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Maltese history
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Message 1.Â
Posted by Caro (U1691443) on Sunday, 6th March 2011
May not have the right terminology, but we are off to Malta next week. I seem to know nothing about it, except reading once about the deprivations of both civilians and soldiers in the second world war. By coincidence the 1961 novel i am about to start has something on the back about another book on the "fiercest siege in history....traces the events which led to the fanatical Muslim invasion and records the dauntless courage of the Knights of St.John which religious valour, zeal and ingenuity repulsed the might of the Ottoman Empire."
A fair summary? Someone else mentioned this siege, but with no detail. Why would the Muslims particularly want Malta? Is it strategic for something/somewhere?
Cheers, Caro. -
Message 2
Posted by dmatt47 (U13073434) on Sunday, 6th March 2011
Malta has always been a very strategic place in the Mediterranean, which is why Britain had a naval base there until they were told to leave by Dom Mintoff. The Ottoman Empire was a key point in trading in the then-known world and control of the trade and pilgrimage routes was considered important, which is how the Crusades happened.
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Message 3
Posted by Sambista (U4068266) on Sunday, 6th March 2011
The Great Seige of Malta (1565) occurred near the high water mark of Ottoman naval power (which never really recovered from Lepanto in 1571. The galleys of the Knights of St John (earlier disposessed by the Ottomans of their base on Rhodes) were preying on Ottoman trade between the North African littoral and Turkey, and Suleiman the Magnificent finally decided to extirpate them. His forces failed after a hard-fought seige.
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Message 4
Posted by TheodericAur (U14260004) on Sunday, 6th March 2011
Hi Caro
Thought you might be interested in this:
MALTA
George Cross (Malta)
The GC was awarded to the island of Malta in a letter dated 15 April 1942 from King George VI to the island's Governor Lieutenant-General Sir William Dobbie:
To honour her brave people, I award the George Cross to the Island Fortress of Malta to bear witness to a heroism and devotion that will long be famous in history.
The Governor answered:
By God's help Malta will not weaken but will endure until victory is won.
The cross and the messages are today found in the War Museum in Fort Saint Elmo, Valletta.
The fortitude of the population under sustained enemy air raids and a naval blockade which almost saw them starved into submission, won widespread admiration in Britain and other Allied nations.
Some historians argue that the award was in fact a propaganda gesture to justify the huge losses sustained by Britain to prevent Malta from capitulating as Singapore had done in the Battle of Singapore.[26]
The George Cross is woven into the Flag of Malta and can be seen wherever the flag is flown.
A fascinating island which has its own de-salination plants and very little earth but a lot of rock....you'll love it....
Best Wishes - TA -
Message 5
Posted by somewhatsilly (U14315357) on Sunday, 6th March 2011
Coincidentally, I'm reading about the neolithic temples in Malta and Gozo at the minute. Now I'm really envious, they are quite extraordinary and not to be missed.
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Message 6
Posted by Tas (U11050591) on Monday, 7th March 2011
Hi Caro,
Did you know that in the 1950s Malta did the reverse of what Colonies are expected to do. Instead of applying for independence, they applied for being included into Great Britain. I imagine like another Gibraltar. Unfortunately the then Government nixed it. I believe it was the same Dom Mintoff and when his application was denied, he opted for independence.
Some clubs have very strict rules of entry! Not even a George Cross Island is admitted.
Tas -
Message 7
Posted by Caro (U1691443) on Monday, 7th March 2011
Thank you all for your information. I have now found also a little bit of history on Malta from somewhere written in 1985 which mentions some of these things.
Also saw info on where we are staying - about 30kms from Valletta at Mellita (haven't quite got the name right, I think). Also a km up "a steep hill" to the town. Fortunately 30 metres from a bus stop. Otherwise I might have been confined to our accommodation place (which does have 5 restaurants and 2 pools and is close to water sports places).
Cheers, Caro. -
Message 8
Posted by Thomas_II (U14690627) on Tuesday, 8th March 2011
In reply to Caro:
Also saw info on where we are staying - about 30kms from Valletta at Mellita (haven't quite got the name right, I think). Also a km up "a steep hill" to the town. Fortunately 30 metres from a bus stop.Â
That´s probably "Meliha" what you mean by this description. Down that hill is a Bus Stop directly along the Beach, called "Meliha Bay" on the road to the Gozo Ferry.
It´s very nice in Malta and when I was there, I felt something like being in some part of the UK, but the weather is much better and warmer. Bus travelling is cheap but sometimes you can wait a bit longer than it is scheduled on the time table to catch the Bus. It´s more a bit easy-going there, but I liked it there much more than on the two Greek Islands I´ve visited. I´ve been in Malta for three times.
Have a good journey and enjoy your holiday in Malta.
Regards,
Thomas -
Message 9
Posted by shivfan (U2435266) on Tuesday, 8th March 2011
When I was a child, my grandmother would send me a subscription to 'Look and Learn', and one of the features of the magazine was serialised comic strips about historical events. One such series was the Ottoman siege of Malta, and the heroic resistance of the Knights of St John, so that episode remains rivetted in my mind to this day....
