start page Charles V TOUR :   Ferdinand I ➜

Charles's son   Don Juan de Austria ,   *1547   †1578
Emperor Charles V. had called for a diet to be held in Regensburg in 1547. When he arrived there in 1546, he became aquainted with a young woman, Barbara Blomberg. A year later, she gave birth to the emperor's son Hieronymus. The boy was educated in Spain and called upon to meet his father shortly before the emperor died in Juste. Charles's successor, King Philip II of Spain, also acknowledged his half-brother and granted him the name and title Don Juan de Austria. Don Juan attended the university of Alcalá together with Don Carlos, Philip's unstable son.
Don Juan preferred a military career to the clerical one which Charles V had had in mind for him. In 1568 Philip II sent his half-brother to Granada to suppress a Muslim uprising. In 1571 he was appointed leader of the armada which the "Holy Alliance", i.e. the pope, Venice and Spain, had brought together to fight the Turks. He gained a glorious victory in the Battle of Lepanto, in which the Turkish fleet was completely destroyed. Don Juan was briefly able to hold Tunis in 1573, but he failed in his ambitious efforts to gain a Mediterranian kingdom. Philip II jeallously distrusted his half-brother, yet he appointed him governor of the Netherlands in 1576. Don Juan would have preferred to liberate Mary Stuart of Scotland and marry her, and only reluctantly did he accept the task in the Netherlands. His political and military efforts were only mildly successful and as he won no lasting victories, he gradually lost Spain's support. He died in 1587 when the plague hit his army.


Silver cast medal 1571,   model by Giovanni V. Melon.     Ø 39 mm, 20,11 g.
Attwood 988; Börner 938; Armand I p.264 1; v. Loon I p.142 II.
on Don Juan's victory over the Turks in the Battle of Lepanto.
Obv.:   IOANNES AVSTRIÆ · CAROLI · V · FILius · ÆTatis · SVae · ANNo · XXIIII ·
Bust at the age of 24 years in armour and cord with order of the Golden Fleece.
at the bottom :   IOA:MELON.Fecit.1571   "made by John Melon 1571"
Rev.:   CLASSE·TVRCICA - AD·NAVPACTVM DELETA - DIE 7 OCTOBR 157 1
"The Turkish fleet destroyed at Lepanto (Greek Naupaktos)"
On the high column the statue of Don Juan, crowned by Victoria, below a pile of Turkish trophies, in the background the view of the sea battle.


Medal 1573,   model by Giovanni V. Melon.     Ø 41 mm, 25,52 g.  
Armand I p.264 2; Domanig Porträtmedaillen 70; v. Loon I p.173.
On Don Juan's victory over the Turks and the capture of Tunis.
Obv.:   IOANNES AVSTRIÆ · CAROLI · V · FILius · ÆTatis · SVae · ANNorum · XXIIII ·
Bust at the age of 24 years in armour and cord with order of the Golden Fleece.
below the bust :   IOA:MELON.Fecit.1573   "made by John Melon in 1573"
Rev.:   VENI · ET · VI - CI   "Came and won"
Neptun stands on a dolphin and attacks a swimming Turk with a trident showing the Spanish arms.
To the right, Turkish soldiers are on the run, to the left ships and the city of Tunis.


Bronze cast medal n. d. (1574).     Ø 35 mm.   Armand III p.282, I.
On the conqueror of the fortress Tunis.
Obv.:   IOANNES·AB·AV - STRIÆ·CA·CE·S·L·   -   bust to the left.
Rev.:   VICIT·CONCORDIA·FRVM·
Ships at sea in front of the fortress, above it Fama with trumpet, announcing the victory.

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