It is now common practice in contemporary European society that, when conscription is compulsory, not even royalty is exempted from national service; on the contrary they very often display outstanding valour on land, sea and air in the defence of the realm.

The Maltese Middle Ages present a totally different context as the privileged noblemen and bourgeoisie ensconced in the inland city of Mdina were excused from performing any military duties of any sort.

The late erudite medievalist Godfrey Wettinger, in a scholarly study entitled The Militia List of 1419-20 published in Melita Historica (Vol. 5, No. 2 –1969), refers to special concessions granted to the crème de la crème of Maltese society residing in Mdina, mainly hailing from Spain or Italy.

The Militia List, presently kept at the Archives of the Mdina Cathedral Museum, was compiled by the Mdina Università and it refers to a register of the adult male population eligible for military service.

Those registered were aged between 16 and 65, who did not live in Birgu or in Gozo, localities which had defence arrangements of their own.

The list includes all sections of Maltese society except priests, Christians and Jews, as well as notaries, landowners and feudal lords. In their vast majority those exempted resided in Mdina and possessed large areas of the countryside.

At that time 234 soldiers were recruited from the suburb of Rabat and 132 from Civitas, meaning Mdina, the administrative capital city.

Many of these barons and feudal lords enjoyed great privileges and pre-eminent status on the island and their haughty disposition towards the common folk very often drew the disdain and anger of the Maltese as in the case of Monroy.

These feuds are expertly dealt with in Ninu Cremona’s drama Il-Fidwa tal-Bdiewa (The Redemption of the Peasants) about the revolt of 1426, Is-Saħħar Falzon (The Wizard Falzon) by Agostino Levanzin and Raġel bil-Għaqal (A Wise Man) by Ġużè Galea. All these literary works relate to the oppression suffered by the humble peasants at the hands of their overlords, mainly Spanish or Italian, in the late Middle Ages.

The frequent feuds between the maritime city of Birgu and the Mdina Università reveal the animosity of the harbour city that preferred to be under the jurisdiction of the castellan residing in the impregnable Castrum Maris (Fort St Angelo) than the tyrants of Mdina.

A few decades ago an important document known as the Relazione, believed to have been in the possession of Don Filippo Borg (1567-1640) better known as Borgia, was unearthed and related to the oppression of the Maltese in the late Middle Ages.

Filippo Borgia was a rector of the Birkirkara parish, an exemplary erudite priest of the late sixteenth century and a paragon of rectitude, at a time when the Maltese clergy was in complete disarray. His Relazione shows the popular acclaim of the Maltese for the coming of the Knights of St John in 1530 and to their more benign governance in subsequent years.

Don Filippo openly revealed that the common people were displeased with the nobility before the arrival of the Order because of their haughtiness and cruel oppression. He records popular sayings related by his maternal grandfather that “a plucked sparrow-hawk shall come out of the Levant and chase the peregine falcon away from its nest”.

In fact, according to Don Filippo, and confirmed by the Order’s eminent chronicler Antonio Bosio, there was an exodus of Mdina nobles who escaped to Sicily to avoid the Knights’ rule.

Bosio also stresses, in no uncertain manner, the nobility’s dislike of the Order, mainly because the new masters, though no great promoters of civil rights and freedom of speech, had at least stopped “the arrogance and the leeching of poor people by the Mdina barons”.

Those noble families who decided to stay in Malta, after their initial opposition to the Order and their petitions to Charles V of Spain strongly objecting to the granting of the Maltese islands to the Order, finally reluctantly accepted the new rulers and the status quo.

Many of these barons and feudal lords enjoyed great privileges and pre-eminent status on the island and their haughty disposition towards the common folk very often drew the disdain and anger of the Maltese

The Order arrived in Malta on October 26, 1530 and settled in the maritime city of Birgu mainly because the Order was a strong naval force and Birgu offered the necessary maritime facilities – a safe and secure harbour of Porto delle Galere (Galley Harbour), a reputable galley building yard and sailors hardened in corsairing and navigation. In an obvious demonstration to consolidate his position as the first Grand Master of the mighty Order of St John, Philippe de L’Isle Adam made a solemn entrance to the medieval city of Mdina and received the symbolical keys of the city.

After the massive Turkish attack of 1551, when the vulnerability of the Mdina fortifications were exposed and almost the entire population of Gozo was carried away into slavery, there was a better rapprochement between the Order in Birgu and the nobility in Mdina. However, when news reached Malta early in 1565 that a mighty Turkish armada was being assembled to attack Malta, the great majority of the nobles and the rich bourgeousie hurriedly left the island with all their possessions to various towns in Sicily especiallly Syracuse, Modica, Licata, Terranova and Girgenti.

