The month of September is literally crammed with important anniversaries directly connected with Malta’s chequered history. These anniversaries include the lifting of the two sieges of 1565 and 1940-3, the beginning and the end of the Maltese insurrection against the French in 1798 and 1800 respectively, and the attainment of Malta’s independence in 1964. However, delving even deeper into Maltese history, one finds another great event that took place in September: the great Moorish invasion of Malta in 1429, 590 years ago.

In 1429, Malta formed part of the Aragonese Mediterranean Empire and had not yet recovered from the turmoil brought about by the Maltese insurrection against their feudal lord, Don Gonsalvo de Monroy, in 1426-7.

King Alfonso V of Aragon. During his reign, Malta was pawned to Don Gonsalvo de Monroy in 1421 and the Moors invaded Malta in 1429.

To win back their freedom, the Maltese had agreed to repay de Monroy the 30,000 florins he had paid to King Alfonso V of Aragon for his feudal rights over the island. A total of 20,000 florins had been raised and paid when de Monroy died on April 10, 1429, after writing off the remaining balance/debt of 10,000 florins on his death bed. Yet it seems that the effort had been too great for the Maltese and the impoverished islands needed a period of calm and peace to recuperate.

Alfonso V had succeeded to the Aragonese throne in 1416 and reigned till his death in 1458. He spent most of his reign outside his Spanish lands and pursued very ambitious policies in Italy, North Africa and the Levant. Unfortunately, the resources of Aragon could not keep up with the king’s ambitions and so the centre of the Aragonese Empire shifted towards Sicily and Naples.

Alfonso’s costly wars had to be financed somehow and it was precisely to raise sorely-needed revenue for his empty coffers that the king pawned the royal incomes and jurisdictions he held in the Maltese islands to Don Gonsalvo de Monroy in January 1421, an event that ultimately led to the insurrection and troubles already referred to above.

Mattia Preti’s 1682 depiction of St Paul dispersing the Moors during the 1429 attack at the Mdina Cathedral.

But Alfonso’s ambitions had exposed Malta not only to the Aragonese crown’s creditors but, more menacingly, to the growing power of the Muslim Hafsids of Tunisia. Alfonso’s expansionist policies provoked raids on the Maltese islands which, however, were not provided with adequate protection.

The Castello a Mare in Grand Harbour (a smaller version of modern Fort St Angelo) was provided with a foreign garrison but the Maltese had largely to provide their own defence, and this included Gozo, Mdina and the coast.

In fact, the Tunisian Moors had already raided Malta in 1423 when, it is said, they even captured the local Bishop Maurus who happened to be on the island. The Aragonese riposted with a reprisal raid on Kerkena in 1424 but the Hafsids retaliated by raiding Sicily. In September 1429, they attacked Malta once more, this time in force.

There is no doubt whatsoever that the attack of 1429 did actually take place and that it was certainly much more than just a usual raid. Various 15th-century documents refer to it and to its aftermath, besides being mentioned in a short account by contemporary Arab chronicler Al Maqrizi (known also as El Zarkasi or Zerkechi) who lived between 1364 and 1442 CE.

A large fleet and army attacked the islands on September 25. Details of the attack have to be gleaned from various sources with sometimes conflicting details. The recorded number of enemy ships varies from 40 to 70, although everyone seems to accept that the Moorish army was about 18,000 strong or thereabout. Before attacking Malta, the Moors had assailed Mazara in Sicily with, according to Al Maqrizi, an army of 200 cavalry and 15,000 soldiers. This chronicler also asserts that Muslim reinforcements were sent to Malta and, taking this into consideration together with Muslim losses at Mazara, the figure of 18,000 seems to be correct. They were led by Qaid Ridwàn.

The dome of St George’s collegiate parish church, Qormi, features Joseph Briffa’s 1938 painting of the 1429 Moorish invasion of Malta.

The Moors inexplicably retreated with the spoils they had acquired and without actually taking Mdina. No one knows why

There does not seem to be any doubt about the actual date, which is deduced from the writings of Isidoro, who died in 1463. Although Gian Francesco Abela (writing in 1647) and Ġan Anton Vassallo (writing in 1890) dated the attack to 1427 and 1427-8 respectively, yet the contemporary Isidoro asserted that the invasion had started on a Sunday, the date being September 25. This detailed date can only be ascribed to the years 1418, 1429 or 1435, but the first and last possibilities have to be ruled out due to historical evidence.

