Knights vs Ottomans: The Great Siege of Malta

The fate of the Mediterranean hung in the balance during this bloody battle between the Knights of St John and the armies of Suleyman the Magnificent in the summer of 1565. The Ottoman Empire had carved its way across three continents and now turned its sights to the tiny island of Malta. Tens of thousands of Ottoman troops descended. What followed was one of the most ferocious sieges of the 16th century: relentless bombardments, desperate hand-to-hand fighting and assaults on seemingly impregnable forts. Both the attackers and defenders were pushed close to breaking point. Dan is joined by Heritage Malta curator Kirsty Grech at Fort St Angelo - the Knight's headquarters during the siege - to tell the extraordinary story of bloodshed, resistance and survival. Made in collaboration with VisitMalta and Heritage Malta. If you'd like to visit Malta and see the history discussed in this episode, you can find out more at https://www.visitmalta.com Produced by Mariana Des Forges and edited by Matthew Wilson. With thanks to Jeffrey Powell, Liam Gauci, Patricia Ebejer, Priscilla Civelli, Jeremy Nikolai Amaira, Annie Woodman and Giles Jagger. Dan Snow's History Hit is now available on YouTube! Check it out at: https://www.youtube.com/@DSHHPodcast Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. You can also email the podcast directly at [email protected] mailto:[email protected]. Dan Snow's History Hit is a History Hit podcast. History Hit is part of Little Dot Studios, a Certified B Corp™. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Dan Snow?

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• 0:30Dan Snow?

  From the east came the fleet of the mighty Ottoman Empire, the one ruled over by Suleiman the Magnificent, a formidable assault force, 180 ships strong, carrying 40,000 men aboard, looming on the horizon to take control of Malta. It was 1565, and the fate of the Mediterranean hung in the balance. Standing in their way here were the Knights of St John, just 500 of them and a few thousand Maltese soldiers and civilians. The Knights' leader was Jean de Valet, a battle-hardened warhorse, a veteran, a grandmaster in his 70s. And there'd be nothing gentlemanly about this fight.

• 1:12Dan Snow?

  For four brutal months, harbors around me now became killing grounds. Cannonfire shook the island day and night. Time and again, the Ottomans launched assault after assault, particularly on Fort St Elmo, which is standing behind me now across the harbour. Again and again, the defenders refused to break. They fought back, and they stopped the Ottomans in their tracks. This is one of history's greatest David and Goliath stories. And today, on Dan Snow's History Hit, I'm in Malta to tell you all about it. It's a beautiful summer's evening, the air is balmy, the sun is setting over Valetta. I'm standing underneath the massive ramparts of Fort St Angelo, and that's where I'm meeting

• 1:55Dan Snow?

  Kirsty Grech, a curator with Heritage Malta, because this is where everything reached a crisis all those centuries ago. So join us for this tale of clashing empires as we discover how this little island shaped the fate of Europe in the 16th century.

• 2:16Dan Snow?

  Kirsty, good to see you.

• 2:17Speaker 01

  Good to see you as well.

• 2:18Dan Snow?

  It's so exciting doing a podcast right here where it all happened. Give me a sense, just quickly, what was going on at the height of the siege here in 1565? What would you have seen around us now?

• 2:27Speaker 01

  It would be complete madness, to be honest. Soldiers running around, preparing all the provisions, all the supplies. The Grand Master here at the very top, you know, giving all the instructions and all the orders, and just the sea filled with boats of people crossing the harbour.

• 2:43Dan Snow?

  Enemy really all around us, 360 degrees?

• 2:46Speaker 01

  Yes, yes, for sure. And going to the top and being able to have a perfectly clear view of what's happening at St Elmo and being able to redirect all the orders to the troops here and over there.

• 2:58Dan Snow?

  Let's go back to the beginning. Malta, it's a very small place, and yet it plays a big part in history. We seem to hear about it a lot. Talk me through the geography, why does Malta matter?

• 3:06Speaker 01

  Because we're sitting right at the centre of the Mediterranean. So it's always been, throughout history, everyone has always wanted to take over Malta because its strategic value is immeasurable.

• 3:17Dan Snow?

  So Sicily, 80 kilometres to the north, and North Africa?

• 3:22Speaker 01

  Very close as well.

• 3:23Dan Snow?

  Very close. And then, it's amazing, it's almost the same distance, is it? From Gibraltar to Gaza, to the Suez Canal today, it's pretty much exactly in the middle, isn't it?

