Forty-eighth Grand Master of the Order of the Knights of St.
John of Jerusalem; b. in 1494; d. in Malta, 21 Aug., 1568. He
came from an old family of Southern France, several members of
which had been capitouls (chief magistrates) in Toulouse. When
still young he entered the Order of St. John as a knight of the
Language of Provence. After the taking of Rhodes by the Sultan
Soliman (1522), the order had, in 1530, settled in Malta which,
with the city of Tripoli, the emperor Charles V had made over to
them in full sovereignty. Here the knights devoted themselves to
fighting the corsairs of Barbary, who were upheld by the Turkish
Sultan. During this struggle La Valette made his first campaign,
and soon rose to the highest ranks in the order. In 1537 he was
appointed commander and governor of Tripoli. In that city,
exposed to the attacks of the famous Dragut, chief of all the
corsairs of Africa, La Valette displayed his power of
organization, re-establishing discipline among the Christian and
Moorish troops, driv