The Great Siege of Malta: Knights Hospitaller vs the Ottoman Empire

The mid-16th century was a rough time to be living in the Mediterranean, to say the least. Especially if you lived in a coastal city, you would have definitely seen your fair share of conquest, battles, and the usual violent ransacking. Most of this could be traced back to a single source: the Ottoman Empire, ruled at the time by Suleiman the Magnificent.

The Ottoman Empire was a regional powerhouse, having conquered lots of neighboring territory, such as the Balkans, and thanks to its naval might, had gained control over nearly the entire coast of North Africa. But Suleiman was not the type of Sultan to leave a job half finished, and, urged on by those close to him, he was already eyeing up his next target: Malta.

The Sea on Fire: Ottoman Dominance and the Knights’ Wandering

Taking Malta would solidify the Ottomans’ dominance over the Mediterranean Sea, and, because of its strategic location south of Sicily, it could also be used in the future to launch further attacks into mainland Europe. But taking Malta was going to be easier said than done. Guarding the small, fortified island was the Knights Hospitaller, a Catholic order that had been founded more than four centuries prior.

Years ago, they had even fought alongside the Knights Templar in Jerusalem, where they were headquartered until they moved to the island of Rhodes. Rhodes was their home for nearly two hundred years, throughout which they defended it from several attempted assaults, but ultimately they were no match for Suleiman the Magnificent, who arrived in 1522 with 400 ships and a reported 100,000 men. After a brutal siege, the Knights were forced out of Rhodes, leaving them to move between countries searching for a new home.

After seven years of this wandering, in 1530, they were granted the Island of Malta by Charles V, in exchange for a single falcon to be delivered as tribute once a year. Along with Malta, they were instructed to also defend the neighboring island of Gozo and the North African port of Tripoli. The Ottomans knew that the Knights Hospitaller were a tough bunch, but, having already defeated them in their previous home, were confident that they could do it again.

In 1551, a force of about 10,000 men arrived in Malta, under the command of Sinan Pasha, an Ottoman Grand Admiral, and Dragut, an Admiral widely regarded as one of the most fearsome men the Mediterranean had ever seen. Dragut was known as The Drawn Sword of Islam and his military genius had scored countless victories all across the sea. Despite his track record, after seeing how heavily defended Malta was, he knew he did not have the necessary force to invade it, and so he broke off the siege just a few days after it started.

Instead, he turned his attention to the other outposts the Knights occupied.

The Fall of Gozo and Tripoli and the Disaster at Djerba

First up was Gozo, which was quickly surrounded and hopelessly outnumbered. After a few days of bombardment and failed negotiations with the attackers, the Knights’ governor surrendered the island, leading to the entire population being massacred or taken captive, save for a single monk and a few dozen elderly. After steamrolling Gozo, Sinan and Dragut sailed south, heading for Tripoli.

Without much of a winning chance, the 30 knights and 600 mercenaries there were taken captive when they surrendered after about a week of fighting. The Knights were now left with only Malta, and when the Ottomans returned, they were going to make sure they had more than enough men for the job. After the captures of Gozo and Tripoli in 1551, things quieted down a little bit.

On Malta, the Knights were expecting the Ottomans to return within a year, so they began strengthening their defenses and, at the order of the Grand Master of the Knights, constructed two new forts, Fort Saint Michael and Fort Saint Elmo, which were put together in a remarkable six months. The attack did not come that year, but there was little doubt that it would still happen eventually, and the new forts would prove to be crucial. While major attempts at conquering died down a bit in the 1550s, the usual piracy in the area continued — the Knights attacked any non-Christian ships they could find and the Ottomans attacked or captured commercial vessels heading for the European powers and raided coastal cities in Spain and all down the Italian peninsula.

Eventually, these raids were getting so intense that in 1560, Phillip II, King of Spain, decided that enough was enough. After consulting with Pope Paul IV, a fleet was formed under an alliance of Christian nations, and after assembling in the harbor city Messina, they began making their way towards Tripoli, hoping to retake the North African port. The fleet they threw together was formidable — some sources put the total number of ships over a hundred, with 54 large galleys, and manning all of them was a force of at least 10,000 men from Spain, Malta, Genoa, the Kingdom of Naples, and the Papal States.

