The Tomb of Don John of Austria. Don John of Austria was the leader of the naval forces that saved Europe from a hellish fate at the hands of the Ottoman Turks at the Battle of Lepanto, Oct. 7, 1571 …More
The Tomb of Don John of Austria.
Don John of Austria was the leader of the naval forces that saved Europe from a hellish fate at the hands of the Ottoman Turks at the Battle of Lepanto, Oct. 7, 1571
After recovering from a severely high fever he had for days, he finally seemed to be getting better, but then the next day, he suddenly grew worse and started to show symptoms of a strange illness; trembling of hands, arms, tongue and eyes. Suspicion spread through the camp, which historians of old have transmitted to us. They say that Don John had been poisoned during his recovery.
He therefore made ready to receive his death with perfect manly courage, with the dignity of a Prince and the humility of a christian. He ordered himself to be carried on a stretcher by his servants, without order or arrangements to prevent the soldiers having the grief of saying good-bye to him and to cause no alarm or trouble.
There was a pigeon house used to make his chamber. They cleared out all the pigeons, cleaned it, hung a few coverings on the ceiling and wall to exclude the light.
The father confessor Fr. Francesco de Orantes writes to Philip II: "He died in a hut, as poorly as a soldier in order that he may imitate the poverty of Christ." The tomb of Don John of Austria is in the Monastery of El Escorial, Spain.
Don John of Austria was the leader of the naval forces that saved Europe from a hellish fate at the hands of the Ottoman Turks at the Battle of Lepanto, Oct. 7, 1571
After recovering from a severely high fever he had for days, he finally seemed to be getting better, but then the next day, he suddenly grew worse and started to show symptoms of a strange illness; trembling of hands, arms, tongue and eyes. Suspicion spread through the camp, which historians of old have transmitted to us. They say that Don John had been poisoned during his recovery.
He therefore made ready to receive his death with perfect manly courage, with the dignity of a Prince and the humility of a christian. He ordered himself to be carried on a stretcher by his servants, without order or arrangements to prevent the soldiers having the grief of saying good-bye to him and to cause no alarm or trouble.
There was a pigeon house used to make his chamber. They cleared out all the pigeons, cleaned it, hung a few coverings on the ceiling and wall to exclude the light.
The father confessor Fr. Francesco de Orantes writes to Philip II: "He died in a hut, as poorly as a soldier in order that he may imitate the poverty of Christ." The tomb of Don John of Austria is in the Monastery of El Escorial, Spain.