Süleyman the Magnificent and other Ottoman Great Siege protagonists... after Malta
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It is said that Süleyman the Magnificent was extremely angry at the outcome of the Malta campaign in 1565. Defeat was something he had never taken into consideration. He had not taken into account the fact that Mustafa and his supposedly mighty troops coulSüleyman the Magnificent and other Ottoman Great Siege protagonists... after Malta
It is said that Süleyman the Magnificent was extremely angry at the outcome of the Malta campaign in 1565. Defeat was something he had never taken into consideration. He had not taken into account the fact that Mustafa and his supposedly mighty troops could be resisted and defeated by the relatively small garrison of the Knights of St John based on the Mediterranean island. There were other issues that contributed to worsen the Sultan’s mood. According to the English chronicler Richard Knolles, his anger was compounded by the fact that the Governor of the island of Sakız (Greek, Chios) had not only revealed some of the Ottoman plans to the Grand Master of the Order of St John, Jean de Valette, but had also witheld payment of the 10,000 ducat yearly tribute, for over two years. Süleyman could not tolerate such affront. He therefore ordered his admiral Piyale Paşa to sail to Chios at the command of 80 galleys and to take over the island. Piyale Paşa, who had been Mustafa Paşa’s right-hand man at the Malta siege not more than eight months earlier, duly obliged, arrived in Chios on April 15, 1566, and duly took it over without much ado. While Süleyman was engrossed in his... Read more