First, they sailed to Malta, but bad weather forced them to stay there for two whole months, and during this time, sickness claimed nearly 2,000 of the men. This did not faze the fleet, and once the weather cleared up they were on their way once again. By March 1560, they were getting close to Tripoli, but as luck would have it, they once again ran into terrible weather, and instead turned their attention to the island Djerba, off the coast of Tunisia.

The small garrison on Djerba was absolutely no match for the massive Christian alliance, who quickly clobbered the island into submission, taking it over with ease. They then began the construction of a fort, but it would all be in vain. A massive Ottoman fleet had just departed from Istanbul, and arrived only a few weeks later.

Once the fleets came face to face, the inevitable battle erupted, and the Christians were seriously outmatched. Within just hours, the Battle of Djerba ended in a lopsided victory — the Ottoman fleet sank as many as half of the Christian galleys, dozens of their other ships, while only taking a few losses on their own side. Along with another admiral, Piyale, Dragut was once again commanding the Ottoman fleet, adding another stunning victory to his resume.

This had been the last chance to keep the Ottomans away — but with the Christian fleet now decimated in a humiliating defeat, no one stood in the way. Malta was as ripe as ever for the taking.

The Siege Begins: Suleiman’s Armada Arrives in May 1565

By 1565, Suleiman was finally resolved to wipe the Knights Hospitaller off the face of the earth and claim Malta for good. Last time around, the Ottomans had greatly underestimated the defenses on the island, so this time they were bringing everything they would need to crush even the fiercest resistance. But one weapon they were missing was the element of surprise — a network of spies throughout Constantinople informed Knights Grand Master Jean de Valette that an invasion was brewing, and he quickly got to work readying the island.

The three main forts were heavily stocked with food and ammunition, including the two that were recently built following the previous siege. All crops were harvested and stockpiled into the forts, whether they were ready to be or not, so that there would be no local sources of food for invaders when they arrived. Along with this, wells were poisoned with dead animals, and small structures and houses outside of the defenses were destroyed to deprive the enemy of cover.

The armada came into view on May 18th, 1565, and its size must have shocked even the most battle-hardened Maltese Knights. 193 vessels in total, including 131 galleys, carrying with them 40,000 men. Among these were more than 6,000 elite Janissaries. Leading them was, of course, Dragut, who was arriving a bit late, en route from Tripoli.

Suleiman was well known for personally leading his armies into battle — in fact he had done so when they had kicked the Knights out of their home in Rhodes — but he had been much younger in those days. By now, he was already in his 70s, and was trusting the campaign to his most loyal admirals. Jean de Valette, currently staring down the Ottoman fleet, ready to die leading his Knights into battle, was also in his 70s.

In fact, he was born the same year as Suleiman. Ready to follow his orders were a maximum of 600 Knights Hospitaller, a few thousand men forming a Maltese militia, and a couple thousand others from various European nations. A small force when compared with the Ottoman horde, but they of course had the advantage of fighting on their own ground.

When the Ottomans drew closer to the island, the two leaders overseeing the initial operations, Piyale and Mustafa, were having a disagreement about where to start the attack. Piyale, who was in charge of the navy, wanted to sail further north and anchor at Marsamxett Harbor, but Mustafa, who was in charge of the ground troops, thought this was a terrible plan, as it meant that they would have to first destroy the newly strengthened Fort St. Elmo, which stood as a guardian of said harbor.

Mustafa instead wanted to land the troops in a less guarded area and then attack mostly from land, advancing through the center of the island and taking the forts from behind. In the end, Mustafa caved, after being convinced that destroying Fort St. Elmo would only be a matter of a few days at most.

This division of authority would ultimately slow down the Ottoman decision-making process during several key moments.

The Fall of Fort St. Elmo and the Death of Dragut

With St. Elmo now agreed upon as the first target, the Ottomans began setting up camp after anchoring near a small village in the southeast of Malta. Throughout the following days, they began putting together their siege weapons while the Knights Hospitaller and their allies looked on from their defenses.

