Description “The amount of original detail Joseph Scicluna’s Defiant provides from the very first chapter shows how incomplete our knowledge of the past has been. I do not for a moment hesitate to define the present work, written by the same author of the award-winning biography of Chambray, as a solid contribution, interesting and significant, to Hospitaller scholarship.” Prof Victor Mallia Milanes This book follows the Order of St John through one of the most turbulent interludes in its history. Stripped of its stronghold, the Order wrestled with questions of identity, legitimacy, and purpose until it secured a tentative foothold in Malta and reemerged as a force in the western Mediterranean. Rather than being confined to a simple recounting of events, the narrative seeks to situate them within the broader geopolitical and ideological currents of the sixteenth century. While the drama of sieges, voyages, and campaigns is vividly retold, equal attention is devoted to the human dimension — stories of suffering and heroism, alongside the atrocities committed by both sides.
