Fabrizio del Carretto

Fabrizio del Carretto (1455 – 10 January 1521) was an Italian nobleman and the 43rd Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller from 1513 to 1521.

Fabrizio del Carretto
Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller
In office
13 December 1513 – 10 January 1521
Preceded byGuy de Blanchefort
Succeeded byPhilippe Villiers de L'Isle-Adam
Personal details
Born1455
Finale Ligure
Died10 January 1521
Rhodes
NationalityItalian
Military service
AllegianceSovereign Military Order of Malta Knights Hospitaller

Carretto was born in Finale Ligure in Liguria in 1455, the fourth child of Giovanni del Carretto, Marquis of Finale, and of his wife, Valentina Adorno, daughter of Barnaba Adorno, Doge of Genoa. His older brother was Cardinal Carlo Domenico del Carretto.[1]

Having entered the Knights Hospitaller at a young age, Carretto spent some years in Rhodes but in 1491 he returned to Italy, where he obtained from Pope Innocent VIII the commandry of Santa Maria of the Temple of the Holy Cross in Milan.

An able organizer, Carretto was repeatedly instructed by the Order to set up galleys and ships in Genoa to be used in the defence of Rhodes, and in 1500 he was appointed captain of the galleys. However, in 1502 he settled in Rome because the Grand Master made him Procurator General of the Order to the Holy See. In 1505, he became bailiff of St. Euphemia. In 1509, he became Admiral of the Order and, consequently, head of the Italian Langue. He was entrusted with important tasks by Pope Julius II, whom he accompanied to the Fifth Council of the Lateran in 1512.[2] He then returned to Rhodes, where he conducted two ships in the service of the Order.

On November 24, 1513, Grand Master Guy de Blanchefort died near the island of Zakynthos, but the news did not reach Rhodes until December 13. Two days later on December 15 Carretto was elected Grand Master.[3] In the seven years of his government, he strengthened the defenses of the city of Rhodes and the other islands of the Dodecanese, providing the fortresses with abundant food supplies and artillery.

Carretto died in Rhodes, after a short illness, on January 10, 1521. He was the last Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller to die in Rhodes. During the reign of his successor Philippe Villiers de L'Isle-Adam, the Order lost Rhodes to the Ottoman Empire and later moved to Malta in 1530.

Coat of arms of Fabrizzio del Carretto

Notes
  1. Louis-François de Villeneuve-Bargemont, Monumens des grands-maitres de l'ordre de Saint Jean de Jérusalem ou vues des tombeaux élevés à Jérusalem, à Ptolémais, à Rhodes, à Malte, etc., accompagnés de notices historiques sur chacun des grands-maitres (Paris: J. J. Blaise, 1829), t. 1, p. 243.
  2. Villeneuve-Bargemont, t. 1, p. 241 and 244.
  3. Villeneuve-Bargemont, t. 1, p. 243.
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