Skirmishes began to break out in the open ground as small groups engaged, scouting the way for the main army. Jean de Valette had correctly predicted that the initial attacks would be on Fort St. Elmo, and so he had placed nearly half of his heavy cannons there, along with many of his most trusted men.

Once word of the siege had spread throughout Europe, Malta was promised a relief force from Sicily, so all the Knights needed to do was hold out until the reinforcements arrived, but it was anybody’s guess how long it would take the Viceroy of Sicily to gather such a force and bring it all the way to Malta. On May 27th, more than three dozen cannons placed on Mt. Sciberras began raining fire down on St.

Elmo. Crashing through the thick walls, these shots killed some and injured many, and a relief ferry came each night to evacuate the wounded. After a few days of this heavy bombardment, Dragut finally arrived, and after setting foot on the island, immediately ordered attacks on the nightly relief ships, further isolating St.

Elmo. After about a week, the walls of the fort were almost entirely destroyed, reduced to crumbling heaps of stone. Beginning on June 7th, the Ottomans began advancing on the damaged walls, looking for the best place to launch an all-out offensive.

Elite Janissaries made serious progress in capturing defensive lines, and the defenders were now surrounded. A small moment of relief was granted when, from across the harbor, cannons at Fort St. Angelo trained their fire on the Ottoman ranks marching to St.

Elmo. This fire landed with devastating effect, scattering and disorienting the army, but they eventually recovered when their sharpshooters began firing back, forcing the men on the cannons to take cover. Finally, after three weeks of battle, the Ottomans gathered for a massive offensive, so large that a viewer from Fort St.

Angelo said that when night fell, it was still as bright as day thanks to the tens of thousands of fires lit by the invaders at their camp. When this all-out charge arrived, they broke through and emerged victorious from the battle that raged in the fort’s ruins, resulting in the deaths of nearly all remaining defenders, totaling more than 1,500 men. The only ones to survive were a few from the Maltese militia that managed to swim across the harbor at the last moment.

The capture of Fort St. Elmo was a huge loss for Malta — they had lost one of their greatest assets, along with nearly 2,000 men in total. However, there was a silver lining to the defeat: it had been a costly victory for the Ottomans, who had lost nearly 6,000 men during the assault, including about half of their Janissaries, who had led many of the operations.

And the real blow: Dragut had been killed in action. According to Giacomo Bosio, the Knights’ official historian, Dragut was leading his artillery teams when an argument broke out about which angle to fire the battery. He insisted that the angle be lowered, against the wishes of the firing team, who eventually complied.

Unfortunately for Dragut, he should have listened to his men, because the cannon shot was now aimed far too low — it clipped the trench in front of the gun, blasting sharp debris in every direction, and sending a particularly deadly chunk right into his head. Some historians argue that a lucky cannon shot from the nearby Fort St. Angelo was responsible, but either way, the result was the same: the champion of the Mediterranean, The Drawn Sword of Islam, was dead.

The Fiercest Fighting: Assaults on Fort St. Michael and Fort St. Angelo

With Dragut now gone, the command fell onto Mustafa and Piyale, the two who had been arguing just a few weeks earlier. Piyale got to work bringing the fleet in and anchoring it near St. Elmo, like he had planned, while Mustafa gathered up the prisoners of war.

In total, nine Knights Hospitaller had been taken captive, and Mustafa had them all beheaded. After their execution, their headless bodies were strapped to crucifixes and left to float across the harbor to their old friends. This angered Jean de Valette so much that he, in turn, decapitated all Ottoman prisoners in his possession, and fired their heads back at the Ottoman camps after loading them into cannons.

These were two sides that truly despised each other. Meanwhile, word of the siege’s severity was alarming the royalties of Europe. They all knew what they stood to lose in Malta if the Ottomans were to succeed, and as Elizabeth I put it: “If the Turks should prevail against the Isle of Malta, it is uncertain what further peril might follow to the rest of Christendom.”

