[attach id=403277 size="medium"][/attach]

A second edition of Arnold Cassola’s The 1565 Great Siege of Malta and Hipólito Sans’s La Maltea has been republished as a Kindle Book on the 450th anniversary of the 1565 Great Siege of Malta.

This eyewitness account by Sans is of interest to both the professional academic and for lovers of history, in particular Ottoman, Christian and Maltese 16th-century history.

This work is about the fully-fledged epic poem La Maltea, consisting of 12 cantos built on the model of the classical tradition of Virgilian fame.

The real intention of Hipólito Sans, who published La Maltea in Valencia, Spain, in 1582, was the glorification of the heroism of the Knights of the Order of St John in their defence of the island against the mighty armada sent by Suleyman the Magnificent in 1565 to conquer Malta.

Sans had first-hand knowledge of what went on in Malta during the 1565 siege since he was one of the defenders on the island. However, La Maltea is a poetical work, which cannot fulfil the role of a faithful historical chronicle.

History and fiction are intermingled in La Maltea as Sans himself admits in the prologue. However, much of what he relates is credible not only because the author was a witness but even more so because he insists strongly on the fact that he only wants to stick to factual truth.

Suleyman and his armada, La Valette and his most courageous knights, Dragut, Toni Bajada and the Maltese defenders are all given prominence in Sans’s account from which we also learn that La Valette was 67 years old at the time of the Great Siege and that Suleyman intended invading Italy after having conquered Malta.

The book (Kindle Edition, ASIN: B00SN42B5W) can be accessed on internet through: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00SN42B5W?*Version*=1&*entries*=0 or http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00SN42B5W?*Version*=1&*entries*=0#reader_B00SN42B5W