The defences of Malta

Abstract

In this quatercentenary year of the Great Siege it is perhaps appropriate to lament that the historiography of Malta is still scarcely comparable with that of most European countries. There are, of course, many reasons for this, not the least of which is the deterring volume of historical material to be explored (some of it in a very inferior condition!), as compared with the few opportunities for publication open to the Maltese historian; but the resultant lack of depth in our historical imagination is only too obvious, and there is a quite considerable danger that the history of these islands may suffer as much from the lack of a capacity for synthesis as from lacunae in the fields covered by original research.