Claude de la Sengle

Fra ' Claude de la Sengle (* 1494 in France; † August 18, 1557 ) was September 11, 1553 to his death in the 48th Grand Master of the Order of Malta.

Born in France, was one of the Langue de France of the Order, and was already as Bailli ( fr., Overseer, Supreme a province of the Knights, the second- highest office of) his "tongue" in the battle of Malta against the Turkish corsair and admiral Turgut Reis in Mediterranean and North Africa, in particular to Djerba and Tripoli, involved. He was elected after the death of his predecessor Juan de Homedes his successor.

De la Sengle had a major role in the development of military- technical defenses and fortifications in Malta. Warned by Turguts attack in 1551 and his conquest of the neighboring island of Gozo, as well as the kidnapping of almost the entire population of the island into slavery, he left the Fort St. Michael, whose construction was begun in 1551 under Grand Master de Homedes, greatly expand and strengthen. From 1554 on, he had the building named after him and provided with his coat of arms city of Senglea on the ' L' Isla " said Peninsula perform parallel to Birgu. He also left the Fort St. Angelo and the fortifications of Birgu increase. To better protect the Grand Harbour, in 1552 he began the construction of Fort St. Elmo on the top of the Sciberras Peninsula, where, after the end of the Great Siege of 1565, the Order built a new capital city Valletta.

De la Sengle it was who first had the idea to set up a public library in Malta in 1555 and issued a statement to the effect that all the books from the legacy of dead or fallen knight should pass into the common property of the Order. However, the formal decision of the General Chapter establishing the Bibliotheca Publica was adopted in 1776 under the Grand Master Emmanuel de Rohan - Polduc.