The Renaissance

allied Christian forces of Spain, Venice,
Genoa, the Papacy, and other states—and
the fleet of the Ottoman Empire. Members
of the Holy League were determined to
end Ottoman dominance of the eastern
Mediterranean, and Turkish interference
with merchant shipping of Spain, France,
and Italy. To that end, the Christians as-
sembled at Messina, Sicily, a fleet of about
two hundred ships, most of them large
rowed galleys, placing them under the
command of John of Austria, the illegiti-
mate son of Emperor Charles V. Aboard
the ships was a powerful force of thirty
thousand infantry, a number that approxi-
mated a Turkish war fleet commanded by
Ali Pasha.

The two fleets engaged for several
hours before the Turks fled the scene with
about forty of their ships intact. Several
thousand Christian galley slaves were lib-
erated, and the Turks lost eighty ships and
about fifteen thousand killed or captured
sailors. About seven thousand members of
the Holy League were casualties, including
the Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes,
who suffered a grievous wound to his arm.
Although their navy was severely weak-
ened by the defeat, the Turks remained in
control of the eastern Mediterranean and
soon afterward seized the island of Cyprus
from control by Venice.

SEEALSO: Cervantes, Miguel de; Ottoman
Empire; Venice

Lovati, Lovato dei ............................

(1240–1309)

A leading civic official of Padua, a noted
poet and scholar, and one of the first Eu-
ropean humanists. The scion of a wealthy
family, Lovati was devoted to recovering
classical Latin authors, in editing their
works, and in developing a new style of
writing influenced by the ancients, who

were dismissed as unworthy pagans by the

scholastic schoolmen and philosophers of

his day. Lovati edited a manuscript edition

of the tragedies of Seneca, and introduced

works of the Roman poet Ovid and the

Greek poet Horace. He sparked widespread

interest in these and other ancient authors,

and inspired further research by Petrarch

and Giovanni Boccaccio, men of a later

generation that were once credited as pio-

neers of the humanist movement.

Lovati saw the medieval fashion for

French troubadours and their ballads of

romantic love and chivalry a throwback to

an age of ignorance. In the plays and his-

tories of ancient Roman authors he ad-

mired a sense of dignity, balance, and clar-

ity, and a source of cultural pride for the

authors and scholars of Italy. His Latin

poems written in 1267 emulated the forms

and style of ancient authors, and pioneered

a humanist strain in poetry that would

continue in the works of Dante and much

later extend to prose writings.

Lovati also was one of the first schol-

ars to make a close inspection of ancient

ruins in the search for the truth about the

classical past. In the cathedral of Padua, he

uncovered a tomb he believed to be that

of the Trojan founder of the city, a discov-

ery that gave strength to the city’s claim

for status as an independent commune.

SEEALSO: Boccaccio, Giovanni; humanism;

Petrarch

Loyola, Saint Ignatius ......................

(1491–1556)

Founder of the Society of Jesus, a religious

order also known as the Jesuits, and dedi-

cated opponent of the Protestant Refor-

mation. Born in Loyola, near San Sebas-

tian in the Basque region of northwestern

Spain, he entered the service of the trea-

surer of Castile as a teenager. He joined

Loyola, Saint Ignatius