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Message 10
Posted by Caro (U1691443) on Wednesday, 16th March 2011
Back from Malta. Although we seemed to do lots, we also missed lots. Didn't get to the neolithic temples, Ferval. Felt they were underground and don't like underground. We did go to Roman burial chambers when rain sent us for shelter. I felt them a little bothersome, being so soon after earthquakes in Christchurch and Sengai. Reassured myself with the 'knowledge' that Malta doesn't have earthquakes, then read about one in the 17th century which demolished one town. Malta's architecture is full of tall stone buildings, just the sort of thing you don't want to fall on you.
I hadn't realised Malta was so Roman Catholic. I read the local newspaper a few times while we were there (60 Euro cents, instead of 3 Euro for British ones, and much more interesting). They were full of a coming referendum on divorce, with much pros and cons, and mentions of the Irish experience; also no cremation allowed in Malta, marriage banns still posted, and a great reverence for "Our Lady". She had saved the cathedral during the war (bomb fell but didn't go off) miraculously apparently which increased her stock immeasurably. Also they were very pleased that St Paul sought rescue in Malta in AD 60. Must read Acts and find where this is mentioned.
Not that Cathedral but the St John's Co-Cathedral in Valetta (I never knew what the 'co' meant) was so impressive, about magnificent Baroque decorative ceiling and paintings, one of St John being beheaded, painted by Caravaggio, and many by Mattia Preti. (Have to admit that had I found a Preti painting in our shed I would have no idea if was by anyone famous.)
Some good history shows, one of the general history in chronological order , one of the limestone history. Didn't get to the Knights of St John's show. Might have been very good, or very kitsch. But know a lot more Maltese history now. The history video brought tears to my eyes with the war experiences. Our guide's grandmother had sold gold in the war in order to buy wheat to feed her eight children. (Wonderful guide on that tour.) I can't remember what they were but three small fighter planes provided the first resistence to the bombing for several days.
Statues and memorials all over the place. In the capital Valletta especially to heroes, warriors and people drowned and British generals, Queen Victoria. In most other places more religious figures every few metres down the road.
And I very much liked the landscape, full of lime green and yellow ( marigolds and sorrel, one of which is called English Lady's plant, as she put in her garden to naturalise everywhere), and terraced parts. very attractive at this time of year, apparently brown in summer.
Hope this is historical enough. Did have one query. Our guide said after the Great Siege, the Ottoman Empire and Sulieman were destroyed, but surely they wouldn't have used their whole army to fight one small island nation?
Buses lovely, but sadly about to be taken over by a British company, Arriva? EU regulations - not safe enough as they are. I felt perfectly safe, though they were very noisy as they went over any rut in the road. Confident drivers pass each other with inches to spare. (One tourist I heard said their driver was very excited and celebrating the fact that he had heard he was to be taken on by the new company and we saw many Not In Service buses, obviously with trainee drivers.
Cheers, Caro. -
Message 11
Posted by Sambista (U4068266) on Wednesday, 16th March 2011
Caro -
Maltese limestone is excellent material for carving. As cut from the rock, you can cut it with a knife, and it hardens on exposure to the air. Hence the statuary.
Co-Cathedral. As Mdina / Citta Notabile declined in importance, and Valetta (name after Jean de Vallette, Grand Master of the Order at the time of the Great Seige) increased in importance, and finally, with the displacement of the Hospitallers as rulers of Malta, when Napoleon invaded, the Archbishop of Malta started to use the Conventual Church of St' John, with its seperate chapels for each of the Langues of the Order, as an alternative to the cathedral in Mdina, hence as his Co-Cathedral.
The fighters (originally four, but one was cannibalised to keep the others in the air) wre four Sea Gladiators intended for HMS Glorious. At the beginning of WWII, Malta was thought to be indefensible, so no air defences were provided. The Navy agreed to split the eight crated fighters (the other four went to HMS Eagle, where they were flown as ship's air defence, by selected pilots from her Swordfish squadrons, and Commander (Air) Charles Keithley-Peach (? spelling probably wrong!). The three in Malta withstood the first air seige by the Reggia Aeronautica, and were nicknamed "Faith, Hope, and Charity". One (offhand not sure which) was discovered in a dilapidated sdtate post-war and was still on view when we were there in HMS Eastbourne in the mid-60s.
You are right about the Catholic nature of the people, which ensured that they were fully behind their foreign rulers against the Turks. The wartime prayer was "Mary, Mother of God, and the Sacred Heart of Jesus, send the bombs into the earth or into the sea". Later, it's supposed to have morphed into "Oh Lord, send over the Italians".
The Turkish decline in the west was far more a consequence of their defeat at Lepanto (mentioned in my earlier post).
Regards
Ian/Gil/Ur. -
Message 12
Posted by bandick (U14360315) on Wednesday, 16th March 2011
We had a large silver plated tray kicking around at home when I was a kid, with a huge amount of engraving on it… and it was a report of one of my distant rellies sailing against orders to get a line on Nelsons ship after it had been dismasted in a storm, and tow him to safety…
Nelson had no time for him until then and referred to him as a coxcomb I believe… but this chap John Alexander Ball, and Nelson became firm friends and was eventually made the first governor of Malta…
I remember my father re-plating it… the first time I saw it… pretty sure he did it with a load of old florins. I’d love to know what happened to it.
