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diff --git a/old/12034-8.txt b/old/12034-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..67d8390 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12034-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2172 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Knights of Malta, 1523-1798, by R. Cohen + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Knights of Malta, 1523-1798 + +Author: R. Cohen + +Release Date: April 15, 2004 [EBook #12034] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK KNIGHTS OF MALTA, 1523-1798 *** + + + + +Produced by Julie Barkley, Bill Hershey and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + + + + + +KNIGHTS OF MALTA + +1523-1798 + +BY R. COHEN LATE SCHOLAR OF WADHAM COLLEGE, OXFORD + + +1920 + + +THE LOTHIAN PRIZE ESSAY FOR 1920 (UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD) + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER I + +SETTLEMENT AT MALTA, 1523-1565 + +Departure from Rhodes--Residence in Italy--Settlement in +Malta, 1530--Condition of the Mediterranean--The +corsairs--Turkey--Fortification of Malta--Loss of English +"Langue"--Enterprises of the Order--Solyman decides to attack Malta + + +CHAPTER II + +THE SIEGE OF MALTA, 1565 + +Preparations--Size of opposing forces--Siege of St. Elmo--Arrival of +Dragut--Capture of St. Elmo, June 23--Death of Dragut--Siege of main +fortresses--Great losses on both sides--Arrival of reinforcements from +Sicily--Turks evacuate island + + +CHAPTER III + +THE CONSTITUTION OF THE ORDER OF ST. JOHN + +Classes in the Order--Langues--Chapter-General--Councils--Grand +Master--Bishop of Malta--Finances--Justice--Criminal Council--Court of +Égard--The Hospital + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE DECLINE, 1565-1789 + +Decadence of Turkey--Knights become anachronism--Valetta +built--Fortifying the island--Disturbances in the Order--Quarrels +with different Powers--Treatment of the Maltese--Buildings in +Valetta--Papal interference--Naval operations--Independence of the +Order + + +CHAPTER V + +THE FALL, 1789-1798 + +Attacks on the Order during the French Revolution--French +estates confiscated--Poverty of the Order--Tsar Paul I.--French +schemes--Napoleon appears off Malta--Condition of the island--Its +capture--Dispersion of the Order + + +APPENDIX I. + + +APPENDIX II. + + +BOOKS CONSULTED + + +NOTE ON THE AUTHORITIES + + + + +KNIGHTS OF MALTA + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +SETTLEMENT AT MALTA 1523-1565. + +On January 1, 1523, a fleet of fifty vessels put out from the harbour +at Rhodes for an unknown destination in the West. On board were the +shattered remnants of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, accompanied +by 4,000 Rhodians, who preferred the Knights and destitution to +security under the rule of the Sultan Solyman. The little fleet was +in a sad and piteous condition. Many of those on board were wounded; +all--Knights and Rhodians alike--were in a state of extreme poverty. +For six months they had resisted the full might of the Ottoman Empire +under its greatest Sultan, Solyman the Magnificent; Europe had looked +on in amazed admiration, but had not ventured to move to its rescue. +Now they were leaving the home their Order had possessed for 212 +years, and were sailing out to beg from Christendom another station +from which to attack the infidel once again. + +The Knights of Rhodes--as they were called at the time--were the +only real survivors of the militant Order of Chivalry. Two centuries +earlier their great rivals, the Templars, had been dissolved, and a +large part of their endowments handed over to the Hospitallers. The +great secret of the long and enduring success of the Order of St. John +was their capacity for adapting themselves to the changing needs of +the times. The final expulsion of the Christians from Syria had left +the Templars idle and helpless, and the loss of the outlets for their +energy soon brought corruption and decay with the swift consequence of +dissolution. All through the history of the great Orders we find +the Kings of Europe on the lookout for a chance to seize their +possessions: any excuse or pretext is used, sometimes most +shamelessly. An Order of Knighthood that failed to perform the duties +for which it was founded was soon overtaken by disaster. + +The Hospitallers had realised, as early as 1300, that their former +rôle of mounted Knights fighting on land was gone for ever. From their +seizure of Rhodes, in 1310, they became predominantly seamen, whose +flag, with its eight-pointed cross, struck terror into every infidel +heart. Nothing but a combination of Christian monarchs could cope with +the superiority of the Turk on land: by sea he was still vulnerable. +The Knights took up their new part with all their old energy and +determination: it is but typical that henceforward we never hear of +the "Knights" of Malta fighting as cavalry. + +After various adventures the fleet found itself united at Messina, +whence it proceeded to Baiae. The election to the papacy of the +Cardinal de' Medici--one of their own Order--as Clement VII., gave the +Knights a powerful protector. He assigned Viterbo as a residence for +the Order till a permanent home had been discovered. + +Villiers de L'Isle Adam, Grand Master of the Order, was faced with +many difficulties. Remembering the fate of the Templars, he was afraid +that the Order would disperse, and its present helpless condition was +surely tending to disintegration. At this time the war between Charles +V. and Francis I. was at its height, and the quarrel between France +and Spain was reflected within the ranks of the Hospitallers. As the +French and Spanish Knights formed the greater part of the members, the +unity of the Order was threatened by the quarrels between them +that arose out of national sentiment. The Reformation was rapidly +spreading, and was likely to prove dangerous to the lands of the Order +in Northern Europe, and various monarchs were meditating the seizure +of the Hospitallers' estates now that the Order was temporarily +without a justification for its existence. + +The Grand Master showed himself a skilful diplomat, as well as a brave +soldier. From 1523 to 1530 the Order remained without a home, while +L'Isle Adam visited the different European courts to stay the grasping +hands of the various Kings. All this time negotiations were proceeding +between Charles V. and the Knights for the cession of Malta. The +harsh conditions which the Emperor insisted upon in his offer made +the Knights reluctant to accept, while his preoccupation with the war +against France made negotiations difficult. Further, the cause of +the Knights had been damaged when the Pope--who had acted as their +intercessor--joined the ranks of Charles's enemies, and Clement +VII. was now a prisoner in the Emperor's hands. In March, 1530, an +agreement was finally arrived at, which was the most favourable +the Emperor would grant. One harassing burden the Knights could not +escape: Charles insisted that Tripoli must go with Malta, a gift which +meant a useless drain upon their weak resources, and which fell +in 1551 to Dragut-Reis and the Turkish forces at the first serious +attack. L'Isle Adam had insisted that he could not take the island +over as a feudatory to the King of Spain, as that was contrary to the +fundamental idea of the Order--its impartiality in its relations to +all the Christian Powers. The only condition of service, therefore, +that was made was nominal: the Grand Master henceforth was to send, on +All Souls' Day, a falcon to the Viceroy of Sicily as a token of feudal +sub-mission.[1] + +This was a splendid bargain for the Emperor. Malta had hitherto been +worthless to him, but henceforth it became one of the finest bulwarks +of his dominions. To understand the supreme value of the island, we +must take a glance at sea power in the Mediterranean in the sixteenth +century. + +The beginning of the century had seen the growth of the Corsairs' +strength to a most alarming extent. While all the European Powers were +fighting among themselves, these Barbary Corsairs (as they were later +called) had become the terror of the Western Mediterranean. Spain, by +its unrelenting persecution of the Moriscoes, following on centuries +of bitter conflict between Christian and Mussulman, had earned the +undying hatred of the dwellers on the North African coast, many of +whom were the children of the expelled Moors. These Moors had wasted +their energy in desultory warfare up to the beginning of the sixteenth +century, when the genius of the two brothers, Uruj and Khair-ed-Din +Barbarossa, had organised them into the pirate State of Algiers, which +was to be a thorn in the side of Christendom for over three centuries. +The Corsairs were not content with merely attacking ships at sea: they +made raids on the Spanish, Italian, and Sicilian sea-boards, burning +and looting for many miles inland. The inhabitants of these parts were +driven off as captives to fill the bagnios of Algiers, Tunis, Bizerta, +and other North African towns. These prisoners were used as galley +slaves, and the life of a galley slave was generally so short that +there was no difficulty of disposing of all the captives that could +be seized. Cupidity, allied with fanaticism, gave this state of war a +cruelty beyond conception: both sides displayed such undaunted courage +and such fierce personal hatred as to make men wonder, even in +that hard and bitter century. Those low-lying galleys, which were +independent of the wind, were ideal pirates' craft in the gentle +Mediterranean summer, and many a slumbering Spanish or Italian village +would be startled into terror by their sudden approach. The audacity +of their methods is illustrated by the raid on Fundi in 1534, +when Barbarossa swooped down on that town simply to seize Giulia +Gonzaga--reputed the loveliest woman in Italy--for the Sultan's harem: +the fair Duchess of Trajetto hardly escaped in her nightdress. + +The Eastern Mediterranean, after the capture of Rhodes, was almost +entirely a Turkish preserve. Though Venice at this period still kept +her hold on Cyprus and Crete, the former of which was not yielded by +the Republic till 1573 and the latter till 1669, yet the Treaty of +Constantinople in 1479 had definitely reduced the position of Venice +in the Levant from an independent Power to a tolerated ally. The +growth of the Ottoman sea power had been alarming enough, but it +became a distinct menace to the Christian Powers of the Mediterranean +when the Corsair chiefs of the North African coast became Turkish +vassals. All the African coast from Morocco to Suez, the coast of Asia +Minor, and the European coast from the Bosphorus to Albania (with the +exception of a few islands), were in Turkish hands. From 1475, with +the conquest of the Crimea, the Black Sea had become a Turkish lake, +and under Solyman the Magnificent the Turks had become masters of Aden +and the Red Sea, with a strong influence along the Arabian and Persian +coasts. + +Malta, then as always, was of supreme strategic importance for the +domination of the Mediterranean. It lay right in the centre of the +narrow channel connecting the Eastern and Western Mediterranean, and, +in the hands of such a small but splendidly efficient band of sailors +as the Knights Hospitallers, was sure to become a source of vexation +to the mighty Turkish Empire. Though not so convenient as Rhodes for +attacking Turkish merchant shipping, yet it had one advantage, in that +it lay close to Christian shores and could easily be succoured in the +hour of need. A small, highly defensible island, strengthened by all +the resources of engineering, it could, and did, become one of +the most invulnerable fortresses in the world, and of the utmost +importance for the control of the Mediterranean. + +Charles V., therefore, made a splendid bargain when he handed over +the neglected island to the Order of St. John, even had the gift been +unconditional. The Knights rendered him valuable service by sharing in +the several expeditions the Spaniards undertook to the African coast. +Barbarossa, by the capture of Tunis from the old Hafside dynasty in +1534, threatened the important channel between Sicily and Africa, +which it was essential for Charles V. to keep open. In the next year, +therefore, the Emperor attacked the town and conquered it without +much difficulty. The victory was unfortunately stained by the inhuman +excesses of the Imperial troops, and Charles's hold on Tunis was +very short-lived. In 1541 came the miserable fiasco of the Spanish +expedition to Algiers. Here, also, the Knights behaved with their +usual bravery; but Charles's disregard of the advice of his Admiral, +Andrea Doria, resulted in the failure of the whole expedition. In +these and other expeditions the Knights took part: some--like the +attack in 1550 on Mehedia[2]--were successful, others--like the siege +of the Isle of Jerbah in 1559--ended in disaster. + +Such was the importance of Malta when the Knights took over the island +in 1530. The first need was to put it into a state of defence. On the +northeast of the island was the promontory of Mount Sceberras, flanked +by the two fine harbours, the Marsa Muscetto and what was later known +as the Grand Harbour.[3] The eastern side of the Grand Harbour was +broken by three prominent peninsulas, later occupied by Fort Ricasoli, +Fort St. Angelo, and Fort St. Michael. The only fortification in 1530 +was the Fort of St. Angelo, with a few guns and very weak walls. The +intention of the Knights, even from the beginning, was to make the +main peninsula, Mount Sceberras, the seat of their "Convent"; but +as that would mean the leveling of the whole promontory, a task +of enormous expense and difficulty, and as immediate defence was +necessary, they decided to occupy the Peninsula of St. Angelo for the +present. Wedged between St. Angelo and the mainland there was a +small town, "Il Borgo": this, for the present, the Knights made their +headquarters, drawing a line of entrenchments across the neck of the +promontory to guard it from the neighboring heights. + +When it became certain that Malta was to be its permanent home--for +L'Isle Adam had at first cherished hopes of recapturing Rhodes--the +Order proceeded to take further measures for its security. Both St. +Angelo and Il Borgo were strengthened with ramparts and artillery, and +the fortifications of the Città Notabile, the main town in the centre +of the island, were improved. In 1552 a commission of three Knights +with Leo Strozzi, the Prior of Capua, at its head--one of the most +daring Corsairs of the day--made a report of the fortifications of the +island. They recommended strengthening Il Borgo and St. Angelo, and +pointed out that the whole promontory was commanded by St. Julian, the +southernmost of the three projections into the Grand Harbour. Further, +as it was necessary to command the entrances both of Marsa Muscetto +and of the Grand Harbour, the tip, at least, of Mount Sceberras should +be occupied, as the finances of the Order would not allow of anything +further being done. These recommendations were carried out, and Fort +St. Michael was built on St. Julian and Fort St. Elmo on the end +of Mount Sceberras. A few years later the Grand Master de la Sangle +supplied the obvious deficiencies of St. Julian by enclosing it on the +west and the south by a bastioned rampart. + +Now the commitments of the Order in Tripoli proved a constant drain on +its resources. Time after time Charles V. was appealed to for help in +holding Tripoli, which was very difficult to fortify because of the +sandy nature of the soil, and difficult to succour because of its +distance from Malta. But Charles V. was at once reluctant to let go +his grip of any parts of the African coast, and too much absorbed by +his own troubles to be able to render much help, however much he might +have desired to do so. It was obvious that the first determined attack +of the Turks would mean the fall of Tripoli. In 1551, after putting in +an appearance off Malta, Dragut, the successor of Barbarossa, sailed +to Tripoli and easily captured the place owing to the disaffection of +the mercenary troops in the garrison. + +During this period, 1523-1565, the Order lost for ever one of the +eight national divisions or "langues." Henry VIII., soon after the +fall of Rhodes, had shown himself unfriendly to the interests of the +Order, but had been appeased by a visit of L'Isle Adam in February, +1528.[4] But Henry's proceedings against the Pope and the monasteries +inevitably involved the Order of St. John, which had large possessions +both in England and in Ireland. The Grand Priory of England was +situated at Clerkenwell, and the Grand Prior held the position in the +House of Lords of the connecting link between the Lords Spiritual and +the Barons, coming after the former in rank and before the latter. +There is extant a letter written by Henry VIII. in 1538 to the Grand +Master, Juan d'Omedes, wherein conditions are laid down for the +maintenance of the Order in England. The two main stipulations were, +that any Englishman admitted into the Order must take an oath of +allegiance to the King, and that no member in England must in any way +recognise the jurisdiction or authority of the Pope. Henry was well +aware that the Knights could never consent to terms such as these, +which were the negation of the fundamental principle of international +neutrality of their Order. Henry's offers were refused, and the +English langue, which had a brilliant record in the Order, perished. +Many of the Knights fled to Malta; others were executed for refusing +obedience to the Act of Supremacy. A general confiscation of their +property took place, and in April, 1540, an Act of Parliament was +passed vesting all the property of the Order in the Crown, and setting +aside from the revenues of such properties certain pensions to be +paid to the Lord Prior and other members. The Grand Prior, Sir William +Weston, died soon after, before he could enjoy his pension of £1,000 a +year. + +With the accession of Mary, in 1553, negotiations were at once opened +with the Knights for the restoration of the English langue, and during +her reign the old Order was restored once again, though the lands +were not returned. But Elizabeth, in the first year of her reign, +suppressed the Knights for good and all. + +In North Africa, Philip II., on his accession, had taken over the +troubles of his father, and after the Corsairs had failed in their +attack on the Spanish ports of Oran and Mazarquivir, he carried the +war once more into the enemy's territory. Finding themselves isolated, +they appealed to their overlord, the aged Sultan Solyman, to help them +against Spain. + +The most important seaman on the Turkish side was Dragut--Pasha +of Tripoli since 1551--who had been the greatest of Barbarossa's +lieutenants. In 1540 Dragut had been surprised and captured by +Giannetin Doria, the nephew of the great Admiral, and had served four +years chained to the bench of a Genoese galley. One of the last acts +of Khair-ed-Din Barbarossa had been to ransom his follower in the +port of Genoa, in 1544, for 3,000 crowns, an arrangement of which the +Genoese afterwards sorely repented. Dragut had the ear of the Sultan +when the appeal for help came from Africa, and his suggestion was to +attempt the capture of Malta. It had become more and more certain +that the Turks would not leave the island unassailed. Not only did the +Knights lend splendid help to the various Christian Powers, but they +were in themselves a formidable foe. Their fleet was always small, six +or seven galleys, but they became the dread of every Turkish vessel in +the Mediterranean. Annually these red galleys, headed by their black +_capitana_, swooped down on the Turkish shipping of the Levant and +brought back many rich prizes. Malta grew steadily in wealth, and +the island became full of Turkish slaves. The generals of the Maltese +galleys, Strozzi, La Valette, Charles of Lorraine, and De Romegas, +were far more terrible even than the great Corsairs, because of their +determination to extirpate the infidel. The state of war between the +Order and the Mussulman was recognised by all as something unique; +neither side dreamt of a peace or