John of Austria

John of Austria was a natural son of the Emperor Charles V. and Barbara Blomberg of Ratisbon, and was born 24th February 1547. He was early brought to Spain, and after the death of his father was acknowledged by his half-brother Philip II. Honours and an annual allowance were bestowed upon him, and he was educated along with the Prince of Parma and the Infant Don Carlos. He was intended for the church, but his own bent was towards war, and in 1570 he received the command of an army sent against the rebellious Moors in Granada, whom he completely rooted out of the country—signalling himself at once by valour and by cruelty. On the 7th October 1571, with the united fleets of Spain, the pope, and Venice, he defeated the Turks in the glorious battle of Lepanto. Discord breaking out among the allies, Don John separated himself from the rest, took Tunis, and conceived the scheme of forming a kingdom for himself in the north of Africa. But Philip, jealous of this design, sent him to Milan to observe the Genoese; and afterwards, in 1576, as viceroy to the Netherlands. In this capacity he sought to win the favour of the people by mildness; but being left unsupported by Philip he was hard pressed for a time, till the arrival of the Prince of Parma with troops enabled him to restore the fortunes of Spain by the victory of Gemblours over William the Silent in 1577. But Philip was now apprehensive that he might make himself king of the Netherlands, and Don John's untimely death in his entrenched camp at Namur, on 1st October 1578, was not without suspicion of poison. See Sir W. Stirling-Maxwell's magnificent work, Don John of Austria (2 vols. 1883).