Don John of Austria

Don John of Austria commanded the fleet that destroyed Ottoman naval power at Lepanto, at twenty-four. Born in Regensburg in 1547, he was the illegitimate son of Emperor Charles V by Barbara Blomberg, a burgher's daughter, and was raised anonymously in Spain by a courtier's family under the name Jeromín. He was told who he was at about fourteen, after Charles's death, and was acknowledged by his half-brother Philip II. Philip intended him for the church; he ran away to join an expedition against the Turks and was brought back, and was eventually given a naval command against Barbary corsairs. He was sent in 1568 to suppress the revolt of the Moriscos in the Alpujarras, a brutal two-year mountain war that ended with mass deportation. In 1571 Philip made him commander of the Holy League fleet assembled by Pius V from Spain, Venice, Genoa, the papacy and Savoy. His task was as much diplomatic as military, since the Venetians and Spaniards distrusted each other completely. On 7 October 1571 he engaged the Ottoman fleet under Ali Pasha in the Gulf of Patras with about 210 galleys against a similar number. He placed six Venetian galleasses, floating gun platforms, ahead of the line to break the Ottoman formation, and closed for boarding. The Ottoman fleet was destroyed, some thirty thousand died, and around fifteen thousand Christian galley slaves were freed. He was later governor of the Netherlands, where he could not contain the revolt. He died of typhus in 1578 at thirty-one.

• Lived: 1547 CE – 1578 CE
• Nationality: Spanish
• Roles: admiral, military_leader