That was an inspiring read, thank you. I've long been a student of Malta and the odd synchronicity coming my way from such a tiny island. This be yet another, and on a powerful day. The island has a marvelous history, and other readers may google Valletta to get a feeling of the place, though you have to dodge oligarch yachts these days.
Many thanks; I knew nothing of this. Figures like Valette quicken the blood partly because their decisions are such a terrible challenge to one's own masculinity: Would YOU have done the same in his place?
My masculinity and my faith. Would I do as he instructed his men, to offer up the life I’d promised to God? I guess one never knows until he’s put to the test.
Beautifully written; this actually made me misty-eyed! Funny coincidence(?) of timing, too - just last night I was enmeshed in Robert Anton Wilson's 'Coincidance', specifically a fictional short story therein about a convention of married Catholic priests, where they blame any strange happenings on the Knights of Malta, which they consider to be the religious equivalent of the CIA. It was at that moment I realized: I know nothing of these "Knights of Malta".
Christianity has always been the primary element of these stories, but there always exists a cultural dimension, as well: the barbarism of the Turks contrasted against the heroism of the European warriors is the greatest corroboration for the thesis that "East is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet". There is something fundamentally distinct about our understanding of the universe which a universalist interpretation of history never quite succeeds in capturing. (I am always reminded of the fact that it was considered a special dispensation, out of mercy, when Sultan Mehmed II ordered his soldiers to cease the rape and pillage of Constantinople after 2 days, rather than 3. Not to mention his trampling upon the altar of the Hagia Sophia.)
Whether you call it Christendom, Europe or Western civilisation, this glorious common possession of our peoples, from Charles Martel and La Valette to Prince Eugene and Count Starhemberg, has never had want of defenders. Let us hope that it shall be so in the future.
They were pests in the service of their version of what for convenience we may call God; Excellently-skilled and educated mercenaries and jihadists are mercenaries and jihadists and pests, no matter what you call them.
I know it's difficult in our "civilized" age to imagine people who lived for something higher than money. Glory to God, who all these people fervently and sincerely believed in, and the nobility and duty of honor are not to be scoffed at from our protected perch in the global American empire. They fought for their God and their culture and the best man won.
Yes, God does need to be fought for. I suppose you like the trans-mutilation of children and think not a word or hand should be raised in defense of the innocent. Why is transing kids bad? Why are murder and crime bad? Why do truth, dignity and honor matter? Our moral center comes from God, whether you know it or not.
Well, in the actuals, despite all this admiration for the well-dressed ruffians using God as their permission for mayhem, conservatives keep losing to them HR cat ladies as I noted above, and their loserhood is costing all of us dearly.
So maybe a little less looking so far back into glorious history, and a little more looking at exactly how we arrived at this particular grim point in time, would be more fruitful in beginning to solve the problem.
You appear to have a theory, so bring it out. Too much teasing and I might start to doubt that assumption.
Otherwise, you call for more imagination but can't imagine that La Vallette might have some qualities worth remembering. You want timeless and universal stories, but apparently "timeless and universal" excludes the distant or disagreeable past. So what exactly are we supposed to be looking for here?
Analyses of "how exactly we arrived at this particular grim point in time" are a dime a dozen these days, this stuff is nice for the change of pace alone.
I think I'm starting to get what you mean by Resurrection and the glory of Kings. Beautiful piece and fascinating history.
Fascinating and uplifting on this day, of all days. Truly grateful for your most apropos history lesson.
I. Love. It!
It's wonderful...We, western people, need more of these stories, it should be published in comics and in kid's book...
That was an inspiring read, thank you. I've long been a student of Malta and the odd synchronicity coming my way from such a tiny island. This be yet another, and on a powerful day. The island has a marvelous history, and other readers may google Valletta to get a feeling of the place, though you have to dodge oligarch yachts these days.
Fascinating! A story I did not know.
Thank you.
