THE SIEGE OF MALTA
1565.
The Grand Master of the Knights of Malta in 1565 was Jean Parisot de
la Valette. Born in 1494 of a noble family in Quercy, he had been
a Knight of St. John all his life, and forty-three years before had
distinguished himself at the siege of Rhodes. He had never left
his post at the "Convent" except to go on his "caravans,"[1] as the
cruises in the galleys were named. As a commander of the galleys of
the "Religion," as the Order called itself, he had won a name that
stood conspicuous in that age of great sea captains; and in 1557, on
the death of the Grand Master de la Sangle, the Knights, mindful of
the attack that was sure to come, elected La Valette to the vacant
office. No better man could be found even in the ranks of the Order.
Passionately religious, devoted body and soul to his Order and faith,
Jean de la Valette was prepared to suffer all to the death rather than
yield a foot to the hated infidel. Unsparing of himself, he demanded
utter sacrifice from his subordinates, and his cold, unflinching
severity would brook no hesitation.
Both sides spent the winter and spring of 1565 in preparations for
the great attack. The Grand Master sent a message to all the Powers
of Europe; but Philip II., who sent him some troops, and the Pope,
who sent him 10,000 crowns, alone responded to his appeal. The message
sent to the various commanderies[2] throughout Europe brought the
Knights in haste to the defence of their beloved Convent. The Maltese
Militia was organised and drilled and proved of great value in the
siege, and even 500 galley slaves were released on promise of faithful
service. Altogether La Valette seems to have had at his disposal about
9,000 men (though the authorities differ slightly as to the exact
figures). Of these over 600 were Knights with their attendants, about
1,200 were hired troops, about 1,000 were volunteers, chiefly from
Italy, and the remainder Maltese Militia and galley slaves.
The Turkish fleet at the beginning consisted of 180 vessels, of which
130 were galleys; and the troops on board consisted of about 30,000
men, of whom 6,000 belonged to the select troops of the Janissaries.
Twice during the siege the Ottomans received reinforcements: first,
Dragut himself with 13 galleys and 1,600 men, and later, Hassan,
Viceroy of Algiers and son of Khair-ed-Din Barbarossa, with 2,500
Corsairs. Altogether the Ottoman forces at the maximum, inclusive of
sailors, must have exceeded 40,000 men. A small reinforcement of 700
men, of whom 42 were Knights, contrived to steal through the Turkish
lines on June 29; but that was all the help the garrison received
before September.
[Illustration: PLAN TO ILLUSTRATE SIEGE OF MALTA 1565]
The Turkish army was under the command of Mustapha Pasha, and the
fleet under that of Piali. Both had received orders not to take any
steps without the advice of Dragut. It would have been far better for the
Turkish cause had the Corsair been in supreme command, for his skill
as an artilleryman was famous. But there had always been trouble in
the Ottoman fleet when a Corsair was in command. The proud Turkish
generals were unwilling to be under the orders of men who were of
doubtful antecedents, and whom they despised in their hearts as
low-born robbers. Even Barbarossa, acknowledged by all to be the
greatest seaman in the Turkish Empire, could not enforce strict
obedience in the campaign of Prevesa in 1538. The Grand Vizier Ibrahim
had seen the folly of putting generals in command of fleets, and had
therefore secured the promotion of Barbarossa: but Ibrahim was now
dead, and Solyman, bereft of his wise counsel, made a compromise.
On May 18 the Turkish fleet was sighted off the island, and almost
immediately the army disembarked, partly at Marsa Scirocco, and partly
at St. Thomas's Bay. The first misfortune was the non-appearance
of Dragut at the rendezvous, and in his absence Mustapha and Piali
decided to attack St. Elmo and to leave to Dragut the responsibility
of sanctioning the operations or breaking them off. Batteries were
erected on Mount Sceberras, in which ten 80-pounders were brought into
action, besides a huge basilisk throwing balls of 160 pounds, and two
60-pounder _coulevrines_. The Turks at the height of their power put
great faith in novel and massive artillery, which, though clumsy,
and at times more dangerous to their own gunners than the enemy, was
terribly effective at the short distance it was placed from St. Elmo.
