X-Nico

4 unusual facts about John of Austria


Don Juan de Austria

John of Austria, ("Don Juan de Austria" or "Don John of Austria", 1547–1578) general and illegitimate son of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor

Juan Latino

His poem Austrias Carmen, was dedicated by to John of Austria after his victory over the Morisco insurrection in Granada, known as the War of the Alpujarras (1568–1572).

Los Haro

The Morisma is based on the Battle of Lepanto, in which Christian forces under John of Austria defeated the Turkish (Ottoman) navy in 1571, thereby impeding Muslim expansion into Europe.

Rochefort Abbey

During the Eighty Years War the abbey was ravaged by the Protestant armies of the Seventeen Provinces (1568) and the Austrian armies of John of Austria (1577).


Gaspar Sanz

When Sanz returned to Spain he was appointed instructor of guitar to Don Juan (John of Austria), the illegitimate son of King Philip IV and Maria Calderon, a noted actress of the day.

Jean Parisot de Valette

If La Valette, Romegas and Juan de Austria could be considered the best commanders that the Christian forces could bring to the sea, the forces of Islam were able to call on the equally outstanding maritime and leadership skills of admirals such as Barbarossa and Dragut.

Union of Arras

The Union of Arras (Dutch: Unie van Atrecht, Spanish: Unión de Arrás) was an accord signed on 6 January 1579 in Arras (Atrecht), under which the southern states of the Netherlands, today in Wallonia and the Nord-Pas-de-Calais (and Picardy) régions in France and Belgium, expressed their loyalty to the Spanish king Philip II and recognized his Governor-General, Don Juan of Austria.


see also

Juan Francisco de la Cerda, 8th Duke of Medinaceli

As his predecessors, Don Juan Francisco was a loyal servant of the Spanish Crown, and after the death of John of Austria, he became the Valido of King Charles II.