Dim drums throbbing, in the hills half heard,
Where only on a nameless throne a crownless prince has stirred,
Where, risen from a doubtful seat and half attainted stall,
The last knight of Europe takes weapons from the wall,
The last and lingering troubadour to whom the bird has sung,
That once went singing southward when all the world was young,
In that enormous silence, tiny and unafraid,
Comes up along a winding road the noise of the Crusade.
And so G.K Chesterton introduces the protagonist of his great poem Lepanto; Don John of Austria. The last true embodiment of the chivalric ideals of Christendom in Chesterton’s view; the last knight of Europe. Don John, born on 24 February 1547, was the son of Barbara Blomberg, the daughter of a burgher, and Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor. Don John was a bastard, hence being a crownless princess stirring on a nameless thrown.
He was born into a Europe ablaze with rebellion and turmoil; the Protestant revolution had well and truly erupted. Christendom was beset by enemies both internal and external. Europe had become, in Chesterton’s words; full of tangled things and texts and aching eyes, And dead is all the innocence of anger and surprise. The song that once went singing southward when all the world was young was a Christian innocence that had been killed by the so-called Reformation. Medieval Europe, despite all its faults and short comings had a spirit of innocence that I believe many people intuitively recognise and understand. It was the society in which the ideal of Chivalry sprung. It was the only time and place, really, where it could have. But this “innocent” optimism of the world had been replaced with a cynicism and scepticism that still remains to this day. Don John would prove to be that ideal’s swan song.
And the Pope has cast his arms abroad for agony and loss, And called the kings of Christendom for swords about the Cross. In 1571 Pope St. Pius V organised a Holy League to contend with Ottoman expansion in the Mediterranean. Sadly, only a few countries answered the call. The League was comprised mainly by Spain, the Papal States, the Knights of Malta, and various Italian states such as the Republics of Venice and Genoa. The League was made initially to relieve the defenders at the Siege of Famagusta in Cyprus, but they were too late. The Ottomans brutally enslaved all the women and children of the city, and killed all the men, skinning alive the commander of the defenders, Marco Antonio Bragadino, stuffing his skin with straw before parading his stuffed body around the defeated city.
Don Juan, in command of the Holy League fleet, met the Turkish fleet off the coast of Corinth, known by the Venetians as Lepanto. The Turkish fleet vastly outnumbered the Holy League. Don Juan sailed in between his ships, making his men pray the rosary, telling them to fight now, “and at the price of a few hours, purchase eternity.” The Turks arrayed their ships in the formation of a crescent moon. They fling great shadows foe-wards, making Cross and Castle dark, They veil the plumèd lions on the galleys of St. Mark. Don Juan led his fleet in the formation of a cross, sailing his flag ship Real (you can see a detailed replica of Real in the Museo Naval in Madrid, alongside the real sword he used at Lepanto).
The battle lasted for hours. It was the bloodiest battle Europe had seen since antiquity, and it would not be matched until Waterloo. Don Juan led his ship crashing into the Turkish flagship commanded by Ali Pasha. There was brutal hand-to-hand combat between the two flagships. It ended with the overwhelming defeat of the janissaries on board, all were killed including Ali Pasha himself, who was beheaded in the combat by a Spanish Tercio. The Turkish flagship was flying a huge green banner heavily embroidered with texts from the Qur’an and with the name of Allah emblazoned upon it 28,900 times in golden letter. This banner was pulled down, and a banner bearing the image of the Crucified Christ was raised in its place.
White for bliss and blind for sun and stunned for liberty.
Vivat Hispania!
Domino Gloria!
Don John of Austria
Has set his people free!
The Turkish fleet was utterly decimated. The Ottomans, while still launching many offensives into Europe after their defeat at Lepanto, would never wage a successful offensive campaign from this point on. Pope Pius V, having heard the news of Don Juan’s victory, repeated the Nunc Dimittis of Simeon;
Now thou dost dismiss thy servant, O Lord, according to thy word in peace;
Because my eyes have seen thy salvation,
Which thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples:
A light to the revelation of the Gentiles,
and the glory of thy people Israel.
Shortly after, Pope Pius V established the Feast of Our Lady of Victories in thanksgiving of this victory. Catholics still celebrate it every year on October 7. Pius V died soon after this.
Cervantes on his galley sets the sword back in the sheath
(Don John of Austria rides homeward with a wreath.)
And he sees across a weary land a straggling road in Spain,
Up which a lean and foolish knight forever rides in vain,
And he smiles, but not as Sultans smile, and settles back the blade....
(But Don John of Austria rides home from the Crusade.)
Spes et Historia 
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