Francisco Balbi di Correggio (1505 - 1589) born in Correggio in the province of Emilio, Italy was an arquebusier who served with the Spanish contingent during the Siege of Malta. The Arquebus (sometimes spelled harquebus, harkbus or hackbut; from Dutch haakbus, meaning "hook gun" is For the 1940-42 siege see " Siege of Malta (World War II " The Siege of Malta (also known as the Great Siege of Malta) took Little is known about him other than that he maintained a journal throughout the siege, which he afterwards published.
Balbi's is the best-known eyewitness account of the siege (there is at least one other, in the form of a long poem by the knight Hipolito Sans), and all subsequent histories rely heavily upon it, including that of Giacomo Bosio, the official historian of the Knights of St. John, whose massive account first appeared in 1588. The Knights Hospitaller (also known as the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St
Balbi's journal, apparently with some revisions after the fact, was first published in Spain in 1567. A second revised and extended edition was published in 1568. The first English translation appeared in 1961 by Henry A. Balbi, who might have been a distant descendent of the author. Another, less literal translation with some cuts was made by Ernle Bradford in 1965.
References
- Francesco Balbi di Correggio translated Henry A. Balbi (1568 translated 1961). The Siege Of Malta 1565. Copenhagen 1961.
- Francesco Balbi di Correggio translated Ernle Bradford (1568 translated 1965). The Siege Of Malta 1565. Penguin 2003. ISBN 0-14-101202-1.