• 3:32Speaker 01

  Yes, and so that has always been the goal for a lot of empires and a lot of people, that they wanted to make sure they have Malta, that they could control the trade routes.

• 3:44Dan Snow?

  And then Valetta, which we're looking at on now, the harbour, is an amazing natural harbour, which is something quite a rare thing. You can get sailing here, and no matter which direction the wind's coming from, you're going to be okay?

• 3:56Speaker 01

  Yes, and it's a very deep harbour as well. So that was one of the reasons why the Order of St John wanted it as well. It made a lot of sense for them.

• 4:03Dan Snow?

  Tell me about these knights, who are these people and why are they running Malta?

• 4:07Speaker 01

  So the Order of St John was originally a hospitaller order. They started out by helping out the sick and the injured in the Holy Land when the Crusades were taking part.

• 4:16Dan Snow?

  So people who have heard of the Knights Templar, the knights who are providing security for pilgrims, the Knights Hospitaller, what, they're sort of doing the same thing, but particularly around healthcare?

• 4:25Speaker 01

  Yes, yes, that's how they started out. And they created the order in 1099, and then the Second Grand Master chose to sort of create the military side of it, and they became a military order as well. And when they were kicked out of Rhodes by the Ottomans?

• 4:42Dan Snow?

  Because they're kicked out, well, they're kicked out of the Holy Land?

• 4:43Speaker 01

  Yes, yes.

• 4:44Dan Snow?

  At the famous Siege of Acre, amazing, that we've covered on the podcast. But then, and then, they end up in Rhodes, but then they're kicked out of Rhodes as well by the Ottomans?

• 4:53Speaker 01

  Yes, and they spend about six years looking for a new home, and they just can't seem to settle anywhere. And then Charles V does them, why not have Malta?

• 5:02Dan Snow?

  So the Holy Roman Emperor and the King of Spain, so such a powerful man, is Malta his to give? He just gives, he just, okay?

• 5:08Speaker 01

  Yes, that was how it was back in the day for us. And they didn't want it at first. People say, as in the sources say, that the order was very reluctant to have Malta at first, purely because we didn't have any fortified areas here or any good resources. So they didn't want it. And then Grand Master Lil Adam, the first one, said, we need this, we need a place to stay, so let's go for it.

• 5:31Dan Snow?

  We've got to put some roots down somewhere. And Malta at the time was a frontier, right? Because North Africa is Islamic, there's North African piracy attacking the coast of Europe and enslaving Europe. This, they would have had their hat, were they busy here the minute they arrived?

• 5:46Speaker 01

  They were busy with preparing the fortifications, including this one, this was the first one. They were very busy, basically prepping, because they knew that a siege was very close on the horizon.

• 5:56Dan Snow?

  It's going to be contested. So there are these fingers, these peninsulas, that stick into the harbour, and on the tip of each one, the order of the knights, they build a fort on the tip of each one?

• 6:08Speaker 01

  Yes, they try to strengthen practically every area where they think that the Ottomans could land. So they start, of course, with St Angelo, because this is their headquarters.

• 6:16Dan Snow?

  That's where we are now.

• 6:17Speaker 01

  Yes, where we are now. And then to the left of Fort St Angelo, where there is Sanglia, the other city.

• 6:23Dan Snow?

  And that's another sort of promontory that comes out?

• 6:25Speaker 01

  That one is further into the harbour, and that is also fortified by a new fort, Fort St Michael. And then at the entrance of the Grand Harbour, there's Fort St Elmo. So if you are entering the harbour from sea, the first thing you will see is Fort St Elmo. And then slowly you will start seeing these small peninsulas.

• 6:43Dan Snow?

  So you've got to go one, you've just got to attack them and take them one after the other? I cannot overstate for people who are listening to this just how powerful this fortification is. I mean, massive ramps leading up to huge walls, really, really high, incredibly thick, just brilliantly set up for defence. How much of what we're sitting now dates back to that period of the knights?

• 7:03Speaker 01

  A big chunk of it. So this goes back even further than the knights. And then when the knights came, they started fortifying it. They fixed up the palace, as you can see, and they made it larger because this became the residence of the Grand Master. And basically, they introduced the military architecture of the Italian style.

• 7:22Dan Snow?

