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Jean Parisot de La Valette was born in 1494 and joined the Order of St. John of Jerusalem when he was 20. He joined the Order as a Knight of the "Langue" of Provence and was proclaimed Grand Master on 21 August 1557. On 18 May 1565, 138 galleys under the command of Piali' Pasha, and carrying a landing force of 40,000 men commanded by Mustapha Pasha, appeared off the coasts of Malta. This was the beginning of the Great Siege of 1565. Almost four months later, on 8 September, the defeated Turkish armada left these shores. The heroic Grand Master died on 21 August 1568. He was buried in the church of Our Lady of Victories where the foundation stone of Valletta, Malta's capital city, had been laid in 1566 by La Valette himself.
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