a truce, and only once in the +history of the Order does there seem to have been the suggestion of +an agreement. The fanaticism which actuated the Knights in their +determination to destroy the infidel made them formidable enemies, +despite their fewness in number. Solyman the Magnificent must have +often repented of his clemency in letting the Knights leave Rhodes +alive, and in 1564 he decided it would be a fitting end to his reign +if he could destroy the worst pest of the Mediterranean by capturing +Malta and annihilating the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. + + +[Footnote 1: _Vide_ Appendix I.] + +[Footnote 2: The chroniclers, such as Vertot, often call this town, +which was the ancient Adrumetum, "Africa," and it is therefore +necessary to watch their use of that word carefully.] + +[Footnote 3: See map on p. 19.] + +[Footnote 4: This visit caused a great sensation in Europe, as De +L'Isle Adam crossed the Alps in the depth of winter, and this haste to +pay his respects touched the King of England.] + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +THE SIEGE OF MALTA + +1565. + +The Grand Master of the Knights of Malta in 1565 was Jean Parisot de +la Valette. Born in 1494 of a noble family in Quercy, he had been +a Knight of St. John all his life, and forty-three years before had +distinguished himself at the siege of Rhodes. He had never left +his post at the "Convent" except to go on his "caravans,"[1] as the +cruises in the galleys were named. As a commander of the galleys of +the "Religion," as the Order called itself, he had won a name that +stood conspicuous in that age of great sea captains; and in 1557, on +the death of the Grand Master de la Sangle, the Knights, mindful of +the attack that was sure to come, elected La Valette to the vacant +office. No better man could be found even in the ranks of the Order. +Passionately religious, devoted body and soul to his Order and faith, +Jean de la Valette was prepared to suffer all to the death rather than +yield a foot to the hated infidel. Unsparing of himself, he demanded +utter sacrifice from his subordinates, and his cold, unflinching +severity would brook no hesitation. + +Both sides spent the winter and spring of 1565 in preparations for +the great attack. The Grand Master sent a message to all the Powers +of Europe; but Philip II., who sent him some troops, and the Pope, +who sent him 10,000 crowns, alone responded to his appeal. The message +sent to the various commanderies[2] throughout Europe brought the +Knights in haste to the defence of their beloved Convent. The Maltese +Militia was organised and drilled and proved of great value in the +siege, and even 500 galley slaves were released on promise of faithful +service. Altogether La Valette seems to have had at his disposal about +9,000 men (though the authorities differ slightly as to the exact +figures). Of these over 600 were Knights with their attendants, about +1,200 were hired troops, about 1,000 were volunteers, chiefly from +Italy, and the remainder Maltese Militia and galley slaves. + +The Turkish fleet at the beginning consisted of 180 vessels, of which +130 were galleys; and the troops on board consisted of about 30,000 +men, of whom 6,000 belonged to the select troops of the Janissaries. +Twice during the siege the Ottomans received reinforcements: first, +Dragut himself with 13 galleys and 1,600 men, and later, Hassan, +Viceroy of Algiers and son of Khair-ed-Din Barbarossa, with 2,500 +Corsairs. Altogether the Ottoman forces at the maximum, inclusive of +sailors, must have exceeded 40,000 men. A small reinforcement of 700 +men, of whom 42 were Knights, contrived to steal through the Turkish +lines on June 29; but that was all the help the garrison received +before September. + +[Illustration: PLAN TO ILLUSTRATE SIEGE OF MALTA 1565] + +The Turkish army was under the command of Mustapha Pasha, and the +fleet under that of Piali. Both had received orders not to take any +steps without the advice of Dragut. It would have been far better for the +Turkish cause had the Corsair been in supreme command, for his skill +as an artilleryman was famous. But there had always been trouble in +the Ottoman fleet when a Corsair was in command. The proud Turkish +generals were unwilling to be under the orders of men who were of +doubtful antecedents, and whom they despised in their hearts as +low-born robbers. Even Barbarossa, acknowledged by all to be the +greatest seaman in the Turkish Empire, could not enforce strict +obedience in the campaign of Prevesa in 1538. The Grand Vizier Ibrahim +had seen the folly of putting generals in command of fleets, and had +therefore secured the promotion of Barbarossa: but Ibrahim was now +dead, and Solyman, bereft of his wise counsel, made a compromise. + +On May 18 the Turkish fleet was sighted off the island, and almost +immediately the army disembarked, partly at Marsa Scirocco, and partly +at St. Thomas's Bay. The first misfortune was the non-appearance +of Dragut at the rendezvous, and in his absence Mustapha and Piali +decided to attack St. Elmo and to leave to Dragut the responsibility +of sanctioning the operations or breaking them off. Batteries were +erected on Mount Sceberras, in which ten 80-pounders were brought into +action, besides a huge basilisk throwing balls of 160 pounds, and two +60-pounder _coulevrines_. The Turks at the height of their power put +great faith in novel and massive artillery, which, though clumsy, +and at times more dangerous to their own gunners than the enemy, was +terribly effective at the short distance it was placed from St. Elmo. +The walls of the fortress soon began to crumble under the continuous +bombardment, and the garrison, which had been increased to 120 +Knights and two companies of Spanish infantry, soon felt the position +untenable without reinforcements. As an attack had not yet been +delivered La Valette was incensed at the appeal for help and offered +to go himself to hold the fort; his council dissuaded him from doing +so, and he permitted 50 Knights and 200 Spanish troops to cross to St. +Elmo. It was of the utmost importance that St. Elmo should be held to +the last minute. Not only did it delay the attack on the main forts, +but Don Garcia de Toledo, the Viceroy of Sicily, had made it a +condition in his arrangements with the Grand Master, before the siege, +that St. Elmo must be held if the reinforcements from Sicily were to +be sent. + +At this point--June 2--Dragut arrived with his galleys and expressed +nothing but disapproval for the Turkish operations. He pointed out +that the besiegers should have isolated the fortifications from the +rest of the island before proceeding to attack St. Elmo; but, as +the siege had started, he insisted on continuing it as vigorously +as possible. He erected a powerful battery on the summit of Mount +Sceberras, which swept both Fort St. Angelo and Fort St. Elmo, and +erected another on the headland opposite St. Elmo on the other side of +the Marsa Muscetto, which was henceforth known as Point Dragut. + +As soon as this was done the bombardment restarted with relentless +fury. The Knights made a sortie to destroy some of the Turkish guns, +but were driven back, and the Turks then captured and held a covered +way leading up to a ravelin; a few days later, taking advantage of the +negligence of the garrison, they surprised the ravelin itself, and, +but for the efforts of a Spanish officer, would have captured the +fort. After desperate fighting the Knights were still holding the +fort, but had been unable to recapture the ravelin. The next day +another attack was made by Mustapha, but without avail; the ravelin +remained in Turkish hands, but it had cost them 2,000 men. + +It was a great gain, however; two guns were mounted on it, and all the +Turkish artillery, including that of the galleys, began to play on the +hapless fort. It was no question of a breach; the walls were gradually +destroyed till there was nothing left of the enceinte but a mass of +ruins. Every part of the fort was directly exposed to the fire of +the two guns on the ravelin, and this exposure made the strain on the +Knights intolerable. + +The garrison sent a Knight, renowned for his bravery, to report these +conditions to the Grand Master and to ask for permission to withdraw. +La Valette, feeling it imperative that the fort should hold out to the +last minute, sent him back with orders that it was to be defended to +the end. The garrison, amazed by his reply, sent a prayer for relief, +failing which they would sally forth, sword in hand, to meet their +death in open fight rather than be buried like dogs beneath the ruins. +The Grand Master received the request with the stern comment that, not +only were their lives at the disposal of the Order, but the time and +manner of their death; but to make sure that their complaints were +justified he would send three Knights to investigate the condition +of the fort. One of the three (probably in collusion with La Valette) +maintained the fort could be held, and offered himself to hold it with +volunteers, who were immediately forthcoming in large numbers; but +when the message arrived at St. Elmo announcing that the garrison was +to be relieved, there was consternation among the defenders, who, now +realising the ignominy of their prayer, sent out yet another request +to St. Angelo, this time to be allowed to hold St. Elmo to the death. +After some delay the Grand Master granted the permission. + +This was June 14; on the 16th the Ottomans delivered a grand assault. +The fort was attacked on three sides, from Mount Sceberras and on each +flank. The guns of St. Angelo rendered great service all day by raking +the attacking forces in enfilade, and especially by breaking up the +flank attack from the side of the Grand Harbour. All day long the +battle went on with unabating fury; time after time the Janissaries +burst over the ruined walls, and each time they were repulsed. +Attacked on all sides, the few defenders fought with dauntless +heroism, and when the night fell the Maltese Cross still waved over +the fort. + +Reinforcements were dispatched as soon as night set in, and the +volunteers far exceeded all requirements. + +Now at last the Turkish commanders perceived that, to capture St. +Elmo, it must be isolated from St. Angelo. In the course of the next +few days a battery was constructed on the promontory at the entrance +of the Grand Harbour where Fort Ricasoli stood in later times, and +another was mounted on the side of Mount Sceberras to sweep the +landing place beneath the fort. Both batteries cost many Turkish +lives, but their construction and the extension of the investing +trenches to the Grand Harbour meant the complete isolation of St. +Elmo. The Turks sustained their greatest loss when Dragut, while +superintending the works, received a wound from which a week later he +died. + +For three days twenty-six guns kept up the bombardment, and on the +early morning of June 22 another grand assault was made. Three times +repulsed and three times renewed, the attack failed in the end, and +the handful of surviving Knights was left at nightfall in possession +of their ruins. All attempts during the night to send reinforcements +failed under the fire of Dragut's new batteries, and La Valette saw +that his men were beyond all hope of rescue. + +The sixty shattered survivors prepared for death; worn out, they +betook themselves at midnight to their little chapel, where they +confessed and received the Eucharist for the last time. Dawn found +them waiting, even to the wounded, who had been placed in chairs sword +in hand to receive the last onslaught. Incredible as it may appear, +the first assault was driven back, but the attack finally broke up +the defence, and, with the exception of a few Maltese who escaped by +swimming, the garrison perished to a man. + +June 24, St. John the Baptist's Day, was one of sorrow inside the +beleaguered fortress. The Turks had soiled their victory by mutilating +their dead foes and throwing them into the Grand Harbour; La Valette +took reprisals, and from that time neither side thought of quarter. + +Nor were the besiegers greatly elated; the tiny Fort of St. Elmo had +delayed them for five weeks and had cost them 8,000 men and their best +general. The Order had lost 1,300 men, of whom 130 were Knights, and +the disparity of the losses shows the impatience and recklessness of +the Turkish attacks. + +Mustapha now transferred the main part of his army to the other side +of the Grand Harbour, and, drawing a line of entrenchments along the +heights on its eastern side, succeeded in investing completely the two +peninsulas of Senglea and Il Borgo. Batteries were established and a +constant bombardment commenced, the main target being Fort St. Michael +at the end of Senglea, on which a converging fire was brought to bear. +Unable to bring his fleet into the Grand Harbour under the guns of St. +Angelo, Mustapha had eighty galleys dragged across the neck of Mount +Sceberras and launched on the upper waters of the Grand Harbour. This +was a blow to the besieged, as it meant an attack by sea as well as +by land, and La Valette made all the preparations possible to meet the +danger. Along the south-west side of Senglea, where the beach is low, +he constructed, with the aid of his Maltese divers, a very firm and +powerful stockade to prevent the enemy galleys from running ashore, +and he also linked up Il Borgo and Senglea with a floating bridge. + +On July 15 the Turks delivered a grand assault by sea and by land. The +attack by sea, under the command of the renegade Candellissa, proved +the more formidable. At the critical moment the defenders were thrown +into confusion by an explosion on the ramparts, during which the +Turks were able to make their way through the stockade and into the +fortress, being checked with difficulty by the desperate resistance of +the garrison and finally driven out by a timely reinforcement sent +by La Valette. Ten boatloads of troops sent by Mustapha incautiously +exposed themselves to the guns of St. Angelo and were almost all sunk, +while the attack on the land side, led by Hassan, Viceroy of Algiers +and son of Khaired-Din Barbarossa, proved an utter failure. + +As at the siege of Rhodes, so at Malta, a distinct part of the +fortifications had been allotted to each langue to defend. The langue +of Castile held the north-east section of Il Borgo, which was destined +to be the scene of most desperate fighting. + +On August 7 a joint attack was made on the land side of Senglea and on +the bastion of Castile. On that day the Turks came nearer success than +ever before or after. Mustapha's desperate attacks on Senglea were +at last successful: masters of the breach made by their guns, the +assailants' weight of numbers began to tell, and slowly the defenders +were being pushed back inside the fortress. At this moment, to +everyone's amazement, Mustapha sounded the retreat. The little +garrison of the Città Notabile, which had been left alone by the +Turks, had been raiding the enemy's lines as usual, and, hearing the +grand assault was in progress, had made a determined attack on the +Turkish entrenchments from behind, burning and slaying all they could +find. The confusion arising from this started the rumour that Sicilian +reinforcements had landed and were attacking the Turkish army. +Mustapha, in fear of being surrounded, drew off his troops in the +moment of victory. + +Meanwhile,[3] farther north, the Bastion of Castile had been almost +captured by Piali. The rock at that part of the fortification was +extremely hard, and the possibility of mines had occurred to none of +the garrison. Piali, however, with great labour, had dug a mine which +had been sprung that morning and had blown a huge gap in the ramparts. +This unexpected attack threw the whole of Il Borgo into confusion, +and, but for the Grand Master's promptitude and coolness of mind, the +enemy had been masters of the fortress. Seizing a pike, La Valette +rushed into the fight, and, inspired by his example, the Knights +succeeded in driving the enemy out of the breach. He ordered the +garrison to remain there all night, as he expected an attack under +the cover of darkness, and insisted on taking the command himself. His +subordinates protested against this reckless exposure of a valuable +life, but his precautions were justified when a Turkish attack made in +the darkness was defeated by his prompt resistance. + +The bombardment continued unceasingly, and on August 18 another +desperate assault was made, which, like the other, failed. Yet the +position of the besieged was becoming desperate: dwindling daily +in numbers, they were becoming too feeble to hold the long line of +fortifications; but, when his council suggested the abandonment of Il +Borgo and Senglea and withdrawal to St. Angelo, La Valette remained +obdurate. + +Why the Viceroy of Sicily had not brought help will always remain a +mystery. Possibly the orders of his master, Philip II. of Spain, were +so obscurely worded as to put on his own shoulders the burden of a +decision; a responsibility which he was unwilling to discharge because +the slightest defeat would mean exposing Sicily to the Turk. He had +left his own son with La Valette, so he could hardly be indifferent to +the fate of the fortress, and Malta in Turkish hands would soon have +proved a curse to Sicily and Naples. Whatever may have been the cause +of his delay, the Viceroy hesitated till the indignation of his own +officers forced him to move, and then the battle had almost been won +by the unaided efforts of the Knights. On August 23 came yet +another grand assault, the last serious effort, as it proved, of the +besiegers; it was thrown back with the greatest difficulty, even the +wounded taking part in the defence. The plight of the Turkish forces, +however, was now desperate. With the exception of St. Elmo, the +fortifications were still intact. By working night and day the +garrison had repaired the breaches, and the capture of Malta seemed +more and more impossible. Those terrible summer months with the +burning sirocco had laid many of the troops low with sickness in their +crowded quarters; ammunition and food were beginning to run short, and +the troops were becoming more and more dispirited at the failure of +their numerous attacks and the unending toll of lives. The death of +Dragut, on June 23, had proved an incalculable loss, and the jealousy +between Mustapha and Piali prevented their co-operation. The whole +course of the siege had been marked by a feverish haste and a fear of +interruption, which showed itself in ill-drawn plans. Dragut himself, +early in the siege, had pointed out the necessity of more foresight, +but his warnings went unheeded. The Turkish commanders took few +precautions, and, though they had a huge fleet, they never used it +with any effect except on one solitary occasion. They neglected their +communications with the African coast and made no attempt to watch and +intercept Sicilian reinforcements. + +On September 1 Mustapha made his last effort, but all his threats and +cajoleries had but little effect on his dispirited troops, who refused +any longer to believe in the possibility of capturing those terrible +fortresses. The feebleness of the attack was a great encouragement to +the besieged, who now began to see hopes of deliverance. Mustapha's +perplexity and indecision were cut short by the news of the arrival +of Sicilian reinforcements in Melleha Bay. Hastily evacuating his +trenches, he embarked his army; but, on learning that the new troops +numbered but some 8,000, was overcome by shame and put ashore to fight +the reinforcements. It was all in vain, however, for his troops would +not stand the fierce charge of the new-comers, and, helped by the +determination of his rearguard, safely re-embarked and sailed away on +September 3. + +At the moment of departure the Order had left 600 men capable of +bearing arms, but the losses of the Ottomans had been yet more +fearful. The most reliable estimate puts the number of the Turkish +army at its height at some 40,000 men, of which but 15,000 returned +to Constantinople. It was a most inglorious ending to the reign of +Solyman the Magnificent. + + +[Footnote 1: A reminiscence of the Syrian days of the Order.] + +[Footnote 2: The