  More Renaissance, so less the sort of medieval tall castle, more these sloping walls, diamond stuff shaped fortifications? So designed for artillery as well as?

• 7:31Speaker 01

  Yes, yes, because gunpowder was introduced in Europe, and so they had to obviously keep up with the times. And in fact, they built the first bastion here, Fort St Angelo, because this was the first place they settled in. So they brought with them this architecture style, which was known as the Traccia Italiana, and they created these bastions, like you're saying, you know, protruding outwards with an angle, strong ramparts, and also thick, because now gunpowder could actually infiltrate pretty well. So they had to build bastions that are strong, low, of course, and filled with earth so that the impact of the gunpowder wouldn't be as intense. So one of the Grand Masters, Domades, to whom we have the bastion actually dedicated

• 8:13Speaker 01

  to, he was the one who really pushed for the construction of these forts, because they realised by then, by 1552, that they were practically doomed. So they needed to really start, you know, pushing for things to get done.

• 8:26Dan Snow?

  Did they imagine they'd be able to get to the other forts by land? Or did they think an enemy army might control the land, they'd have to just go in little boats between the forts? It's a kind of strange way of organising yourself.

• 8:36Speaker 01

  They worried from both, from both sorts of ways. So they had to construct the bastion because they were fearing that they would be attacked from the land, and in fact, they were. But they also, from Fort St Angelo to Fort St Michael and Sanglia, they had a chain running beneath the water to sort of, sort of like the boom defence?

• 8:58Dan Snow?

  Yeah, to block it off, to block it off the boats.

• 9:00Speaker 01

  Exactly, so they had that. And it's visible in one of the paintings found at the Grand Master's palace, that's how we know about it.

• 9:07Dan Snow?

  Okay, so you're fortifying, the sea would end, the land would end, you're putting chains between them, just, it's a massive operation, sounds very expensive.

• 9:15Speaker 01

  Yeah, very expensive and definitely a headache for the Grand Master.

• 9:20Dan Snow?

  And the build-up to this siege, you've got constant building work, just local people being conscripted and just building these massive fortifications?

• 9:28Speaker 01

  Yes, and to think of being a Maltese living here and seeing all this construction taking place, that must have been crazy at the time, because suddenly, you know, the things that you're familiar with, they're no longer there, they're changing. So that must have been strange for the people living here as well.

• 9:43Dan Snow?

  In the late 1550s, the Knights of St John were right to build their fortifications high and their defences strong. The Ottomans were tearing across Europe and the Mediterranean. The forces of Suleiman the Magnificent, fearsome on both land and at sea. They'd been locked in an arduous campaign against the Habsburgs in central Europe. They'd been fighting the Persians. They'd rampaged across the Mediterranean and the Near East, taking control of Greece, the Balkans, western Anatolia, Egypt and much of the Red Sea. The fleets of the Spanish, Venetians and Genoese were locked in fierce battles with the great Ottoman commanders like the infamous Dragut, one of the most feared corsairs of the 16th century. It was only a matter of time before they arrived at Malta.

• 10:26Dan Snow?

  But the Knights of St John also had a formidable leader of their own, the battle-hardened Grand Master, Jean de Valet, whom the capital city of Valetta is now named after.

• 10:38Dan Snow?

  Tell me about the Grand Master that is elected in 1557, this new Grand Master.

• 10:42Speaker 01

  Grand Master La Valet. So, well, he is, I think, I think it's safe to say he is one of the most popular ones, if not the most famous one for the Order, because he actually led the Order of Saint John and Malta during the siege. He had actually been a slave for the Ottomans as well.

• 11:01Dan Snow?

  He was captured, wasn't he?

• 11:02Speaker 01

  Yes, he was captured.

• 11:03Dan Snow?

  In a naval battle or...

• 11:03Speaker 01

  Yes, yes.

• 11:05Dan Snow?

  And worked as a gal-- well, was put to work as a galley slave.

• 11:08Speaker 01

  And yes, he led the Order during the siege and he did a phenomenal job because he kept pushing through even when the knights of Saint Elmo were telling him to back down. He kept on going and he was already past the age of 70, so...

• 11:21Dan Snow?

  They've got a very-- he's a very effective commander for the knights?

• 11:24Speaker 01

  Yes, yes, 100% sure. But also the Ottomans had very good leaders as well, so that also played a big part, especially when Dragut came over then.

• 11:33Dan Snow?

