Jean Parisot de la Vallette
From 21 August 1557 till 21 August 1568.
Jean Parisot de la Vallette, a Knight of the "Langue" of Provence, was proclaimed Grandmaster on 21st August 1557. La Vallette, however, had other more threatening problems to attend to. Tripoli was one of these: It had been reconquered by the Turks and was governed by the Turkish General, Dragut. On 18th May 1565 some 138 galleys under the command of Piali' Pasha and carrying a landing force of 40,000 men commanded by Mustapha Pasha appeared off Malta's coasts and started the Great Siege of 1565. Almost four months later, on 6th September, the defeated Turkish armada left these shores. The heroic Grandmaster died on 21st August 1568. He was buried in the church of Our Lady of Victories (where the foundation stone of Valletta (Malta's capital city) was laid in 1566 by La Vallette himself).
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