The main relief force was still being gathered, but seeing the dire situation unfolding, a small group of 600 men were sent to boost the island’s spirits. They raised the morale of the defenders and brought a few supplies with them, but they were not going to be enough to turn the tide of the war. The next major offensive took place on July 15th, when Mustafa ordered his men to take their next objective: Fort St.

Michael and its peninsula. The plan was to have infantry move from the land behind while an amphibious Janissary assault stormed the coast, completely surrounding the fort. This was a great plan, but it did not account for the anti-ship batteries that had been constructed at the base of the fort, in perfect range to strike the Janissaries as they crossed the harbor.

These cannons annihilated the incoming 100-odd vessels, sinking all but a couple, and drowning at least 800 of the elite soldiers. The land attack also failed, as reinforcements from Fort St. Angelo arrived to hold off the invaders.

Following this failure, the Ottomans once again brought in their siege weapons. First up was a siege tower, loaded to the brim with sharpshooters. But as it approached Fort St.

Angelo, carefully hidden cannons in the fort’s walls opened fire, and, because they were loaded with chain shot, the siege tower was crippled before it could have a major impact. Once again, they brought out their heavy cannons, ready to blast the forts into submission like they had done at St. Elmo.

What followed was more than a week of non-stop bombardment of Fort St. Michael, during which a reported jaw-dropping 100,000 cannonballs were fired at the peninsula.

The Ottoman Retreat and the Cavalry Blunder at St. Michael

Once the walls were weakened, Mustafa led another charge, and this time it seemed they would be successful. They breached the inner defenses and were poised to take control of the entire fort when suddenly the entire Ottoman army retreated. Their mistake was bringing almost every available man to the charge and leaving almost none behind to guard their camp — a cavalry charge led by an Italian knight had found the Ottoman field hospital completely unguarded, and so they proceeded to massacre its entire population of more than 60 people.

The Ottomans storming the fort, when seeing an attack forming behind them, had assumed that the Sicilian relief force had arrived, so they quickly retreated to avoid being surrounded. When they realized their mistake, they quickly got ready to renew the offensive on St. Michael.

After another week of blasting it with artillery, Mustafa led yet another charge. This time they were held off, and legend says that Jean de Valette, despite his old age, stood in the most dangerous of places, sword in hand, battling with all his might until the Ottomans retreated. Another source says he ran to the wrong spot and found no enemies — so one may pick which version to believe.

In any case, the defenders fought as bravely as ever. Maltese militia men fought side by side with the Knights Hospitaller, with just as much courage and skill, and even those who could not fight were busy bringing water to the frontline or tending for wounded men. One story tells of a man who could barely stand up, so he sat in a chair with a spear next to a breach in the wall, determined to help in any way he could.

But at this point, the walls were nearly destroyed and supplies were running low. Repeated bombardments and frontal assaults led many to believe that the best decision was to abandon St. Michael and join up with everyone else at St.

Angelo, but de Valette disagreed. He believed that the Ottomans were low on morale, and as they got more and more desperate for a victory, they would only weaken themselves further. Throughout August, several more attacks on Fort St.

Michael were made, two of which included siege towers, but these were also leveled with chain shot before having much of an effect.

The Relief Force Arrives and Malta Is Saved

By September, Mustafa decided to change up the plan — instead, they were going to march to the old capital, Mdina, near the center of the island. There, they would have an easy victory over the local population and could then spend the winter in the city. But this plan failed to even get off its feet — as soon as the Ottomans were in sight, the city began hopelessly firing their cannons at immense distance.

Way too far away to hit anything, but their bluff worked flawlessly — the Ottomans assumed that if they were willing to take such long distance shots, they must have plenty of ammunition to spare, and therefore were more heavily armed than everyone had thought. They broke off the attack and began packing up to leave the island and rethink their plan. That is when the Christian relief force arrived.

The army, made up of about 8,000 men, mostly from Spain, landed on the northern shores of the island and began marching southward. As soon as they saw the Ottomans retreating, they charged without even waiting for orders, slaughtering thousands of the weary enemies fleeing to their ships. The last of the Ottoman ships left on September 13th, 1565, their great leader dead and their army defeated.

