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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;talerman, post: 4263827, member: 89314&quot;]Juan de Homedes was born in Aragon around 1477. He eventually joined the Order of Saint John on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhodes" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhodes" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: #000000">Rhodes</span></a>, and fought bravely in the 1522 Ottoman siege. He eventually moved to the island of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malta" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malta" rel="nofollow">Malta</a> along with the rest of the Order in 1530 and was elected Grand Master in 1536. After a period of relative quiet, the Ottomans attempted to take Malta in July 1551,but were deterred and so they attacked <span style="color: #000000">the sister island of Gozo, which capitulated after some days of fierce fighting. Nearly the entire population of the island were taken as slaves, including the governor <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gelatian_de_Sessa&amp;action=edit&amp;redlink=1" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gelatian_de_Sessa&amp;action=edit&amp;redlink=1" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: #000000">Gelatian de Sessa</span></a> and other knights. In August of that year, the Order suffered another blow when it lost its North African stronghold of Tripoli to an Ottoman force commanded by the famous corsair leader Dragut and the admiral Sinan. De Homedes blamed the loss on the military governor of Tripoli, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaspard_de_Vallier" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaspard_de_Vallier" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: #000000">Gaspard de Vallier</span></a>, and had him defrocked and imprisoned. De Vallier was later rehabilitated by Grand Master <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Parisot_de_Valette" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Parisot_de_Valette" rel="nofollow">Jean Parisot de Valette</a>. </span></p><p><br /></p><p>After the events of 1551, de Homedes began a program to fortify Malta better. The first stone for a new fort, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Saint_Michael" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Saint_Michael" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: #000000">Fort Saint Michael</span></a>, was laid down on 8 May 1552 on <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senglea" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senglea" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: #000000">l&#039;Isola</span></a></i>, a peninsula adjacent to the Order&#039;s capital at Birgu. Meanwhile Fort St. Elmo began to be built on the Sciberras peninsula, a much larger peninsula facing both Birgu and Isola (on which the city of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valletta" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valletta" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: #000000">Valletta</span></a> was later built). De Homedes died on 6 September 1553 (Wikipedia).</p><p><br /></p><p>MALTA&nbsp; Knights of St.John&nbsp;&nbsp; Juan de Homedes&nbsp;&nbsp; Tari 1539</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1086276[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1086277[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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