Jean Parisot de Valette
| Jean Parisot de Valette | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Grand Master of the Order of Saint John | |
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In office 21 August 1557 – 21 August 1568 |
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| Monarch | King Philip I |
| Preceded by | Claude de la Sengle |
| Succeeded by | Pierre de Monte |
| Governor of Tripoli | |
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In office 1537–1539 |
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| Appointed by | Juan de Homedes y Coscon |
| Preceded by | George Schilling |
| Succeeded by | Aurelio Bottigella |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 4 February 1495 Parisot, Rouergue, France |
| Died |
21 August 1568 (aged 73) Malta |
| Resting place | St. John's Co-Cathedral (originally buried at the Church of Our Lady of Victories) |
| Nationality | French |
| Domestic partner | Catherine Grecque and other mistresses |
| Children | Barthélemy de Valette Isabella Guasconi possibly other illegitimate children |
| Religion | Roman Catholicism |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |
 Order of Saint John
|
| Years of service | 1514–1568 |
| Rank | Captain General of the Galleys (1554–1557) Grand Master (1557–1568) |
| Battles/wars |
Siege of Rhodes Great Siege of Malta |
Fra' Jean Parisot de Valette (4 February 1495[?] in Parisot, Rouergue – 21 August 1568 in Malta) 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 Langue de Provence, he fought with distinction against the Turks at Rhodes. As Grand Master, Valette became the Order's hero and most illustrious leader, commanding the resistance against the Ottomans at the Great Siege of Malta in 1565, sometimes regarded as one of the greatest sieges of all time. Grandmaster La Valette did not live to see Valletta completed as he died at the age of 74 and was followed by Grandmaster Pietro De Monte. The foundation stone of Valletta was laid by Grandmaster La Valette in the year 1566
He was born into the noble Valette family in Quercy, South-western France, which had been an important family in France for many generations, various members having participated in the Crusades. Jean Parisot's grandfather, Bernard de Valette, was a Knight and King's Orderly, and his father Guillot was a Chevalier de France. Jean Parisot was a distant cousin (through their mutual ancestor Almaric, Seigneur de Parisot) of Jean Louis de Nogaret de La Valette, first Duke of Épernon.
Although his birth year is usually given as 1494, both chroniclers of the Great Siege of Malta, Francisco Balbi di Correggio and Hipolito Sans, say he was 67 at the time, thereby implying that he was born in 1498. In his history of the Order of St. John, the 18th-century historian Abbe Vertot (whose history is largely based on - but often confuses - the earlier one of Giacomo Bosio) indicates that Valette was indeed the same age as both Suleiman I and Lala Kara Mustafa Pasha (the commander of the Ottoman land forces), which would mean that he was actually 70 years old at the time of the siege.
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