name given to the different estates of the +Hospitallers scattered throughout Europe: they were so called because +they were each in charge of a "commander," sometimes also named a +"preceptor," from his duty of receiving and training novices.] + +[Footnote 3: Most historians make this event part of the attack of +August 18. But Prescott (_Philip II_., vol. ii., p. 428) points out +that Balbi, who is undoubtedly the best authority for the siege as he +was one of the garrison, places it on August 7.] + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +THE CONSTITUTION OF THE ORDER OF ST. JOHN + +Before proceeding to trace the history of the last two centuries +of the Knights at Malta it will perhaps be advisable to examine the +organisation of an Order which was the greatest and most long-lived +of all the medieval Orders of Chivalry. The siege of 1565 was its last +great struggle with its mortal foe; after that there is but little +left for the historian but to trace its gradual decadence and fall. +And, as might be expected in a decadent society, though outwardly +the constitution changed but little in the last two centuries, yet +gradually the Statutes of the Order and the actual facts became more +and more divergent. + +There were three classes of members in the Hospitallers, who were +primarily distinguished from each other by their birth, and who were +allotted different functions in the Order. The Knights of Justice[1] +were the highest class of the three and were the only Knights +qualified for the Order's highest distinctions. Each langue had its +own regulations for admitting members, and all alike exercised severe +discrimination. Various kinds of evidence were necessary to prove the +pure and noble descent of the candidate. The German was the strictest +and most exacting of the langues, demanding proof of sixteen quarters +of nobility and refusing to accept the natural sons of Kings into the +ranks of its Knights. Italy was the most lenient, since banking and +trade were admitted as no stain on nobility, while most of the other +langues insisted on military nobility only. + +The chaplains, who formed the second class of the Order, were required +to be of honest birth and born in wedlock of families that were +neither slaves nor engaged in base or mechanical trades. The +same regulations were in force for the third class--that of +servants-at-arms, who served under the Knights both on land and sea. +As the military character of the Order became less and less marked +in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, these servants-at-arms +became fewer and fewer, but in earlier days they were of considerable +importance. The chaplains performed their duties at the Convent or on +the galleys; the priests at the various commanderies throughout Europe +were a class apart, known as Priests of Obedience, and never came to +Malta, but resided permanently in their respective countries. A number +of commanderies was allotted to the two inferior classes. + +The Order, as we know, was an international one, and for purposes of +administration was divided into sections or langues. In the sixteenth +century there were eight of these divisions, which, in order of +seniority, were Provence, Auvergne, France, Italy, Aragon, England, +Germany, and Castile. When Henry VIII. suppressed the English langue +in 1540, the Knights, with a reluctance to face the facts which was +characteristic of a proud Order of Chivalry, kept up the fiction +of its existence. In 1782, when the Elector of Bavaria secured the +establishment of a Bavarian langue, it was united to the dormant +langue of England and named the Anglo-Bavarian. + +Each langue had its own quarters at the Convent known as the +"Auberge," presided over by a "conventual bailiff," who in all matters +was the head of the langue. Each conventual bailiff had an important +office in the hierarchy of the Order which was permanently appurtenant +to the headship of that langue. Thus the conventual bailiff of the +langue of France was always the Grand Hospitaller in charge of the +Hospital of the Order, while that of England was Turcopolier, or +commander of the light cavalry--a survival from the Syrian days. The +possessions of each langue in its native land were divided into grand +priories and bailiwicks. Thus England, which meant the possessions +throughout the British Isles, was divided into the Grand Priory of +England at Clerkenwell, the Grand Priory of Ireland at Kilmainham, and +the Bailiwick of the Eagle, which was situated near Lincoln and had +originally belonged to the Templars. These Grand Priors and Bailiffs +of each langue, as well as its conventual bailiff, were all Knights +Grand Cross, and, as such, entitled to seats in the Chapter-General of +the Order. + +The supreme control of the Order was vested in the Chapter-General, +consisting of all the Knights Grand Cross. Though these +Chapters-General were often convened in the early history of the +Order, their difficulty of assembly and their clumsy method of +procedure made them less and less frequently summoned, as the Grand +Master had it in his power to convoke it when he pleased, though an +interval of five years--later extended to ten--had been sanctioned +by custom. In the seventeenth century the institution fell into utter +disuse, and there was no meeting of the Chapter-General from 1631 to +1776, when its uselessness was finally demonstrated. + +When the Chapter-General was not sitting the government of the Order +was carried on by the Grand Master and the Councils, known as the +Ordinary, Complete, Secret, and Criminal. The Ordinary Council +consisted of the Grand Master, the conventual bailiffs, together with +any Grand Cross residing at the Convent. This Council, as its name +indicates, transacted the ordinary business of government, which +mainly consisted of appointing to these offices and making those +arrangements which were not definitely assigned to the Grand Master +himself. The Secret and Criminal Councils, respectively, dealt with +foreign affairs and offences against the Statutes, while the Complete, +consisting of the Ordinary Council with the addition of two Knights +from each langue of more than five years' residence at the Convent, +dealt with appeals from the other Councils. In the later days of the +Order the pernicious practice of appealing to the Pope destroyed all +semblance of authority in this Council. + +The election of the Grand Master was an exceedingly complicated +affair, the intention being to prevent intrigue. Each langue solemnly +elected three Knights to represent it, and this body of twenty-four +chose a triumvirate, which consisted of a Knight, a chaplain, and a +servant-at-arms. These three co-opted a fourth, and the four a fifth, +and so on, till the number of sixteen was reached, and this body of +sixteen elected the Grand Master. Every stage of the proceedings +was hedged about with meticulous precautions to prevent intrigue and +corruption, and it was a thoroughly typical medieval attempt to secure +an honest election. + +The framers of the Order's Statutes had taken the precaution of +limiting the authority of the Grand Master by a minute enumeration +of all his rights. But, as the Order developed into a purely military +body, even officially his powers became greater. No subject for +discussion could be introduced at the Councils except by himself; he +had a double vote, and, in case of an equal division, a casting vote +also; he had the right of nomination to many administrative posts +besides all those of his own household, and in each priory there was +a commandery in his own gift whose revenues went to himself. But even +such wide powers were less than the reality. While the Order was at +Rhodes, and during the first half-century at Malta, it was obviously +necessary that the Grand Master should possess the powers of a +commander-in-chief. As a purely military body, surrounded by powerful +foes, the Order was in the position of an army encamped in enemy +territory. Further, the absolute possession of Rhodes, and later +of Malta, tended to give the Grand Masters the rank of independent +Sovereigns, and the outside world regarded them as territorial +potentates rather than as heads of an Order of aristocratic Knights. + +But when the Order's existence was no longer threatened the Grand +Master's position was assailed from many sides. No one, while reading +the history of the Knights, can fail to be impressed by the numerous +disturbances among them during the last 200 years of the Order. Drawn +from the highest ranks of the nobility, young, rich, and with very +little to occupy their time (except when on their "caravans"), the +Knights were perpetually quarrelling among themselves or defying the +constituted authorities of the Order. + +Charles V. had insisted on keeping in his own hands the nomination +of the bishopric of Malta, and the custom grew up that the Bishop of +Malta and the Prior of St. John--the two most important ecclesiastics +in the Order--should be chosen from the chaplains who were natives of +the island. This was intended as a compensation for an injury which +had been inflicted on the Maltese. To prevent the Grand Mastership +falling into the hands of a native, the Maltese members of the Order +were unable to vote at the election. The Bishop was often engaged +in quarrels with the Grand Master, and the disputes were generally +carried to the Pope, who, as the Head of Christendom, was regarded as +having supremacy over all Religious Orders. But the Pope himself often +encroached upon the rights of the Order, not only by sending nuncios +to Malta with large and undefined powers, but by arrogating to himself +the patronage of the langue of Italy when he wished to bestow gifts +upon his relatives and friends. This led to bitter resentment among +the Italian Knights, who saw all the lucrative posts of their langue +given away to strangers. The introduction of the Inquisition in 1574 +and the Jesuits in 1592, brought additional disputes about the chief +authority in the island, and these different ecclesiastical personages +had no hesitation in interfering in matters which should have been +entirely beyond their province. Many a Grand Master of the seventeenth +and eighteenth centuries had his time occupied in efforts to assert +his authority. + +The Grand Mastership was also weakened by the practice of electing +very old men to the post, as the short tenure of the office and +the feebleness of its holder meant a lax control over the turbulent +Knights. This practice became very common in the last two centuries +of the Order's existence. But many of the Grand Masters, though over +seventy at the time of election, disappointed expectation by living +till eighty or even ninety. + +We possess detailed accounts of the financial system of the Order in +the work of two Knights, Boisgelin and Boisredon de Ransijat, accounts +which agree almost entirely. + +The average revenue of the Order before the French Revolution was +£136,000 per annum--i.e., the revenue which definitely reached Malta. +It is to be remembered that this sum only represented the residue +which was sent to the _chef-lieu_. The Knights possessed over +600 estates throughout Europe, each of which, besides sending +contributions to Malta, maintained several members of the Order, +gave a liberal income to its commander, and contributed towards the +revenues of the Grand Priory in which it was situated. The chief items +of the above sum were: + +1. RESPONSIONS. + +A proportion of the net income of each commandery fixed by the +Chapter-General and liable to increase in case of need--£547,520 per +annum. + +2. MORTUARY AND VACANCY. + +On the death of a commander all the net revenues from the day of +his death to the following May 1 went to the Treasury: this was the +MORTUARY; the whole revenue of the succeeding year was also sent to +Malta: this was called the VACANCY--£521,470 per annum. + +3. PASSAGES. + +These were sums paid for admission into the Order, and were especially +heavy for those who wished to enter the Order at an age earlier than +that laid down in the Statutes--£520,324 per annum. + +4. SPOILS. + +These were the effects of deceased Knights, who were only allowed to +dispose of one-fifth of their property by will, the remainder going to +the Treasury--£524,755. + +These made up about five-sixths of the total revenue, the remainder +being small sums accruing from various sources, such as the proceeds +from the timber of the commanderies (which went entirely to the +Council), rents from buildings in Malta, and so forth. + +At the height of their prosperity the Knights derived a very +considerable revenue from their galleys, and just as Algiers, +Tunis, or Tripoli throve on piracy, even so the wealth of the +East contributed largely to the splendour of Malta. But during the +seventeenth century various Christian Powers, such as Venice or +France, insisted on restricting the Knights' claims to unlimited +seizure of infidel vessels and infidel property on board ship. As +early as 1582 the Pope had forbidden the Order to seize in a Christian +harbour Turkish ships or Turkish property on Christian ships, +and, despite the strenuous opposition of the Knights, enforced his +commands. + +The expenditure of the Order was, on the whole, within the limits of +its revenue. The chief charge upon the expenditure was the fighting +forces--the fleet and the garrisons--which together absorbed about +half the revenue. Of the other items, the most important were the +Hospital, the Churches of the Order, and the support of its officers +both at the Convent and in the various European countries. The Knights +were never seriously threatened financially till the French Revolution +wiped out half their revenues at one fell swoop. Emergencies were +always successfully met by an appeal to the self-denial of the members +of the Order and the generosity of Europe. + +The control of the revenues was in the hands of the Chambre de Commun +Trésor, which consisted of eight officials, the most important of whom +were the President, who was always the Grand Commander (the conventual +bailiff of Provence, the senior langue of the Order), and the +Secretary through whose hands all the revenues passed. In each langue +certain specified towns were used as receiving Treasuries, under +the control of receivers who paid the money direct to the Central +Treasury; these towns numbered twenty-nine in all. These receivers +obtained the revenues from each estate or commandery within their +district. At first the Order had possessed one common chest, but with +the growth of its possessions each Grand Prior was put in control +of his Priory's revenues; this proving unsatisfactory, from the +difficulty of exercising control over these powerful Knights, +the finances of each estate were administered by the commanders +themselves, who dealt directly with the receivers in their area. They +paid their quota or "responsions" biennially, and were subject to +inspection from their Grand Priors; commanderies were rewards to aged +Knights, and good administration brought promotion to richer estates. + +The Criminal Council, which consisted of the Grand Master, the Bishop +of Malta, the Prior of St. John, the conventual bailiffs, and any +Grand Crosses present at the Convent, dealt with offences against the +estates of the Order. The accused were brought in, the evidence taken, +and the verdict declared. All evidence was verbal and no written +testimony was accepted; each Knight, unless he could show good +reason to the contrary, had to plead in person. Any English or German +Knights, who knew only their own tongue and so had difficulty in +being understood, were allowed advocates. The Order, by its Statutes, +discouraged litigation to the utmost, desiring to promote concord and +harmony among its members, and for that reason all legal procedure was +made as simple and as summary as possible. + +In such an exclusive and aristocratic Order there was naturally much +jealousy of the power of its head. Facts gave the Grand Master a very +strong position, but technically he was only _primus inter pares_. To +make sure the Knights were not oppressed, they were always at liberty +to disregard the Grand Master's or any superior's command and to +appeal to a Court of Égard to prove that the given command was a +violation of the Order's Statutes. The Court of Égard consisted of +nine members, each langue choosing one from its own ranks, and the +Grand Master appointing the President. Either disputant could object +to any member of the Court, whereupon that member's langue chose a +substitute. After hearing the evidence, which was entirely oral, the +Court discussed the case behind closed doors and came to a decision. +The litigants were called back, and if they agreed to accept the +verdict the Court's decision was announced and was deemed final; if +they refused to accept it, an appeal lay to another Court, called the +Renfort of the Égard, which was constituted by each langue electing +another member, thus doubling the original number. The same procedure +was carried out as in the first Court, and if the litigants expressed +themselves still dissatisfied, a new Court was summoned, called the +Renfort of the Renfort, which was formed by the election from each +langue of another member, thus making twenty-five with the President. +If their decision was not accepted a final Court of Appeal, called +the Bailiffs' Égard, was formed by the addition of the conventual +bailiffs, or, if absent, their lieutenants, and their decision was +final. This admirable Court of Equity existed almost unaltered right +down to 1798. + +The Hospital was a characteristic institution of the Order, and +deserves some mention. Originally the chief scene of their activities, +the Hospital was never forgotten by the Knights. Their first duty, +wherever they went, was always to build a Hospital to tend the sick, +and to the end every Knight at the Convent, in theory at least, went +to take his turn in attending at the Hospital for one day in the week. +The site of the Hospital, on the south-east side of Valetta, has been +condemned by science as unhealthy, and it is very easy with modern +knowledge to find many faults in its organisation. Howard, in his +"Lazarettos in Europe," in 1786, gave a vivid description of its +condition and exposed its defects. At that time, however, the Hospital +was sharing the general decadence of the Order, and discipline had +become very lax. But, even so, the Hospital was far superior to most +other hospitals in Europe and still kept much of that distinction it +had acquired in the great days of the Order. We must remember that +hospital organisation is a very recent science, and it would be unfair +to accuse the Knights of neglecting what had not yet been discovered. +Their Hospital was one of the most famous in Europe, and was used +by many from Sicily and Southern Italy as well as by the natives of +Malta. It was open to all who wished to use it, and the attendance of +patients from a distance proved that it supplied a need. The hospital, +which had generally over 400 invalids, was maintained at great cost to +the Order, and the regulations were drawn up with great care, though +they reveal an amazing ignorance of some fundamental laws of health. +Patients, for instance, who were members of the Order received meals +twice as large as other patients. + + +[Footnote 1: So called because they were Knights "by right" of noble +birth.] + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +THE DECLINE + +1565-1789. + +The history of the Order of St. John after the siege of Malta in +1565 is a sad story of gradual and inevitable decay. The magnificent +heroism of the Knights at the siege raised their fame throughout +Europe to the highest pitch, and the siege was rightly regarded as one +of the first decisive checks received by the Ottoman conquerors. + +It is easy to imagine the anxious expectation of Europe in that summer +of 1565, when the heretic Queen of England ordered prayers to be +offered in the diocese of Salisbury for the safety of the Knights of +St. John. + +The Battle of Lepanto, six years later, despite its lack of immediate +results, dissolved the spell which the invincibility of the Ottoman +fleet had woven, and in the seventeenth century the Turkish Empire +showed plainly that it had passed its meridian. Now that they were in +a weakened condition, the Ottomans, though never fully regarded as a +European Power, were more acceptable to the Christian States, most +of whom followed the example of Francis I. and concluded commercial +agreements and treaties with the Porte. The Turk was no longer +regarded as a being beyond human intercourse, and the Levant trade +was too valuable to be ignored by France, England, or the Italian +republics. + +The Knights of Malta, with their attitude of truceless war against the +infidel, were thus becoming more and more of an anachronism as time went +on. They never concluded peace with the Sultan, and always regarded +the possessions of the infidel as fair and lawful booty. It was +obviously impossible for the Christian States trafficking in Turkish +waters to allow such a theory to go unchallenged, and we therefore +find the Order quarrelling with the Pope, Venice, England, and France, +as to their rights of seizure of Turkish goods in Christian vessels +or of Turkish vessels in Christian harbours. In 1582 this led to +a dispute with Gregory XIII., and in 1666 with Louis XIV., and the +Knights were forced to confine their attentions to Turkish vessels +trading between Turkish ports. England was destined later to incur +similar trouble with neutrals for a similar theory of international +law. + +Had the Knights wished, their unending warfare against the Mohammedan +would have found a suitable enemy in the Barbary Corsairs, who were +a plague to Europe right to the year 1816; but though we find many a +struggle between Knight and Corsair in the seventeenth century, the +sloth and decadence that were mastering the Order made it gradually +neglect its duty in that direction. Whatever energies they had +were more profitably spent in the Levant; for the Knights, in their +seafaring expeditions, became little more than Corsairs themselves. +When it was necessary, as at the twenty-five years' siege of Candia +(1644-1669), the Knights displayed once more that magnificent heroism +that had made their name ring throughout the world. We find through +the seventeenth century many a display of bravery, but they became +more and more infrequent, till, in the eighteenth century, the Order's +squadron was used for little else but show voyages to different +Mediterranean ports. It was becoming too great a task even to raid +Turkish merchantmen. + +After the siege it was determined to move the _chef-lieu_ of the Order +from Il Borgo to Mount Sceberras, and on March 28, 1566, the building +of Valetta was commenced. It was originally intended to bring the hill +down to a certain level and on the plateau thus constructed to build +the city. The fear of another Turkish invasion, however, did not allow +of the completion of this plan, with the result that Valetta consists +of a long, narrow plateau with slopes descending to Marso Muscetto on +one side and the Grand Harbour on the other. The difficulty of moving +about in this hilly town is commemorated in Byron's lines: + + Adieu, ye joys of La Valette, + Adieu, sirocco, sun, and sweat, + Adieu, ye cursed streets of stairs, + How surely he who mounts you swears. + +Each Grand Master strove to enlarge and strengthen the town's +fortifications, with the result that, in the eighteenth century, +Valetta was recognised as one of the greatest fortresses in the world. +The building and upkeep of these fortifications proved a great drain +upon the resources of the Order, and served but little purpose, except +that of ministering to the vanity of successive Grand Masters, who +desired to leave behind them memorials of themselves by bestowing +their name upon a new fort or outwork. The continual increase of +security and strength did not serve to improve the daring of the +Knights, but rather helped to engender a condition of sloth that was +destined to prove fatal. + +This period is marked by constant tumults among the members of the +Order and by acts of defiance against the Grand Masters. Even in the +days of its glory there had been much jealousy and friction between +the different nationalities composing the Order. The three French +langues of Provence, Auvergne, and France, by acting together, +exercised a preponderant influence; they contributed half the revenues +of the Order, and were generally able to secure their object against +the opposition of the remaining Knights. The constant wars between +Spain and France in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries led to +constant troubles at Malta, and the Grand Masters throughout this +period had great and increasing difficulty in preserving the Order's +neutrality. Many Knights broke their Oath of Obedience by enlisting in +the French and Spanish armies. When this was discovered, the offended +King would make out that the Order had taken sides and would threaten +it with his vengeance. As the Order possessed many estates in both +kingdoms, the Grand Masters were in constant fear that these would be +encroached upon if an excuse could be found to justify such an +action. But Spain, while it possessed the kingdom of the Two Sicilies, +possessed an even surer method of punishing the Order. Malta, +despite all the care lavished upon it, has never been able to produce +sufficient corn for its population, and for this reason imported food +regularly from Sicily, where the Order had built granaries for storing +the corn while awaiting transshipment. As soon as the Knights offended +the King of Spain Malta was plunged into scarcity, and the unhappy +natives had often to suffer heavily because the Grand Master was a +Frenchman. + +Another result of the wars of France and Spain was the frequent +internal quarrels at Malta. As the feelings of the two nations towards +each other were often embittered, it is not surprising to find that +French and Spanish Knights would come to open blows in the streets of +Valetta. The unhealthy life of those young and idle aristocrats was +conducive to turbulence, and the Grand Masters often adopted the +policy of sending them to sea as soon as trouble was foreseen. The +French were generally in the preponderance, as we can see from the +great number of French Grand Masters; and the increasing greatness of +the French monarchy in the seventeenth century was reflected at Malta. + +The position of the Maltese became worse and worse as the Order +declined. The natives, who had enjoyed a considerable measure of local +autonomy under Spanish rule, had been very reluctant to submit to the +Knights, and had protested to Charles V. against their surrender to +the Order, as a violation of the promise given in 1428 by Alphonse of +Sicily that Malta would never be separated from the Sicilian Crown. +They knew that the Order would conduct itself in Malta as a garrison +in a fortress, and that this would mean strict military control over +the inhabitants. It was also probable that the Turks would again +besiege the Knights, as they had done at Rhodes in 1480 and 1522, and +the Maltese were strongly averse to being drawn into such danger. + +During the residence of the Knights the native population of Valetta +was considerably modified. Some of the Rhodians who had, in 1523, +accompanied the Knights, came with them to Malta; mercenaries who +fought for the Order sometimes stayed on in the island, and many in +this new population were illegitimate children of the Knights. For, +though the vow of chastity was insisted on to the end as a condition +of entrance into the Order, in practice, by the eighteenth century, it +had become entirely ineffective. + +At first the Knights made but slight inroads on the privileges of +the natives, curtailing them only so far as was necessary for their +military security, and imposing but few taxes upon them. As the island +grew rich with the wealth brought in by the raids of the Knights, the +condition of the Maltese also improved, and while the Order flourished +it was not an excessive burden to the natives. But when the +Knights started upon their decline the condition of the islanders +deteriorated. They had always suffered from the occasional scarcity +due to the ill-humour of the Spanish King or the natural failure of +the Sicilian harvest. But now the taxes became heavier and heavier, +and the free services of the Maltese, either as labourers in the +constant fortifying of Valetta, or as soldiers in the garrison, or +as sailors in the fleet, were more and more rigorously exacted. Many +natives lost their lives while fighting with the Order, and from the +generous behaviour of Grand Masters to the native women and +children, which we find mentioned in chronicles, we can see there was +occasionally acute distress in the island. + +In its degeneracy the Order treated the Maltese with boundless +contempt, as might be expected from spoiled members of the great +European aristocracies towards petty islanders. One of the most +intolerable forms of the arrogance of the Knights during their last +years at Malta was their disgusting behaviour towards the womenfolk +of the natives; complaint was dangerous and futile. When the British +captured the island in October, 1800, the mere proposal to restore +the Order raised such a storm of protest from the Maltese as to prove +conclusively to all how hated had been the domination of the Knights. + +The splendour of the Knights at the height of their greatness can be +judged from the many magnificent buildings they constructed in the +island. The Church of St. John in particular received such careful and +lavish attention that it became one of the most splendid churches in +Christendom, being especially famous for its wonderful mosaic floor. +The "auberges" of the various langues were also built in the most +magnificent manner, and the palace of the Grand Master at Valetta was +a sumptuous building worthy of a king. + +The decline of the Order brought with it a diminution of respect +from the nations of Europe, and we read of constant and increasing +interference from outside in the affairs of the Order. The greatest +offender was the Pope, who had always enjoyed a nominal headship over +the Order, and who had been kept at a distance with difficulty even +while the Knights had been at Rhodes. The creation of a bishopric at +Malta, the introduction of the Inquisition, and then of the +Jesuits, had led to constant quarrels between the Knights and the +ecclesiastics, and from these had arisen the evil practice of appeals +to the Curia. In the seventeenth century the Popes regarded the +valuable patronage of the langue of Italy as in their gift, and the +Grand Masters were powerless to protect their defrauded Knights. The +depths of the Order's humiliation were shown by the demand of Pope +Urban XIII., in 1642, that the Order's galleys should help him fight +the League of Italian Princes which had been formed to resist his +invasion of Parma. Lascaris, the Grand Master, was unable to refuse, +and for the first time the famous red galleys were seen arrayed +against Christian neighbours. + +The operations of the Knights in the seventeenth century were mainly +carried out in alliance with the Venetians, who were the one Power +who continued to resist the Turk at sea. They were still lords of +the great island of Crete, which lay athwart the trade routes of the +Levant, and only by its conquest would the Ottoman control of the +Eastern Mediterranean be complete. In 1645 Ibrahim I. declared war on +Venice and besieged Candia; but the attack was so remiss that success +seemed impossible. The Knights of Malta threw themselves into the +struggle on the side of the Venetians, feeling bound in honour to +do so, as the refuge of Maltese galleys in Venetian harbours was the +Turkish pretext for war. In 1656 Mocenigo, the Venetian Admiral, with +the aid of the Knights, won a brilliant victory off the Dardanelles, +capturing Lemnos and Tenedos. This imminent peril brought Mohammed +Kiuprili to power as Grand Vizier, and the war was thenceforward +conducted with great energy by the Turks. Year after year volunteers +flocked to Candia to save the last Christian outpost in the Levant, +but it was all fruitless, and in 1669 the island, with the exception +of three ports, was surrendered to the Turks--their last important +conquest in Europe, and the final term of their advance. + +The seventeenth century saw the gradual displacement of galleys in +favour of sailing ships. The long voyages across the Atlantic and to +the East had given great impetus to the development of the sailing +vessel; its increasing use, and the entrance of England and Holland +into the Mediterranean, had shown the Powers of that sea its +superiority over the galley; finally, slaves were becoming more +difficult to obtain in sufficient quantities, while criminals had +never been a satisfactory source of supply. The Knights were slow in +changing the oar for the sail, and to the end kept a small squadron of +galleys as well as men-of-war. When Napoleon captured the island, in +1798, he found there two men-of-war, one frigate, and four galleys. + +The pride and the renown of the Order had always demanded a salute +from the warships of other nations, and even the mighty Louis XIV. +yielded this privilege to the little squadron. There is extant an +interesting correspondence between Charles II. and the Grand Master, +Nicholas Cottoner, on the subject of salutes. A squadron of the +British Fleet, under Admiral Sir John Narborough, had refused to +salute Valetta unless assured of a response from the guns of the +fortress--a mark of respect that the Order was unwilling to pay to the +British flag. The Grand Master had also ventured to doubt Narborough's +rank as Admiral, but the affair was amicably settled to the +satisfaction of all. + +Though the decline of the Order was obvious to Europe throughout the +eighteenth century, and the value of such a fortress as Malta to a +Mediterranean Power apparent to all, yet there is little definite +proof of any desire to wrest the island from the Knights. Of all the +nations round the Mediterranean, France alone could be said not to be +in a state of decay; Venice, Genoa, and Turkey were becoming more and +more feeble at sea, and there was little fear of an attack on Malta +from any of them; and though Spain paid great attention to her fleet +in the second part of the eighteenth century, there was little reason +to fear her aggression. Britain was acquiring greater and greater +interests in the Mediterranean, but most of her attentions were +directed to Spain and France. While the Knights kept their neutrality, +however decadent and feeble they might be, there was little fear of +their being disturbed. Europe still respected the relics of a glorious +past of six centuries of unceasing warfare against the Moslem; but the +moment that past with its survivals became itself anathema the Knights +and their organisation would collapse at once. The French Revolution +meant death to the Knights of the Order of St. John as well as to +other bodies of aristocrats. + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +THE FALL + +1789-1798. + +A wealthy Order of Knights drawn exclusively from the ranks of +the nobility was sure to attract the attention of the French +revolutionaries. Its international character was a cause of offence to +the strong French nationalism engendered during the Revolution, while +its traces of monastic organisation helped to identify the Knights +with the Church. + +When Necker, in the financial distress of the autumn of 1789, appealed +for a voluntary contribution from all landowners, the Order gave him a +third of the revenue of its French commanderies, and later it pledged +its credit for 500,000 francs to the destitute Louis XVI., to help him +in the flight that ended so disastrously at Varennes. This last act +put it in definite opposition to the Revolution. + +The Constituent Assembly declared the Order of St. John to be a +foreign Power possessing property in France, and, as such, liable to +all taxes to be levied on natives, and immediately afterwards a decree +was passed declaring that any Frenchman belonging to an Order of +Knighthood which demanded proofs of nobility from entrants could not +be considered a French citizen. This was followed by the main attack +on September 19, 1792, when all the property in France was declared +confiscate and annexed to the French national domains. There was +some mention of indemnification to the despoiled Knights, but as the +necessary condition to a pension was residence in France--a dangerous +course for a noble in 1793 and 1794--the scheme came to naught. The +decree of September, 1792, was the death-blow to the Order, and its +extinction was simply a matter of time. The course of the war and the +constant French successes made their position even more perilous. Half +the revenues had gone with the confiscation in France; but this was +not all, for Bonaparte's Italian campaigns meant the loss of the +Order's estates in Northern Italy, and the conquests of the French on +the Rhine diminished the German possessions. With decreasing resources +and dwindling numbers, the fortress of Malta could not long hold out +if attacked, and the position of the Order was becoming desperate. +De Rohan, the Grand Master, temporised and refused to declare war on +France, but he seems to have helped the Spanish and English fleets by +allowing them to recruit at Malta, a privilege hitherto granted very +sparingly by the Knights. But whatever the Grand Master's policy, no +words or pretences could disguise the fact that the French Republic +by its confiscation had assaulted the Order. It was only too probable +that France would seize the first opportunity of attacking the +Order in its own home and by this means increasing its power in the +Mediterranean. + +One gleam of light came to cheer the gloom at Malta. The third +dismemberment of Poland had brought the Polish Priory into the hands +of the Tsar Paul I. Among other eccentricities of that monarch was a +passionate admiration for chivalry, which he displayed by changing +the Polish into a Russian Priory, increasing its revenues to 300,000 +florins, and incorporating it in the Anglo-Bavarian langue; he also +assumed the title of "Protector of the Order of Malta." + +In 1797, at Ancona, Napoleon had intercepted a message from the Tsar +to the Grand Master containing this news. Plans for the capture of +Malta took shape in Bonaparte's mind, and he sent a cousin of the +French consul at Malta, Poussièlgue by name, to spy out the condition +of the island, at the same time ordering Admiral Brueys, on his +journey from Corfu to Toulon, to examine the situation of Malta. When +the expedition to Egypt was decided upon, the capture of Malta formed +part of the instructions to Napoleon. + +Bonaparte, relying on the demoralisation of the island, intended the +capture to be a swift piece of work, and Poussièlgue had helped him +by winning over some natives and French Knights to his side. The +Grand Master, Von Hompesch, seems to have been utterly unnerved by the +bewildering problems before him, and the cowardice and irresolution +he displayed were a disgrace to the traditions of the Order. Speed was +essential to the French army, as discovery by Nelson would be fatal +to Bonaparte's plans, but had Von Hompesch been an utter traitor +the capitulation could not have been more sudden and disgraceful and +beneficial to the enemy. + +On June 6 the vanguard of the French appeared off the island, and on +the 9th it was joined by the main fleet, the whole now numbering about +450 sail, of which 14 were ships of the line and 30 were frigates; +the Grand Master had about 300 Knights and 6,000 men, chiefly +Maltese, under arms. Had this garrison been resolute and united, +the fortifications of Valetta could have held the French for a +considerable time. But the natives were divided, many regarding +the French, despite their doubtful career of the last few years, as +liberators from a detestable tyranny. Two-thirds of the Knights +were French, and many of them had become infected with republican +principles, though the French langues also contained the fiercest +opponents to the invaders. + +Bonaparte sent for permission for his fleet to enter the harbour for +water and for his soldiers to land--a request which was tantamount to +a demand for surrender. Von