The Great Siege

It was on this occasion that Catherine de Medici asked, ‘Was it really the greatest siege? Greater even than Rhodes?’

She was answered by Knight Commander de la Roche, of the French Langue: ‘Yes, Madam, greater even than Rhodes. It was the greatest siege in history.’

— Jurien de la Gravière

Malta of gold, Malta of silver, Malta of most precious metal,

We will never take you, not if you were protected by no more than the skin of an onion!

No, for I am She who drowned the galleys of the Turk,

Who destroyed all the heroes of Constantinople and Galata …

— Sixteenth century ballad