The walls of the fortress soon began to crumble under the continuous
bombardment, and the garrison, which had been increased to 120
Knights and two companies of Spanish infantry, soon felt the position
untenable without reinforcements. As an attack had not yet been
delivered La Valette was incensed at the appeal for help and offered
to go himself to hold the fort; his council dissuaded him from doing
so, and he permitted 50 Knights and 200 Spanish troops to cross to St.
Elmo. It was of the utmost importance that St. Elmo should be held to
the last minute. Not only did it delay the attack on the main forts,
but Don Garcia de Toledo, the Viceroy of Sicily, had made it a
condition in his arrangements with the Grand Master, before the siege,
that St. Elmo must be held if the reinforcements from Sicily were to
be sent.
At this point--June 2--Dragut arrived with his galleys and expressed
nothing but disapproval for the Turkish operations. He pointed out
that the besiegers should have isolated the fortifications from the
rest of the island before proceeding to attack St. Elmo; but, as
the siege had started, he insisted on continuing it as vigorously
as possible. He erected a powerful battery on the summit of Mount
Sceberras, which swept both Fort St. Angelo and Fort St. Elmo, and
erected another on the headland opposite St. Elmo on the other side of
the Marsa Muscetto, which was henceforth known as Point Dragut.
As soon as this was done the bombardment restarted with relentless
fury. The Knights made a sortie to destroy some of the Turkish guns,
but were driven back, and the Turks then captured and held a covered
way leading up to a ravelin; a few days later, taking advantage of the
negligence of the garrison, they surprised the ravelin itself, and,
but for the efforts of a Spanish officer, would have captured the
fort. After desperate fighting the Knights were still holding the
fort, but had been unable to recapture the ravelin. The next day
another attack was made by Mustapha, but without avail; the ravelin
remained in Turkish hands, but it had cost them 2,000 men.
It was a great gain, however; two guns were mounted on it, and all the
Turkish artillery, including that of the galleys, began to play on the
hapless fort. It was no question of a breach; the walls were gradually
destroyed till there was nothing left of the enceinte but a mass of
ruins. Every part of the fort was directly exposed to the fire of
the two guns on the ravelin, and this exposure made the strain on the
Knights intolerable.
The garrison sent a Knight, renowned for his bravery, to report these
conditions to the Grand Master and to ask for permission to withdraw.
La Valette, feeling it imperative that the fort should hold out to the
last minute, sent him back with orders that it was to be defended to
the end. The garrison, amazed by his reply, sent a prayer for relief,
failing which they would sally forth, sword in hand, to meet their
death in open fight rather than be buried like dogs beneath the ruins.
The Grand Master received the request with the stern comment that, not
only were their lives at the disposal of the Order, but the time and
manner of their death; but to make sure that their complaints were
justified he would send three Knights to investigate the condition
of the fort. One of the three (probably in collusion with La Valette)
maintained the fort could be held, and offered himself to hold it with
volunteers, who were immediately forthcoming in large numbers; but
when the message arrived at St. Elmo announcing that the garrison was
to be relieved, there was consternation among the defenders, who, now
realising the ignominy of their prayer, sent out yet another request
to St. Angelo, this time to be allowed to hold St. Elmo to the death.
After some delay the Grand Master granted the permission.
This was June 14; on the 16th the Ottomans delivered a grand assault.
The fort was attacked on three sides, from Mount Sceberras and on each
flank. The guns of St. Angelo rendered great service all day by raking
the attacking forces in enfilade, and especially by breaking up the
flank attack from the side of the Grand Harbour. All day long the
battle went on with unabating fury; time after time the Janissaries
burst over the ruined walls, and each time they were repulsed.
Attacked on all sides, the few defenders fought with dauntless
heroism, and when the night fell the Maltese Cross still waved over
the fort.
Reinforcements were dispatched as soon as night set in, and the
volunteers far exceeded all requirements.
Now at last the Turkish commanders perceived that, to capture St.
Elmo, it must be isolated from St. Angelo. In the course of the next
few days a battery was constructed on the promontory at the entrance
of the Grand Harbour where Fort Ricasoli stood in later times, and
another was mounted on the side of Mount Sceberras to sweep the
landing place beneath the fort. Both batteries cost many Turkish
lives, but their construction and the extension of the investing
trenches to the Grand Harbour meant the complete isolation of St.
Elmo. The Turks sustained their greatest loss when Dragut, while
superintending the works, received a wound from which a week later he
died.
