The Galleys at Lepanto

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On 7 October 1571, the Holy League fought the Ottoman Empire in the Bay of Lepanto. This battle, in which more than 30,000 men lost their lives, decided the most momentous question of the sixteenth century: whether the Mediterranean would be an Islamic sea and most of Europe an Islamic province. The victory of the Holy League reverberated joyfully throughout Europe. Remarkable men fought on both sides-the young and princely John of Austria leading the Christian forces; the many-sided genius who was the sultan’s grand vizier leading the Turks. The twenty-four-year-old Cervantes and the infamous Englishman Thomas Stukeley were also among the soldiers. Most of the ships present on both sides were galleys, their motive power the arms and backs of thousands of men: prisoners of war, slaves, convicts, and volunteers, living in abominable conditions. The Galleys at Lepanto is not merely a detailed account of the battle, but the story of the men who brought it about, those who commanded the galleys and who rowed them. Jack Beeching paints a compelling portrait of an era of Western history that was rife with religious and ideological conflict. Epic in scope and textured with finely wrought details, here is history at its most vivid and absorbing.