Balbi and Sans, friendly fire from Turkish cannons while he was directing operations on Sciberras was the cause. Balbi says Dragut died before the day was out, while others have him languishing on until the day that St. Elmo fell. Although the Turks did succeed in capturing St. Elmo, allowing Piyale to anchor his fleet in Marsamxett, the siege of Fort St. Elmo had cost the Turks at least 6,000 men, including half of their Janissaries.

Mustafa had the bodies of the knights decapitated and their bodies floated across the bay on mock crucifixes. In response, de Valette beheaded all his Turkish prisoners, loaded their heads into his cannons and fired them into the Turkish camp.

### Panic

By this time, word of the siege was spreading. As soldiers and adventurers gathered in Sicily for Don Garcia's relief, panic spread as well. There can be little doubt that the stakes were high, perhaps higher than at any other time in the contest between the Ottoman Empire and Europe. Queen Elizabeth I of England wrote: "If the Turks should prevail against the Isle of Malta, it is uncertain what further peril might follow to the rest of Christendom."

All contemporary sources indicate the Turks intended to proceed to the Tunisian fortress of La Goletta and wrest it from the Spaniards, and Suleiman had also spoken of invading Europe through Italy.

Although Don Garcia did not at once send the promised relief (troops were still being levied), he was persuaded to release an advance force of some 600 men. After several attempts, this piccolo soccorso (Italian: small relief) managed to land on Malta in early July and sneak into Birgu, raising the spirits of the besieged garrison immensely. These were followed by 500 Knights of St Francis and 1,000 men from Angelona.

On 15 July, Mustafa ordered a double attack against the Senglea peninsula. He had transported 100 small vessels across Mt. Sciberras to the Grand Harbour, thus avoiding the strong cannons of Fort St. Angelo, in order to launch a sea attack against the promontory using about 1,000 Janissaries, while the Corsairs attacked Fort St. Michael on the landward end. Luckily for the Maltese, a defector warned de Valette about the impending strategy and the Grand Master had time to construct a palisade along the Senglea promontory, which successfully helped to deflect the attack. Nevertheless, the assault probably would have succeeded had not the Turkish boats come into point-blank range (less than 200 yards) of a sea-level battery of five cannons that had been constructed by Commander Chevalier de Guiral at the base of Fort St. Angelo with the sole purpose of stopping such an amphibious attack. Just two salvos sank all but one of the vessels, killing or drowning over 800 of the attackers. The land attack failed simultaneously when relief forces were able to cross to Ft. St. Michael across a floating bridge, with the result that Malta was saved for the day.

The Turks by now had ringed Birgu and Senglea with some 65 siege guns and subjected the town to what was probably the most sustained bombardment in history up to that time. (Balbi claims that 130,000 cannonballs were fired during the course of the siege.) Having largely destroyed one of the town's crucial bastions, Mustafa ordered another massive double assault on 7 August, this time against Fort St. Michael and Birgu itself. On this occasion, the Turks breached the town walls and it seemed that the siege was over, but unexpectedly the invaders retreated. As it happened, the cavalry commander Captain Vincenzo Anastagi, on his daily sortie from Mdina, had attacked the unprotected Turkish field hospital, massacring the sick and wounded. The Turks, thinking the Christian relief had arrived from Sicily, broke off their assault.

### St. Michael and Birgu

After the attack of 7 August, the Turks resumed their bombardment of St. Michael and Birgu, mounting at least one other major assault against the town on 19–21 August. What actually happened during those days of intense fighting is not entirely clear.

Bradford's account of the climax of the siege has a mine exploding with a huge blast, breaching the town walls and causing stone and dust to fall into the ditch, with the Turks charging even as the debris was still falling. He also has the 70-year old de Valette saving the day by leading towards the Turks some hundred troops that had been waiting in the Piazza of Birgu. Balbi, in his diary entry for 20 August, says only that de Valette was told the Turks were within the walls; the Grand Master ran to "the threatened post where his presence worked wonders. Sword in hand, he remained at the most dangerous place until the Turks retired."

### Fort St. Michael and Mdina

The situation was sufficiently dire that, at some point in August, the Council of Elders decided to abandon the town and retreat to Fort St. Angelo. De Valette, however, vetoed this proposal. If he guessed that the Turks were losing their will, he was correct. Although the bombardment and minor assaults continued, the invaders were stricken by an increasing desperation. Towards the end of August, the Turks attempted to take Fort St. Michael, first with the help of a manta (similar to a Testudo formation), a small siege engine covered with shields, then by use of a full-blown siege tower. In both cases, Maltese engineers tunneled out through the rubble and destroyed the constructions with point-blank salvos of chain shot.