Hompesch sent back a conciliatory letter, +saying that treaty obligations forbade the entrance of more than four +vessels at a time. Napoleon thereupon threw off the mask, and during +the night landed troops at seven different parts of the island. A +slight resistance was encountered from a few detached forts, but by +the evening of the 10th Valetta was closely invested. The mob was +encouraged by hired emissaries to attack as traitors the Knights, who +were really the most bitter enemies of the invaders. While Napoleon's +agents were busy throughout the town, Von Hompesch sat motionless in +his palace, and no subordinate commander would take the responsibility +of firing on the besiegers. Finally, a party of citizens interviewed +Von Hompesch and threatened to surrender the town if he refused to +capitulate. + +At this point a mutiny broke out in the garrison, and the Grand Master +and his Council, seeing the hopelessness of the situation, sent for an +armistice preliminary to surrender. The armistice was concluded on the +11th, and on the 12th Napoleon entered Valetta, full of amazement at +the might of the fortress he had so easily captured. On the 12th the +capitulation was drawn up, of which the main clauses were: + + 1. The Knights surrendered Malta and its + sovereignty to the French army. + + 2. The French Republic would try to secure + to the Grand Master an equivalent principality + and would meanwhile pay him an annual pension + of 300,000 livres. + + 3. The French would use their influence with + the different Powers assembled at Rastadt to + allow the Knights who were their subjects to + control the property of their respective langues. + + 4. French Knights were allowed to return to + France. + + 5. French Knights in Malta were to receive a + pension from the French Government of 700 + livres per annum; if over sixty years old, 1,000 + livres. + +Such was the end of the Order at Malta. Napoleon treated the Knights +and the Grand Master with extreme harshness. Most of them were +required to leave within three days, and some even within twenty-four +hours. + +On June 18, Von Hompesch, taking with him the three most venerable +relics of the Order--all that the conqueror allowed him from the +treasures at Valetta--left for Trieste, whence he withdrew to +Montpellier, dying there in obscurity in 1805. Most of the homeless +Knights proceeded to Russia, where, on October 27, 1798, Paul I. was +elected Grand Master, though Von Hompesch still held the post. + +But on the Tsar's death in 1801 the Order lost the one man who might +have been powerful enough to bring about a restoration, and the +survival of some scattered relics could not conceal the fact that +vanished for ever was the Order of the Hospital of St. John of +Jerusalem. + + + + +APPENDIX I + + +SOVEREIGNTY OF THE ORDER + +There can be no doubt whatever that, after 1530, the Order was no +longer independent and sovereign, and that L'Isle Adam, despite all +his efforts, had become a feudatory, though the service demanded was +very slight. The Act of Donation of Malta put them definitely into the +position of feudal vassals of Charles V. as King of the two Sicilies. +This is plain to everyone who examines the Charter itself (Vertot, +III., p. 494, or Codice Diplomatico, II., p. 194). The tenure on +which the Knights held the island from the King of the Sicilies may be +classed as a form of serjeanty--the annual payment of a falcon being +the only feudal service demanded. There were other conditions in the +Charter concerning the Bishop of Malta and the Grand Admiral of the +Order, but they were not strictly feudal. The chroniclers of the Order +were naturally reluctant to admit this, and as the feudal tie was very +weak, they glossed it over. But the Sovereign of the island, strictly +speaking, was the King of the two Sicilies, and the Knights were never +more than tenants. When the Order had been expelled by Napoleon we +can see this universally admitted. While the fate of the island was +in doubt--that is, before the preliminary peace between England and +France in 1801--both natives and English regarded the King of Naples +as lord of the island (Hardman, 111, 142. Foreign Office Records, +Sicily, 11). When the Maltese wanted to be put under the protection of +England, either temporarily or, later, permanently (Hardman, 185, +193, 204), they applied to the King of the Sicilies, as their lawful +Sovereign, to grant their request. Events soon made Malta a question +of great importance in the relations between France and England, +and the renewal of war, in 1803, left Great Britain in _de facto_ +possession of the island, until the treaty of May 30, 1814, gave +England full right and sovereignty over Malta. + + + + +APPENDIX II + + +CONNECTION BETWEEN KNIGHTS OF MALTA AND THE MODERN ORDER OF ST. JOHN + +During the Napoleonic wars the surviving Knights were too scattered +and too helpless to be able to improve their condition. But from 1815 +onwards we find various attempts of the Order to obtain from Europe +another _chef-lieu_, and representatives of the Knights at the +Congress of Vienna (1815) and at the Congress of Verona (1822) tried +in vain to persuade the Allies to grant them an island. The French +Knights were by far the largest and most powerful section of the +Order, and in 1814 they had established a capitular commission in +which they vested plenary powers to treat on their behalf. During the +various negotiations for a _chef-lieu_ the question of reviving the +English langue was started, and the French Commission entered into +communication with the Rev. Sir Robert Peat, Chaplain to King +George IV., and other distinguished Englishmen. The outcome was the +reconstitution of the English langue on January 24, 1831, with Sir +Robert Peat as Grand Prior. + +The English branch of the Order of St. John has devoted itself for the +last ninety years to the succour of the sick and wounded, setting +up cottage and convalescent hospitals, aiding the sick in other +hospitals, and establishing ambulance litters in dangerous industrial +centres, such as coal-mines and railway-stations, which at last +developed into the St. John Ambulance Association, which rendered such +magnificent service during the Great War. The German branch of the +Order was the first to start ambulance work in the field in the Seven +Weeks' War of 1866, work which was continued in the Franco-Prussian +War of 1870. Since that date the mitigation of the sufferings of war +has been a conspicuous part of the work of the Order of St. John, +and nowhere has the Order's magnificent spirit of international +comradeship been more fully displayed. + + + + +BOOKS CONSULTED + + +PRIMARY AUTHORITIES + +Statuta Ordinis Domus Hospitalis Hierusalem. Edited by Fr. Didacus +Rodriguez. Rome. 1556. + +Statuti della religione de Cavalieri Gierosolimitani. Florence. 1567. + +Statuta Hospitalis Hierusalem. Rome. 1588. + +Collection of Statutes in Volume IV. of Vertot's Histoire de +Chevaliers de Malte. Paris. 1726. + +[As there was no Chapter-General between 1631 and 1776, all the above +collections are practically complete, Vertot's containing little more +than the others.] + +Codice Diplomatico del sacro militare ordine Gierosolimitano oggi di +Malta. Fr. Sebastiano Pauli. Lucca. 1737. + +Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic. 1523-1547. + +Calendar of State Papers. (Foreign.) 1547-1585. + +Calendar of State Papers. (Venetian.) + +Calendar of State Papers. (Spanish.) + +Les Archives de S. Jean de Jerusalem à Malte. Delaville Le Roulx. +Paris. 1883. + +Report of Philip de Thame. Grand Prior of England. 1338. Camden +Society. Volume LXV. 1857. + +Armoury of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem at Malta. Edited by +G.F. Laking. London. 1903. + +Carta y verdadera relacion escrita por il eminentissimo Señor Gran +Maestre al Commendador Fr. Don Joseph Vidal. 1669. + +E Tanner. Notitia Monastica. Ed. James Nasmith. Cambridge. 1787. + +Malte. Par un Voyageur français. Anonymous. 1791. + +Le Monete e Medaglie del S. Ordine Gierosolimitano. C. Taggiasco. +Camerino. 1883. + +Relation du Voyage et Description exacte de Malte. Paris. 1779. + +Malta illustrata. Giovanni Abela. Malta. 1772-1780. 2 Volumes. + +Liste de Chevaliers des Langues de Provence, Auvergne et France. +Malta. 1772. + + +SECONDARY AUTHORITIES + +GIACOMO BOSIO: Dell' Istoria della sacra religione et ill'ma Militia +di San Giovanni Gierosolimitano. Rome. 1594. 2 volumes. + +ABBÉ DE VERTOT: Histoire des Chevaliers de Malte. Paris. 1726. 4 +volumes. + +CHEVALIER DE BOISGELIN: Malta Ancient and Modern. English edition. 2 +volumes. 1804. + +PRESCOTT: Life of Philip II. Volume II. + +MAJOR-GENERAL PORTER: History of the Knights of Malta. Revised +edition. 1 volume. London. 1883. + +DE GOUSSANCOURT: Le Martyrologe des Chevaliers de S. Jean de +Hierusalem. Paris. 1643. + +ANONYMOUS: Memoire de' Gran Maestri del sacro militare ordine +Gierosolimitano. Parma. 1780. + +L. HÉRITTE: Essai sur l'Ordre des Hospitaliers de S. Jean de +Jérusalem. Paris. 1912. + +HARDMAN: History of Malta, 1798-1815. Edited by J. Holland Rose. +London. 1909. + +REV. W.K.R. BEDFORD: Malta and the Knights Hospitallers. London. 1894. + +REV. W.K.R. BEDFORD: The Hospital at Malta. Edinburgh. 1882. + +J. TAAFE: History of the Order of S. John. 4 volumes. London. 1852. + +A.T. DRANE: History of the Order of St. John. London. 1881. + +MIÈGE: Histoire de Malte. 3 volumes. Paris. 1846. + +M.M. BALLOU: Story of Malta. Boston and New York. 1893. + +REV. W.K.R. BEDFORD AND R. HOLBECHE: Order of the Hospital of St. John +of Jerusalem. London. 1902. + +ADMIRAL JURIEN DE LA GRAVIERE: (1) Les Chevaliers de Malte et la +Marine de Philippe II. Paris. 1887. (2) Les Corsaires barbaresques et +la Marine de Solyman le Grand. Paris. 1884. (3) Les Marins du XV'e +et XVI'e siècles. Paris. 1879. (4) Les derniers Jours de la Marine à +Rames. Paris. 1885. + +COMMANDER E.H. CURREY: Sea Wolves of the Mediterranean. London. 1913. + +SIR JULIAN CORBETT: England in the Mediterranean, 1603-1713. 2 +volumes. London. 1904. + +S. LANE-POOLE: Barbary Corsairs. (Stories of the Nations.) 1886. + +E. DRIAULT: La Question d'Orient. Paris. 1898. + +J.A.R. MARRIOT: The Eastern Question. Oxford. 1917. + +G. VIULLIER: Le Tour du Monde. Malte et les Maltais. + +P.J.O. DOUBLET: L'lnvasion et I'Occupation de Malte. Paris. 1883. + +C.T.E. DE TOULGOET: Les Responsabilités de la Capitulation de Malte en +1798. (Revue des Questions Historiques. 1900.) + +DE LA JONQUIÈRE: L'Expedition d'Égypte. Paris. 1901. + + + + +NOTE ON THE AUTHORITIES + + +For the Statutes of the Order we possess the Italian edition of 1567, +two Latin editions of 1556 and 1588, and the collection at the end of +Vertot's fourth volume, which is later and more complete. The Codice +Diplomatico of Fr. Pauli is the only collection of Charters to my +knowledge which covers practically the whole history of the Order: the +magnificent Cartulaire of Delaville Le Roulx only covers the Syrian +period in the Knights' history. Many valuable hints can be found in +the Calendars of State Papers issued by the Record Office, but they +fail us at the beginning of the seventeenth century. + +Of the various historians above mentioned, Bosio, for the period he +covers, is by far the best and completest. Vertot only goes down to +1565: after the siege he treats the subject in a bare annalistic form. +Boisgelin, who was a Knight himself and wrote his history after his +expulsion from Malta, is valuable for his elaborate excursus on the +financial system of the Order. All three--who are our completest +authorities--wrote from the point of view of the Order, and +consequently are very unreliable in some matters. The treatment that +the Maltese received from the Order is very inadequately dealt with, +and none of them can seriously estimate the Mediterranean background +to the history of the Knights, and especially their relations with the +Barbary pirates. General Porter, whose history is the only English +one at all worthy of mention, possesses the same faults. Though his +knowledge of the island is thorough, his ignorance of European history +makes him neglect the importance of the external activities of the +Knights, and he follows the Order's chroniclers too slavishly to claim +authority as an independent investigator. Miège, who was a French +Consul at Malta, is interesting as a bitter opponent of the Order and +all its work; and he practically confines himself to the treatment of +the Maltese at the hands of the Knights. + +The best authority on sixteenth-century sea power in the Mediterranean +is Admiral Jurien de la Gravière, while Commander Currey's book is +very sound and interesting. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Knights of Malta, 1523-1798, by R. 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For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: + https://www.gutenberg.org/GUTINDEX.ALL + + diff --git a/old/12034-8.zip b/old/12034-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1c10c36 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12034-8.zip diff --git a/old/12034.txt b/old/12034.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7747e37 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12034.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2172 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Knights of Malta, 1523-1798, by R. Cohen + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Knights of Malta, 1523-1798 + +Author: R. Cohen + +Release Date: April 15, 2004 [EBook #12034] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK KNIGHTS OF MALTA, 1523-1798 *** + + + + +Produced by Julie Barkley, Bill Hershey and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + + + + + +KNIGHTS OF MALTA + +1523-1798 + +BY R. COHEN LATE SCHOLAR OF WADHAM COLLEGE, OXFORD + + +1920 + + +THE LOTHIAN PRIZE ESSAY FOR 1920 (UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD) + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER I + +SETTLEMENT AT MALTA, 1523-1565 + +Departure from Rhodes--Residence in Italy--Settlement in +Malta, 1530--Condition of the Mediterranean--The +corsairs--Turkey--Fortification of Malta--Loss of English +"Langue"--Enterprises of the Order--Solyman decides to attack Malta + + +CHAPTER II + +THE SIEGE OF MALTA, 1565 + +Preparations--Size of opposing forces--Siege of St. Elmo--Arrival of +Dragut--Capture of St. Elmo, June 23--Death of Dragut--Siege of main +fortresses--Great losses on both sides--Arrival of reinforcements from +Sicily--Turks evacuate island + + +CHAPTER III + +THE CONSTITUTION OF THE ORDER OF ST. JOHN + +Classes in the Order--Langues--Chapter-General--Councils--Grand +Master--Bishop of Malta--Finances--Justice--Criminal Council--Court of +Egard--The Hospital + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE DECLINE, 1565-1789 + +Decadence of Turkey--Knights become anachronism--Valetta +built--Fortifying the island--Disturbances in the Order--Quarrels +with different Powers--Treatment of the Maltese--Buildings in +Valetta--Papal interference--Naval operations--Independence of the +Order + + +CHAPTER V + +THE FALL, 1789-1798 + +Attacks on the Order during the French Revolution--French +estates confiscated--Poverty of the Order--Tsar Paul I.--French +schemes--Napoleon appears off Malta--Condition of the island--Its +capture--Dispersion of the Order + + +APPENDIX I. + + +APPENDIX II. + + +BOOKS CONSULTED + + +NOTE ON THE AUTHORITIES + + + + +KNIGHTS OF MALTA + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +SETTLEMENT AT MALTA 1523-1565. + +On January 1, 1523, a fleet of fifty vessels put out from the harbour +at Rhodes for an unknown destination in the West. On board were the +shattered remnants of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, accompanied +by 4,000 Rhodians, who preferred the Knights and destitution to +security under the rule of the Sultan Solyman. The little fleet was +in a sad and piteous condition. Many of those on board were wounded; +all--Knights and Rhodians alike--were in a state of extreme poverty. +For six months they had resisted the full might of the Ottoman Empire +under its greatest Sultan, Solyman the Magnificent; Europe had looked +on in amazed admiration, but had not ventured to move to its rescue. +Now they were leaving the home their Order had possessed for 212 +years, and were sailing out to beg from Christendom another station +from which to attack the infidel once again. + +The Knights of Rhodes--as they were called at the time--were the +only real survivors of the militant Order of Chivalry. Two centuries +earlier their great rivals, the Templars, had been dissolved, and a +large part of their endowments handed over to the Hospitallers. The +great secret of the long and enduring success of the Order of St. John +was their capacity for adapting themselves to the changing needs of +the times. The final expulsion of the Christians from Syria had left +the Templars idle and helpless, and the loss of the outlets for their +energy soon brought corruption and decay with the swift consequence of +dissolution. All through the history of the great Orders we find +the Kings of Europe on the lookout for a chance to seize their +possessions: any excuse or pretext is used, sometimes most +shamelessly. An Order of Knighthood that failed to perform the duties +for which it was founded was soon overtaken by disaster. + +The Hospitallers had realised, as early as 1300, that their former +role of mounted Knights fighting on land was gone for ever. From their +seizure of Rhodes, in 1310, they became predominantly seamen, whose +flag, with its eight-pointed cross, struck terror into every infidel +heart. Nothing but a combination of Christian monarchs could cope with +the superiority of the Turk on land: by sea he was still vulnerable. +The Knights took up their new part with all their old energy and +determination: it is but typical that henceforward we never hear of +the "Knights" of Malta fighting as cavalry. + +After various adventures the fleet found itself united at Messina, +whence it proceeded to Baiae. The election to the papacy of the +Cardinal de' Medici--one of their own Order--as Clement VII., gave the +Knights a powerful protector. He assigned Viterbo as a residence for +the Order till a permanent home had been discovered. + +Villiers de L'Isle Adam, Grand Master of the Order, was faced with +many difficulties. Remembering the fate of the Templars, he was afraid +that the Order would disperse, and its present helpless condition was +surely tending to disintegration. At this time the war between Charles +V. and Francis I. was at its height, and the quarrel between France +and Spain was reflected within the ranks of the Hospitallers. As the +French and Spanish Knights formed the greater part of the members, the +unity of the Order was threatened by the quarrels between them +that arose out of national sentiment. The Reformation was rapidly +spreading, and was likely to prove dangerous to the lands of the Order +in Northern Europe, and various monarchs were meditating the seizure +of the Hospitallers' estates now that the Order was temporarily +without a justification for its existence. + +The Grand Master showed himself a skilful diplomat, as well as a brave +soldier. From 1523 to 1530 the Order remained without a home, while +L'Isle Adam visited the different European courts to stay the grasping +hands of the various Kings. All this time negotiations were proceeding +between Charles V. and the Knights for the cession of Malta. The +harsh conditions which the Emperor insisted upon in his offer made +the Knights reluctant to accept, while his preoccupation with the war +against France made negotiations difficult. Further, the cause of +the Knights had been damaged when the Pope--who had acted as their +intercessor--joined the ranks of Charles's enemies, and Clement +VII. was now a prisoner in the Emperor's hands. In March, 1530, an +agreement was finally arrived at, which was the most favourable +the Emperor would grant. One harassing burden the Knights could not +escape: Charles insisted that Tripoli must go with Malta, a gift which +meant a useless drain upon their weak resources, and which fell +in 1551 to Dragut-Reis and the Turkish forces at the first serious +attack. L'Isle Adam had insisted that he could not take the island +over as a feudatory to the King of Spain, as that was contrary to the +fundamental idea of the Order--its impartiality in its relations to +all the Christian Powers. The only condition of service, therefore, +that was made was nominal: the Grand Master henceforth was to send, on +All Souls' Day, a falcon to the Viceroy of Sicily as a token of feudal +sub-mission.