Francisco Balbi di Correggio
Encyclopedia
Francisco Balbi di Correggio (1505–1589), born in Correggio in the province of Province of Reggio Emilia
, Italy, was an arquebusier
who served with the Spanish contingent during the Siege of Malta
. Little is known about him other than that he maintained a journal throughout the siege, which he afterwards published.
Balbi's is the best-known eyewitness account of the siege (there is at least one other, in the form of a long poem by the knight Hipolito Sans), and all subsequent histories rely heavily upon it, including that of Giacomo Bosio, the official historian of the Knights of St. John
, whose massive account first appeared in 1588.
Balbi's journal, apparently with some revisions after the fact, was first published in Spain in 1567. A second revised and extended edition was published in 1568. The first English translation appeared in 1961 by Henry A. Balbi, who might have been a distant descendent of the author. Another, less literal translation with some cuts was made by Ernle Bradford in 1965.
Reggio Emilia
Reggio Emilia is an affluent city in northern Italy, in the Emilia-Romagna region. It has about 170,000 inhabitants and is the main comune of the Province of Reggio Emilia....
, Italy, was an arquebusier
Arquebus
The arquebus , or "hook tube", is an early muzzle-loaded firearm used in the 15th to 17th centuries. The word was originally modeled on the German hakenbüchse; this produced haquebute...
who served with the Spanish contingent during the Siege of Malta
Siege of Malta (1565)
The Siege of Malta took place in 1565 when the Ottoman Empire invaded the island, then held by the Knights Hospitaller .The Knights, together with between 4-5,000 Maltese men,...
. Little is known about him other than that he maintained a journal throughout the siege, which he afterwards published.
Balbi's is the best-known eyewitness account of the siege (there is at least one other, in the form of a long poem by the knight Hipolito Sans), and all subsequent histories rely heavily upon it, including that of Giacomo Bosio, the official historian of the Knights of St. John
Knights Hospitaller
The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta , also known as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta , Order of Malta or Knights of Malta, is a Roman Catholic lay religious order, traditionally of military, chivalrous, noble nature. It is the world's...
, whose massive account first appeared in 1588.
Balbi's journal, apparently with some revisions after the fact, was first published in Spain in 1567. A second revised and extended edition was published in 1568. The first English translation appeared in 1961 by Henry A. Balbi, who might have been a distant descendent of the author. Another, less literal translation with some cuts was made by Ernle Bradford in 1965.