For three days twenty-six guns kept up the bombardment, and on the
early morning of June 22 another grand assault was made. Three times
repulsed and three times renewed, the attack failed in the end, and
the handful of surviving Knights was left at nightfall in possession
of their ruins. All attempts during the night to send reinforcements
failed under the fire of Dragut's new batteries, and La Valette saw
that his men were beyond all hope of rescue.
The sixty shattered survivors prepared for death; worn out, they
betook themselves at midnight to their little chapel, where they
confessed and received the Eucharist for the last time. Dawn found
them waiting, even to the wounded, who had been placed in chairs sword
in hand to receive the last onslaught. Incredible as it may appear,
the first assault was driven back, but the attack finally broke up
the defence, and, with the exception of a few Maltese who escaped by
swimming, the garrison perished to a man.
June 24, St. John the Baptist's Day, was one of sorrow inside the
beleaguered fortress. The Turks had soiled their victory by mutilating
their dead foes and throwing them into the Grand Harbour; La Valette
took reprisals, and from that time neither side thought of quarter.
Nor were the besiegers greatly elated; the tiny Fort of St. Elmo had
delayed them for five weeks and had cost them 8,000 men and their best
general. The Order had lost 1,300 men, of whom 130 were Knights, and
the disparity of the losses shows the impatience and recklessness of
the Turkish attacks.
Mustapha now transferred the main part of his army to the other side
of the Grand Harbour, and, drawing a line of entrenchments along the
heights on its eastern side, succeeded in investing completely the two
peninsulas of Senglea and Il Borgo. Batteries were established and a
constant bombardment commenced, the main target being Fort St. Michael
at the end of Senglea, on which a converging fire was brought to bear.
Unable to bring his fleet into the Grand Harbour under the guns of St.
Angelo, Mustapha had eighty galleys dragged across the neck of Mount
Sceberras and launched on the upper waters of the Grand Harbour. This
was a blow to the besieged, as it meant an attack by sea as well as
by land, and La Valette made all the preparations possible to meet the
danger. Along the south-west side of Senglea, where the beach is low,
he constructed, with the aid of his Maltese divers, a very firm and
powerful stockade to prevent the enemy galleys from running ashore,
and he also linked up Il Borgo and Senglea with a floating bridge.
On July 15 the Turks delivered a grand assault by sea and by land. The
attack by sea, under the command of the renegade Candellissa, proved
the more formidable. At the critical moment the defenders were thrown
into confusion by an explosion on the ramparts, during which the
Turks were able to make their way through the stockade and into the
fortress, being checked with difficulty by the desperate resistance of
the garrison and finally driven out by a timely reinforcement sent
by La Valette. Ten boatloads of troops sent by Mustapha incautiously
exposed themselves to the guns of St. Angelo and were almost all sunk,
while the attack on the land side, led by Hassan, Viceroy of Algiers
and son of Khaired-Din Barbarossa, proved an utter failure.
As at the siege of Rhodes, so at Malta, a distinct part of the
fortifications had been allotted to each langue to defend. The langue
of Castile held the north-east section of Il Borgo, which was destined
to be the scene of most desperate fighting.
On August 7 a joint attack was made on the land side of Senglea and on
the bastion of Castile. On that day the Turks came nearer success than
ever before or after. Mustapha's desperate attacks on Senglea were
at last successful: masters of the breach made by their guns, the
assailants' weight of numbers began to tell, and slowly the defenders
were being pushed back inside the fortress. At this moment, to
everyone's amazement, Mustapha sounded the retreat. The little
garrison of the Città Notabile, which had been left alone by the
Turks, had been raiding the enemy's lines as usual, and, hearing the
grand assault was in progress, had made a determined attack on the
Turkish entrenchments from behind, burning and slaying all they could
find. The confusion arising from this started the rumour that Sicilian
reinforcements had landed and were attacking the Turkish army.
Mustapha, in fear of being surrounded, drew off his troops in the
moment of victory.
Meanwhile,[3] farther north, the Bastion of Castile had been almost
captured by Piali. The rock at that part of the fortification was
extremely hard, and the possibility of mines had occurred to none of
the garrison. Piali, however, with great labour, had dug a mine which
had been sprung that morning and had blown a huge gap in the ramparts.
