The Greek Christian captives and renegades of Lepanto and Patras : 1603

Abstract

The serendipitous -find, at the Notarial Archives, of a small booklet documenting the fate of some 400 Greek and Turkish captives taken by the Knights of St John from the fortresses of Lepanto and Patras in 1603, constitutes a welcome addition to already published accounts on this expedition. This attack was one in a series of successful attacks against Ottoman posts undertaken during the reign of Grand Master Alof de Wignacourt (r.1601-1622). They are believed to have induced the last major Ottoman attack against Malta in 1614, when a force of 6,000 men pillaged Zejtun and the surrounding areas. The information provided by the hand of Notary Gia Gulliermo Fulcher on 10 May 1603 provides us with the names of those captives found to be Christian, Muslim and Christian apostates. This information shall be studied within the wider context provided by the work of the Order's historian Bartolomeo dal Pozzo and by contemporary documentation available at the Archives of the Order of St John at the National Library of Malta.