  So you can imagine the sort of 10,000 defenders, including Maltese civilians and knights and hired mercenaries from Italy, things like that. What's the first sign that the Ottomans are in fact coming that summer, 1565?

• 11:48Speaker 01

  So, they see them from the horizon when they are at Saint Elmo on the 18th of May and they see a massive, massive fleet approaching the horizon and even just to think of that...

• 12:02Dan Snow?

  That's a terrifying moment.

• 12:03Speaker 01

  That's have been crazy and they immediately alerted and sent a signal from the fort and that's when things started rolling.

• 12:11Dan Snow?

  And we should remember that people would be expected, if they're defeated in battle, if they hold out in the defeat in battle, they could be, well, killed, enslaved. This is an existential threat, so it's a fight for death, really.

• 12:23Speaker 01

  Yes, yes, and it really was for some knights. There were knights who were ready to die for their religion and they didn't hesitate.

• 12:33Dan Snow?

  And at that time, the Ottomans had been pretty dominant, haven't they? They've marched across South East Europe, they've marched across the Mediterranean. They, a lot of people would have thought they were unstoppable.

• 12:43Speaker 01

  Yes, yes, and I think that was also the mindset that they had and that's why they went to attack Saint Elmo, because they believed that in a few days they could win and move on to the next thing.

• 12:53Dan Snow?

  So is that the first fort they attacked? So it's on the tip of what is now Valetta, probably the closest really to the open sea, isn't it?

• 13:00Speaker 01

  Yes, yes, and at the time there wasn't Fort Tricasi like there is today, because that came about a century and so later. So it was the first fort they saw, much smaller than it is today, it was just a small star-shaped fort.

• 13:13Dan Snow?

  This is also, this is the beginning of the gunpowder age you mentioned earlier, like the ships carrying cannon, they've got cannon to put on the land. So is artillery a big part of this siege?

• 13:21Speaker 01

  Yes, yes. Malta didn't have enough actually to keep up with the Ottomans. The Ottomans were far better in terms of artillery, they were equipped much better than us, so we struggled a lot.

• 13:34Dan Snow?

  So the Ottoman fleet of around 190 ships arrived in the Grand Harbour, carrying an estimated 35,000 soldiers. They didn't strike immediately at Fort St Angelo, the knights' stronghold, their headquarters. They turned their sights instead to Fort St Elmo, a small strategically placed fort that guards access to two of Malta's main harbours. Whoever controls that fort, controls access to those harbours. On the 27th of May, the Ottomans opened fire. Contemporary sources describe hundreds of cannon firing almost continuously, day after day, Fort St Elmo took a pummeling. Walls were smashed apart into little more than piles of rubble. But every night, the knights inside did their best to rebuild their defences. They repaired the breaches, they hauled fresh ammunition, they treated the wounded.

• 14:20Dan Snow?

  They were ready for another onslaught the following day.

• 14:24Speaker 01

  I think due to sort of, through the way that the Grand Master was able to give out the orders, I think that's what really made the difference, because for him, he wanted to tire out the Ottomans by letting them fight and fight.

• 14:39Dan Snow?

  So the Ottoman army is spending weeks just battering the walls with its cannons and trying to create breaches in the walls that they can attack through?

• 14:45Speaker 01

  Yes, yes. So because they built the fort in such a short time, in about six months only, they didn't build it as well as they should have. So when the Ottomans were here, they were, they found it quite easy to actually climb up and demolish certain walls and that's how they gained access into the fort. And then, you know, they were able to slowly, slowly, little by little, take small parts until eventually there were about eight knights left in the fort and they just surrendered.

• 15:11Dan Snow?

  So it's, at times there were, there would have been hand-to-hand fighting in those breaches and they're just taking, they're just advancing just a few metres at a time?

• 15:19Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 15:20Dan Snow?

  Like First World War, the kind of fighting we think about in the First World War?

• 15:22Speaker 01

  Yes, yes, and in fact, people, in some sources, they record that people from Fort St Angelo and from this side of the harbour, they could actually see Fort St Elmo up in flames and they say that was a really scary thing to see. And of course, I mean, I can imagine.

• 15:39Dan Snow?

  But St Elmo does its job and it holds out for a month?

• 15:42Speaker 01

  For a month, yes, for a month exactly.

• 15:45Dan Snow?