For what it’s worth… -
Message 13
Posted by Caro (U1691443) on Wednesday, 16th March 2011
Thanks, Ian, for all that. We were told about the Faith, Hope and Charity but it doesn't take long for things to disappear from my mind. They still seem to feel plenty of affection for the British - perhaps the George Cross has helped that. Talking of crosses, what is the significance of the Maltese Cross. Everyone has heard of it, but why is it so important. I am just off to Google this, but someone here probably knows better.
Thomas, yes we stayed at Mellieha Bay (the 'h' in it had an accent, but I can't quite remember what, a cedilla? No - some odd mark beside the 'h'.) We just took a bus when we needed but were on a tour once with an older couple from Ireland (my husband was very disgusted that I asked if she was Welsh. `i defended myself by saying she had a nice lilt to her voice and he said, "Yes, an Irish lilt.") and they said they walked up and down the hill each day. She looked a little twinset and pearls old lady, but must have been a lot tougher than she looked, as it was a real hill, not just a bit of a rise. Seemed a bit of a waste of time anyway since the water was cold and the air not too warm either.
Bandick, there was a large statue to Alexander John Ball, but it didn't explain just who he was. Thanks for that info.
Cheers, Caro. -
Message 14
Posted by Sambista (U4068266) on Wednesday, 16th March 2011
Caro -
The "Maltese" cross is actually the symbol of the Knights Hospitallers of St. John. Don't think there was any previous Maltese link to it.
RN point - "Eternal Father", the Naval hymn, is sung to the tune "Melita" i.e. Malta. In my day, the final verse was sung, a capella and sotto voce, at the close of the weekly service in the base chapel. -
Message 15
Posted by Caro (U1691443) on Wednesday, 16th March 2011
One of my very favourite hymns. I don't think a capella would have been a good idea in my little church, though sotto voce might have. Hymns tended to be the minister (is it a requirement of religious studies that young would-be ministers must be able to sing well and loudly?) and the organist (my grandmother) mostly with sort of subdued mutterings from the rest of us.
Thanks for that about the Maltese Cross.
Caro. -
Message 16
Posted by Thomas_II (U14690627) on Thursday, 17th March 2011
Hi Caro,
I know that town Mellieha only from the Bus route from Sliema to the Gozo Ferry. We used to go to the beach "Mellieha Bay", down the hill. But we spent our holiday in Malta in June, so this beach is one of the favourits for tourists because Malta hasn´t many of sandy beaches.
I thought that for you, travelling to Malte from your home country where it is now late summer, it would feel you a bit chilly. When I went to Malta for the first time with my father (I wasn´t married at that time) in December 1998, it was there like in spring, while in Germany there was winter. The temperatures were very mild then.
On our honeymoon some years later (in June), we arrived in Malta when they had a heatwave, but the last time it was again in June, it was quite moderate and warm. But we took our accomodation in Sliema, which is near to Valletta and had good access to travel on public transports by these famous old busses.
We just took a bus when we needed but were on a tour once with an older couple from Ireland (my husband was very disgusted that I asked if she was Welsh)...Â
, such a mistake could had happened to me as well, for I think to be able to distinct an Irish accent, but I´ve seldom listened to Welsh people, maybe it sounds a bit similar, but I´m not sure. In such cases, I rather don´t ask people where they are from.
Is that right that you´d to pay for drinks on the plane?
When we went to Ireland last year with AirLingus, there wasn´t any drink for free and food wasn´t either, they charged all. On the flight with British Airways, at least they had one drink for free and a biscuite (or chips).
Cheers,
Thomas -
Message 17
Posted by Caro (U1691443) on Thursday, 17th March 2011
Yes, Thomas, nothing free on the flight - not even water. And no entertainment, so it was very boring. Got a bit of reading done, though. The silly staff had a questionnaire of about 50 questions for us to fill out and handed it to us with 20 minutes to go, so it was a rush, when we'd had nothing to do for the previous three hours. When we travel from NZ there is your own personal headphones and television screen for watching whatever movie you want and listening to what music takes your fancy (usually I must say none of what is on offer), and give you food and drinks constantly.
The buses had an interesting pricing structure (as in we couldn't understand it). On our first trip we went to Valletta - a distance of 30 kms which took 1 and a half hours and went inland and round the back and front of the hospital and everywhere else. It cost 58 Euro cents; the following day we went to Melliha township which took about 7 minutes and cost 54 cents. To come back down to our resort place it was going to cost 1.12 Euros - the wrong bus apparently, though it was going there and stopping there. We got on a different one.
I always think I have learnt not to second-guess people's nationalities (the worst was at our information centre wondering if some Arab people were Israelis!), but keep forgetting.
Temperatures in Malta weren't much above 12 degrees C, I think (though they tried to suggest it was 17 - must have taken the temperature in the warmest most sheltered part of the island).
Cheers, Caro.
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