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Tari - Jean de Vallette
| Issuer | Order of Malta (Knights Hospitaller) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1557-1568 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Obverse description | Quartered shield bearing the arms of Grand Master Jean de Vallette: the first and fourth quarters display his personal arms (a gyrfalcon and a lion), while the second and third quarters bear the eight-pointed cross of the Order of St. John. The shield is rendered in a late-Renaissance heraldic style typical of Hospitaller coinage. A circular legend in Latin surrounds the central device within a beaded border. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The Paschal Lamb (Agnus Dei), nimbed and recumbent, is depicted advancing to the left while turning its head to look back to the right; it supports with its right foreleg a tall staff from which a banner with a cross flies to the right. The figure is set within a plain inner circle, with the circular Latin legend distributed around the periphery and separated from the coin's milled outer border. The composition follows the established Hospitaller iconographic tradition of the Agnus Dei as a symbol of redemptive justice. |
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| Additional information |
Jean de Vallette served as Grand Master from 1557 until his death in 1568, and his tenure is defined almost entirely by one event: the Great Siege of 1565, in which Ottoman forces under Suleiman the Magnificent besieged Malta for four months and were ultimately repelled. The Order's survival was not guaranteed — at points the defenders numbered fewer than 700 Knights against an invading force estimated at 40,000.
The city of Valletta, founded immediately after the siege and named in his honor, was funded in part by contributions from Catholic monarchies across Europe grateful for the outcome. Coinage struck under his authority carries the weight of that moment.