He escaped single-handedly from a butt of malmsey. Later William of Orange would accomplish the same feat with no hands at all.

He invented ye olde crayzee strawe?

He betrayed the Spanish Armada somehow. With, um, a flock of carrier pigeons.

Actually, I think the crazee straw is a crucial element in the surviving-the-butt-of-malmsey trick.

I hope this question isn't too recondite, but I will refrain from hints as of yet; in the past I have woefully underestimated the collective wombat-cyber-brain.

He marked off the boundaries of Austria at night using an astrolabe.

Hmmm. I've read that poem, darnit, and cannot remember for the life of me...

My guess: he drove the Spanish Moors out of Austria, in the last known wide-scale use of the catapult in Europe.

There have been a couple of efforts in a sort of right direction. One clue -- there were lots of other people involved in John of Austria's accomplishment: he did the organizing and gets the credit. Many were not Austrians, and the achievement in question did not take place in a German-speaking part of Europe at all.

He got a bunch of monks together and got them all fired up when he said: "Hey you guys! Let's illuminate a manuscript!" which turned out to be the K.J. Bible? And that was the last time anyone hand-lettered a book, until Molly Katzen came along.

It was not the catapult, but that other flinging device, the trebuchet, in it's last major appearance, before it was eclipsed by the verdana and the tahoma.

Don defeated the Spanish somewhere with the crossbow.

EH?! What's that ya say there, Bill? Zzzzzz!

All right...the military-style answers are closer to the gold than any other others, but we need one of two magic words.

Bernhard Modern?

Is one of the two magic words truncheon?

No, it's the name of a people and/or a political entity. But "truncheon" is a good guess, in the sense that it's a very satisfying word to say.

Did he secretly establish the shadowy brotherhood of the Royal Historical Society during the explusion of The Spainish dogs from Holland?

[sings]
Span-ish dogs in Andalusia
Flyin' in with an Austrian named John...
[/sings]

Nope. Think "massive threats to all of Christian Europe."

That's too bad.

Massive threat to all of Christian Europe - "empirical science"?

Fought off the Mongol hordes with crossbows.

"Basque"
"separatists"

"bubonic"
"plague"

I only hope I get it before the Aussies come online.

slicing up eye balls
uh uh uh oh

girl you're so groovy
I want you to know

Ya'll are brutalizing me.

He did the home-office work for the Spanish Inquisition?

All right, looks like we'll have to make it simpler: who did John of Austria defeat, after cobbling together a multinational force, in a victory that inspired the admiration of even a strongly anti-Catholic ruler such as James VI? Either of two terms will be acceptable.

The extra credit is still up for grabs as well -- what technology had its swan song in this military engagement?

The technology: the lance?

The enemy: the Saracens?

At this stage of the game, I consulted the cerebellum of the wombat cyberbrain, the part that provides balance; that is, I asked my wife. She recalled how in Vienna today it's still a big deal that they repulsed the Ottomans.

So, I think Gavin got it with Saracens, although the magic words that BT sought may have been Ottomans or Turks. Probably Ottomans or Saracens. Don John would then be the reason that the first attempt at European Union (albeit Arabic-speaking) was thwarted, which would cause King James to sit up and cheer.

In case the lance was a glancing blow at the extra point, I'll say the suit of armor.

Not really to the point, but James had an extra reason to be peeved at the aptly named Don Juan of Austria: he wanted to marry his (James's) mommy. From EB:

"For several years Don Juan continued to chafe under the restraints his prudent brother imposed upon him, but in 1576 he was appointed governor-general of the Netherlands, then in open revolt against Spanish authority. Don Juan was at first reluctant to accept this difficult post and took it only on condition that he would be allowed to invade England and wed Mary Stuart, the Scottish queen then in captivity in England."

Now, we've had controversies here over whether "I asked me wife" constitutes a violation of the Basic (no-looking-it-up)Principles of the Quiz; at the moment, the consensus (on the part of those rooked thereby out of the winner's circle) is "it stinks," and everyone else seems not to care.

Never the one to buck the silent majority, I am tempted to hand the victory to Jonathan, regardless of the fact that it was his lovely and well-traveled wife who guessed correctly. The answer I was looking for was "defeated the Turks" or "defeated the Ottoman Empire."

The late 17th-century military push into Europe by the Ottoman Empire -- of which Vienna was the famous high-water mark -- was preceded by a late-16th C. offensive into the territoy claimed by Christendom via more southern and watery routes.

The forces of sultan Selim II --particularly his navy-- were formidable enough that the alarm was raised by both secular and papal authorities; John/Juan of Austria led a predominantly Spanish/Venetian force, called the "Holy League," to a massive naval victory at the battle of Lepanto, which was fought in the Greek Gulf of Patras. The Turks, who had been previously undefeated in major engagements by Christian naval forces, were routed. Supposedly 60,000 people were involved, among them Miguel de Cervantes, though I don't have that last on particularly good authority.

The technology that saw its last big fight at Lepanto was the rowed galley warship, which was the main fighting ship in this battle for both the Venetians and the Turks. One source suggests that 10,000 Christian galley slaves were freed. That sounds a bit exaggerated to me, but what do I know?

Now, before we say goodnight -- and I know you all are still riveted -- I have to address Gavin's answer. He did mention "the Saracens." Now, as far as the OED makes clear, "Saracens" are in medieval/early modern English parlance Arabs, sometimes North Africans, and only by extension Muslims in general. There is no direct "Saracen" = "Turk" equivalency. I just did a read-through of Othello and indeed Shakespeare refers to "the Turk" and "the Ottomites" often enough, and doesn't use "Saracen" at all (which, come to think of it, I could have guessed since surely that would have shown up in the OED entry; oh, well).

However, the OED also mentions the inn/tavern naming convention of the "Saracen's Head" and says that it is applied to the painted head of an Arab, Turk or other middle-eastern figure, with examples throughout the period. Which suggests that there's at least some linguistic spillage between Turk and Saracen -- and thus suggesting that Gavin's answer cannot be too easily dismissed.

I cannot, therefore, crown Jonathan the victor without first saluting the lance which, in the heat of battle, might just as well have won the day.

I offer the following not by way of apology, but merely in order to complete the historical record of WQ#89. After I asked my wife but before I had posted, I wondered aloud whether it was kosher to have her assistance. I quote her reply:

"If someone has had not only the good fortune but also the good sense to marry someone who can help you out with this information, it only makes sense to take advantage of it. Any fool can Google."

No, folks, you can't have her email address.

I am back! I didn't much get to Wombat over on the Isle just to the right of the Emerald Isle, but I did participate in a pub quiz, wherein I aced the section on the life and works of Chevy Chase, and could have won the thing for my team had I yelled out "Sulu" a bit sooner.

Came out as "spackle", it did.

Blimey.