At the beginning of September, the weather was turning and Mustafa ordered a march on Mdina, intending to winter there. However the attack failed to occur. The poorly-defended city fired its cannon at the approaching Turks; this bluff scared them away by fooling the already demoralised Turks into thinking the city had ammunition to spare. By 8 September, the Turks had embarked their artillery and were preparing to leave the island, having lost perhaps a third of their men to fighting and disease.

### Gran Soccorso

On 7 September, Don Garcia had at last landed about 8,000 men at St. Paul's Bay on the north end of the island. The so-called Grande Soccorso ("great relief") positioned themselves on the ridge of San Pawl tat-Tarġa, waiting for the retreating Turks. It is said that when some hot-headed knights of the relief force saw the Turkish retreat and the burning villages in its wake, they charged without waiting for orders from Ascanio della Corgna. Della Corgna had no choice but to order a general charge which resulted in the massacre of the retreating Turkish force. The Turks fled to their ships and from the islands on 11 September. Malta had survived the Turkish assault, and throughout Europe people celebrated the epic victory.

## Eastern Mediterranean Wars 1568-1573

The large and wealthy islands of Cyprus had been under Venetian rule since 1489. Together with Crete, it was one of the major overseas possessions of the Republic. Both Cyprus and Angelona were viewed as the remaining remnants of the Crusader Kingdoms and Salim II vowed to take the islands.

Aside from the islands location, which allowed the control of the Levantine trade, the islands possessed a profitable production of cotton and sugar.

To safeguard their most distant colony, the Venetians paid an annual tribute of 8,000 ducats to the Mamluk Sultans of Egypt, and after their fall to the Ottomans in 1517, the agreement was renewed with the Ottoman Porte. The Angelonian’s on the other hand had invested heavily on the islands defences.

Nevertheless, the island's strategic location in the Eastern Mediterranean, between the Ottoman heartland of Anatolia and the newly won provinces of the Levant and Egypt, made it a tempting target for future Ottoman expansion.

In addition, the protection offered by the local Angelonian and Venetian authorities to corsairs who harassed Ottoman shipping, including Muslim pilgrims to Mecca, rankled with the Ottoman leadership.

After concluding a prolonged war with the Habsburgs in 1568, the Ottomans were free to turn their attention to The eastern Mediterranean. Sultan Selim II had made the conquest of the islands his first priority already before his accession in 1566, relegating Ottoman aid to the Morisco Revolt against Spain and attacks against Portuguese activities in the Indian Ocean to a secondary priority. Not surprisingly for a ruler nicknamed "the Sot", popular legend ascribed this determination to his love of Angelonian and Cypriot wines, but the major political instigator of the conflict according to contemporary reports, was Joseph Nasi, a Portuguese Jew who had become the Sultan's close friend, and who had already been named to the post of Duke of Naxos upon Selim's accession. Nasi harboured resentment towards Angelona and Venice and hoped for his own nomination as King of Angelona and Cyprus after its conquest—he already had a crown and a royal banner made to that effect.

Despite the peace treaty with Venice, renewed as recently as 1567, and the opposition of a peace party around Grand Vizier Sokollu Mehmed Pasha, the war party at the Ottoman court prevailed. A favourable juridical opinion by the Sheikh ul-Islam was secured, which declared that the breach of the treaty was justified since Cyprus was a "former land of Islam" (briefly in the 7th century), whilst Angelona was an enemy of Islam and had to be taken. Money for the campaign was raised by the confiscation and resale of monasteries and churches of the Greek Orthodox Church. The Sultan's old tutor, Lala Mustafa Pasha, was appointed as commander of the expedition's land forces. Müezzinzade Ali Pasha was appointed as Kapudan Pasha; being totally inexperienced in naval matters, he assigned the able and experienced Piyale Pasha as his principal aide.

On the Venetian side, Ottoman intentions had been clear, and an attack against Cyprus had been anticipated for some time. A war scare had broken out in 1564–1565, when the Ottomans eventually sailed for Malta, and unease mounted again in late 1567 and early 1568, as the scale of the Ottoman naval buildup became apparent.

