Piero de Ponte

Fra' Piero del Ponte (26 August 1462 – 17 November 1535) was the 45th Grand Master of the Order of Saint John between 1534 and 1535.

Piero del Ponte
Grand Master of the Order of Saint John
In office
26 August 1534 – 17 November 1535
MonarchKing Charles II
Preceded byPhilippe Villiers de L'Isle-Adam
Succeeded byDidier de Saint-Jaille
Personal details
Born26 August 1462[?]
Asti, Holy Roman Empire (modern Italy)
Died17 November 1535(1535-11-17) (aged 73)
Hospitaller Malta
Resting placeChapel of St Anne, Fort St Angelo, Birgu, later reburied at St John's Co-Cathedral, Valletta
Military service
AllegianceSovereign Military Order of Malta Order of Saint John
Battles/warsSiege of Rhodes
Conquest of Tunis

He hailed from Asti, in northern Italy and was a descendant of the ancient family of Casal-Gros and Lombriax. He became a Knights Hospitaller and was the Order's governor of the island of Lango when Rhodes fell to the Ottomans on New Year's Day 1523, and was still there in 1534 when he received the news of his election to the office of Grand Master of the Order, to succeed Philippe Villiers de L'Isle-Adam at Malta. After he was elected he spent two months in Calabria, and arrived in Malta on 10 November 1534.

The first coins of the Order to be minted in Malta were stuck during del Ponte's reign.[1] In June 1535 the Grandmaster sent the Order's navy to fight in the victorious conquest of Tunis.[2]

Del Ponte died on 18 November 1535, 15 months after his election. He was buried in the Chapel of St Anne in Fort St. Angelo, Birgu, Malta. Eventually his remains were interred in the crypt of St. John's Co-Cathedral in Valletta.[3]

References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pierino de Ponte (GM 45).
  1. "Coinage of the Knights in Malta". The Coinage of Malta. Central Bank of Malta. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
  2. "1535: la presa di Tunisi". Oratores el Bellatores. Retrieved 30 September 2014.
  3. Mallia-Milanes, Victor (2008). The Military Orders: History and heritage. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing Limited. p. 62. ISBN 9780754662907.


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