When events we commit to memory have been passed to us through several generations – as with the case of thousands of Gozitans taken into captivity in July 1551 – it is through perpetuated social tributes that memory finally survives and aspires for the longue durée.

After 470 years, this traumatic experience of Malta’s sister island remains an indicator of the stark realities Gozo has had to bear due to its double insularity over the centuries.

A sea of anxiety

Merely 21 years had passed since the Order of the Knights of St John had perilously brought their repute to the centre of the Mediterranean after Suleiman the Magnificent had, perhaps unwisely, allowed them to leave Rhodes in 1522, trusting he had finally seen the last of them.

By the mid-16th century, the seas around Malta were ablaze with impending apprehension. Christian coastal habitations in southern Europe, including the Maltese islands, were continuously targeted by Ottoman incursions incited by outstanding Muslim militants.

The Ottomans and their regencies in North Africa had avowed to reverse the flow of conquest and control of trade in the Mediterranean. The pashas of Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli had long been accusing the Order of brutal raids and abominable crimes on Muslim vessels and shores. Malta, they declared, had become a den of brigands. Ottoman chroniclers described Christian galleys as “agile as frogs” whose knights fought with valour and vigilance.

Gozo’s estimated 8,000 inhabitants were among the worst hit by the arrival of the Knights in 1530.

In summer, corsair raids augmented. On Gozo alone the Order’s raconteur Giacomo Bosio records at least eight incursions between 1533 and 1550, with scores of Gozitans taken into slavery. Dragut was leading most of these raids after honing an apparent vengeance for the island, following the slaying of his brother there by Gozo’s governor Giovanni Ximenes in 1544. Gozo was also nearest to Comino, the den of pirates since Roman times.

The menace of Dragut

Dragut, better known in Turkey as Turgut Reis, was the son of a Muslim peasant born around 1485 on the Anatolian coast. Joining the Turkish fleet in his youth, he climbed the lucrative ranks of the corsairs and soon commanded galleys after he befriended Barbarossa. On the latter’s death in 1546, Dragut became the undisputed leader of Barbary corsairs.

Jean de Valette’s appointment as governor of Tripoli in 1546 triggered Dragut, fresh from conquering Susa and Monastir, into pursuing his next challenge. Both men were renowned for their passionate commitment to their calling and both had spent time as slaves in opposite camps.

In July 1547, Dragut with 23 galleys, paid a visit to southern Malta, advancing till Żejtun from where he carried off 200 inhabitants into slavery. In April 1551, the corsair appeared again with 16 galleys, this time sacking the villages of Żurrieq and Siġġiewi.

By 1550, he had managed to get inside the strongly fortified harbour city of Mahdija, midway between Tunis and Gerba, only to lose it again by the end of summer after Papal forces, the Order and Spanish galleys won it back.

Incensed at the loss, Dragut procured a powerful Turkish fleet from Suleiman, and together with Sinan Pasha undertook an expeditionary force against Malta and Tripoli. The fleet, with 145 vessels, appeared off Malta on July 16, 1551.

Behind the hastily fortified bastions of Birgu, the Christian forces awaited their fate while the Ottoman commanders disputed the method of attack. Reminding Dragut that their priority was to capture Tripoli, Sinan, after inspecting their target, warned against battering “an impregnable castle”.

The fleet, with 145 vessels, appeared off Malta on July 16, 1551

Dragut preferred to pound the walls but had to consent. He conceded to ravish the countryside, in particular the villages of Birkirkara and Qormi, while attempting to assault Mdina. Grand Master Juan D’Omedes sent the French knight commander Nicolas Durand de Villegagnon to assist the thousands of Maltese peasants sheltered in the old city. Believing that help was coming from Sicily, the Ottoman commanders lifted the siege and decided to sail on to their principal objective.

Gozitans into slavery

Before leaving Maltese waters, the Ottomans realised that Gozo, with its fragile, isolated castle, was like a ripe plum. After a short siege, by July 26 they had carried off into slavery 700 men and over 5,000 women and children. Among them was the governor, knight Galatian de Sesse, who did not engage the enemy. Following a truce, the Citadel succumbed to pillaging, sparing only some 40 old peasants. Tradition has it that the captives boarded the Muslim vessels at Ras in-Newwiela near Mġarr ix-Xini. Only a few hundred managed to escape.