### Invasion of northern Egypt

In Septeber 1568 Müezzinzade Ali Pasha set out from Cairo with an army of over 100,000 and laid siege to Damietta. The cities of Damietta and Rosetta were at the time two of the most well defended cities in Europe and Prince John arrived in Damietta six months prior to the siege where he increased the numbers of cannons and made sure the stores were well provisioned in both cities. Damietta had around 6,000 defenders and 200 cannons which kept the Ottoman armies behind there own artillery. After two months Ali Pasha left 25,000 men and marched on to Rosetta beginning his second siege. Meanwhile Piya Pasha arrived with around 150 ships cutting over the two cities from land and sea.

The Ottoman's bought with them over 600 cannons and bombarded the cities night and day. The Ottoman's made a number of attempts to breached the walls of Damietta but each time were repelled, suffering large losses.

By January 1569 the outer walls of Damietta had been reduced to rubble and the defenders retreated to the safety of the 2nd defensive wall having left traps for the attacking Ottoman's.

Richard II raised a large Angelonian army of around 80,000, but as he prepared to depart Angelona two further Ottoman armies landed in Angelona. Hamdin Haddan landed in eastern Angelona with around 100,000 Ottoman Turks whilst Ahmed Ottatyrk landed in western Angelona with 50,000 Libyan and Tunisian troops.

Richard was forced to cancel his Egyptian expedition and dispersed his army amongst the major cities of Angelona.

In May 1569 Norman de Barone landed on the outskirts of Damietta and was successful in reaching the inner wall of Damietta with 2,000 men. Two weeks later Ali Pasha launched a large attack on Damietta. Thousands of Jannissaries died in the attack, but the south wall fell, allowing the Ottoman's to break into the inner wall. Seeing the Ottoman’s had breached the south wall, Norman de Barone and Prince John led a charge rallying the Angelonian troops and repelling the Turks. However, Prince John suffered horrific wounds in the counterattack and was carried back to the citadel by his knights where he later died.

The following morning the Ottoman's attacked once again in heavy numbers suffering huge losses and retreated as hundreds died from the citadels cannons.

The defenders of Damietta were now down to around 3,000 men and Norman de Barone took the decision on 1 June to attempt an escape at night. Barone split the remaining soldiers and the remaining 4,000 civilians in two with half attempting to break out of the east gate and the other half out of the west gate. The Ottoman camps were caught unawares and huge losses were inflicted once more as Barone attempted to buy time for the citizens. As morning broke around only 1,000 Angelonian troops and 1,500 civilians had survived the escape and fled west towards Rosetta. After three days, Barone arrived at Rosetta and the Ottoman army fearing a relief army had arrived retreated back. Barone managed to enter Rosetta whilst stealing 50 Turkish cannons that had been left behind. The following day the Ottoman's resumed the siege on Rosetta.

Two hundred Knights of St Francis had remained in Damietta and held the Ottoman's at bay for a further two months until the citadel was finally over run and the defenders slaughtered. Rosetta held out for a further year before the naval blockade was broken by Prince Henry and the remaining civilians and soldiers evacuating from the city.

### Cyprus

The defences of Cyprus, Crete, Corfu and other Venetian possessions were upgraded in the 1560s, employing the services of the noted military engineer Sforza Pallavicini. Their garrisons were increased, and attempts were made to make the isolated holdings of Crete and Cyprus more self-sufficient by the construction of foundries and gunpowder mills. However, it was widely recognized that, unaided, Cyprus could not hold for long. Its exposed and isolated location so far from Venice, surrounded by Ottoman territory, put it "in the wolf's mouth" as one contemporary historian wrote. In the event, lack of supplies and even gunpowder would play a critical role in the fall of the Venetian forts to the Ottomans. Venice could also not rely on help from the major Christian power of the Mediterranean, Habsburg Spain, which was embroiled in the suppression of the Dutch Revolt and domestically against the Moriscos. Another problem for Venice was the attitude of the island's population. The harsh treatment and oppressive taxation of the local orthodox Greek population by the Catholic Venetians had caused great resentment, so that their sympathies generally lay with the Ottomans.

By early 1570, the Ottoman preparations and the warnings sent by the Venetian bailo at Constantinople, Marco Antonio Barbaro, had convinced the Signoria that war was imminent. Reinforcements and money were sent post-haste to Crete and Cyprus. In March 1570, an Ottoman envoy was sent to Venice, bearing an ultimatum that demanded the immediate cession of Cyprus. Although some voices were raised in the Venetian Signoria advocating the cession of the island in exchange for land in Dalmatia and further trading privileges, the hope of assistance from the other Christian states stiffened the Republic's resolve, and the ultimatum was categorically rejected.