Many thanks; I knew nothing of this. Figures like Valette quicken the blood partly because their decisions are such a terrible challenge to one's own masculinity: Would YOU have done the same in his place?
My masculinity and my faith. Would I do as he instructed his men, to offer up the life I’d promised to God? I guess one never knows until he’s put to the test.
Amazing! I imagine there are so many of these heroic figures forgotten to time. Thanks for sharing this.
A fine inspiring bit of history sir. When the Third Jihad flares up, will we be their equals?
It remains to be seen.
Beautifully written; this actually made me misty-eyed! Funny coincidence(?) of timing, too - just last night I was enmeshed in Robert Anton Wilson's 'Coincidance', specifically a fictional short story therein about a convention of married Catholic priests, where they blame any strange happenings on the Knights of Malta, which they consider to be the religious equivalent of the CIA. It was at that moment I realized: I know nothing of these "Knights of Malta".
They are still around, though now they restrict their activities to charity.
Magnificent.
Amazing history.
I encourage anyone who loves travel to visit Malta and the great places where Islam's western expansion was finally checked.
Another inspiring and brilliantly written piece.
Christianity has always been the primary element of these stories, but there always exists a cultural dimension, as well: the barbarism of the Turks contrasted against the heroism of the European warriors is the greatest corroboration for the thesis that "East is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet". There is something fundamentally distinct about our understanding of the universe which a universalist interpretation of history never quite succeeds in capturing. (I am always reminded of the fact that it was considered a special dispensation, out of mercy, when Sultan Mehmed II ordered his soldiers to cease the rape and pillage of Constantinople after 2 days, rather than 3. Not to mention his trampling upon the altar of the Hagia Sophia.)
Whether you call it Christendom, Europe or Western civilisation, this glorious common possession of our peoples, from Charles Martel and La Valette to Prince Eugene and Count Starhemberg, has never had want of defenders. Let us hope that it shall be so in the future.
Thank you very much for the kind words.
What a bracing, bouncy, beautiful history we have when we stop whining and apologising ⚔️⚔️
They were God’s own pirates, grim, extreme, and fully committed to a life of unending conflict.
---------------------------------------------------
They were pests in the service of their version of what for convenience we may call God; Excellently-skilled and educated mercenaries and jihadists are mercenaries and jihadists and pests, no matter what you call them.
I know it's difficult in our "civilized" age to imagine people who lived for something higher than money. Glory to God, who all these people fervently and sincerely believed in, and the nobility and duty of honor are not to be scoffed at from our protected perch in the global American empire. They fought for their God and their culture and the best man won.
Erudite thugs and mercenaries are still thugs and mercenaries.
You're entitled to your opinion -- emaciated and dispirited as it may be.
PS: God needs to be fought for? Quite the enfeebled vision of a Creator of the Universe.
Yes, God does need to be fought for. I suppose you like the trans-mutilation of children and think not a word or hand should be raised in defense of the innocent. Why is transing kids bad? Why are murder and crime bad? Why do truth, dignity and honor matter? Our moral center comes from God, whether you know it or not.
You guys really like to suture unrelated things together, don't you?
The men written about in this post justified their human lusts by dressing them in piety-clothes.
Ah, the lament of the keyboard warrior.
Well, in the actuals, despite all this admiration for the well-dressed ruffians using God as their permission for mayhem, conservatives keep losing to them HR cat ladies as I noted above, and their loserhood is costing all of us dearly.
So maybe a little less looking so far back into glorious history, and a little more looking at exactly how we arrived at this particular grim point in time, would be more fruitful in beginning to solve the problem.
You appear to have a theory, so bring it out. Too much teasing and I might start to doubt that assumption.
Otherwise, you call for more imagination but can't imagine that La Vallette might have some qualities worth remembering. You want timeless and universal stories, but apparently "timeless and universal" excludes the distant or disagreeable past. So what exactly are we supposed to be looking for here?
Analyses of "how exactly we arrived at this particular grim point in time" are a dime a dozen these days, this stuff is nice for the change of pace alone.