Hospitaller Malta and the Order of St John in David Ball’s The Sword and the Scimitar : a historical evaluation

Abstract

The intention behind this dissertation is to provide a critical and analytical view of David Ball’s historical novel The Sword and the Scimitar. The novel starts in 1552 and goes on till the aftermath of the siege of 1565. However, previous events were mentioned by the novelist and these too have been critically viewed to see how accurate Ball was. The interest to make this dissertation comes from personal liking of historical novels. Nonetheless as I started studying history I developed an interest to see how much a historical novel is fictional and how much is based on correct factual knowledge. In the first chapter, I have written about the Order of St. John’s history from its beginning in the Holy Land. From then onwards I continued by critically analyzing what Ball wrote in a chronological order of how things happened. This approach was also applied in the second chapter regarding the siege of 1565. The third chapter focuses on two historical figures found in the novel, Jean Parisot de La Valette and Dragut Reis. The chapter is divided into two, the first part deals with La Valette, the second part with Dragut. This dissertation would not have been possible without the assistance of several people. First and foremost I am deeply thankful to my tutor, Prof. Victor Mallia-Milanes for his guidance, patience and support. His constant help while I was writing this dissertation is truly appreciated. Gratitude also goes to the Department of History for in these last three years I have obtained greater knowledge and greater appreciation of history and the historian. A special acknowledgment goes to my father whose love of history he passed down to me and during these few months he filled my desk with books of history. Last but not least, my deepest appreciation goes to my mother who always pushed me in furthering my education, my grandparents who were always there when I needed their help, and to Donna whose never-ending support was all I needed to bring the present dissertation to an end.