In spite of all this and Grand Master Jean de Valette’s strong administrative rule (he had no qualms in ordering an eminent Mdina rich landowner Giuseppe Callus, better known as Mattew, to be executed on Saqqajja Hill in Rabat for grave insubordination), Mdina played a major role at crucial moments of the Great Siege of 1565.

During the epic battle of St Elmo, which surrendered on June 23, 1565, after a long and bitter siege, the Order lost many of its valiant soldiers.

In spite of the huge Turkish losses including the death of the great Dragut, the dreaded corsair and strategist who had masterminded the attack, the Turkish armada was still being reinforced by fresh troops from the Barbary Coast.

By a stroke of good luck, a few days later Il Piccolo Soccorso ( Small Relief Force) with a contingent of over 600 knights managed to steer stealthily to the north of the island.

The fall of St Elmo was not disclosed to the head of this contingent as he had strict instruction by Don Garcia de Toledo, Viceroy of Sicily, to return immediately to Sicily if St Elmo fell in the hands of the enemy.

This small military unit proceeded to Mdina where they were hosted and looked after by the Mdina Università. They left for Birgu on the night of July 4 taking a selected long and safe route to reach Salvatore Hill in Kalkara exactly opposite the strong Post of Castille. They carefully marched down to the nearby shore and were ferried to the Birgu Jews’ Sally Port (known today as It-Toqba l-Qadima).

This episode, as well as the Turkish attacks on the Post of Castille and Fort St Michael, are represented by several of the frescoes by Mattia Perez d’ Aleccio at the Grand Masters’ Palace in Valletta.

The Piccolo Soccorso force not only augmented the dwindling Christian forces but also boosted the morale of the defenders.

The Siege was cruel, savage and bloody with acts of heroism and brutality on both sides.

All historians, local and foreign, acknowledge that the Christian forces were heavily outnumbered and the besieged in Birgu and Senglea suffered immensely by incessant bombings from all quarters as the Turkish armada was further strengthened by the influx of fresh soldiers from North Africa.

Grand Master de Valette, in view of the overwhelming power of the Turkish army, had ordered his men to refrain from face-to-face combat and only face the enemy from behind the bastions. In fact he instructed the Knights’ cavalry to be based at Mdina and to concentrate on surprise attacks with a quick return to base.

In late August a formidable Turkish attack from Corradino Hill and Sta Margherita against Fort St Michael was launched and the Fort was on the point of surrender. All of a sudden, the retreat was sounded and the Turks hurriedly returned to their main headquarters at Marsa to find it completely devastated and burnt out by a quick and furious raid from the Mdina cavalry.

The Turkish leaders had thought that the Grande Soccorso promised by the haughty Don Garcia de Toledo, Viceroy of Sicily, had arrived and the Turks retreated panic-stricken.

Finally the Grande Soccorso arrived on the September 7, 1565, at a time when the island was on the point of surrender with provisions depleted, the Birgu bastion badly shattered and the defenders exhausted.

The epic siege was finally lifted and Malta emerged victorious against all odds.

When the relief force entered Birgu they realised at what price the battle was won as the maimed and wounded dragged themselves about their shattered fortress like figures risen from the dead. One can imagine the cries of joy and jubilation on the 8th of September as the few surviving knights and the Birgu populace, weary and feeble, slowly trudged to San Lorenzo-a-Mare for the Mass of Thanksgiving for their miraculous deliverence.

Franceso Balbi di Correggio in his extant diary describes this glorious event: “Never, I believe, did music sound so sweet to human ears as did the peals of our bells on this day, the Nativity of Our Lady. But now they rang for High Pontifical Mass which was solemnly celebrated as we gave thanks to Our Lord and His Holy Mother for the mercy vouchsafed to us.”

God willing, on the 8th of September this year I shall experience the same feeling at San Lorenzo-a-Mare, where the Order saw its finest hour, in the authentic spot listening to the joyous pealing of the same bells that proclaimed the great victory.

I shall pass by the improvised graves on the impressive church parvis where our heroes are buried. At my age I have become sick of shadows and, though another edifice may shine in splendour, pomp and circumstance, it is bereft of the vibrant authenticity of this glorious event. Resurrexit Vittoriosa.

Last year, a document related to the deliverance of the devastated Birgu populace was discovered at the National Archives in Valletta. It deserves to be written in letters of gold.

As the spectre of death was casting a long shadow on the bewildered besieged inhabitants, a last will was being drafted on September 7, 1565. In a marginal note, the notary describes vividly an outstanding event in these stirring words: “At this time, one hour before midnight, a great commotion is heard. We can hear cries of joy and singing of hymns as when the Jews were being delivered from the bondage of Babylon...the Grande Soccorso had arrived.”

Never did the famous chorus from Nabucco by Verdi sound so sweet.