On the final division of the Roman dominions in A.D. 395 Malta was assigned to the empire of Constantinople. On the third Arab invasion, A.D. 87o, the Maltese joined forces against the Byzantine garrison, and 3,00o Greeks were massacred. Unable to garrison the island with a large force, the Arabs cleared a zone between the central stronghold, Medina, and the suburb called Rabat, to restrict the fortified area. Many Arab coins, some Kufic inscriptions and several burial-places were left by the Arabs; but they did not establish their religion or leave a perma nent impression on the Phoenician inhabitants, or deprive the Maltese language of the characteristics which differentiate it from Arabic. There is no historical evidence that the domination of the Goths and Vandals in the Mediterranean ever extended to Malta: there are fine Gothic arches in two old palaces at Notabile, but these were built after the Norman conquest of Malta. In 1090 Count Roger the Norman (son of Tancred de Hauteville), then master of Sicily, came to Malta with a small retinue; the Arab garrison was unable to offer effective opposition, and the Maltese were willing and able to welcome the Normans as deliverers and to hold the island after the immediate withdrawal of Count Roger. A bishop of Malta was witness to a document in 109o. The Phoenician population had continued Christian during the mild Arab rule. Under the Normans the power of the Roman Church quickly augmented, tithes were granted and ecclesiastical buildings erected and endowed. The Normans, like the Arabs, were not numerically strong; the rule of both, in Sicily as well as Malta, was based on a recognition of municipal institutions under local officials; the Normans, however, exterminated the Moham medans. Gradually feudal customs asserted themselves. In 1193 Margarito Brundusio received Malta as a fief with the title of count ; he was Grand Admiral of Sicily. Constance, wife of the emperor Henry IV. of Germany became, in 1194, heiress of Sicily and Malta; she was the last of the Norman dynasty. The Grand Admiral of Sicily in 1223 was Henry, count of Malta. He had led 30o Maltese at the capture of two forts in Tripoli by the Genoese.
In 1427 the Turks raided Malta and Gozo, they carried many of the inhabitants into captivity, but gained no foothold. The Maltese joined the Spaniards in a disastrous raid against Gerbi on the African coast in 1432. In 1492 the Aragonese expelled the Jews. Dissatisfaction arose under Aragonese rule from the period ical grants of Malta, as a marquisate or countship, to great officers of state or illegitimate descendants of the sovereign. Exemption was obtained from these incidences of feudalism by large payments to the Crown in return for charters covenanting that Malta should for ever be administered under the royal ex chequer without the intervention of intermediary feudal lords. This compact was twice broken, and in 1428 the Maltese paid King Alfonso 30,00o florins for a confirmation of privileges, with a proviso that entitled them to resist by force of arms any inter mediate lord that his successors might attempt to impose. Under the Aragonese, Malta, as regards local affairs, was administered by a University or municipal commonwealth with wide and indefi nite powers, including the election of its officers, Capitan di Verga, Jurats, etc. The minutes of the "Consiglio Popolare" of this
period are preserved, showing it had no legislative power; this was vested in the king, and was exercised despotically in the interests of the Crown. The knights of St. John having been driven from Rhodes by the Turks, obtained the grant of Malta, Gozo and Tripoli in 153o from the emperor Charles V., subject to a reversion in favour of the emperor's successor in the kingdom of Aragon should the knights leave Malta, and to the annual tribute of a falcon in acknowledgment that Malta was under the suzerainty of Spain. The Maltese, at first, challenged the grant as a breach of the charter of King Alfonso, but eventually wel comed the knights. The Grand Master de l'Isle Adam, on enter ing the ancient capital of Notabile, swore for himself and his suc cessors to maintain the rights and liberties of the Maltese. The Order of St. John took up its abode on the promontory guarded by the castle of St. Angelo on the southern shore of the Grand. Harbour, and, in expectation of attacks from the Turks, com menced to fortify the neighbouring town called the Borgo. The knights lived apart from the Maltese, and derived their principal revenues from estates of the Order in the richest countries of Europe. They accumulated wealth by war, or by privateering against the Turks and their allies. The African Arabs under Selim Pasha in 1551 ravaged Gozo, after an unsuccessful attempt on Malta, repulsed by cavalry under Upton, an English knight. The Order of St. John and the Christian Maltese now rea4ed that an attempt to exterminate them would soon be made by Soliman II., and careful preparations were made to meet the attack.
The great siege of Malta which made the island and its knights famous, and checked the advance of Mohammedan power in southern and western Europe, began in May 1565. The fighting men of the defenders are variously recorded between 6,ioo and 9,121 ; the roll comprises one English knight, Oliver Starkey. The Mohammedan forces were estimated from 29,00o to 38,500. The Sultan placed his troops under the veteran Mustapha, and his galleys under his youthful relative Piali ; he hesitated to make either supreme and ordered them to await the arrival of Dragut with his Algerian allies, before deciding on their final plans. Meanwhile, against Mustapha's better judgment, Piali induced the council of war to attack St. Elmo, in order to open the way for his fleet to an anchorage, safe in all weathers, in Marsamuscetto harbour. This strategical blunder was turned to the best ad vantage by La Valette, who so prolonged the most heroic defence of St. Elmo that the Turks lost 7,000 killed and as many wounded before exterminating the 1,200 defenders, who fell at their post. In the interval Dragut was mortally wounded, the attack on Notabile was neglected, valuable time lost, and the main objective (the Borgo) and St. Angelo left intact. The subsequent siege of St. Angelo, and its supporting fortifications, was marked by the greatest bravery on both sides. The knights and their Maltese troops fought for death or victory, without asking or giving quarter. Finally, Mustapha was driven to his ships on Sept. 8.