Fra' Juan de Homedes y Coscón (c. 1477 – 6 September 1553) was a Spanish knight of

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and ; ) is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces of Spain, ...

who served as the 47th Grand Master of the

Order of Malta The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), officially the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta, and commonly known as the Order of Malta or the Knights of Malta, is a Catholic Church, Cathol ...

, between 1536 and 1553.

Early life

Little is known about de Homedes' early life, except that he was born in

in around 1477. He eventually joined the Order of Saint John on

Rhodes Rhodes (; ) is the largest of the Dodecanese islands of Greece and is their historical capital; it is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, ninth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Administratively, the island forms a separ ...

, and fought bravely in the Ottoman siege of 1522. He eventually moved to the island of

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

along with the rest of the Order in 1530.

Grandmastership

Upon the death of Didier de Saint-Jaille on 26 September 1536, de Homedes was elected by the Order and he became the 47th Grandmaster of the Order on 20 October of that year. In July 1551, the Ottomans attempted to take Malta but were deterred and so they attacked the sister island of

Gozo Gozo ( ), known in classical antiquity, antiquity as Gaulos, is an island in the Malta#The Maltese archipelago, Maltese archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea. The island is part of the Republic of Malta. After the Malta Island, island of Malta ...

, which capitulated after some days of fierce fighting. Nearly the entire population of the island were taken as slaves, including the governor

Gelatian de Sessa Galatian de Sesse was an Aragonese Knights Hospitaller, Hospitaller knight who was Governor of Gozo in 1551, when Gozo, the island was Invasion of Gozo (1551), invaded by the Ottoman Empire. De Sesse was in command of an obsolete and weakly-defend ...

and other knights. In August of that year, the Order suffered another blow when it lost its North African stronghold of

Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis (from , meaning "three cities") may refer to: Places Greece *Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in the Pelasgiotis district, Thessaly, near Larissa ...

to an Ottoman force commanded by the famous corsair leader

Dragut Dragut (; 1485 – 23 June 1565) was an Ottoman corsair, naval commander, governor, and noble. Under his command, the Ottoman Empire's maritime power was extended across North Africa. Recognized for his military genius, and as being among "the ...

and the admiral

Sinan Sinan (Arabic: سنان ''sinān'') is a name found in Arabic and Early Arabic, meaning ''spearhead''. The name may also be related to the Ancient Greek name Sinon. It was used as a male given name. Etymology The word is possibly stems from th ...

in the

Siege of Tripoli The siege of Tripoli lasted from 1102 until 12 July 1109. It took place on the site of the present day Lebanese city of Tripoli, Lebanon, Tripoli, in the aftermath of the First Crusade. It led to the establishment of the fourth crusader state, t ...

. De Homedes blamed the loss on the military governor of Tripoli, Gaspard de Vallier, and had him defrocked and imprisoned. De Vallier was later rehabilitated by Grand Master

Jean Parisot de Valette Fra' Jean "Parisot" de (la) Valette (; – 21 August 1568) was a French nobleman and 49th Grand Master of the Order of Malta, from 21 August 1557 to his death in 1568. As a Knight Hospitaller, joining the order in the , he fought with distin ...

. After the events of 1551, de Homedes began a program to fortify Malta better. The first stone for a new fort,

Fort Saint Michael Fort Saint Michael () was a small fort in the land front of the city of Senglea, Malta. It was originally built in the 1552 and played a significant role in the Great Siege of Malta of 1565. Following the siege, it was rebuilt as Saint Michael Ca ...

, was laid down on 8 May 1552 on '' l'Isola'', a peninsula adjacent to the Order's capital at

Birgu Birgu ( , ), also known by its title Città Vittoriosa ('Victorious City'), is an old Fortifications of Birgu, fortified city on the south side of the Grand Harbour in the Port Region, Malta, Port Region of Malta. The city occupies a promontory ...

. Meanwhile

Fort Saint Elmo Fort Saint Elmo () is a star fort in Valletta, Malta. It stands on the seaward shore of the Sciberras Peninsula that divides Marsamxett Harbour from Grand Harbour, and commands the entrances to both harbours along with Fort Tigné and Fort Ri ...

began to be built on the Sciberras peninsula, a much larger peninsula facing both Birgu and Isola (on which the city of

Valletta Valletta ( ; , ) is the capital city of Malta and one of its 68 Local councils of Malta, council areas. Located between the Grand Harbour to the east and Marsamxett Harbour to the west, its population as of 2021 was 5,157. As Malta’s capital ...

and the town of

Floriana Floriana ( or ''Il-Floriana''), also known by its title Borgo Vilhena, is a Floriana Lines, fortified town in the Port Region, Malta, Port Region area of Malta, just outside the capital city Valletta. It has a population of 2,205 as of March 2014 ...

were later built). De Homedes died on 6 September 1553 and was succeeded by

Claude de la Sengle Fra' Claude de la Sengle (1494 – 18 August 1557) was the 48th Grand Master of the Order of Malta, from 1553 to his death in 1557. His successor was Fra' Jean Parisot de Valette. A native Frenchman, Sengle, then Bailli of the French langu ...

as Grandmaster, who continued the fortification work started by de Homedes. He was buried in the crypt of the Chapel of St Anne in Fort Saint Angelo but his remains were later moved to

St. John's Co-Cathedral St John's Co-Cathedral () is a Catholic co-cathedral in Valletta, Malta, dedicated to Saint John the Baptist. It was built by the Order of St. John between 1573 and 1578, having been commissioned by Grand Master Jean de la Cassière as the Con ...

Portrayal in fiction

De Homedes is portrayed in an unflattering light in Dorothy Dunnett's 1966 novel ''The Disorderly Knights'', which is set in 1551 during the Dragut Raid on Malta and

and the subsequent fall of

. The novel shows him as miserly, cruel, partisan towards other Spanish knights, lacking in strategy, and extremely selfish. He is also portrayed as an ineffectual and spiteful leader in Marthese Fenech's 2011 novel ''Eight Pointed Cross'', set in Malta and the Ottoman Empire in 1542 through 1551. ''Eight Pointed Cross'' depicts the loss of Gozo and Tripoli to Dragut Raïs and Sinan Pasha, and the Order's failure to help the over five thousand civilians captured in the sieges. De Homedes appears in ''The Course of Fortune'' by

Tony Rothman Tony Rothman (born 1953) is an American theoretical physicist, academic and writer. Early life Tony is the son of physicist and science fiction writer Milton A. Rothman and psychotherapist Doris W. Rothman. He holds a B.A. from Swarthmore Col ...

(J. Bolyston, 2015), in which his role in the first siege of Malta (1551), the sack of Gozo (1551) and his prosecution of the knights after the fall of Tripoli are described in detail.

References

External links

Coins of Grandmaster Juan de Omedes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Homedes, Juan de Grand masters of the Knights Hospitaller Knights of Malta 16th-century Spanish people 1470s births 1553 deaths Burials at Saint John's Co-Cathedral