One of the darkest and saddest pages in the history of Malta’s sister island of Gozo happened during July well over four-and-a-half centuries ago, when the island was completely overrun, looted, pillaged and sacked by a Muslim Turkish army which also enslaved almost the entire Gozitan population.

Malta only narrowly escaped the same fate and, after capturing and relinquishing Gozo, the Turks went on to conquer the Order of St John’s other possession: the city of Tripoli in North Africa, which had been ceded to the Order by Emperor Charles V in 1530 together with the Maltese islands.

Grand Master Juan de Homedes (c.1477-1553, ruled 1536-53). Photo of engraving by Daniel Cilia

Between 1536 and 1553, the ruling grand master was the Aragonese Juan de Homedes. During his rule, alterations and improvements were carried out to Fort St Angelo and Birgu (Vittoriosa) under the direction of the Bergamese military engineer Antonio Ferramolino, who died in 1550. But, by 1551, no defensive works had been constructed on the strategic high ground of Mount Sceberras, which straddled Grand and Marsamxett Harbours. In fact, in 1551, Malta and Gozo were very far from being adequately fortified to withstand a prolonged and sustained siege if conducted by a determined enemy.

On July 16, 1551, a Turkish armada of about 145 galleys carrying about 10,000 troops – some sources give the figure of 12,000 – appeared off Malta after having ravaged the harbour installations of the port of Augusta in Sicily. The fleet sailed into Marsamxett Harbour unopposed since Fort St Elmo had not yet been constructed. A half-hearted attempt to enter Birgu was followed by a siege of the old city of Mdina.

Mdina was crammed full of refugees from the countryside who followed the age-old tradition of seeking shelter in the city. However, Mdina was badly-provisioned and badly garrisoned, and it seemed only a matter of a few days before it would be taken by the enemy. For a few days, the Turkish soldiery sacked and pillaged Rabat but, on July 20, the Ottoman fleet moved to St Paul’s Bay and the Muslims retreated from Rabat to embark on their ships.

Since Dragut’s brother had lost his life in a previous raid on Gozo in 1544, Dragut had a personal grudge to settle

The real reason behind the Turkish withdrawal has so far remained unknown. The retreat has been popularly attributed to divine intervention and it is a fact that the panic-stricken population had proceeded in procession to place a marble statue of St Agatha on the walls. It could be that the sight of so many people on the Mdina bastions may have made the enemy think the siege would be a long drawn-out affair, something the Turkish leaders wanted to avoid.

Turgut Reis, more popularly known as Dragut (1485-1565). Photo: Wikipedia.com

A depiction of Salah Rais (c.1488-1568). Photo: Wikipedia.com

Franco Forma’s engraving of Sinan Pasha, who died in 1553. Photo: Wikipedia.com

The Turkish commanders, Sinan Pasha, who died in 1553, Salah Rais (c.1488-1568) and Turgut Reis (1485-1565) – more popularly known as Dragut – turned their attention to Gozo and landed there on July 21. Actually, the Muslims’ main objective was to wrest Tripoli from the Knights of St John but, knowing the weak state of the Gozo defences, they could well afford a couple of days to attack and sack the island. It has also been suggested that since Dragut’s brother had lost his life in a previous raid on Gozo in 1544, Dragut had a personal grudge to settle.

computer-generated reconstruction of the medieval Gozo citadel by Stephen C. Spiteri

Like Mdina, the Gozo citadel was crammed with refugees. It was, however, even weaker than Mdina, and its small garrison only included a single gunner. His death at the beginning of the siege meant the beginning of the end and, by July 26, the Governor of Gozo – the Aragonese knight Fra Galatien de Sesse – was forced to send an emissary to Sinan and ask for terms of surrender.

The Turkish answer was that only 40 people would be spared. When the Muslims duly entered the citadel on the next day, only twoscore old and infirm inhabitants were allowed to go free. A number of Gozitans, calculated to have been around 300, managed to scale down the rear walls by means of ropes and made good their escape.

But almost the entire population, calculated to have been about 5,000 people, were taken away into abject slavery. Most of them never returned to their homeland.

One such captive, the Rev. Lorenzo de Apapis, the parish priest of St George parish in Rabat, managed to ransom himself from slavery in Constantinople (modern Istanbul) in 1554 and returned to his other occupation of notary public. Incidentally, some of his notarial deeds are still extant in the Notarial Archives of Malta.

Most of the slaves were taken to Constantinople – the redemption of de Apapis is an indication of this fact – though it is believed that some of them were taken to Tarhuna, south of Tripoli, where they formed a colony. It is popularly said that up till the 1930s, some descendants of these unfortunates still recounted that they were Maltese, victims of Dragut.

The citadel was given over to looting and pillage by the Muslim troops. Houses and churches were sacked and damaged. The Gozo archives were taken over and partially destroyed. It is said that part of it was taken to Constantinople and perhaps some Gozitan documentation still lies in that city awaiting ‘discovery’. This catastrophic event has resulted in there being great difficulty when writing the pre-1551 history of Gozo as information on this period has perforce to be gleaned from other archives and sources in Malta.

Part of [the Gozo archives] was taken to Constantinople and perhaps some documentation still lies in that city awaiting ‘discovery’

However, not all the Gozitans accepted their captivity without demur. One such brave man was the soldier Bernardo Dupuo (de Opuo), who could not stomach seeing his wife and two daughters being taken into abject slavery. He therefore slew them and then was himself killed, sword in hand, resisting the enemy to the very end. A plaque with an inscription, now housed in the Gozo Museum of Archaeology and replaced by a copy, was placed in 1579 on the facade of Bernardo’s residence and records the event. Although this event was for many years said to be no more than just a legend, documentary proof shows that it really happened.

The original 1579 plaque commemorating the bravery of Bernardo de Opuo (Dupuo), now housed at Gozo Citadel Museum.

The street named in honour of Bernardo de Opuo (Dupuo) in the Gozo citadel.

A drawing by Robert Caruana Dingli depicting Bernardo de Opuo’s (Dupuo)’s bravery published in S. Laspina’s Outlines of Maltese History.

The result of this Turkish incursion was the devastation and depopulation of Gozo. Yet, by September 1554, the citadel parish church (now the Gozo cathedral) was functioning once more and the walls were rebuilt by 1565. Very slowly, life began returning to normal and, in the following years, the island was practically resettled by newcomers from Malta and, probably, from Sicily, since only a few of the captured Gozitans ever returned from slavery to their native island.

But it was a very gradual affair. In fact, in 1614, over 60 years after the catastrophic event, the population of Gozo was still only 2,655 strong, a far cry from the number reputedly captured in 1551, and only reached its pre-1551 figures after a further 20 years.

Moreover, the burnt and looted archives have been lost to researchers forever. However, it is heartening to note that some hitherto unknown documents relating to medieval Gozo have been unearthed at the Notarial Archives in Valletta, though most of them have still to be catalogued and interpreted.

The memorial to the 1551 siege and sacking of Gozo at Villa Rundle Gardens, Victoria, Gozo.

John Grima’s 2016 monument of the 1551 Siege of Gozo, outside the citadel walls.

For many years, this invasion was never given its due importance through a suitable memorial or monument and it was only in recent years that suitable monuments were set up: at Villa Rundle Gardens in Victoria and in front of the Citadel walls in 2016, with the latter designed by Gozitan artist John Grima.