  By the night of the 22nd of June, Fort St Elmo was in ruins. The handful of surviving defenders knew the end was coming. They gathered in the fort's tiny chapel to celebrate mass. They prepared themselves not for victory, but for death. Hours later, as the Ottoman troops poured through the shattered walls, the knights were driven back once again to the chapel, where it now became their final refuge. In that chapel, one by one, they were slain. As the sun on the 23rd of June reached its zenith, all the remaining knights were dead and Fort St Elmo had fallen.

• 16:23Dan Snow?

  This is Dan Snow's History here, more after this.

• 16:39Dan Snow?

  As this is going on, what's the attitude like between the two armies? Is there a really big religious divide? Is there a particular viciousness to this warfare?

• 16:47Speaker 01

  Yes, they were constantly trying to show each other how cruel they were in fact. So when the last defenders of Fort St Elmo gave out and they were killed immediately, what they did was they cut their heads and they stuck their bodies on wooden rafts in the shape of a cross and they threw them out into the sea as a warning to the Grand Master that this is what's going to happen to you. And funnily enough, the Grand Master, it is said that he reported back to them by firing the heads of the Ottomans from the cannons from Fort St Angelo.

• 17:21Dan Snow?

  So this is, there's no surrender, no quarter given? It's, everyone knows the fight for death, everyone knows what's at stake?

• 17:28Speaker 01

  Yes, yes. They tried to carry out an attack against Sanglia, but from Fort St Angelo, they are able to practically almost drown all the boats.

• 17:38Dan Snow?

  Right, so any Ottoman boats trying to get further into the harbour have to come past where we're sitting now?

• 17:43Speaker 01

  Of course, yes.

• 17:44Dan Snow?

  And all those boats can be sunk by cannon fire?

• 17:46Speaker 01

  Yes, yes, because the thing is that there is a very small battery right on the sea level.

• 17:52Dan Snow?

  Where we are now, just down here?

• 17:53Speaker 01

  And the Ottomans didn't realise that there was a battery with a commander and, you know, soldiers lined up with cannon and then when they started firing, of course, they were taken by surprise. And that was already July, that was 15th of July, so it's now you're about a month and so into the siege.

• 18:13Dan Snow?

  And the Ottomans are trying to capture the strong points just over here to the south and the one we're on now. Are they also trying to put troops ashore and attack from the landward ends of these peninsulas?

• 18:22Speaker 01

  Yes, but from the landfront, from the other side, because that part, I'm sure you've noticed, sitting at a higher ground than Fort St Angelo is. So they knew that if they didn't have that best shield at least to defend them, they would completely sort of fall to that. So they had to protect the landfront as well.

• 18:42Dan Snow?

  Okay, so yeah, so the knights are building, they've got the, they've got the fight against the Ottomans at sea at this end and they're also fighting them in sort of, you know, entrenchments and barricades at that end as well?

• 18:51Speaker 01

  Yes, yes.

• 18:53Dan Snow?

  What are conditions like in that fort through July? What are conditions like where we're sitting now? Were they running, were they enough food and water or were things getting pretty tough?

• 19:04Speaker 01

  For the, for the Order, I think they were doing fine. It was for the Ottomans that was the issue, because what the, what the Order and the Maltese were doing, they were practically using the scorched earth tactic, where they would just bury everything behind them. And so the Ottomans couldn't find any food, nothing, and that's how they started losing their morale and panicking, because keep in mind, it's the middle of summer, it's really intense for them, so...

• 19:30Dan Snow?

  Incredibly hard. What is the tactics of the Grand Master? Does he just want to try and delay them, delay them and hope that they have to return home before the winter?

• 19:38Speaker 01

  Yes, he just wanted to completely let them lose as many people as they could and practically lose all their morale until they give up. And in fact, it is said that, one of the leaders said that if Fort St Elmo took so long to take, what price do we have to pay to win over Fort St Angelo?

• 20:00Dan Snow?

  And what about the Maltese, because they're just caught up in this enormous fight between these two, in some ways, these two foreign powers. Are they, are they taking part in the defence?

• 20:10Speaker 01

  Yes, yes, they did take part, because actually a big number of defenders were actually Maltese who were taking part, especially in M'dina, where they had a whole cavalry there and people were willing to sign up and fight, keeping in mind that the Order had only been here for about 30 years, so it wasn't something that they were completely familiar with.

• 20:35Dan Snow?

  They weren't bought in yet entirely, yeah.

