Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/456

CHAPTER XVII.

1565.

Enumeration of the garrison of Malta—Description of its defences—The Turkish army and fleet—The janissaries—Disembarkation of the force —Siege of St. Elmo commenced—Arrival of Dragut — Repeated assaults— The fort cut off from succour—Its fall—Massacre of the garrison.

A careful examination of the forces within the city was made under the orders of La Valette. With this view, a general parade of the langues was held, at which each was inspected by two knights selected from the other langue8. At this parade the following numbers were present:—

	Knights.	Servants-at-arms.
Provence ... ...	61 ... ...	15
Auvergne ... ...	25 ... ...	14
France... ... ...	57 ... ...	24
Italy ... ... ...	164 ... ...	5
Aragon... ... ...	85 ... ...	2
England... ... ...	1 ...	0
Germany ... ...	13 ... ...	1
Castile ... ... ...	68 ... ...	6

making a total of 474 knights and 67 servants-at-arms. The solitary Englishman was Oliver Starkey, Latin secretary to La Valette, and author of the inscription on the tomb of that Grand-Master, by whose side his own remains are laid in the crypt of St. John’s church in Malta. The number of knights present at the siege was eventually increased by nearly 100, many having been unable to reach the island before it began. They consequently mustered at Messina, and