Knight of Malta and Shield of Europe

[Editor’s Note: This is the twenty-fifth in a multi-part series on the unsung heroes of Christendom.]

All saints are heroes, but not all heroes are saints. There are some who have made great sacrifices for Christendom while not necessarily leading particularly virtuous lives. In our own times, marked by the cult of celebrity, we might think of Mel Gibson, whose The Passion of the Christ, released twenty years ago, is not merely a masterpiece of a movie but is a moving icon, a work of devotional religious art which has brought millions of people closer to Christ. It is surely significant that Gibson played a cameo role in his own film, his hand appearing as holding the nail as it was hammered into Christ’s flesh, an acknowledgment by the filmmaker of his own sinfulness. 

Considering that his praises have been widely sung for almost half a century by those who have admired his achievements as an actor and producer, it would be a stretch to include Mel Gibson as one of the unsung heroes of Christendom. He is, however, currently working on a TV series which, if it comes to fruition, will sing the praises of those few, those happy and noble few, who defeated the might of the Turkish army during the Great Siege of Malta in 1565. It is to these noble souls, and to their heroic commander, Jean Parisot de Valette, that we will now turn our attention.

There was a time, a far healthier time, when the heroism of those who defended Malta from the Islamic onslaught was lauded by the whole Christian world. In the eighteenth century, two hundred years after the siege, Voltaire is said to have claimed that “nothing is better known than the siege of Malta.” If this was true then, it isn’t now. Most people have never heard of this key moment in history, which stands alongside the Battle of Lepanto in 1571 and the Siege of Vienna in 1683 as a defining turning point that saved Christendom by turning the tide of Islamic expansionism.

From May until September 1565, a Turkish army sent by the Ottoman sultan, Suleiman the Magnificent, attempted to take the island of Malta. The Turkish army numbered between 35,000 and 40,000 men. The defending Christians numbered no more than around 2,500 trained soldiers, with a further 3,500 civilians, freed galley slaves, and servants swelling their numbers to around 6,000 in total. 

The island was strategically important. It served as a naval base, commanded by the Knights of Malta which defended Europe from the Ottoman Empire. Should the island have fallen to the Muslims, it would have left the Mediterranean largely under the control of the Turks, thereby securing Turkish military superiority and leaving the nations of Europe in a weakened and perilous position. 

The commander of the Christian forces was Jean Parisot de Valette, a French nobleman who was Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta—more popularly known as the Knights of Malta, founded in the late eleventh century, during the Crusades. Valette had joined the Order in around 1514, when he was around twenty years old, and he had devoted his whole life to the defense of Christendom, never returning to his family estates in France. A veteran of many battles, he had fought courageously at the Siege of Rhodes in 1522 and was seventy years old when the Siege of Malta began. Under his sagacious and experienced leadership, the defenders of Malta withstood the Turkish siege for over three months until reinforcements, arriving from Sicily, drove the invaders into the sea.

By the end of the siege, during which the defenders had endured a relentless bombardment of an estimated 130,000 cannonballs, a third of those defending the island and a third of the island’s population had been killed—around 2,500 people in total. By comparison, between 25,000 to 30,000 Turks would die either through combat or disease during the siege.

There is no denying that Jean Parisot de Valette is a hero of Christendom, whose praises have been sung and deserve to be sung. He was no saint, it seems, apparently having been the father of at least two illegitimate children from two different women. As for the state of his soul at the time of his death, this is a matter between him and his Maker. It is not for us to judge. We can, however, judge him as one whose role in the defense of Christendom is worth celebrating. He died only three years after the siege, but he had begun work on the building of the city of Valletta, named in his honor, which is now Malta’s capital city. The inscription on Valette’s tomb, which was composed by his Latin Secretary, Sir Oliver Starkey, states in Latin:

Here lies La Valette.
Worthy of eternal honor,
He who was once the scourge of Africa and Asia,
And the shield of Europe,
Whence he expelled the barbarians by his Holy Arms,
Is the first to be buried in this beloved city,
Whose founder he was.

Perhaps a man who has had a capital city named after him can hardly be considered unsung. He is, however, little known in our own time, falling victim to the collective amnesia of an age that neglects the past or “cancels” it with contemptuous disdain. But the final word should not be for Jean Parisot de Valette, the “shield of Europe,” but for the 2,500 unknown defenders of Malta, those other shields of Christendom, who died under his command. 

It is always the unknown soldiers who are most unsung. May they be remembered. May their praises be sung. And may they rest in peace.