| Juan de Homedes y Coscon | |
|---|---|
| |
| Grand Master of the Order of Saint John | |
In office 20 October 1536 – 6 September 1553 | |
| Monarch | King Charles II |
| Preceded by | Didier de Saint-Jaille |
| Succeeded by | Claude de la Sengle |
| Personal details | |
| Born | c.1477 Aragon (modern Spain) |
| Died | September 6, 1553 Malta |
| Resting place | Valletta |
| Nationality | Spanish |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  Order of Saint John
|
| Battles/wars | Invasion of Gozo |
Fra' Juan de Homedes y Coscon (also known as Jean de Homedes) was a Spanish Hospitaller. He was the 47th Grand Master of the Order of Malta, between 1536 and 1553. During his reign the Order consolidated its position in Malta by building new fortifications in anticipation of Ottoman and Barbary Coast corsair attacks. It was, however, also during his reign, in 1551, that the Knights lost their North African stronghold of Tripoli to an Ottoman force commanded by the famous corsair leader Turgut Reis (Dragut) and the Ottoman admiral Sinan in the Siege of Tripoli. Homedes blamed the loss on the military governor of Tripoli, Gaspard de Vallier, and had him defrocked and imprisoned. De Vallier was later rehabilitated by Grand Master Jean Parisot de Valette.
Portrayal in fiction[]
De Homedes is portrayed in an unflattering light in Dorothy Dunnett's novel, The Disorderly Knights which is set in 1551 during the Dragut Raid on Malta and Gozo, and the subsequent fall of Tripoli. The novel shows him as miserly, cruel, partisan towards other Spanish knights, lacking in strategy, and extremely selfish.
He is also portrayed as an ineffectual and spiteful leader in Marthese Fenech's 2011 novel Eight Pointed Cross, set in Malta and the Ottoman Empire in 1542 through 1551. Eight Pointed Cross depicts the loss of Gozo and Tripoli to Dragut Raïs and Sinan Pasha, and the Order's failure to help the over five thousand civilians captured in the sieges.
The original article can be found at Juan de Homedes y Coscon and the edit history here.