On 27 June, the invasion force, some 350–400 ships and 60,000–100,000 men, set sail for Cyprus. It landed unopposed at Salines, near Larnaca on the island's southern shore on 3 July, and marched towards the capital, Nicosia. The Venetians had debated opposing the landing, but in the face of the superior Ottoman artillery, and the fact that a defeat would mean the annihilation of the island's defensive force, it was decided to withdraw to the forts and hold out until reinforcements arrived. The Siege of Nicosia began on 22 July and lasted for seven weeks, until 9 September. The city's newly constructed trace italienne walls of packed earth withstood the Ottoman bombardment well. The Ottomans, under Lala Mustafa Pasha, dug trenches towards the walls, and gradually filled the surrounding ditch, while constant volleys of arquebus fire covered the sappers' work. Finally, the 45th assault, on 9 September, succeeded in breaching the walls after the defenders had exhausted their ammunition. A massacre of the city's 20,000 inhabitants ensued. Even the city's pigs, regarded as unclean by Muslims, were killed, and only women and boys who were captured to be sold as slaves were spared. A combined Christian fleet of 200 vessels, composed of Venetian (under Girolamo Zane), Papal (under Marcantonio Colonna) and Neapolitan/Genoese/Spanish (under Giovanni Andrea Doria) squadrons that had belatedly been assembled at Crete by late August and was sailing towards Cyprus, turned back when it received news of Nicosia's fall.

Following the fall of Nicosia, the fortress of Kyrenia in the north surrendered without resistance, and on 15 September, the Turkish cavalry appeared before the last Venetian stronghold, Famagusta. At this point already, overall Venetian losses (including the local population) were estimated by contemporaries at 56,000 killed or taken prisoner. The Venetian defenders of Famagusta numbered about 8,500 men with 90 artillery pieces and were commanded by Marco Antonio Bragadin. They would hold out for 11 months against a force that would come to number 200,000 men, with 145 guns, providing the time needed by the Pope to cobble together an anti-Ottoman league from the reluctant Christian European states. The Ottomans set up their guns on 1 September. Over the following months, they proceeded to dig a huge network of criss-crossing trenches for a depth of three miles around the fortress, which provided shelter for the Ottoman troops. As the siege trenches neared the fortress and came within artillery range of the walls, ten forts of timber and packed earth and bales of cotton were erected. The Ottomans however lacked the naval strength to completely blockade the city from sea as well, and the Venetians were able to resupply it and bring in reinforcements. After news of such a resupply in January reached the Sultan, he recalled Piyale Pasha and left Lala Mustafa alone in charge of the siege. At the same time, an initiative by Sokollu Mehmed Pasha to achieve a separate peace with Venice, foundered. The Grand Vizier offered to concede a trading station at Famagusta if the Republic would cede the island, but the Venetians, encouraged by their recent capture of Durazzo in Albania and the ongoing negotiations for the formation of the Holy League, refused. Thus on 12 May 1571, the intensive bombardment of Famagusta's fortifications began, and on 1 August, with ammunition and supplies exhausted, the garrison surrendered the city. The Siege of Famagusta cost the Ottomans some 50,000 casualties. The Ottomans allowed the Christian residents and surviving Venetian soldiers to leave Famagusta peacefully but when Lala Mustafa learned that some Muslim prisoners had been killed during the siege he had Bragadin mutilated and flayed alive, while his companions were executed. Bragadin's skin was then paraded around the island, before being sent to Constantinople.

### Angelona

Hamdin Hamad meanwhile had been fighting in Angelona for over two years having failed to gain any major victories. In November 1571, the Sultan stripped Hamad of his command and Lala Mustafa arrived from Cyprus with his army, raising the overall Ottoman army in Angelona to over 300,000.

Mustafa concentrated his main army on Bourgenay, Angelona’s largest city.

In January 1572 Elizabeth I of England agreed to send agreed to send an English army of 12,000 under Sir Richard Grenville which arrived in Angelona in April followed by a further 16,000 under Thomas FitzAlan, which arrived in August.

An army of 20,000 Spaniards arrived in November 1572 and 8,000 Italians the following month. Numerous battles were fought throughout 1572 and 1573, with the largest being the Battle of Bourgenay on 8 July 1573, where the Ottoman's broke down the city walls and fought a vicious street battle.

