Arnold CASSOLA The Great Si ege of Malta ( 1565) and the Istanbul S tat e Archives

Abstract

The compelling narratives of Ottoman sieges against the defensive strongholds of Christendom have long been a favourite subject of historians. Constantinople, Rhodes, Vienna - the stories of these sieges are on the shelves of specialist and non-specialist alike. Their comman characteristic is that they are written largely w ithout the benefıt of the Ottoman voice. In the work under review here, Arnold Cassola attempts, for the fırst time in a western language, to give prominen-_ ce to Ottoman archival sources canceming the siege of Malta. Himself a native ofthat island, his aim is to make the Mal tes~ people more aware of the events of 430 years ago by giving substance to the side of the story which has remained unknown to all but readers of Turkish.