Posted on 11/26/2002 6:25:02 PM PST by Sparta
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Almost from the very beginning of Islam, there were wars upon wars between Christians and Moslems. We remember the Crusade wars, seven major and several minor, which lasted for centuries. This is the story of the Battle of Lepanto, which marked the end of the Crusades and was a turning point in the history of Christianity.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Charles Martel's victory at Poitiers definitely stopped the Moslem invasion of western Europe. In the east Christians held firm against attacks of the Moslems until 1453. In that year, Mohammed II threw huge assaults against Constantinople and by the evening of May 29 the Byzantine capital fell. By 1571 the Moslems were firmly installed in Europe. Their ships ruled the Mediterranean Sea from the Strait of Bosporus to the Strait of Gibraltar and constantly preyed on Christian vessels unless they flew the French flag.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pope Pius V, in the last year of his papacy in 1571, tried to rally the nations of Europe to join in a Holy League to stop and roll back the Moslem enemy which threatened the entire continent. Spain, whose King Philip II was also King of Austria, responded favorably. The Moslems were then engaged in the conquest of Cyprus, an island belonging to the Republic of Venice. Leading Venetian officials would have preferred to have worked out some peaceful-coexistence agreement with the Sultan, but under the crusading influence of Saint Pius V, they decided to join the Holy League along with the republics of Genoa and Lucca and the dukes of Savory, Parma, Ferrara and Urbino.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Papal fleet was of course part of the Holy Alliance. Pius V asked Philip to appoint Don John of Austria, the 25-year old son of Emperor Charles V, as commander-in-chief of a planned expedition against the Moslems. After receiving the banner of the Holy League from the Pope, through Cardinal Granvalla, Don John's fleet set sail from Genoa for Naples on June 26, 1571. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Few historians mention that just before the departure, Philip II presented Don John with a picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe which she had caused to be miraculously imprinted on the cloak of the Indian peasant Juan Diego in Mexico 40 years before. Don John placed the picture in the chapel of the admiral-vessel, the Genoese John Andrew Doria, asking for Mary's protection of his expedition.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On September 16, the Christian fleet put to sea. Don John anchored off of Corfu where he learned that the Moslems had leveled entire towns and villages and then retreated to the coast of Lepanto in the Gulf of Corinth. At dawn on October 7, at the entrance to the Gulf of Patras, the Christian and Moslem fleets finally came face to face for the battle of Lepanto.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The wind and all military factors favored the Moslems, but Don John was confident. He boarded a fast ship for a final review of his fleet. He shouted encouraging words to the men and they shouted back. After Don John returned to his own position, the wind mysteriously changed to the advantage of the Christian fleet. First-hand witnesses wrote about this moment as a most dramatic turn-of-events resulting from an "unknown factor".
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- At that very moment, at dawn on October 7, 1571--as Vatican Archives later revealed--Pope Pius V, accompanied by many faithful, was praying the Rosary in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. From dawn to dusk the prayers continued in Rome as the Christians and the Moslems battled at Lepanto. When it was all over the Moslems had been defeated. Of some 270 Moslem ships, at least 200 were destroyed. The Turks also lost 30,000 men while Christian casualties numbered between 4,000 and 5,000.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Rosary had won a great military victory. Like all truly great military leaders who hate war and love peace, Don John retired after his victory at Lepanto. He died a few years later at the age of 31. Another who took part in the great battle of Lepanto, Miguel de Cervantes, lived longer to write his famous tribute to Christian chivalry, Don Quixote.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Following the great Christian victory at Lepanto, Pope St. Pius V declared that henceforth a commemoration of the Rosary would be a part of the Vatican's Mass on every October 7. His successor, Pope Gregory XIII, went further. In 1573 he established the Feast of the Most Holy Rosary--to be celebrated at all Churches which had specific altars dedicated to the Rosary.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In 1671 Pope Clement X extended observance of the feast to all of Spain. Only 12 years later in 1683 the Moslems again swept into Europe. With 200,000 men, they laid siege to Vienna. After months of valiant resistance by a small garrison, the city was relieved by an army under John Sobieski, King of Poland. The Rosary, to which the King was dedicated, was again instrumental in a military victory. Pope Innocent XI consecrated September 12 of that year to the Holy Name of Mary. The Moslem hordes were hurled back yet again at Peterwardein in Hungary by Prince Eugene on the Feast of Out Lady of the Snows, August 5, 1716. As a result of this victory, Pope Clement XI extended the Feast of the Rosary to the Universal Church.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Reconquista, which happened in Spain, and which was not a Crusade, did last for centuries. It ended in 1492.
Stay well - Stay safe - Stay armed - Yorktown
It would perhaps be more accurate to describe Don Quixote as a parody of Christian chivalry. Cervantes would have been quite at home on Saturday Night Live.
Victor Davis Hanson has a fine chapter on Lepanto in His Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise of Western Civilization.
It seems far more likely that prayers to God will be more effective than planning or threatening to enter every Moslem nation that appears to pose a threat or house some band of terrorists. I cannot imagine a more certain way to ensure that terrorist attacks will increase than to try to show over a billion Muslims,spread all over the world,including our own country, who's boss.I call this present plan,MAD;mutually assured destruction.
I prefer the Lepanto Plan!!
He may have lost his hand, but "de la Mancha" means (literally) "Of The Stain", and in this case I believe it refers to the region Cervantes was from (at least that's what it mean in "Don Quijote de la Mancha"). Perhaps you are thinking of "de la MANO" which would mean "of the Hand".
(Cyrano, an impoverished soldier/poet, is speaking with de Guiche, a powerful nobleman. De Guiche makes Cyrano an offer he thinks he cannot refuse:)
de Guiche: Poets are fashionable nowadays to have about one. Would you care to join my following?
Cyrano: No, sir. I do not follow.
de Guiche: Your duel yesterday amused my uncle the Cardinal. I might help you there...
He is himself a dramatist; Let him rewrite a few lines here and there, and he'll approve the rest.
Cyrano: Impossible. My blood curdles to think of altering one comma.
de Guiche: Ah, but when he likes a thing, he pays well.
Cyrano: Yes -- but not so well as I -- When I have made a line that sings itself so that I love the sound of it -- I pay myself a hundred times.
de Guiche: You are proud, my friend.
Cyrano: You have observed that?
....
de Guiche: Have you read Don Quixote?
Cyrano: I have -- and found myself the hero.
de Guiche: Be so good as to read once more the chapter of the windmills.
Cyrano (gravely): Chapter Thirteen.
de Guiche: Windmills, remember, if you fight with them --
Cyrano: My enemies change, then, with every wind?
de Guiche: -- May swing round their huge arms and cast you down into the mire.
Cyrano: Or up -- among the stars!
Our Lady of Guadalupe bump!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.