ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an account, by the Japanese travellers, of the naval battles in which they usually engage in Europe. The propaganda and morale boost given to Catholic Europe by the victory at Lepanto should not be underestimated. The victory was commemorated in numerous paintings. In the Sala Regia in the Vatican the boys would have seen Giorgio Vasari’s frescos, commissioned by Gregory XIII, depicting the battle. Other paintings of the battle, copied from European originals, were produced by Japanese Christian artists. The geopolitical consequences of the battle were another matter. An attempt to salvage something from the collapse of Christendom by creating what, under the prevailing circumstances, was the next best thing to a crusade, the Holy League, did not outlast the victory. The division of Europe along religious and political fault lines and the economic self-interest of the participants themselves shattered the temporary unity the Holy League had provided.
