Giovanni Paolo Lascaris
Giovanni Paolo Lascaris | |
---|---|
Grand Master of the Order of Saint John | |
In office 16 June 1636 – 14 August 1657 | |
Monarch | King Philip III |
Preceded by | Antoine de Paule |
Succeeded by | Martin de Redin |
Personal details | |
Born | 28 June 1560 St. John's Co-Cathedral |
Profession | Grandmaster of the Knights of St. John |
Military service | |
Allegiance | Order of Saint John |
Giovanni Paolo Lascaris di
Early life
Lascaris was born on 28 June 1560, the second son of Giannetto Lascaris and his wife Franceschetta di Agostino Lascaris of the ancient family of the
In 1584, he entered the
In 1632 he was sent as ambassador to the Kingdom of Spain.
On the death of Grand Master Antoine de Paule, there were three candidates for election as Grand Master; Lascaris, Signorino Gattinara (about whom little is known) and Martin de Redin. Inquisitor Fabio Chigi (later Pope Alexander VII) attended as representative of Pope Urban VIII. Failing to secure enough votes for his own election, de Redin encouraged his supporters to instead side with Lascaris. On 16 June 1636, Lascaris was elected Grand Master of the Order of Malta, a position he held until his death.
As Grand Master
Lascaris towers
The following year, Lascaris
was named in his honor.Martin de Redin, who succeeded Lascaris as Grand Master of the Order, commissioned further towers and the combined collection of fortifications is often referred to as the De Redin towers.
Lascaris' ban
In 1639, Lascaris implemented a
The common Maltese idiom "wiċċ Laskri" (lit. face of Lascaris) is used when describing a sad or frustrated person.[4]
Wars of Castro
Also in 1639,
Lascaris played a dangerous double game; he sent warships to aid the pope while assuring the Dukes they were there only as a show of force and would not participate in the conflict. Sure enough, conflict was limited to on-land skirmishes and Lascaris' troops never fired a single shot.
Caribbean colonies
In 1651, the Knights, with Lascaris's approval, bought the island of
The Gozo monastery
In October 1652 Pope Innocent X closed a number of monasteries including one on Gozo. However, it was opened again after just four months thanks to intervention from Lascaris who was close to the monks of the order. A portrait of Lascaris still hangs in the monastery today.
Death
He died on 14 August 1657 at age 97.
See also
References
- ^ Gneja Tower Christian Formosa, "A Military History of Malta", University of Malta, Faculty of Education – Retrieved on 26 July 2007
- ^ History of the popes; their church and state (Volume III) by Leopold von Ranke (2009, Wellesley College Library)
- ^ Cassar Pullicino, Joseph. "The Order of St. John in Maltese Folk-Memory" Archived 2016-04-17 at the Wayback Machine. Melitensia. p. 173.
- ^ "At long last, welcome to political satire in Carnival". Malta Today.
- ^ Biographical Dictionary of Italy: Lascaris, Giovanni Paolo (Volume 63, 2004)
- ISBN 0-7766-0559-3. Retrieved 11 April 2014.
- ISBN 0-404-17009-9. Retrieved 11 April 2014.
- ^ Allen, David F. (1990). "The Social and Religious World of a Knight of Malta in the Caribbean, c. 1632-1660". Libraries and Culture. 25 (2). Web page by Malta Historical Society.: 147–157. Archived from the original on 13 April 2014. Retrieved 11 April 2014.
External links
- Coins of Grandmaster Jean-Paul Lascaris Archived 2014-11-05 at the Wayback Machine