De Valette’s Battle-sword
7th June 2015
This Hospitaller sword is shrouded in mystery, but it is well known and it is, in any case, still in Malta. Information about its origins is very scarce and it merits attention because of its strong tradition in local collective memory. It is the presumed personal battle-sword of de Valette donated to the chapel of Our Lady of Damascus in Birgu (Vittoriosa) at the end of the siege of 1565.