Love in time of war

The Order

Author: Peter Portelli Publisher: Midsea Books / 2023 Pages: 324

The siege of Malta, which we call the Great Siege of 1565, is justly acclaimed as important not just in the history of Malta but also in the wider history of the central Mediterranean.

It marked the end of the Ottoman incursions to the west of Malta which henceforth remained free of the terror of Turkish razzias, the capture of innocent people and their enslavement. After the Siege and also after the Battle of Lepanto, the Ottomans did not dare go to the west of Malta again.

The Siege of Malta was justly acclaimed all over Europe because of the huge armada sent by the Turks and the puny, insufficient and badly armed defenders of the island – the Knights, who were not sure they wanted to remain here, and the small and unarmed body of Maltese peasants, who successive regimes had kept poor, uneducated and disorganised.

The Ottomans had between 35,000 and 40,000 armed men while the Order could count on 600 knights, 900 soldiers from the Spanish Empire, 800 soldiers from Italian states outside the empire, 200 unaffiliated soldiers from Sicily and Greece (Rhodes) plus the Maltese farmers, sailors and the like.

In all, 6,100 defending Malta against 40,000 Turkish invaders.

Many books have been written about the Great Siege but the one being reviewed today is not only the latest but also one that includes a romantic sub-story, however improbable it might appear to some readers.

The love between Count Nikola from one of the island’s ancient aristocratic families and Maria, the beautiful daughter of indeterminate parentage, who lived in the troglodyte settlement of Ghar il-Kbir, was indeed improbable but, like most love stories, quite enchanting.

As the story develops, it was also a tragic one, quite in tune with the tragic events taking place around the Grand Harbour.

While the love story is clearly apocryphal, the details about the siege itself are all historical even though many readers might not have heard about them.

Thus, for instance, the surprise by the de Guiral battery at sea level at Fort St Angelo which put paid to the Turkish plan to attack by sea. The site is still there and may be visited, a stone’s throw from the megayachts anchored below Fort St Angelo.

So too are the details relating to the Maltese guerillas led by the redoubtable Toni Bajjada, Cejlu Tonna and Luqa Briffa, whose memory is kept alive today only because some streets are named for them. The poisoning of wells is true as is the story of the devastation wrought on the Turkish base camp just when the Turks thought that Malta was about to surrender.

I may be allowed a couple of dissenting points. I disagree with the renaming of the book from its original title The Armies of God to the anodyne The Order. I also disagree with the excision of the Prologue.

There are also some changes in names that will sound strange to Maltese readers. We have always known the leader of Malta as La Vallette, then this was changed to De Vallette, which may have been historically correct. In the book he becomes Valette, pure and simple.

We also used to know the incursors as Turks. They have now become Ottomans, again historically correct.

Through no fault on its part, the book is being published in the wake of the heightened tension following the 7 October massacre by Hamas on unarmed Israelis and the consequent raids on Gaza.

Actually, there is no politically correct right time to commemorate the Great Siege as can be seen by the repeated attempts to get the Great Siege on film. The account is always going to be bloody. But that is what really happened and the Maltese come out of it with honours. I hope that there will not be anyone who will come out singing Mitna ghall-barrani.