Malta was saved. In total, some sources say that 25,000 Ottomans were killed during the siege, either from combat or from the disease that spread through their ranks. Among these, thousands of highly trained Janissaries and sharpshooters that would not be easily replaced.

Other sources are more conservative and place the number at around 10,000, but the fact remains that their losses were much higher than Malta’s. The defenders’ losses are not as well documented, but it is estimated that around 200 Knights were lost, the local militia had between two and three thousand soldiers killed, and a third of the island’s civilian population was dead. The loss of Fort St.

Elmo had been crushing, but the exceptional defense that had held out for so long and inflicted so many losses was one of the main reasons the Ottoman attack failed. Their sacrifice played a huge role in the eventual victory.

Legacy of the Great Siege: Impact on Europe and the Ottoman Empire

Jean de Valette became a hero for his incredible leadership of the Knights, even getting a city named after him, and the Maltese population had proven that they were ready to defend their land with everything they had. The Great Siege of Malta, as it later became known, instantly became one of the most widely celebrated events of the 16th century across Europe. It cannot be known for sure if the Ottomans intended to use Malta as a launchpad for conquests in the Italian peninsula, but thanks to the Knights Hospitaller, they never even got the chance.

Europeans of the day were ecstatic — the Ottoman Empire that had seemed almost invincible for so long had just been dealt a major defeat, and Europe had been spared a potentially catastrophic invasion in the near future. Voltaire even later remarked, “Nothing is better known than the siege of Malta.” Malta’s example fired up Europe’s spirits so strongly that it was a key motivator in the Christian alliance that was formed a few years later, an alliance that would once again take on the might of the Ottomans, and would once again emerge victorious.

The siege demonstrated that Ottoman expansion was not inevitable and that determined defenders, even vastly outnumbered, could hold against the most powerful military force in the Mediterranean world.

Frequently Asked Questions

How did Jean de Valette know the Ottoman invasion was coming?

Jean de Valette ran a network of spies throughout Constantinople that alerted him to the planned invasion well in advance. He used this warning to heavily stock the three main forts with food and ammunition, harvest all crops and stockpile them inside the defenses, poison wells with dead animals, and demolish small structures outside the fortifications to deprive attackers of cover.

Why was the fall of Fort St. Elmo considered a victory for Malta despite the loss?

Although the Ottomans captured Fort St. Elmo after three weeks of siege and killed nearly 2,000 defenders, the assault cost them approximately 6,000 men — including roughly half of their elite Janissaries — and resulted in the death of Admiral Dragut, arguably the most feared naval commander in the Mediterranean. The fort’s prolonged resistance drained the Ottoman offensive capacity well before the main fortifications were even reached.

What turned back the Ottoman assault on Fort St. Michael in July 1565?

On July 15th, the Ottomans launched a combined land-and-sea assault on Fort St. Michael, but anti-ship batteries at the fort’s base sank all but a few of the roughly 100 landing vessels, drowning at least 800 Janissaries. A later near-successful land breach was reversed when a cavalry charge on the unguarded Ottoman field hospital — killing more than 60 patients — convinced the attackers that the Sicilian relief force had arrived, triggering a full retreat.

How did the Ottoman army ultimately retreat from Malta?

In September, after months of failed assaults, Mustafa marched toward the old capital of Mdina. The town’s defenders bluffed by firing cannons at extreme range, leading the Ottomans to believe the city was heavily armed. They broke off the attack and began withdrawing — exactly when the Christian relief force of roughly 8,000 mostly Spanish soldiers landed in the north and charged the retreating Ottoman columns, slaughtering thousands. The last Ottoman ships departed September 13, 1565.

What was the broader significance of Malta’s victory for Europe?

The Great Siege of Malta became one of the most celebrated events of the 16th century across Europe, demonstrating that Ottoman expansion was not inevitable. It shattered the aura of Ottoman invincibility, boosted European morale and unity, and directly motivated the formation of the Christian alliance that would defeat the Ottomans again at the Battle of Lepanto a few years later. Voltaire later remarked, “Nothing is better known than the siege of Malta.”

Sources

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suleiman_the_Magnificent#/media/File:EmperorSuleiman.jpg