This unexpected attack threw the whole of Il Borgo into confusion,
and, but for the Grand Master's promptitude and coolness of mind, the
enemy had been masters of the fortress. Seizing a pike, La Valette
rushed into the fight, and, inspired by his example, the Knights
succeeded in driving the enemy out of the breach. He ordered the
garrison to remain there all night, as he expected an attack under
the cover of darkness, and insisted on taking the command himself. His
subordinates protested against this reckless exposure of a valuable
life, but his precautions were justified when a Turkish attack made in
the darkness was defeated by his prompt resistance.
The bombardment continued unceasingly, and on August 18 another
desperate assault was made, which, like the other, failed. Yet the
position of the besieged was becoming desperate: dwindling daily
in numbers, they were becoming too feeble to hold the long line of
fortifications; but, when his council suggested the abandonment of Il
Borgo and Senglea and withdrawal to St. Angelo, La Valette remained
obdurate.
Why the Viceroy of Sicily had not brought help will always remain a
mystery. Possibly the orders of his master, Philip II. of Spain, were
so obscurely worded as to put on his own shoulders the burden of a
decision; a responsibility which he was unwilling to discharge because
the slightest defeat would mean exposing Sicily to the Turk. He had
left his own son with La Valette, so he could hardly be indifferent to
the fate of the fortress, and Malta in Turkish hands would soon have
proved a curse to Sicily and Naples. Whatever may have been the cause
of his delay, the Viceroy hesitated till the indignation of his own
officers forced him to move, and then the battle had almost been won
by the unaided efforts of the Knights. On August 23 came yet
another grand assault, the last serious effort, as it proved, of the
besiegers; it was thrown back with the greatest difficulty, even the
wounded taking part in the defence. The plight of the Turkish forces,
however, was now desperate. With the exception of St. Elmo, the
fortifications were still intact. By working night and day the
garrison had repaired the breaches, and the capture of Malta seemed
more and more impossible. Those terrible summer months with the
burning sirocco had laid many of the troops low with sickness in their
crowded quarters; ammunition and food were beginning to run short, and
the troops were becoming more and more dispirited at the failure of
their numerous attacks and the unending toll of lives. The death of
Dragut, on June 23, had proved an incalculable loss, and the jealousy
between Mustapha and Piali prevented their co-operation. The whole
course of the siege had been marked by a feverish haste and a fear of
interruption, which showed itself in ill-drawn plans. Dragut himself,
early in the siege, had pointed out the necessity of more foresight,
but his warnings went unheeded. The Turkish commanders took few
precautions, and, though they had a huge fleet, they never used it
with any effect except on one solitary occasion. They neglected their
communications with the African coast and made no attempt to watch and
intercept Sicilian reinforcements.
On September 1 Mustapha made his last effort, but all his threats and
cajoleries had but little effect on his dispirited troops, who refused
any longer to believe in the possibility of capturing those terrible
fortresses. The feebleness of the attack was a great encouragement to
the besieged, who now began to see hopes of deliverance. Mustapha's
perplexity and indecision were cut short by the news of the arrival
of Sicilian reinforcements in Melleha Bay. Hastily evacuating his
trenches, he embarked his army; but, on learning that the new troops
numbered but some 8,000, was overcome by shame and put ashore to fight
the reinforcements. It was all in vain, however, for his troops would
not stand the fierce charge of the new-comers, and, helped by the
determination of his rearguard, safely re-embarked and sailed away on
September 3.
At the moment of departure the Order had left 600 men capable of
bearing arms, but the losses of the Ottomans had been yet more
fearful. The most reliable estimate puts the number of the Turkish
army at its height at some 40,000 men, of which but 15,000 returned
to Constantinople. It was a most inglorious ending to the reign of
Solyman the Magnificent.
[Footnote 1: A reminiscence of the Syrian days of the Order.]
[Footnote 2: The name given to the different estates of the
Hospitallers scattered throughout Europe: they were so called because
they were each in charge of a "commander," sometimes also named a
"preceptor," from his duty of receiving and training novices.]
[Footnote 3: Most historians make this event part of the attack of
August 18. But Prescott (_Philip II_., vol. ii., p. 428) points out
that Balbi, who is undoubtedly the best authority for the siege as he
was one of the garrison, places it on August 7.]