[1] + +This was a splendid bargain for the Emperor. Malta had hitherto been +worthless to him, but henceforth it became one of the finest bulwarks +of his dominions. To understand the supreme value of the island, we +must take a glance at sea power in the Mediterranean in the sixteenth +century. + +The beginning of the century had seen the growth of the Corsairs' +strength to a most alarming extent. While all the European Powers were +fighting among themselves, these Barbary Corsairs (as they were later +called) had become the terror of the Western Mediterranean. Spain, by +its unrelenting persecution of the Moriscoes, following on centuries +of bitter conflict between Christian and Mussulman, had earned the +undying hatred of the dwellers on the North African coast, many of +whom were the children of the expelled Moors. These Moors had wasted +their energy in desultory warfare up to the beginning of the sixteenth +century, when the genius of the two brothers, Uruj and Khair-ed-Din +Barbarossa, had organised them into the pirate State of Algiers, which +was to be a thorn in the side of Christendom for over three centuries. +The Corsairs were not content with merely attacking ships at sea: they +made raids on the Spanish, Italian, and Sicilian sea-boards, burning +and looting for many miles inland. The inhabitants of these parts were +driven off as captives to fill the bagnios of Algiers, Tunis, Bizerta, +and other North African towns. These prisoners were used as galley +slaves, and the life of a galley slave was generally so short that +there was no difficulty of disposing of all the captives that could +be seized. Cupidity, allied with fanaticism, gave this state of war a +cruelty beyond conception: both sides displayed such undaunted courage +and such fierce personal hatred as to make men wonder, even in +that hard and bitter century. Those low-lying galleys, which were +independent of the wind, were ideal pirates' craft in the gentle +Mediterranean summer, and many a slumbering Spanish or Italian village +would be startled into terror by their sudden approach. The audacity +of their methods is illustrated by the raid on Fundi in 1534, +when Barbarossa swooped down on that town simply to seize Giulia +Gonzaga--reputed the loveliest woman in Italy--for the Sultan's harem: +the fair Duchess of Trajetto hardly escaped in her nightdress. + +The Eastern Mediterranean, after the capture of Rhodes, was almost +entirely a Turkish preserve. Though Venice at this period still kept +her hold on Cyprus and Crete, the former of which was not yielded by +the Republic till 1573 and the latter till 1669, yet the Treaty of +Constantinople in 1479 had definitely reduced the position of Venice +in the Levant from an independent Power to a tolerated ally. The +growth of the Ottoman sea power had been alarming enough, but it +became a distinct menace to the Christian Powers of the Mediterranean +when the Corsair chiefs of the North African coast became Turkish +vassals. All the African coast from Morocco to Suez, the coast of Asia +Minor, and the European coast from the Bosphorus to Albania (with the +exception of a few islands), were in Turkish hands. From 1475, with +the conquest of the Crimea, the Black Sea had become a Turkish lake, +and under Solyman the Magnificent the Turks had become masters of Aden +and the Red Sea, with a strong influence along the Arabian and Persian +coasts. + +Malta, then as always, was of supreme strategic importance for the +domination of the Mediterranean. It lay right in the centre of the +narrow channel connecting the Eastern and Western Mediterranean, and, +in the hands of such a small but splendidly efficient band of sailors +as the Knights Hospitallers, was sure to become a source of vexation +to the mighty Turkish Empire. Though not so convenient as Rhodes for +attacking Turkish merchant shipping, yet it had one advantage, in that +it lay close to Christian shores and could easily be succoured in the +hour of need. A small, highly defensible island, strengthened by all +the resources of engineering, it could, and did, become one of +the most invulnerable fortresses in the world, and of the utmost +importance for the control of the Mediterranean. + +Charles V., therefore, made a splendid bargain when he handed over +the neglected island to the Order of St. John, even had the gift been +unconditional. The Knights rendered him valuable service by sharing in +the several expeditions the Spaniards undertook to the African coast. +Barbarossa, by the capture of Tunis from the old Hafside dynasty in +1534, threatened the important channel between Sicily and Africa, +which it was essential for Charles V. to keep open. In the next year, +therefore, the Emperor attacked the town and conquered it without +much difficulty. The victory was unfortunately stained by the inhuman +excesses of the Imperial troops, and Charles's hold on Tunis was +very short-lived. In 1541 came the miserable fiasco of the Spanish +expedition to Algiers. Here, also, the Knights behaved with their +usual bravery; but Charles's disregard of the advice of his Admiral, +Andrea Doria, resulted in the failure of the whole expedition. In +these and other expeditions the Knights took part: some--like the +attack in 1550 on Mehedia[2]--were successful, others--like the siege +of the Isle of Jerbah in 1559--ended in disaster. + +Such was the importance of Malta when the Knights took over the island +in 1530. The first need was to put it into a state of defence. On the +northeast of the island was the promontory of Mount Sceberras, flanked +by the two fine harbours, the Marsa Muscetto and what was later known +as the Grand Harbour.[3] The eastern side of the Grand Harbour was +broken by three prominent peninsulas, later occupied by Fort Ricasoli, +Fort St. Angelo, and Fort St. Michael. The only fortification in 1530 +was the Fort of St. Angelo, with a few guns and very weak walls. The +intention of the Knights, even from the beginning, was to make the +main peninsula, Mount Sceberras, the seat of their "Convent"; but +as that would mean the leveling of the whole promontory, a task +of enormous expense and difficulty, and as immediate defence was +necessary, they decided to occupy the Peninsula of St. Angelo for the +present. Wedged between St. Angelo and the mainland there was a +small town, "Il Borgo": this, for the present, the Knights made their +headquarters, drawing a line of entrenchments across the neck of the +promontory to guard it from the neighboring heights. + +When it became certain that Malta was to be its permanent home--for +L'Isle Adam had at first cherished hopes of recapturing Rhodes--the +Order proceeded to take further measures for its security. Both St. +Angelo and Il Borgo were strengthened with ramparts and artillery, and +the fortifications of the Citta Notabile, the main town in the centre +of the island, were improved. In 1552 a commission of three Knights +with Leo Strozzi, the Prior of Capua, at its head--one of the most +daring Corsairs of the day--made a report of the fortifications of the +island. They recommended strengthening Il Borgo and St. Angelo, and +pointed out that the whole promontory was commanded by St. Julian, the +southernmost of the three projections into the Grand Harbour. Further, +as it was necessary to command the entrances both of Marsa Muscetto +and of the Grand Harbour, the tip, at least, of Mount Sceberras should +be occupied, as the finances of the Order would not allow of anything +further being done. These recommendations were carried out, and Fort +St. Michael was built on St. Julian and Fort St. Elmo on the end +of Mount Sceberras. A few years later the Grand Master de la Sangle +supplied the obvious deficiencies of St. Julian by enclosing it on the +west and the south by a bastioned rampart. + +Now the commitments of the Order in Tripoli proved a constant drain on +its resources. Time after time Charles V. was appealed to for help in +holding Tripoli, which was very difficult to fortify because of the +sandy nature of the soil, and difficult to succour because of its +distance from Malta. But Charles V. was at once reluctant to let go +his grip of any parts of the African coast, and too much absorbed by +his own troubles to be able to render much help, however much he might +have desired to do so. It was obvious that the first determined attack +of the Turks would mean the fall of Tripoli. In 1551, after putting in +an appearance off Malta, Dragut, the successor of Barbarossa, sailed +to Tripoli and easily captured the place owing to the disaffection of +the mercenary troops in the garrison. + +During this period, 1523-1565, the Order lost for ever one of the +eight national divisions or "langues." Henry VIII., soon after the +fall of Rhodes, had shown himself unfriendly to the interests of the +Order, but had been appeased by a visit of L'Isle Adam in February, +1528.[4] But Henry's proceedings against the Pope and the monasteries +inevitably involved the Order of St. John, which had large possessions +both in England and in Ireland. The Grand Priory of England was +situated at Clerkenwell, and the Grand Prior held the position in the +House of Lords of the connecting link between the Lords Spiritual and +the Barons, coming after the former in rank and before the latter. +There is extant a letter written by Henry VIII. in 1538 to the Grand +Master, Juan d'Omedes, wherein conditions are laid down for the +maintenance of the Order in England. The two main stipulations were, +that any Englishman admitted into the Order must take an oath of +allegiance to the King, and that no member in England must in any way +recognise the jurisdiction or authority of the Pope. Henry was well +aware that the Knights could never consent to terms such as these, +which were the negation of the fundamental principle of international +neutrality of their Order. Henry's offers were refused, and the +English langue, which had a brilliant record in the Order, perished. +Many of the Knights fled to Malta; others were executed for refusing +obedience to the Act of Supremacy. A general confiscation of their +property took place, and in April, 1540, an Act of Parliament was +passed vesting all the property of the Order in the Crown, and setting +aside from the revenues of such properties certain pensions to be +paid to the Lord Prior and other members. The Grand Prior, Sir William +Weston, died soon after, before he could enjoy his pension of L1,000 a +year. + +With the accession of Mary, in 1553, negotiations were at once opened +with the Knights for the restoration of the English langue, and during +her reign the old Order was restored once again, though the lands +were not returned. But Elizabeth, in the first year of her reign, +suppressed the Knights for good and all. + +In North Africa, Philip II., on his accession, had taken over the +troubles of his father, and after the Corsairs had failed in their +attack on the Spanish ports of Oran and Mazarquivir, he carried the +war once more into the enemy's territory. Finding themselves isolated, +they appealed to their overlord, the aged Sultan Solyman, to help them +against Spain. + +The most important seaman on the Turkish side was Dragut--Pasha +of Tripoli since 1551--who had been the greatest of Barbarossa's +lieutenants. In 1540 Dragut had been surprised and captured by +Giannetin Doria, the nephew of the great Admiral, and had served four +years chained to the bench of a Genoese galley. One of the last acts +of Khair-ed-Din Barbarossa had been to ransom his follower in the +port of Genoa, in 1544, for 3,000 crowns, an arrangement of which the +Genoese afterwards sorely repented. Dragut had the ear of the Sultan +when the appeal for help came from Africa, and his suggestion was to +attempt the capture of Malta. It had become more and more certain +that the Turks would not leave the island unassailed. Not only did the +Knights lend splendid help to the various Christian Powers, but they +were in themselves a formidable foe. Their fleet was always small, six +or seven galleys, but they became the dread of every Turkish vessel in +the Mediterranean. Annually these red galleys, headed by their black +_capitana_, swooped down on the Turkish shipping of the Levant and +brought back many rich prizes. Malta grew steadily in wealth, and +the island became full of Turkish slaves. The generals of the Maltese +galleys, Strozzi, La Valette, Charles of Lorraine, and De Romegas, +were far more terrible even than the great Corsairs, because of their +determination to extirpate the infidel. The state of war between the +Order and the Mussulman was recognised by all as something unique; +neither side dreamt of a peace or a truce, and only once in the +history of the Order does there seem to have been the suggestion of +an agreement. The fanaticism which actuated the Knights in their +determination to destroy the infidel made them formidable enemies, +despite their fewness in number. Solyman the Magnificent must have +often repented of his clemency in letting the Knights leave Rhodes +alive, and in 1564 he decided it would be a fitting end to his reign +if he could destroy the worst pest of the Mediterranean by capturing +Malta and annihilating the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. + + +[Footnote 1: _Vide_ Appendix I.] + +[Footnote 2: The chroniclers, such as Vertot, often call this town, +which was the ancient Adrumetum, "Africa," and it is therefore +necessary to watch their use of that word carefully.] + +[Footnote 3: See map on p. 19.] + +[Footnote 4: This visit caused a great sensation in Europe, as De +L'Isle Adam crossed the Alps in the depth of winter, and this haste to +pay his respects touched the King of England.] + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +THE SIEGE OF MALTA + +1565. + +The Grand Master of the Knights of Malta in 1565 was Jean Parisot de +la Valette. Born in 1494 of a noble family in Quercy, he had been +a Knight of St. John all his life, and forty-three years before had +distinguished himself at the siege of Rhodes. He had never left +his post at the "Convent" except to go on his "caravans,"[1] as the +cruises in the galleys were named. As a commander of the galleys of +the "Religion," as the Order called itself, he had won a name that +stood conspicuous in that age of great sea captains; and in 1557, on +the death of the Grand Master de la Sangle, the Knights, mindful of +the attack that was sure to come, elected La Valette to the vacant +office. No better man could be found even in the ranks of the Order. +Passionately religious, devoted body and soul to his Order and faith, +Jean de la Valette was prepared to suffer all to the death rather than +yield a foot to the hated infidel. Unsparing of himself, he demanded +utter sacrifice from his subordinates, and his cold, unflinching +severity would brook no hesitation. + +Both sides spent the winter and spring of 1565 in preparations for +the great attack. The Grand Master sent a message to all the Powers +of Europe; but Philip II., who sent him some troops, and the Pope, +who sent him 10,000 crowns, alone responded to his appeal. The message +sent to the various commanderies[2] throughout Europe brought the +Knights in haste to the defence of their beloved Convent. The Maltese +Militia was organised and drilled and proved of great value in the +siege, and even 500 galley slaves were released on promise of faithful +service. Altogether La Valette seems to have had at his disposal about +9,000 men (though the authorities differ slightly as to the exact +figures). Of these over 600 were Knights with their attendants, about +1,200 were hired troops, about 1,000 were volunteers, chiefly from +Italy, and the remainder Maltese Militia and galley slaves. + +The Turkish fleet at the beginning consisted of 180 vessels, of which +130 were galleys; and the troops on board consisted of about 30,000 +men, of whom 6,000 belonged to the select troops of the Janissaries. +Twice during the siege the Ottomans received reinforcements: first, +Dragut himself with 13 galleys and 1,600 men, and later, Hassan, +Viceroy of Algiers and son of Khair-ed-Din Barbarossa, with 2,500 +Corsairs. Altogether the Ottoman forces at the maximum, inclusive of +sailors, must have exceeded 40,000 men. A small reinforcement of 700 +men, of whom 42 were Knights, contrived to steal through the Turkish +lines on June 29; but that was all the help the garrison received +before September. + +[Illustration: PLAN TO ILLUSTRATE SIEGE OF MALTA 1565] + +The Turkish army was under the command of Mustapha Pasha, and the +fleet under that of Piali. Both had received orders not to take any +steps without the advice of Dragut. It would have been far better for the +Turkish cause had the Corsair been in supreme command, for his skill +as an artilleryman was famous. But there had always been trouble in +the Ottoman fleet when a Corsair was in command. The proud Turkish +generals were unwilling to be under the orders of men who were of +doubtful antecedents, and whom they despised in their hearts as +low-born robbers. Even Barbarossa, acknowledged by all to be the +greatest seaman in the Turkish Empire, could not enforce strict +obedience in the campaign of Prevesa in 1538. The Grand Vizier Ibrahim +had seen the folly of putting generals in command of fleets, and had +therefore secured the promotion of Barbarossa: but Ibrahim was now +dead, and Solyman, bereft of his wise counsel, made a compromise. + +On May 18 the Turkish fleet was sighted off the island, and almost +immediately the army disembarked, partly at Marsa Scirocco, and partly +at St. Thomas's Bay. The first misfortune was the non-appearance +of Dragut at the rendezvous, and in his absence Mustapha and Piali +decided to attack St. Elmo and to leave to Dragut the responsibility +of sanctioning the operations or breaking them off. Batteries were +erected on Mount Sceberras, in which ten 80-pounders were brought into +action, besides a huge basilisk throwing balls of 160 pounds, and two +60-pounder _coulevrines_. The Turks at the height of their power put +great faith in novel and massive artillery, which, though clumsy, +and at times more dangerous to their own gunners than the enemy, was +terribly effective at the short distance it was placed from St. Elmo. +The walls of the fortress soon began to crumble under the continuous +bombardment, and the garrison, which had been increased to 120 +Knights and two companies of Spanish infantry, soon felt the position +untenable without reinforcements. As an attack had not yet been +delivered La Valette was incensed at the appeal for help and offered +to go himself to hold the fort; his council dissuaded him from doing +so, and he permitted 50 Knights and 200 Spanish troops to cross to St. +Elmo. It was of the utmost importance that St. Elmo should be held to +the last minute. Not only did it delay the attack on the main forts, +but Don Garcia de Toledo, the Viceroy of Sicily, had made it a +condition in his arrangements with the Grand Master, before the siege, +that St. Elmo must be held if the reinforcements from Sicily were to +be sent. + +At this point--June 2--Dragut arrived with his galleys and expressed +nothing but disapproval for the Turkish operations. He pointed out +that the besiegers should have isolated the fortifications from the +rest of the island before proceeding to attack St. Elmo; but, as +the siege had started, he insisted on continuing it as vigorously +as possible. He erected a powerful battery on the summit of Mount +Sceberras, which swept both Fort St. Angelo and Fort St. Elmo, and +erected another on the headland opposite St. Elmo on the other side of +the Marsa Muscetto, which was henceforth known as Point Dragut. + +As soon as this was done the bombardment restarted with relentless +fury. The Knights made a sortie to destroy some of the Turkish guns, +but were driven back, and the Turks then captured and held a covered +way leading up to a ravelin; a few days later, taking advantage