# The Great Siege's Unsung Hero: Francesco Balbi's Malta

An episode of [The Story of Malta: The Fortress Island of the Mediterranean — Fexingo History](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1895465859), 14 Aug 2026, 5:23.

Audio: https://audio.fexingo.com/history/the-story-of-malta/episode-0200.mp3

In 1565, when the Ottoman armada descended on Malta, a Spanish soldier named Francesco Balbi da Correggio kept a private diary of the siege. His account, later published as 'The Siege of Malta', remains one of the most vivid and candid records of that brutal summer. In this 200th episode, Lucas and Luna explore Balbi's narrative: his fears, his sharp observations of the knights' leadership, his blunt accounts of the fighting at Fort Saint Elmo, and the controversies his work stirred. They compare his soldier's-eye view with the grander histories written later, and ask what Balbi's voice reveals about the siege's reality—and about how history is remembered. From the 'corso' raids to the politics of the Grand Master, this episode goes beyond the heroic myth to show the human side of war. A fitting milestone for a show that has spent 200 episodes peeling back the layers of Malta's past. #FrancescoBalbi #GreatSiege1565 #MaltaHistory #FortSaintElmo #SiegeofMalta #KnightsHospitaller #OttomanEmpire #Suleiman #JeanDeValette #MustafaPasha #MilitaryHistory #16thCentury #Mediterranean #PrimarySource #WarDiary #FexingoHistory #History #Malta Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo

## Transcript

Lucas: So for our two hundredth episode, I wanted to do something a little different. We've talked about the Great Siege a few times, but I think we've missed a really fascinating angle—the story of the man who left us the most honest, most human account of it all.
Luna: Oh, is this about Balbi? I feel like I've heard that name.
Lucas: Exactly. Francesco Balbi da Correggio. He was a Spanish soldier with the Knights of St. John, and he kept a diary during the siege of 1565. That diary was later published as 'The Siege of Malta', and it's become one of the most important eyewitness accounts we have. It's not a polished official history—it's raw, it's opinionated, and it's full of detail you won't find anywhere else.
Luna: What kind of detail?
Lucas: Well, for one thing, Balbi doesn't shy away from criticizing his own side. He openly grumbles about the decisions of the Grand Master, Jean de Valette, and he's pretty blunt about the state of the defenses. He also describes the fear, the hunger, the sheer chaos of the siege. He was there, in the thick of it at Fort Saint Elmo, and he wrote about the moment the fort fell.
Lucas: Now, for context, by the time the Ottoman fleet arrived in May 1565, Malta had been a bastion of Christendom for decades. The knights had been raiding Ottoman shipping and territory—the 'corso'—and Suleiman the Magnificent had had enough. He sent an estimated forty thousand men against the island's roughly six hundred knights and a few thousand soldiers.
Luna: Forty thousand. That's a terrifying number.
Lucas: And Balbi was among the defenders. He was a Spanish arquebusier, a veteran of earlier campaigns, and he wrote his diary in Spanish. It's full of these little asides, like how he was impressed by the Ottoman discipline, or how he thought the knights were sometimes their own worst enemies.
Lucas: One of the things I love about his account is how it captures the uncertainty. At the beginning, he doesn't know how it's going to end any more than we would. He records rumors, he second-guesses, he prays. And then, when Saint Elmo falls after a month of brutal fighting, he describes the despair—and then the determination.
Luna: So his diary is kind of the anti-legend, the counterweight to the heroic tales.
Lucas: Right. And it's not just about the big battles. He writes about the logistics, the food shortages, the pay disputes. He mentions the 'buonavoglia'—the oarsmen who rowed the galleys voluntarily—and the 'forzati', the convicts. He even notes the presence of the corsair Uluç Ali, who was on the Ottoman side. Balbi had a keen eye for these details.
Lucas: But what's really interesting is how Balbi's account was received. When it was published, it didn't sit well with the knights' official historians. They thought he was too critical, too candid. So for a long time, his version was downplayed, even suppressed. It took centuries for historians to recognize it as one of the most accurate sources we have.
Luna: That's a shame. It sounds like he was just telling it like it was.
Lucas: Exactly. And speaking of telling it like it is, I want to bring up something else. We're two hundred episodes in, and this show is still ad-free, which is something I'm really proud of. If you've been getting something out of these conversations, and you'd like to help keep it that way, there's a link on our site. Honestly, if today was worth a coffee to you, that's the link—buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo.
Luna: Yeah, it's a small thing, but it really does help us keep going.
Lucas: So, back to Balbi. He actually ended up participating in the victory. He survived the siege, and he later went on to write a longer history of the order. But the diary remains the centerpiece. It's not just a military record; it's a human document. You can practically hear his voice—his frustration, his dry humor, his relief.
Lucas: There's a moment after the siege where he describes walking through the ruined streets of Birgu, seeing the piles of rubble, and he just... stops. He doesn't glorify it. He says it looked like the end of the world.
Luna: Wow. That's a long way from the painting of the heroic knights.
Lucas: It is. And that's exactly why Balbi's account matters. It reminds us that history is made by people who are scared, tired, and uncertain. They don't know the outcome. They just keep going.
Lucas: So for episode 200, I wanted to honor that. Balbi's diary is like a time capsule—it brings us closer to the reality of the siege than any official history ever could.
Luna: I think that's a perfect way to mark two hundred episodes. You're not just retelling the legend; you're digging into how we know what we know.
Lucas: Exactly. And there's so much more to uncover. If you want to read Balbi's account for yourself, it's been translated into English. It's a fantastic read—not just for history buffs, but for anyone who wants to understand what it's like to live through something world-changing.

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