Podcasts · The Story of Malta: The Fortress Island of the Mediterranean — Fexingo History
The Fortress of the Baptist: Malta's Great Siege in Fiction
· 7:22 · S4 E197
Episode The Fortress of the Baptist: Malta's Great Siege in Fiction
In 1565, the Ottoman Empire threw its might against the tiny island of Malta, defended by the Knights of St. John. But how do we know what really happened? This episode digs into the writings of the siege's chroniclers — from the Italian knight Francesco Balbi da Correggio to the Spanish nobleman Hipólito Sans — and separates the myth from the eyewitness accounts. We look at the early 'history' written by the Knights' own grand master, Jean de Valette, and the later, often theatrical accounts that shaped popular memory for centuries. Along the way, we discover how the siege was used as propaganda, how the figure of the Ottoman admiral Dragut was demonised, and why the 'Great Siege' became the defining myth of Maltese identity. Join Lucas and Luna as they sift through the ink and the gunpowder of history's most famous Mediterranean showdown.
#GreatSiege1565 #KnightsOfStJohn #OttomanEmpire #FrancescoBalbi #HipólitoSans #JeanDeValette #Dragut #MaltaHistory #MilitaryHistory #EarlyModernEurope #Historiography #SiegeWarfare #MediterraneanHistory #TurkishThreat #StElmo #GrandHarbour #History #FexingoHistory
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Transcript
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