Sumea El Raes and Lorraine Xiberras
It was a beautiful ordinary day in Victoria. Anastasia was helping her mother cooking lunch
for her family. Her brothers and sisters were playing together outside, they were still too
young to help with the chores.
As they were preparing the table, Anastasia suddenly heard
loud noises. She rushed to her window and the view startled
her. She saw people running for their lives from their homes,
Historical Note:
The Invasion of Gozo took place in
July 1551, and was accomplished
by the Ottoman Empire against
the island of Gozo, following an
unsuccessful attempt to conquer
nearby Malta on 18 July 1551.
About 300 people escaped from
the Citadel by climbing down its
walls and hid from the Ottomans.
The other 6,000 people, including
Governor de Sessa and the
Knights, were taken captive and
ended up in slavery, being sailed
to Tripoli on 30 July. The Ottomans
only spared a monk and forty
elderly Gozitans. A street in the
Citadel named after Bernardo
Dupuo. According to legend, one
of the defenders named Bernardo
Dupuo (also known as Bernardo da
Fonte or de Opuo) fought bravely
when Ottomans breached the city
walls, and killed his own wife and
two daughters preferring death
over slavery before he himself was
killed by the invading forces. A
street in the Citadel is named after
him, and outside his house lies a
plaque commemorating his death.
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