Mdina was the political and defensive centre of the 1429 siege. Its later, heavily upgraded fortifications should not be projected backward onto the medieval attack. Even so, the city occupied a defensible hill and had already supported settlement for millennia. Its longevity points to access to water, productive land and terrain capable of protecting a population. Geography at the city scale reinforced Malta's wider strategic position.
Chapter · 13:45-16:57
Mdina and the first recognized siege
Medieval Mdina shows why defensible, settled ground mattered long before Malta's famous early-modern sieges.