Original scientific paper
The Names, Designations, Commanders, Possession and Roster of the Galleys in the Battle of Lepanto (1571)
Krešimir Kužić
Abstract
In the middle of the sixteenth century the Ottoman Empire became the leading naval force in the Mediterranean. Being aware of that fact, the leading circles around Sultan Selim II decided to take the Venetian island of Cyprus. The Venetians requested the help of Christian states and received positive answers from Spain and Pope Pius V. The main decision of the Holy League of 1571, as the newly formed alliance was styled, was the formation of the fleet of galleys under the command of Don Juan of Austria. Particular squadrons, those of Venice (the city of Venice, the cities and towns of the Terraferma, and seven galleys of Croatian cities under the rule of Venice, and Greek cities and towns), Spain (Naples, Sicily, Genoa, and the ships of Gian Andrea Doria and other mercenaries), the Pope, Malta and Savoy first met in Messina, where the first list was compiled. Don Juan passed the decision on the roster of the galleys and the sequence of the squadrons, and the Christian fleet navigated towards the Greek coast. After that, the second list was compiled immediately before the battle, and according to this the Christian fleet counted 208 galleys. However, through the comparison and refinement of these two lists, it is evident that the total complement of the fleet of the Holy League was 204 galleys. Besides that, the lists provide the size of the squadrons, the names of the commanders and the states to which the galleys belonged. The naming of the galleys was done in several ways. Most frequently, the galleys were listed according to the description of decorations on their sterns (reliefs and sculptures), and occasionally additional pictures. Another way of naming of the galleys was based on the commanding rank of a galley (reala-capitana-patrona). It should be noted that these were not names in the present-day sense and were not written on the ships in the present-day way. The themes of decorations were most frequently chosen from Christian symbolism (34.8%), followed by figures of women, animals, abstract figures or antique heroes and compositions with them, and commanding galleys inevitably carried between one and three lanterns. In accordance with that, the galleys equipped in Croatian cities were also marked. Besides the data on the galleys, the data on the names of their commanders, regardless of whether they came from Venetian, Spanish or other squadrons, are also given in the article.
Keywords
the Battle of Lepanto; Veneto-Ottoman wars; military history; naval history; Eary Modern Age
Hrčak ID:
75851
URI
Publication date:
30.12.2011.
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