Jean Parisot de Valette

Fra Jean Parisot de Valette, was a French nobleman and 49th Grand Master of the Order of Malta, fromAugust 1557 to his death in 1568. As a Knight Hospitaller, joining the order in the Langue de Provence, he fought with distinction against the Turks at Rhodes. As Grand Master, Valette became the Orders hero and most illustrious leader, commanding the resistance against the Ottomans at the Great Siege of Malta in 1565, sometimes regarded as one of the greatest sieges of all time.

He was born into the noble Valette family in Quercy, Southwestern France, which had been an important family in France for many generations, various members having participated in the Crusades. Jean Parisots grandfather, Bernard de Valette, was a Knight and Kings Orderly, and his father Guillot was a Chevalier de France. Jean Parisot was a distant cousin of Jean Louis de Nogaret de La Valette, first Duke of pernon.

Source: Wikipedia