Malta, then as always, was of supreme strategic importance for the domination of the Mediterranean.  It lay right in the centre of the narrow channel connecting the Eastern and Western Mediterranean, and, in the hands of such a small but splendidly efficient band of sailors as the Knights Hospitallers, was sure to become a source of vexation to the mighty Turkish Empire.  Though not so convenient as Rhodes for attacking Turkish merchant shipping, yet it had one advantage, in that it lay close to Christian shores and could easily be succoured in the hour of need.  A small, highly defensible island, strengthened by all the resources of engineering, it could, and did, become one of the most invulnerable fortresses in the world, and of the utmost importance for the control of the Mediterranean.

Charles V., therefore, made a splendid bargain when he handed over the neglected island to the Order of St. John, even had the gift been unconditional.  The Knights rendered him valuable service by sharing in the several expeditions the Spaniards undertook to the African coast.  Barbarossa, by the capture of Tunis from the old Hafside dynasty in 1534, threatened the important channel between Sicily and Africa, which it was essential for Charles V. to keep open.  In the next year, therefore, the Emperor attacked the town and conquered it without much difficulty.  The victory was unfortunately stained by the inhuman excesses of the Imperial troops, and Charles’s hold on Tunis was very short-lived.  In 1541 came the miserable fiasco of the Spanish expedition to Algiers.  Here, also, the Knights behaved with their usual bravery; but Charles’s disregard of the advice of his Admiral, Andrea Doria, resulted in the failure of the whole expedition.  In these and other expeditions the Knights took part:  some—­like the attack in 1550 on Mehedia[2]—­were successful, others—­like the siege of the Isle of Jerbah in 1559—­ended in disaster.

Such was the importance of Malta when the Knights took over the island in 1530.  The first need was to put it into a state of defence.  On the northeast of the island was the promontory of Mount Sceberras, flanked by the two fine harbours, the Marsa Muscetto and what was later known as the Grand Harbour.[3] The eastern side of the Grand Harbour was broken by three prominent peninsulas, later occupied by Fort Ricasoli, Fort St. Angelo, and Fort St. Michael.  The only fortification in 1530 was the Fort of St. Angelo, with a few guns and very weak walls.  The intention of the Knights, even from the beginning, was to make the main peninsula, Mount Sceberras, the seat of their “Convent”; but as that would mean the leveling of the whole promontory, a task of enormous expense and difficulty, and as immediate defence was necessary, they decided to occupy the Peninsula of St. Angelo for the present.  Wedged between St. Angelo and the mainland there was a small town, “Il Borgo”:  this, for the present, the Knights made their headquarters, drawing a line of entrenchments across the neck of the promontory to guard it from the neighboring heights.