I refer to the letter by Baron Martin Testaferrata Moroni Viani, ‘The nobility in Malta in 1565’ (The Sunday Times of Malta, August 2).

I refuse to be bullied into twisting acknowledged facts about the nobility during the Great Siege of 1565. The author ascribes to me a ruthless sadistic streak in my character, accusing me of “a peculiar malaise to use any stick to hit a man when he is down”. This unprovoked attack on an ailing old man does not do justice to the scions of Malta’s nobility. Such conduct is unbecoming, unwarranted and unjust.

In my feature in The Sunday Times of Malta of July 26, I presented the exodus of the majority of the nobles (and not the entire nobility) to the safety of Sicily, in the right perspective. The majority of the aristocracy living in Mdina before the knights arrived hailed mainly from Sicily and Aragon. As expected they viewed with some displeasure the arrival of the Order of St John because these European nobles even had the arrogance to declare that they did not recognise the local aristocracy to be eligible for admission to the prestigious Order.

The second exodus occurred immediately after the Turkish attack of 1551 when Mdina’s vulnerability was exposed and the Mdina citizens were extracted from the jaws of death by the skin of their teeth. On the eve of the Great Siege the Mdina fortifications were very weak to withstand a Turkish attack. This situation stemmed the third exodus and many of the remaining Sicilian and Aragonese families left the island.

The few Maltese noble families that remained in Mdina distinguished themselves in the Great Siege as documented even by Antonio Bosio. Furthermore it was the Mdina nobility who hosted the Piccolo Soccorso in late June prior to their safe conduct to Birgu.

My records reveal that the majority of the present-day nobility owe their titles to the Knights of St John in recognition of the nobilty’s improving relations. This statement exonerates the Maltese nobility from any accusation that they abandoned the island in the hour of need. Throughout Malta’s checkered history the aristocracy contributed substantially to the political development of the island as in the case of the Maltese insurrection against the French in 1799 with three Mdina nobles joining forces with Braret to expel the French.

I am very pleased to record that during the 1990s when I was honorary PRO of the Mdina Cathedral Museum I had access to the records of the Mdina Cathedral and the Università In these records the nobility emerges as an exceptional generous institution contributing to the welfare of this ancient city. They stand out for their outstanding generosity to religious bodies in Mdina.