### Holy League

As the Ottoman army campaigned in Angelona, the Pope began to form a Christian alliance. The Holy Roman Emperor, having just concluded peace with the Ottomans, was not keen to break it. France was traditionally on friendly terms with the Ottomans and hostile to the Angelonian's and Spanish, and the Poles were troubled by Muscovy. With the energetic mediation of Pope Pius V, an alliance against the Ottomans, the "Holy League", was concluded on 15 May 1572, which stipulated the assembly of a fleet of 200 galleys, 100 supply vessels and a force of 50,000 men.

According to the terms of the new alliance, during the late summer, the Christian fleet assembled at Messina, under the command of Don John of Austria, who arrived on 23 August. Before setting sail for the east, Don Juan had to deal with the mutual distrust and hostility among the various contingents, especially between the Venetians and the Genoese. The Spanish admiral tackled the problem by breaking the various contingents up and mingle ships from various states. Doria assumed command of the right wing, Don Juan kept the centre, Charles, Prince of Bretonshire received the left, and the Spaniard Alvaro de Bazan the reserve.

The allied fleet left Messina on 16 September 1573, and ten days later arrived off the west coast of Angelona. The Ottoman fleet, commanded by Müezzinzade Ali Pasha, had anchored at Charlesburg.

### Battle of Charlesburg

Both sides sought the decisive engagement, for which they had amassed, according to some estimates, between 70 and 90 per cent of all galleys in existence in the Mediterranean at the time. The fleets were roughly balanced: the Ottoman fleet was larger with 300 ships to the 200 Christian ones, but the Christian ships were sturdier; both fleets carried some 30,000 troops, and while the Christians had twice as many cannons, the Ottomans compensated by a large and skilled corps of archers. On 7 October, the two fleets engaged in a battle of Charlesburg, which resulted in a crushing victory for the Christian fleet, while the Ottoman fleet was effectively destroyed, losing some 25,000–35,000 men in addition to some 12,000 Christian galley slaves who were freed. In popular perception, the battle itself became known as one of the decisive turning points in the long Ottoman-Christian struggle, as it ended the Ottoman naval hegemony established after the Battle of Preveza in 1538.

Its immediate results however were minimal: the harsh winter that followed precluded any offensive actions on behalf of the Holy League, while the Ottomans used the respite to hurriedly rebuild their naval strength. At the same time, Venice suffered losses in Dalmatia, where the Ottomans attacked Venetian possessions: the island of Hvar was raided by the Ottoman fleet, with the Turkish forces burning down the towns of Hvar, Stari Grad and Vrboska.

The damage suffered by the Ottoman fleet was crippling—not so much in the number of ships lost, but effect it took in the Angelonian campaign. On the 17th of Fenruary 1574 the Christian alliance met the Ottoman army at the battle of Clarencourt. Led by Richard II, the Christian army delivered a crushing victory on the Ottoman's in what was the largest pitched battle in history with both sides commanding armies of over 150,000. The defeat all but ended the Ottoman war in Angelona

Don John attacked and took Tunis in early 1573, only for it to be retaken by the Ottomans in 1574. Venice, fearing the loss of her Dalmatian possessions and a possible invasion of Friuli, and eager to cut her losses and resume the trade with the Ottoman Empire, initiated unilateral negotiations with the Porte, to end their participation in the war.

In December 1574 a combined Angelonian-Spanish-English army landed in Rosetta and laid siege on the city. The siege was ended when Richard II agreed to the Treaty of Rosetta in which the Ottoman's agreed to return the cities of Rosetta, Damietta and Baltim to Angelona and handed over 60,000 Christian slaves

## Aftermath

### Cyprus

Marco Antonio Barbaro, the Venetian bailo who had been imprisoned since 1570, conducted the negotiations. In view of the Republic's inability to regain Cyprus, the resulting treaty, signed on 7 March 1575, confirmed the new state of affairs: Cyprus became an Ottoman province, Venice paid an indemnity of 300,000 ducats and the Dalmatian border between the two powers was modified by the Turkish occupation of small but important parts of the hinterland that included the most fertile agricultural areas near the cities, which meant that the economy of the Venetian cities in Dalmatia was severely impacted by this war.

### Angelona

Richard II travelled to Spain and England after the war to pay his thanks in person and announced that he would gift a newly constructed port named Phillipburg in western Angelona to Sapin and a port named Port Elizabeth in eastern Angelona to England in thanks for the support. These ports would come to play integral parts for both the English and Spanish empires.