Silver Coin Don Juan of Austria Battle of Lepanto 2010 Proof Cook Islands

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Great Commanders and Battles series

This exclusive silver coin issued by the Cook Islands in 2010 from the Great Commanders and Battles series features a coloured portrait of Juan de Austria on the reverse. The obverse is accompanied by the inscriptions "1571 BATTLE OF LEPANTO!" (Battle of Lepanto), 'DON JUAN DE AUSTRIA' and the year '1547 - 1578'. The obverse shows a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II..

The coin comes in a blue gift box with grey and silver trim, together with a certificate of authenticity in a limited edition of only 1000 pieces for the whole world!

Juan de Austria

Don Juan de Austria (24 February 1547 - 1 October 1578) was the left-hand man of Charles V, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and King of Spain. He was born of his affair with a bourgeois girl from Reims, Germany, where the emperor stayed in 1546 during the Diet of Reich. King Philip II of Spain recognized Juan as his half-brother and granted him the title El Infante (the prince), but was very jealous of his military achievements.

Philip wanted his Juan to take up an ecclesiastical career, but the latter was too exuberant and too eager for a military career, so he ended up becoming a warlord. He was first engaged in fighting pirates (1568), and, as he proved himself, was given command in the campaign against the Morisco uprising in Granada. He succeeded there too, and in 1571, already a recognised military leader, he became commander of the fleet of the Holy League, an alliance of Genoa, Venice, Spain and the Papal States against the Ottoman Empire. On October 7, 1571, he crushed the Ottoman fleet at the Battle of Lepanto, putting an end to Turkish expansionism in the Mediterranean.

This victory greatly boosted his self-confidence, but his brother watched his growing popularity with distaste. In 1576, he appointed him governor of the Spanish Netherlands. His policies led to a powerful rebellion that prevented him from carrying out his plan to marry Mary Stuart and conquer England. He proceeded with great brutality in suppressing the Dutch Revolution, but it did not lead to his goal. He died suddenly in 1578, probably of typhus.