After the plunder, the grand master sent boats to pick up the survivors while a frigate followed the Ottoman fleet to spy on its destination.

The costly redemption of slaves was a lengthy process but the majority of victims collapsed under the harshness of slavery. Thanks to eminent researchers, such as Stanley Fiorini, Godfrey Wettinger and Joseph Bezzina, one could assume that the Gozitan medieval elite were among the first to be redeemed.

Other Gozitans, whose surnames appear in christening records after the attack, must have managed to escape capture or were also ransomed. Those whose names disappear after 1551 must have had the misfortune of ending their days in slavery.

Gozo is rich in legends and place names associated with the Turks, so called even if most corsairs in Maltese waters came from the Barbary Coast speaking Arabic. Some suggest that many of the enslaved in 1551 had been taken to Tarhuna, where they settled, though many, in fact, ended up in Constantinople.

Tripoli falls to Dragut

On his return from slavery in 1557, de Sesse was accused of betraying the Order but all charges were dropped under the new Grand Master Claude de la Sengle, as de Sesse’s behaviour during the siege had been considered reasonable against a superior force.

In a matter of weeks, on August 15, 1551, Dragut took Tripoli, herding off its residents as slaves. It had been in Christian hands since 1510. Dragut became governor of the city, thus achieving his goal to escalate raids on Christian sea craft and enclaves.

With the fall of Tripoli, Christian Europe feared the worst. Grand Master D’Omedes evacuated all non-combatants, mostly women, children and the elderly, to Syracuse and Licata. The Pope even advised him to retire to Sicily.

Malta was expecting the Turkish militaries to reappear in full force. Indeed, the Order’s Council agreed to construct a fort on Mount Xiberras, Fort St Elmo; to fortify St Julian’s peninsula, which later developed into Senglea; and to revamp Fort St Angelo, enlarging its bastions and ditch. All these projects, which started at the beginning of 1552, were completed within six months. Wiser after the event, Gozitans were obliged to retire at night within the Citadel during the summer months.

Gozo’s renewal after 1551

It was no surprise that by 1575, Gozitan settlements swelled in the Castello and in Rabat. In spite of a series of lesser attacks that persisted until the end of the century, the land-locked Cittadella could still not withstand an artillery assault and it was not in a location that could receive emergency provisioning.

In 1599, the Order finally committed itself to the longer vision of the island’s defences. It decided to restore the Castello, fortifying the lower enceinte overlooking Rabat. During the 17th century, successive grand masters built a series of coastal fortifications, including at Mġarr and Marsalforn. Grand Master Alof de Wignacourt in 1618 financed the construction of the Santa Marija Tower on Comino to watch over the channel across to Malta, while other forts were built at Xlendi, Dwejra and Mġarr ix-Xini. Daħlet Qorrot got its tower in 1667, completing the chain of security.

Consequently, with the dwindling threat from the sea, this development invigorated people to radiate from the Citadel and settle in all directions.

Dragut’s death in Malta

Dragut’s association with Malta culminated in the Great Siege of 1565 when, with Admiral Piali Pasha and General Mustapha Pasha, he laid siege to Birgu. Dragut’s own force consisted of two galiots, 13 galleys, and 1,600 soldiers – called matasiete (bullies) as they would have sworn to kill seven foes each. These copiously tattooed warriors wore animal skins and golden helmets, a particular strategy invented by their reis to impress the enemy.

Records vary considerably on the victims of this long, hot summer: they almost all speak of thousands on both sides, with the Turks, in Western estimates, running into tens of thousands. Among the latter, however, there was certainly the legendary Dragut himself, who faced an agonising death in June after a splinter from a missile from Fort St Angelo fatally hit him. The Knights and the Maltese chanted victory in September.

Dragut now lies in the Sidi Darghut Mosque in Tripoli, constructed for him on the site of a former chapel of the Knights of Malta. It bears his name.