ught to the head
of the Turkish state a ruler known by the significant name, Selim
the Drunkard. Weak and debauched as he was, nevertheless he aspired
to add to the Turkish dominions as his father had done. Accordingly,
he informed Venice that she must evacuate Cyprus. Previous to this
time Venice had succeeded, by means of heavy bribes to the Sultan's
ministers, in keeping her hold on this important island, but this
policy only tempted further arrogance on the part of the Turk.
Further, the time was propitious for such a stroke because Venice
was impoverished by bad harvests and the loss of her naval arsenal
by fire, Spain was occupied in troubles with the Moors, and France,
torn with civil war, wanted to keep peace with the Sultan at any
price. During the terrible siege of Malta Venice had remained neutral;
now that the danger came home to her she cried for help, and not
unnaturally there were those who sneered at her in this crisis
and bade her save herself.

The Pope, however, had long been anxious to organize a league of
Christian peoples to win back the Mediterranean to the Cross and draw
a line beyond which the Crescent should never pass. In this plight
of Venice he saw an opportunity, because hitherto the persistent
neutrality or the unwillingness of the Venetians to fight the Turk to
the finish had been one of the chief obstacles to concerted action.
He therefore pledged his own resources to Venice and attempted
to collect allies by the appeal to the Cross. The results were
discouraging, but a force of Spanish, Papal, and Venetian galleys
was finally collected and after endless delays dispatched to the
scene in the summer of 1570.

Meanwhile the Turks had been pressing their attack on Cyprus and
were besieging the city of Nicosia. If the Christians had been
moved by any united spirit they could have relieved Nicosia and
struck a heavy blow at the Turkish fleet, which lay unready and
stripped of its men in the harbor. But Gian Doria, who inherited
from his great uncle his great dislike of Venetians, and who probably
had secret instructions from his master, Philip II, to help as
little as possible, succeeded in blocking any vigorous move on the
part of the other commanders. Finally, after a heated quarrel, he
sailed back to Sicily with his entire fleet, and the rest followed.
The allies had gone no nearer Cyprus than the port of Suda in Crete.
The whole expedition, therefore, came to nothing.

In September N