• 20:36Speaker 01

  Exactly, exactly, and even women took part, they helped out nursing them, they also went out to fight as well, so quite...

• 20:47Dan Snow?

  I guess they knew that whatever happened to the knights, they were, it wouldn't be great for them if the Ottomans won, so... And after that summer, they must have been suffering from, well, they've lost loads of casualties?

• 20:56Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 20:57Dan Snow?

  Food, illness, it must have been grim.

• 21:00Speaker 01

  Yes, especially because they are running out of supplies now, out of food, out of water, the heat is insane, it's horrible, and when you actually keep in mind the stuff that they're wearing as well, that doesn't really help. So by then, they start to just slowly, slowly give up.

• 21:19Dan Snow?

  July and August were brutal for both sides. The endless pounding of thousands of cannonballs on the walls of Fort St Angelo, destroying the churches, the hospitals, the houses of the Maltese town of Burgu behind the fort. In return, Ottoman ships were smashed to pieces by the knights' firepower from the fort's batteries. The invaders made what would be really their last serious assault in early August, when they attacked Birgu and the nearby town of Sanglia simultaneously. The Ottomans, amazing, they did breach the walls and there was bloody hand-to-hand combat in the streets. It seemed for a while they'd got the upper hand, but the knights retaliated with cunning. A commander at the inland Maltese fortress capital Medina sent a very small Maltese cavalry force to raid an Ottoman field hospital and supply

• 22:04Dan Snow?

  camp. Rumours spread quickly through the Ottoman ranks that a large relief army had arrived. The Ottoman commander Mustafa Pasha broke off the assault and the Ottomans retreated on the very verge of victory. As August drew to a close, the Ottomans and knights were fighting a war of attrition, both struggling with disease, food shortages and mountain casualties. The Ottomans were also on the back foot because they'd lost some of the most experienced field commanders, like the formidable Dragut. It seemed neither side would be able to force a decisive breakthrough. Then, on the 7th of September 1565, relief arrived. Eight thousand Spanish, Italian and Sicilian troops, sent by Don Garcia, under the auspices of

• 22:46Dan Snow?

  Philip II of Spain, landed on Malta from nearby Sicily and marched towards the exhausted Ottoman army. The knights had been begging for reinforcements for weeks, but it was better late than never. So the relief force arrives right at the beginning of September, and that must have been a devastating blow to the Ottomans.

• 23:05Speaker 01

  For sure, and that was, I think that was the final point for them, and that's when they officially surrendered to Malta.

• 23:10Dan Snow?

  So they've lost their commander, the other side are being strengthened. Do they just abandon the siege, or do they surrender? What happens to the Ottoman forces?

• 23:19Speaker 01

  As far as I know, I think they surrendered.

• 23:22Dan Snow?

  Okay. What do you think that meant at the time?

• 23:28Speaker 01

  Well, it definitely meant that Christianity was prevailing, and in fact, the order received a number of letters from kings in Europe congratulating him for this triumph.

• 23:44Speaker 01

  And it went down really, really well, but it definitely didn't reduce the Ottomans' power or legitimacy.

• 23:54Dan Snow?

  So it wasn't a decisive defeat for them?

• 23:57Speaker 01

  Exactly. I think today we do tend to give it a bit of more of a push, sort of, because it's the Great Siege of Malta. But on a more European level, the Ottomans still remained as an empire for quite a long time.

• 24:11Dan Snow?

  Yeah, still a powerful force.

• 24:13Speaker 01

  Exactly.

• 24:15Dan Snow?

  And what about the changes in Malta? Because Valletta, the capital now, named after Valletta, I mean, was that city built in the aftermath of the siege?

• 24:22Speaker 01

  Yes, yes. So the idea of building a city had been there for quite some time, and then as soon as the siege ended, they started working on that immediately and on fixing St Elmo, of course. And unfortunately, Grand Master Laval did not see, did not live to see the city finished, because he passed away.

• 24:42Dan Snow?

  So the city that we see today is a sort of planned Renaissance city?

• 24:46Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 24:46Dan Snow?

  Built after the destruction of the siege?

• 24:48Speaker 01

  Yes, yes. It is often been told, been said that it is a city by the gentleman for the gentleman.

• 24:55Dan Snow?

  Oh, okay.

• 24:56Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 24:57Dan Snow?

  Have to check it out. But he dies, what, just two or three years after the siege?

