The Great Siege: Malta 1565
Cover
Forward
Chapter 1 - The Sultan of the Ottomans
Chapter 2 - Malta of the Knights
Chapter 3 - Grand Master La Valette
Chapter 4 - Defences of the Island
Chapter 5 - Preparations
Chapter 6 - Invasion Imminent
Chapter 7 -The attack begins
Chapter 8 -The first clash
Chapter 9 - Objective, St Elmo
Chapter 10 - The Janissaries
Chapter 11 - The arrival of Dragut
Chapter 12 - ‘A volcano in eruption…’
Chapter 13 - Sentence of death
Chapter 14 - St Elmo, the Eighth of June
Chapter 15 - Embattled fortress
Chapter 16 - The territory of the Knights
Chapter 17 - The fall of St Elmo
Chapter 18 - Bodies in the water
Chapter 19 - The Little Relief
Chapter 20 - The attack on Senglea
Chapter 21 - Arms and the men
Chapter 22 - Death in the Marsa
Chapter 23 - The great decision
Chapter 24 - Into the breach
Chapter 25 - ‘…The world was coming to an end’
Chapter 26 - No withdrawal
Chapter 27 - Dissensions in Sicily
Chapter 28 - The Relief
Chapter 29 - The last engagement
Chapter 30 - ‘We shall never take you’
Chapter 31 - The impregnable fortress
Bibliography
Notes
Glossary
Foreword
I first came to Malta in 1942, at a time when the island was enduring the second great siege in its history. I was then a naval officer, the navigator of a destroyer, and too busy to care about the island’s past, or that other great siege which had preceded the one in which I was involved, by nearly four centuries. In 1943 I revisited Malta during the invasion of Sicily. It was then that I saw the island fulfilling the role which Soleyman the Magnificent had envisaged for it in 1565. From Malta, the Allied Forces stormed and captured Sicily and Italy.
I returned to Malta in 1951, this time at the helm of my own small sailing yacht. I now had the leisure to learn something about Malta’s history, and about her first great siege. I was fortunate that Captain John Tothill, D.S.C., Royal Navy, was at that time Captain of Fort St Angelo. It was he who kindly allowed me to berth my boat in the small harbour that lies behind the fortress. For five months I lived in that narrow stretch of water which was once the moat separating St Angelo from the village of Birgu. It was here that the galleys of the Order were moored during the great siege.
During that time I grew to know every detail of the fortress, its bastions, its chapel, and its Council Chamber; as well as those long tunnels and caves beneath it, where the galley-slaves were formerly incarcerated. I did my daily shopping in the narrow streets and alleys of what is now called Vittoriosa, ‘The Victorious City’, but which is still ‘Birgu’ to the Maltese—as it has been for centuries. I visited all the places which had figured in the great siege of 1565. It seemed to me at times more real, and vivid even, than that second siege of only a few years ago.
Since then I have revisited Malta many times—in spring, summer, autumn, and winter. I have lived in several parts of the island, and have sailed all round the small archipelago. I have grown to know and respect its people. Without their kindness and assistance I would have found it difficult, if not impossible, to undertake this book.
The Great Siege of Malta was one of the decisive actions in the history of the Mediterranean—indeed, of the Western World. ‘Nothing is better known than the siege of Malta,’ remarked Voltaire. The fact remains that very little has been written on the subject in English—and this, notwithstanding that the island was confirmed a British possession as long ago as 1814. This lack of interest on the part of English-speaking historians may perhaps be traced to the fact that the English Langue of the Order of the Knights of St John had been dissolved several years before the siege took place. Certainly the bibliography is extensive in French, Italian, and Spanish. I have indicated at the end of this book the principal sources upon which I have drawn. I would in no way pretend that this is anything approaching a complete bibliography. The late Major H. E. Balbi, M.B.E., was collecting material for such a bibliography at the time of his death. It remains for some other student or research historian to complete his work.
In the recent past, Malta and its remarkable history have tended to be somewhat neglected—perhaps because the island’s name has been automatically associated with a naval and military garrison. It is noteworthy that it is only within the last ten years that the first comprehensive work on its architecture has been published: architecture which in many respects is more deserving of attention than that of many better known, and publicized, islands of the Mediterranean.
It is to be hoped that Malta has now withstood its last siege. With the current change in its status—from a fortified castle, as it were, to a country residence—it is likely that many historians, students, and art lovers will visit this remarkable small island. For Malta, as the traveller Patrick Brydone wrote to William Beckford in 1773, is ‘the epitome of all Europe’.
Maltese is a difficult language to read. For this reason I have not been logical in my orthography.
1 comment