A detail of the dome of St George’s collegiate parish church, Qormi, showing St George from Joseph Briffa’s 1938 depiction of the 1429 Moorish attack on Malta.

Moreover, Al Maqrizi states that the attack took place on the 18th day of the year of the Hegira 833 (of the Muslim calendar) which corresponds with the Christian date of September 1429. This all leads to the obvious conclusion that the year in question was 1429.

Although reinforcements from Sicily were earmarked for Malta, no one knows whether any actually reached the islands before the attack. The Moors landed and ravaged the whole island before they laid siege to Mdina, capturing many slaves and livestock in the process.

Here again, there is a certain amount of disagreement as to the number of prisoners taken, with the numbers varying from 3,000 to 4,500 souls. Yet even the loss of only 3,000 inhabitants was calamitous when one notes that the population probably numbered in the region of about 10,000 to 12,000 people.

Qaid Ridwàn, the Moorish leader, laid siege to Mdina, which was expected to fall into Muslim hands without too much trouble. As already stated, the Moors received reinforcements and this is an indication that the siege was protracted till the beginning of October.

However, the Moors then inexplicably retreated with the spoils they had acquired and without actually taking Mdina. No one knows why they retreated and all that Al Maqrizi stated was that the Moors kept besieging the city “until there was nothing left but to take it”, thus implying that they left when they were on the point of capturing it.

Maltese folklore, legends and religious beliefs have indeed been enriched by this siege. For example, it has been said that the Muslims wanted to show the besieged Maltese that they wanted to beat them in a fair fight, not by starving them out. So they sent bread to the beleaguered town. However, the Maltese sent back the bread with a similar amount of cheeselets to show the enemy that they were well-prepared and were not short of supplies.

Medieval Mdina

A popular explanation as to why the Moors retreated with their spoils is that St Paul, St Agatha and St George appeared on the town walls and helped the defenders overcome the enemy, who decided to end the siege. No documentary proof of this event has ever come to light but one may perhaps note that, less than 150 years later, when the Apostolic Visitor Mgr Pietro Dusina was visiting the Mdina Cathedral in 1574, he was told that, on the feast day of the Annunciation, a procession was held from all the Maltese parishes to the cathedral to thank God for having delivered Malta from the Muslims.

At least four paintings in Maltese churches record this event. A 1682 painting by Mattia Preti for the Mdina Cathedral shows St Paul on a white charger dispersing the Muslims. A late 19th-century lunette in the sacristy of the Rabat parish church of St Paul portrays the saint as the saviour of the besieged Maltese but erroneously carries the date of 1470. A large painting on canvas that covers the interior of the dome of St George’s parish church in Qormi, executed by Joseph Briffa in 1938, depicts the three saints intervening to help the Maltese. The same theme was depicted by Giambattista Conti in 1956 on the right-hand transept apse of the St George parish church and basilica in Victoria.

On October 8, 1429, news of the Moorish incursion was received at Venice which was the city that stood to gain most from the Maltese victory due to its substantial trade and commerce in the Mediterranean. But the victory was really only a phyrric one, more moral than real, because the island’s villages were in ruins, the fields had been ravaged and whole families had been captured or dispersed.

Thus, the basis of the Maltese recovery that was needed so much after the de Monroy incident was cruelly struck down within a few years.

Indeed, in 1431, to try and alleviate Maltese misery, King Alfonso rescinded all customs dues on goods exported from Sicily to Malta. However, it seems that Malta remained a depressed area for many years during which the islands even experienced a decline in population during the following half century or so.

The Castello a Mare was refortified and reinforcements were brought over from Sicily. In 1432, King Alfonso led a punitive raid of Djerba in North Africa and the resultant truces led to an end of major Hafsid attacks, at least for the time being.

Historian Joseph F. Grima is a retired assistant director of education and casual lecturer in history whose publications include histories of the Order of St John and the French in Malta and The Fleet of the Knights of Malta – Its Organisation during the Eighteenth Century.