Suleyman the Magnificent and Malta 1565 : decisions, concerns, consequences

Abstract

Since much of the material in the Istanbul State Archives pertaining to the period spanning from 1451, which marked the beginning of the reign of the Sultan Mehmed Fatih, to 1566, when Suleyman the Magnificent died, was destroyed because of revolts and uprisings, it is notoriously difficult to source material about the 1565 Ottoman invasion of Malta. Despite the disheartening situation, in 1990 I decided to try my luck anyway with the Archives. Luckily enough, I discovered that a number of decrees issued by the Imperial Council and connected with the I 565 Malta Siege had, in fact, survived. The decrees relating to the 1565 Malta expedition are contained in two registers, namely the Miihimme Defteri Gilt: 6, n. 1-1479 and the Miihimme Defteri Gilt: 5, n. 1-1989. The "Maltese" entries concern the year 972 Hicri (= 1564-1565) in Miihimme Gilt: 6 and the year 973 Hicri (= 1565-1566) in Miihimme Gilt: 5. Ottoman scholars have had the opportunity to consult this documentation in the past, but Maltese scholars were oblivious of its existence.