• 25:01Speaker 01

  Yes, yes. And the order moves to the capital city in about, I think, 1571?

• 25:09Dan Snow?

  Okay.

• 25:10Speaker 01

  Or 75, yes. And that's when they shift everything from Birgu to Valletta.

• 25:15Dan Snow?

  So where we are now?

• 25:16Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 25:16Dan Snow?

  So this stops becoming their sort of headquarters, okay.

• 25:19Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 25:19Dan Snow?

  And is the siege still remembered in Malta today, or is it seen as somebody else's fine?

• 25:24Speaker 01

  Today?

• 25:24Dan Snow?

  Yeah.

• 25:24Speaker 01

  Oh, no, it's still well remembered, and I think people feel very proud of the Great Siege, despite happening, despite the fact that it happened so long ago.

• 25:34Dan Snow?

  Is it commemorated? Are there annual commemorations?

• 25:36Speaker 01

  Yes, here. We carry out on 8 September, which is a public feast actually for us, we carry out a mass in one of the chapels in the forts, and we create a whole event out of it to mark this important occasion for us.

• 25:51Dan Snow?

  Malta regards it as a kind of Maltese victory, because I think traditionally it was seen as like the Valletta and the knights of the order. But actually, it was the majority of the, it was Maltese who probably made it, the majority of the troops who did the building, who did the fighting, who kept the army supplied. So actually, it is, it's their victory?

• 26:08Speaker 01

  Yes, yes, 100%. I agree, definitely. And I think it's good to remember it as well, because it's definitely part of our history. And if things went the other way, and if the Ottomans won and we became a part of the Ottoman Empire, our history would have been incredibly different than it is today. So it's definitely a big part of our identity, I would say.

• 26:30Dan Snow?

  Did the Ottomans ever try and come back?

• 26:32Speaker 01

  They did, yes. They tried in the 17th century, but they weren't successful either.

• 26:37Dan Snow?

  Right. I mean, you're going to Valletta Harbour today, and it's an awesomely fortified position.

• 26:42Speaker 01

  Yes, and a lot of visitors who would travel to Europe at the time, they would comment on how heavily fortified the city is, and the harbour, actually, because today, I mean, you don't see any guns placed anywhere, but at the time, it was filled with cannon and guns, so it was very intimidating for anyone who would enter the harbour.

• 27:01Dan Snow?

  It feels like you're on the frontier town. I mean, it's like this is the front line in this great town.

• 27:08Speaker 01

  Yes, yes, for sure.

• 27:10Dan Snow?

  So if people want to come to Malta and see the places where this siege happens, what is there left today?

• 27:16Speaker 01

  Well, all their fortifications.

• 27:18Dan Snow?

  Still there?

• 27:18Speaker 01

  Yes, still there, still a remnant to the past, basically. And all the oberrges that they've built, everywhere that they've touched, I mean, they've made Malta the country as it is today. So everywhere you will turn, you'll see something from the period of the knights.

• 27:33Dan Snow?

  So these now, so just where we are now, we've got a fortress, then there's a beautiful sort of community just beyond it, very narrow alleyways and squares and churches, lots of that would have been as it was at the time of the siege?

• 27:43Speaker 01

  Yes, yes. They created a large community there in Birgu, and basically, the harbour area of Malta is as great as it is, thanks to the order of St John, because they fortified it, they created a lot of jobs. People moved from the north and centre of Malta to the south to find, to find the jobs and to find a home. And it's really created a good, a good example of what they've left for us.

• 28:13Dan Snow?

  So actually, for you, it's quite easy to visualise this siege, because so much of the infrastructure is still here today.

• 28:18Speaker 01

  Yes, for sure. I mean...

• 28:19Dan Snow?

  And a lot of those big, powerfully built buildings proved very useful in the Second World War, when the Brits and Allies were trying to protect Malta against the Axis powers.

• 28:28Speaker 01

  Yes, and they were successful again.

• 28:31Dan Snow?

  Well, thank you very much, Kirsty. If you want to come and check out the sites that Kirsty's been talking so beautifully about, come and see the places where the Great Siege played out, then you can do so. This podcast has been supported by Visit Malta and Heritage Malta for our first on-location filmed podcast, which you can watch on YouTube. If you want to come, just go to www dot visitmalta dot com. We're going to put that link in the show notes. Come and check it out.

• 29:18Dan Snow?

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