Five galleys of the order sailed for Sicily carrying the troops of Lombardy… The only troops left in Malta were the Florentines. Not half of them returned home because they died of hardship. It must be understood that the troops of Florence and Urbino are so described because they were recruited in those territories but they were paid by His Catholic Majesty Don Philip, King of Spain and were enrolled under the flag.
On our side the number of dead were:
2,500 soldiers of all nationalities
7,000 Maltese (men, women and children)
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9,500
During the whole siege, only one man was executed. He was an Italian from Genoa who was sentenced to death by Melchor Robles for saying publicly that our case was hopeless and that it was wiser to accept the money and free passage of the Turks. As soon as the Colonel heard this he hanged the man in sight of the enemy.
This is all that occurred during the siege as I saw it and have described it with truthful diligence…
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