page_title: Battle of Malta
section_title: Securing Malta
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Malta / Aftermath / Securing Malta
caption_attribution_description: English: Relief of ship and sailors, in honour of Roger de Lluria, at the facade of Palau Casades
context_page_description: The Battle of Malta took place on 8 July 1283 in the entrance to the Grand Harbour, the principal harbour of Malta, as part of the War of the Sicilian Vespers. An Aragonese fleet of galleys, commanded by Roger of Lauria, attacked and defeated a fleet of Angevin galleys commanded by Guillaume Cornut and Bartholomé Bonvin.
  The Angevin ships arrived in Malta first, and proceeded to relieve the Angevin garrison, which was besieged within the walls of the Castello del Mare. The galleys were followed in close pursuit by an Aragonese fleet. Roger of Lauria easily out-maneuvered the Angevin-Provençal fleet, and destroyed almost all of Cornut and Bonvin's vessels. Lauria then sailed back northwards, making a demonstration off Naples, raided the neighbouring coast, attacked and then garrisoned Capri and Ischia. The crushing defeat forced Charles I of Naples to postpone his plan to invade Sicily.
context_section_description: After resting his men for two days, Lauria advanced with his banners raised on the city of Malta. The notables pleaded with him not to do any damage, saying that the city would put itself in the keeping and the command of the King of Aragon, and that Malta would surrender to Lauria. The admiral entered the city with his troops, and received the homage of the city and the island. Lauria left two hundred men to secure and garrison the city against the Angevins in the Castello del Mare. Lauria then briefly attempted to besiege the castle, but finding it impossible without catapults and siege equipment, he was forced to raise the siege.
  The notables of Malta gave Lauria one thousand onzas in jewels and precious stones, as well as enough provisions to allow a safe passage to Messina. Then, Lauria set sail for Gozo, attacking the island and taking its ravelin. The city surrendered immediately, and received one hundred Catalan soldiers under the same terms as Malta. The men of Gozo gave jewels to the value of five hundred onzas, and further provisions for the Aragonese galleys.
  Setting course for Sicily, the Aragonese fleet landed at Syracuse, and thence to Aci and Taormina. The victorious fleet was celebrated at every Sicilian harbour it landed.
caption: Bas-relief of medieval galley and sailors, in honour of Roger of Lauria, on the facade of Palau Casades, Barcelona.
exif: {"Image Make": "Panasonic", "Image Model": "DMC-FX01", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Ver.1.0", "Image DateTime": "2012:06:21 13:31:41", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "420", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 50, 53, 48, 0, 0, 14, 0, 1, 0, 22, 0, ... ]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "7060", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4689", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/40", "EXIF FNumber": "41/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "80", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2012:06:21 13:31:41", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2012:06:21 13:31:41", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Flash", "EXIF Flash": "Flash fired, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "103/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2048", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1536", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "6908", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "86", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal"}