of the +negligence of the garrison, they surprised the ravelin itself, and, +but for the efforts of a Spanish officer, would have captured the +fort. After desperate fighting the Knights were still holding the +fort, but had been unable to recapture the ravelin. The next day +another attack was made by Mustapha, but without avail; the ravelin +remained in Turkish hands, but it had cost them 2,000 men. + +It was a great gain, however; two guns were mounted on it, and all the +Turkish artillery, including that of the galleys, began to play on the +hapless fort. It was no question of a breach; the walls were gradually +destroyed till there was nothing left of the enceinte but a mass of +ruins. Every part of the fort was directly exposed to the fire of +the two guns on the ravelin, and this exposure made the strain on the +Knights intolerable. + +The garrison sent a Knight, renowned for his bravery, to report these +conditions to the Grand Master and to ask for permission to withdraw. +La Valette, feeling it imperative that the fort should hold out to the +last minute, sent him back with orders that it was to be defended to +the end. The garrison, amazed by his reply, sent a prayer for relief, +failing which they would sally forth, sword in hand, to meet their +death in open fight rather than be buried like dogs beneath the ruins. +The Grand Master received the request with the stern comment that, not +only were their lives at the disposal of the Order, but the time and +manner of their death; but to make sure that their complaints were +justified he would send three Knights to investigate the condition +of the fort. One of the three (probably in collusion with La Valette) +maintained the fort could be held, and offered himself to hold it with +volunteers, who were immediately forthcoming in large numbers; but +when the message arrived at St. Elmo announcing that the garrison was +to be relieved, there was consternation among the defenders, who, now +realising the ignominy of their prayer, sent out yet another request +to St. Angelo, this time to be allowed to hold St. Elmo to the death. +After some delay the Grand Master granted the permission. + +This was June 14; on the 16th the Ottomans delivered a grand assault. +The fort was attacked on three sides, from Mount Sceberras and on each +flank. The guns of St. Angelo rendered great service all day by raking +the attacking forces in enfilade, and especially by breaking up the +flank attack from the side of the Grand Harbour. All day long the +battle went on with unabating fury; time after time the Janissaries +burst over the ruined walls, and each time they were repulsed. +Attacked on all sides, the few defenders fought with dauntless +heroism, and when the night fell the Maltese Cross still waved over +the fort. + +Reinforcements were dispatched as soon as night set in, and the +volunteers far exceeded all requirements. + +Now at last the Turkish commanders perceived that, to capture St. +Elmo, it must be isolated from St. Angelo. In the course of the next +few days a battery was constructed on the promontory at the entrance +of the Grand Harbour where Fort Ricasoli stood in later times, and +another was mounted on the side of Mount Sceberras to sweep the +landing place beneath the fort. Both batteries cost many Turkish +lives, but their construction and the extension of the investing +trenches to the Grand Harbour meant the complete isolation of St. +Elmo. The Turks sustained their greatest loss when Dragut, while +superintending the works, received a wound from which a week later he +died. + +For three days twenty-six guns kept up the bombardment, and on the +early morning of June 22 another grand assault was made. Three times +repulsed and three times renewed, the attack failed in the end, and +the handful of surviving Knights was left at nightfall in possession +of their ruins. All attempts during the night to send reinforcements +failed under the fire of Dragut's new batteries, and La Valette saw +that his men were beyond all hope of rescue. + +The sixty shattered survivors prepared for death; worn out, they +betook themselves at midnight to their little chapel, where they +confessed and received the Eucharist for the last time. Dawn found +them waiting, even to the wounded, who had been placed in chairs sword +in hand to receive the last onslaught. Incredible as it may appear, +the first assault was driven back, but the attack finally broke up +the defence, and, with the exception of a few Maltese who escaped by +swimming, the garrison perished to a man. + +June 24, St. John the Baptist's Day, was one of sorrow inside the +beleaguered fortress. The Turks had soiled their victory by mutilating +their dead foes and throwing them into the Grand Harbour; La Valette +took reprisals, and from that time neither side thought of quarter. + +Nor were the besiegers greatly elated; the tiny Fort of St. Elmo had +delayed them for five weeks and had cost them 8,000 men and their best +general. The Order had lost 1,300 men, of whom 130 were Knights, and +the disparity of the losses shows the impatience and recklessness of +the Turkish attacks. + +Mustapha now transferred the main part of his army to the other side +of the Grand Harbour, and, drawing a line of entrenchments along the +heights on its eastern side, succeeded in investing completely the two +peninsulas of Senglea and Il Borgo. Batteries were established and a +constant bombardment commenced, the main target being Fort St. Michael +at the end of Senglea, on which a converging fire was brought to bear. +Unable to bring his fleet into the Grand Harbour under the guns of St. +Angelo, Mustapha had eighty galleys dragged across the neck of Mount +Sceberras and launched on the upper waters of the Grand Harbour. This +was a blow to the besieged, as it meant an attack by sea as well as +by land, and La Valette made all the preparations possible to meet the +danger. Along the south-west side of Senglea, where the beach is low, +he constructed, with the aid of his Maltese divers, a very firm and +powerful stockade to prevent the enemy galleys from running ashore, +and he also linked up Il Borgo and Senglea with a floating bridge. + +On July 15 the Turks delivered a grand assault by sea and by land. The +attack by sea, under the command of the renegade Candellissa, proved +the more formidable. At the critical moment the defenders were thrown +into confusion by an explosion on the ramparts, during which the +Turks were able to make their way through the stockade and into the +fortress, being checked with difficulty by the desperate resistance of +the garrison and finally driven out by a timely reinforcement sent +by La Valette. Ten boatloads of troops sent by Mustapha incautiously +exposed themselves to the guns of St. Angelo and were almost all sunk, +while the attack on the land side, led by Hassan, Viceroy of Algiers +and son of Khaired-Din Barbarossa, proved an utter failure. + +As at the siege of Rhodes, so at Malta, a distinct part of the +fortifications had been allotted to each langue to defend. The langue +of Castile held the north-east section of Il Borgo, which was destined +to be the scene of most desperate fighting. + +On August 7 a joint attack was made on the land side of Senglea and on +the bastion of Castile. On that day the Turks came nearer success than +ever before or after. Mustapha's desperate attacks on Senglea were +at last successful: masters of the breach made by their guns, the +assailants' weight of numbers began to tell, and slowly the defenders +were being pushed back inside the fortress. At this moment, to +everyone's amazement, Mustapha sounded the retreat. The little +garrison of the Citta Notabile, which had been left alone by the +Turks, had been raiding the enemy's lines as usual, and, hearing the +grand assault was in progress, had made a determined attack on the +Turkish entrenchments from behind, burning and slaying all they could +find. The confusion arising from this started the rumour that Sicilian +reinforcements had landed and were attacking the Turkish army. +Mustapha, in fear of being surrounded, drew off his troops in the +moment of victory. + +Meanwhile,[3] farther north, the Bastion of Castile had been almost +captured by Piali. The rock at that part of the fortification was +extremely hard, and the possibility of mines had occurred to none of +the garrison. Piali, however, with great labour, had dug a mine which +had been sprung that morning and had blown a huge gap in the ramparts. +This unexpected attack threw the whole of Il Borgo into confusion, +and, but for the Grand Master's promptitude and coolness of mind, the +enemy had been masters of the fortress. Seizing a pike, La Valette +rushed into the fight, and, inspired by his example, the Knights +succeeded in driving the enemy out of the breach. He ordered the +garrison to remain there all night, as he expected an attack under +the cover of darkness, and insisted on taking the command himself. His +subordinates protested against this reckless exposure of a valuable +life, but his precautions were justified when a Turkish attack made in +the darkness was defeated by his prompt resistance. + +The bombardment continued unceasingly, and on August 18 another +desperate assault was made, which, like the other, failed. Yet the +position of the besieged was becoming desperate: dwindling daily +in numbers, they were becoming too feeble to hold the long line of +fortifications; but, when his council suggested the abandonment of Il +Borgo and Senglea and withdrawal to St. Angelo, La Valette remained +obdurate. + +Why the Viceroy of Sicily had not brought help will always remain a +mystery. Possibly the orders of his master, Philip II. of Spain, were +so obscurely worded as to put on his own shoulders the burden of a +decision; a responsibility which he was unwilling to discharge because +the slightest defeat would mean exposing Sicily to the Turk. He had +left his own son with La Valette, so he could hardly be indifferent to +the fate of the fortress, and Malta in Turkish hands would soon have +proved a curse to Sicily and Naples. Whatever may have been the cause +of his delay, the Viceroy hesitated till the indignation of his own +officers forced him to move, and then the battle had almost been won +by the unaided efforts of the Knights. On August 23 came yet +another grand assault, the last serious effort, as it proved, of the +besiegers; it was thrown back with the greatest difficulty, even the +wounded taking part in the defence. The plight of the Turkish forces, +however, was now desperate. With the exception of St. Elmo, the +fortifications were still intact. By working night and day the +garrison had repaired the breaches, and the capture of Malta seemed +more and more impossible. Those terrible summer months with the +burning sirocco had laid many of the troops low with sickness in their +crowded quarters; ammunition and food were beginning to run short, and +the troops were becoming more and more dispirited at the failure of +their numerous attacks and the unending toll of lives. The death of +Dragut, on June 23, had proved an incalculable loss, and the jealousy +between Mustapha and Piali prevented their co-operation. The whole +course of the siege had been marked by a feverish haste and a fear of +interruption, which showed itself in ill-drawn plans. Dragut himself, +early in the siege, had pointed out the necessity of more foresight, +but his warnings went unheeded. The Turkish commanders took few +precautions, and, though they had a huge fleet, they never used it +with any effect except on one solitary occasion. They neglected their +communications with the African coast and made no attempt to watch and +intercept Sicilian reinforcements. + +On September 1 Mustapha made his last effort, but all his threats and +cajoleries had but little effect on his dispirited troops, who refused +any longer to believe in the possibility of capturing those terrible +fortresses. The feebleness of the attack was a great encouragement to +the besieged, who now began to see hopes of deliverance. Mustapha's +perplexity and indecision were cut short by the news of the arrival +of Sicilian reinforcements in Melleha Bay. Hastily evacuating his +trenches, he embarked his army; but, on learning that the new troops +numbered but some 8,000, was overcome by shame and put ashore to fight +the reinforcements. It was all in vain, however, for his troops would +not stand the fierce charge of the new-comers, and, helped by the +determination of his rearguard, safely re-embarked and sailed away on +September 3. + +At the moment of departure the Order had left 600 men capable of +bearing arms, but the losses of the Ottomans had been yet more +fearful. The most reliable estimate puts the number of the Turkish +army at its height at some 40,000 men, of which but 15,000 returned +to Constantinople. It was a most inglorious ending to the reign of +Solyman the Magnificent. + + +[Footnote 1: A reminiscence of the Syrian days of the Order.] + +[Footnote 2: The name given to the different estates of the +Hospitallers scattered throughout Europe: they were so called because +they were each in charge of a "commander," sometimes also named a +"preceptor," from his duty of receiving and training novices.] + +[Footnote 3: Most historians make this event part of the attack of +August 18. But Prescott (_Philip II_., vol. ii., p. 428) points out +that Balbi, who is undoubtedly the best authority for the siege as he +was one of the garrison, places it on August 7.] + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +THE CONSTITUTION OF THE ORDER OF ST. JOHN + +Before proceeding to trace the history of the last two centuries +of the Knights at Malta it will perhaps be advisable to examine the +organisation of an Order which was the greatest and most long-lived +of all the medieval Orders of Chivalry. The siege of 1565 was its last +great struggle with its mortal foe; after that there is but little +left for the historian but to trace its gradual decadence and fall. +And, as might be expected in a decadent society, though outwardly +the constitution changed but little in the last two centuries, yet +gradually the Statutes of the Order and the actual facts became more +and more divergent. + +There were three classes of members in the Hospitallers, who were +primarily distinguished from each other by their birth, and who were +allotted different functions in the Order. The Knights of Justice[1] +were the highest class of the three and were the only Knights +qualified for the Order's highest distinctions. Each langue had its +own regulations for admitting members, and all alike exercised severe +discrimination. Various kinds of evidence were necessary to prove the +pure and noble descent of the candidate. The German was the strictest +and most exacting of the langues, demanding proof of sixteen quarters +of nobility and refusing to accept the natural sons of Kings into the +ranks of its Knights. Italy was the most lenient, since banking and +trade were admitted as no stain on nobility, while most of the other +langues insisted on military nobility only. + +The chaplains, who formed the second class of the Order, were required +to be of honest birth and born in wedlock of families that were +neither slaves nor engaged in base or mechanical trades. The +same regulations were in force for the third class--that of +servants-at-arms, who served under the Knights both on land and sea. +As the military character of the Order became less and less marked +in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, these servants-at-arms +became fewer and fewer, but in earlier days they were of considerable +importance. The chaplains performed their duties at the Convent or on +the galleys; the priests at the various commanderies throughout Europe +were a class apart, known as Priests of Obedience, and never came to +Malta, but resided permanently in their respective countries. A number +of commanderies was allotted to the two inferior classes. + +The Order, as we know, was an international one, and for purposes of +administration was divided into sections or langues. In the sixteenth +century there were eight of these divisions, which, in order of +seniority, were Provence, Auvergne, France, Italy, Aragon, England, +Germany, and Castile. When Henry VIII. suppressed the English langue +in 1540, the Knights, with a reluctance to face the facts which was +characteristic of a proud Order of Chivalry, kept up the fiction +of its existence. In 1782, when the Elector of Bavaria secured the +establishment of a Bavarian langue, it was united to the dormant +langue of England and named the Anglo-Bavarian. + +Each langue had its own quarters at the Convent known as the +"Auberge," presided over by a "conventual bailiff," who in all matters +was the head of the langue. Each conventual bailiff had an important +office in the hierarchy of the Order which was permanently appurtenant +to the headship of that langue. Thus the conventual bailiff of the +langue of France was always the Grand Hospitaller in charge of the +Hospital of the Order, while that of England was Turcopolier, or +commander of the light cavalry--a survival from the Syrian days. The +possessions of each langue in its native land were divided into grand +priories and bailiwicks. Thus England, which meant the possessions +throughout the British Isles, was divided into the Grand Priory of +England at Clerkenwell, the Grand Priory of Ireland at Kilmainham, and +the Bailiwick of the Eagle, which was situated near Lincoln and had +originally belonged to the Templars. These Grand Priors and Bailiffs +of each langue, as well as its conventual bailiff, were all Knights +Grand Cross, and, as such, entitled to seats in the Chapter-General of +the Order. + +The supreme control of the Order was vested in the Chapter-General, +consisting of all the Knights Grand Cross. Though these +Chapters-General were often convened in the early history of the +Order, their difficulty of assembly and their clumsy method of +procedure made them less and less frequently summoned, as the Grand +Master had it in his power to convoke it when he pleased, though an +interval of five years--later extended to ten--had been sanctioned +by custom. In the seventeenth century the institution fell into utter +disuse, and there was no meeting of the Chapter-General from 1631 to +1776, when its uselessness was finally demonstrated. + +When the Chapter-General was not sitting the government of the Order +was carried on by the Grand Master and the Councils, known as the +Ordinary, Complete, Secret, and Criminal. The Ordinary Council +consisted of the Grand Master, the conventual bailiffs, together with +any Grand Cross residing at the Convent. This Council, as its name +indicates, transacted the ordinary business of government, which +mainly consisted of appointing to these offices and making those +arrangements which were not definitely assigned to the Grand Master +himself. The Secret and Criminal Councils, respectively, dealt with +foreign affairs and offences against the Statutes, while the Complete, +consisting of the Ordinary Council with the addition of two Knights +from each langue of more than five years' residence at the Convent, +dealt with appeals from the other Councils. In the later days of the +Order the pernicious practice of appealing to the Pope destroyed all +semblance of authority in this Council. + +The election of the Grand Master was an exceedingly complicated +affair, the intention being to prevent intrigue. Each langue solemnly +elected three Knights to represent it, and this body of twenty-four +chose a triumvirate, which consisted of a Knight, a chaplain, and a +servant-at-arms. These three co-opted a fourth, and the four a fifth, +and so on, till the number of sixteen was reached, and this body of +sixteen elected the Grand Master. Every stage of the proceedings +was hedged about with meticulous precautions to prevent intrigue and +corruption, and it was a thoroughly typical medieval attempt to secure +an honest election. + +The framers of the Order's Statutes had taken the precaution of +limiting the authority of the Grand Master by a minute enumeration +of all his rights. But, as the Order developed into a purely military +body, even officially his powers became greater. No subject for +discussion could be introduced at the Councils except by himself; he +had a double vote, and, in case of an equal division, a casting vote +also; he had the right of nomination to many administrative posts +besides all those of his own household, and in each priory there was +a commandery in his own gift whose revenues went to himself. But even +such wide powers were less than the reality. While the Order was at +Rhodes, and during the first half-century at Malta, it was obviously +necessary that the Grand Master should possess the powers of a +commander-in-chief. As a purely military body, surrounded by powerful +foes, the Order was in the position of an army encamped in enemy +territory. Further, the absolute possession of Rhodes, and later +of Malta, tended to give the Grand Masters the rank of independent +Sovereigns, and the outside world regarded them as territorial +potentates rather than as heads of an Order of aristocratic Knights. + +But when the Order's existence was no longer threatened the Grand +Master's position was assailed from many sides. No one, while reading +the history of the Knights, can fail to be impressed by the numerous +disturbances among them during the last 200 years of the Order. Drawn +from the highest ranks of the nobility, young, rich, and with very +little to occupy their time (except when on their "caravans"), the +Knights were perpetually quarrelling among themselves or defying the +constituted authorities of the Order. + +Charles V. had insisted on keeping in his own hands the nomination +of the bishopric of Malta, and the custom grew up that the Bishop of +Malta and the Prior of St. John--the two most important ecclesiastics +in the Order--should be chosen from the chaplains who were natives of +the island. This was intended as a compensation for an injury which +had been inflicted on the Maltese. To prevent the Grand Mastership +falling into the hands of a native, the Maltese members of the Order +were unable to vote at the election. The Bishop was often engaged +in quarrels with the Grand Master, and the disputes were generally +carried to the Pope, who, as the Head of Christendom, was regarded as +having supremacy over all Religious Orders. But the Pope himself often +encroached upon the rights of the Order, not only by sending nuncios +to Malta with large and undefined powers, but by arrogating to himself +the patronage of the langue of Italy when he wished to bestow gifts +upon his relatives and friends. This led to bitter resentment among +the Italian Knights, who saw all the lucrative posts of their langue +given away to strangers. The introduction of the Inquisition in 1574 +and the Jesuits in 1592, brought additional disputes about the chief +authority in the island, and these different ecclesiastical personages +had no hesitation in interfering in matters which should have been +entirely beyond their province. Many a Grand Master of the seventeenth +and eighteenth centuries had his time occupied in efforts to assert +his authority. + +The Grand Mastership was also weakened by the practice of electing +very old men to the post, as the short tenure of the office and +the feebleness of its holder meant a lax control over the turbulent +Knights. This practice became very common in the last two centuries +of the Order's existence. But many of the Grand Masters, though over +seventy at the time of election, disappointed expectation by living +till eighty or even ninety. + +We possess detailed accounts of the financial system of the Order in +the work of two Knights, Boisgelin and Boisredon de Ransijat, accounts +which agree almost entirely. + +The average revenue of the Order before the French Revolution was +L136,000 per annum--i.e., the revenue which definitely reached Malta. +It is to be remembered that this sum only represented the residue +which was sent to the _chef-lieu_. The Knights possessed over +600 estates throughout Europe, each of which, besides sending +contributions to Malta, maintained several members of the Order, +gave a liberal income to its commander, and contributed towards the +revenues of the Grand Priory in which it was situated. The chief items +of the above sum were: + +1. RESPONSIONS. + +A proportion of the net income of each commandery fixed by the +Chapter-General and liable to increase in case of need--L547,520 per +annum. + +2. MORTUARY AND VACANCY. + +On the death of a commander all the net revenues from the day of +his death to the following May 1 went to the Treasury: this was the +MORTUARY; the whole revenue of the succeeding year was also sent to +Malta: this was called the VACANCY--L521,470 per annum. + +3. PASSAGES. + +These were sums paid for admission into the Order, and were especially +heavy for those who wished to enter the Order at an age earlier than +that laid down in the Statutes--L520,324 per annum. + +4. SPOILS. + +These were the effects of deceased Knights, who were only allowed to +dispose of one-fifth of their property by will, the remainder going to +the Treasury--L524,755. + +These made up about five-sixths of the total revenue, the remainder +being small sums accruing from various sources, such as the proceeds +from the timber of the commanderies (which went entirely to the +Council), rents from buildings in Malta, and so forth. + +At the height of their prosperity the Knights derived a very +considerable revenue from their galleys, and just as Algiers, +Tunis, or Tripoli throve on piracy, even so the wealth of the +East contributed largely to the splendour of Malta. But during the +seventeenth century various Christian Powers, such as Venice or +France, insisted on restricting the Knights' claims to unlimited +seizure of infidel vessels and infidel property on board ship. As +early as 1582 the Pope had forbidden the Order to seize in a Christian +harbour Turkish ships or Turkish property on Christian ships, +and, despite the strenuous opposition of the Knights, enforced his +commands. + +The expenditure of the Order was, on the whole, within the limits of +its revenue. The chief charge upon the expenditure was the fighting +forces--the fleet and the garrisons--which together absorbed about +half the revenue. Of the other items, the most important were the +Hospital, the Churches of the Order, and the support of its officers +both at the Convent and in the various European countries. The Knights +were never seriously threatened financially till the French Revolution +wiped out half their revenues at one fell swoop. Emergencies were +always successfully met by an appeal to the self-denial of the members +of the Order and the generosity of Europe. + +The control of the revenues was in the hands of the Chambre de Commun +Tresor, which consisted of eight officials, the most important of whom +were the President, who was always the Grand Commander (the conventual +bailiff of Provence, the senior langue of the Order), and the +Secretary through whose hands all the revenues passed. In each langue +certain specified towns were used as receiving Treasuries, under +the control of receivers who paid the money direct to the Central +Treasury; these towns numbered twenty-nine in all. These receivers +obtained the revenues from each estate or commandery within their +district. At first the Order had possessed one common chest, but with +the growth of its possessions each Grand Prior was put in control +of his Priory's revenues; this proving unsatisfactory, from the +difficulty of exercising control over these powerful Knights, +the finances of each estate were administered by the commanders +themselves, who dealt directly with the receivers in their area. They +paid their quota or "responsions" biennially, and were subject to +inspection from their Grand Priors; commanderies were rewards to aged +Knights, and good administration brought promotion to richer estates. + +The Criminal Council, which consisted of the Grand Master, the Bishop +of Malta, the Prior of St. John, the conventual bailiffs, and any +Grand Crosses present at the Convent, dealt with offences against the +estates of the Order. The accused were brought in, the evidence taken, +and the verdict declared. All evidence was verbal and no written +testimony was accepted; each Knight, unless he could show good +reason to the contrary, had to plead in person. Any English or German +Knights, who knew only their own tongue and so had difficulty in +being understood, were allowed advocates. The Order, by its Statutes, +discouraged litigation to the utmost, desiring to promote concord and +harmony among its members, and for that reason all legal procedure was +made as simple and as summary as possible. + +In such an exclusive and aristocratic Order there was naturally much +jealousy of the power of its head. Facts gave the Grand Master a very +strong position, but technically he was only _primus inter pares_. To +make sure the Knights were not oppressed, they were always at liberty +to disregard the Grand Master's or any superior's command and to +appeal to a Court of Egard to prove that the given command was a +violation of the Order's Statutes. The Court of Egard consisted of +nine members, each langue choosing one from its own ranks, and the +Grand Master appointing the President. Either disputant could object +to any member of the Court, whereupon that member's langue chose a +substitute. After hearing the evidence, which was entirely oral, the +Court discussed the case behind closed doors and came to a decision. +The litigants were called back, and if they agreed to accept the +verdict the Court's decision was announced and was deemed final; if +they refused to accept it, an appeal lay to another Court, called the +Renfort of the Egard, which was constituted by each langue electing +another member, thus doubling the original number. The same procedure +was carried out as in the first Court, and if the litigants expressed +themselves still dissatisfied, a new Court was summoned, called the +Renfort of the Renfort, which was formed by the election from each +langue of another member, thus making twenty-five with the President. +If their decision was not accepted a final Court of Appeal, called +the Bailiffs' Egard, was formed by the addition of the conventual +bailiffs, or, if absent, their lieutenants, and their decision was +final. This admirable Court of Equity existed almost unaltered right +down to 1798. + +The Hospital was a characteristic institution of the Order, and +deserves some mention. Originally the chief scene of their activities, +the Hospital was never forgotten by the Knights. Their first duty, +wherever they went, was always to build a Hospital to tend the sick, +and to the end every Knight at the Convent, in theory at least, went +to take his turn in attending at the Hospital for one day in the week. +The site of the Hospital, on the south-east side of Valetta, has been +condemned by science as unhealthy, and it is very easy with modern +knowledge to find many faults in its organisation. Howard, in his +"Lazarettos in Europe," in 1786, gave a vivid description of its +condition and exposed its defects. At that time, however, the Hospital +was sharing the general decadence of the Order, and discipline had +become very lax. But, even so, the Hospital was far superior to most +other hospitals in Europe and still kept much of that distinction it +had acquired in the great days of the Order. We must remember that +hospital organisation is a very recent science, and it would be unfair +to accuse the Knights of neglecting what had not yet been discovered. +Their Hospital was one of the most famous in Europe, and was used +by many from Sicily and Southern Italy as well as by the natives of +Malta. It was open to all who wished to use it, and the attendance of +patients from a distance proved that it supplied a need. The hospital, +which had generally over 400 invalids, was maintained at great cost to +the Order, and the regulations were drawn up with great care, though +they reveal an amazing ignorance of some fundamental laws of health. +Patients, for instance, who were members of the Order received meals +twice as large as other patients. + + +[Footnote 1: So called because they were Knights "by right" of noble +birth.] + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +THE DECLINE + +1565-1789. + +The history of the Order of St. John after the siege of Malta in +1565 is a sad story of gradual and inevitable decay. The magnificent +heroism of the Knights at the siege raised their fame throughout +Europe to the highest pitch, and the siege was rightly regarded as one +of the first decisive checks received by the Ottoman conquerors. + +It is easy to imagine the anxious expectation of Europe in that summer +of 1565, when the heretic Queen of England ordered prayers to be +offered in the diocese of Salisbury for the safety of the Knights of +St. John. + +The Battle of Lepanto, six years later, despite its lack of immediate +results, dissolved the spell which the invincibility of the Ottoman +fleet had woven, and in the seventeenth century the Turkish Empire +showed plainly that it had passed its meridian. Now that they were in +a weakened condition, the Ottomans, though never fully regarded as a +European Power, were more acceptable to the Christian States, most +of whom followed the example of Francis I. and concluded commercial +agreements and treaties with the Porte. The Turk was no longer +regarded as a being beyond human intercourse, and the Levant trade +was too valuable to be ignored by France, England, or the Italian +republics. + +The Knights of Malta, with their attitude of truceless war against the +infidel, were thus becoming more and more of an anachronism as time went +on. They never concluded peace with the Sultan, and always regarded +the possessions of the infidel as fair and lawful booty. It was +obviously impossible for the Christian States trafficking in Turkish +waters to allow such a theory to go unchallenged, and we therefore +find the Order quarrelling with the Pope, Venice, England, and France, +as to their rights of seizure of Turkish goods in Christian vessels +or of Turkish vessels in Christian harbours. In 1582 this led to +a dispute with Gregory XIII., and in 1666 with Louis XIV., and the +Knights were forced to confine their attentions to Turkish vessels +trading between Turkish ports. England was destined later to incur +similar trouble with neutrals for a similar theory of international +law. + +Had the Knights wished, their unending warfare against the Mohammedan +would have found a suitable enemy in the Barbary Corsairs, who were +a plague to Europe right to the year 1816; but though we find many a +struggle between Knight and Corsair in the seventeenth century, the +sloth and decadence that were mastering the Order made it gradually +neglect its duty in that direction. Whatever energies they had +were more profitably spent in the Levant; for the Knights, in their +seafaring expeditions, became little more than Corsairs themselves. +When it was necessary, as at the twenty-five years' siege of Candia +(1644-1669), the Knights displayed once more that magnificent heroism +that had made their name ring throughout the world. We find through +the seventeenth century many a display of bravery, but they became +more and more infrequent, till, in the eighteenth century, the Order's +squadron was used for little else but show voyages to different +Mediterranean ports. It was becoming too great a task even to raid +Turkish merchantmen. + +After the siege it was determined to move the _chef-lieu_ of the Order +from Il Borgo to Mount Sceberras, and on March 28, 1566, the building +of Valetta was commenced. It was originally intended to bring the hill +down to a certain level and on the plateau thus constructed to build +the city. The fear of another Turkish invasion, however, did not allow +of the completion of this plan, with the result that Valetta consists +of a long, narrow plateau with slopes descending to Marso Muscetto on +one side and the Grand Harbour on the other. The difficulty of moving +about in this hilly town is commemorated in Byron's lines: + + Adieu, ye joys of La Valette, + Adieu, sirocco, sun, and sweat, + Adieu, ye cursed streets of stairs, + How surely he who mounts you swears. + +Each Grand Master strove to enlarge and strengthen the town's +fortifications, with the result that, in the eighteenth century, +Valetta was recognised as one of the greatest fortresses in the world. +The building and upkeep of these fortifications proved a great drain +upon the resources of the Order, and served but little purpose, except +that of ministering to the vanity of successive Grand Masters, who +desired to leave behind them memorials of themselves by bestowing +their name upon a new fort or outwork. The continual increase of +security and strength did not serve to improve the daring of the +Knights, but rather helped to engender a condition of sloth that was +destined to prove fatal. + +This period is marked by constant tumults among the members of the +Order and by acts of defiance against the Grand Masters. Even in the +days of its glory there had been much jealousy and friction between +the different nationalities composing the Order. The three French +langues of Provence, Auvergne, and France, by acting together, +exercised a preponderant influence; they contributed half the revenues +of the Order, and were generally able to secure their object against +the opposition of the remaining Knights. The constant wars between +Spain and France in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries led to +constant troubles at Malta, and the Grand Masters throughout this +period had great and increasing difficulty in preserving the Order's +neutrality. Many Knights broke their Oath of Obedience by enlisting in +the French and Spanish armies. When this was discovered, the offended +King would make out that the Order had taken sides and would threaten +it with his vengeance. As the Order possessed many estates in both +kingdoms, the Grand Masters were in constant fear that these would be +encroached upon if an excuse could be found to justify such an +action. But Spain, while it possessed the kingdom of the Two Sicilies, +possessed an even surer method of punishing the Order. Malta, +despite all the care lavished upon it, has never been able to produce +sufficient corn for its population, and for this reason imported food +regularly from Sicily, where the Order had built granaries for storing +the corn while awaiting transshipment. As soon as the Knights offended +the King of Spain Malta was plunged into scarcity, and the unhappy +natives had often to suffer heavily because the Grand Master was a +Frenchman. + +Another result of the wars of France and Spain was the frequent +internal quarrels at Malta. As the feelings of the two nations towards +each other were often embittered, it is not surprising to find that +French and Spanish Knights would come to open blows in the streets of +Valetta. The unhealthy life of those young and idle aristocrats was +conducive to turbulence, and the Grand Masters often adopted the +policy of sending them to sea as soon as trouble was foreseen. The +French were generally in the preponderance, as we can see from the +great number of French Grand Masters; and the increasing greatness of +the French monarchy in the seventeenth century was reflected at Malta. + +The position of the Maltese became worse and worse as the Order +declined. The natives, who had enjoyed a considerable measure of local +autonomy under Spanish rule, had been very reluctant to submit to the +Knights, and had protested to Charles V. against their surrender to +the Order, as a violation of the promise given in 1428 by Alphonse of +Sicily that Malta would never be separated from the Sicilian Crown. +They knew that the Order would conduct itself in Malta as a garrison +in a fortress, and that this would mean strict military control over +the inhabitants. It was also probable that the Turks would again +besiege the Knights, as they had done at Rhodes in 1480 and 1522, and +the Maltese were strongly averse to being drawn into such danger. + +During the residence of the Knights the native population of Valetta +was considerably modified. Some of the Rhodians who had, in 1523, +accompanied the Knights, came with them to Malta; mercenaries who +fought for the Order sometimes stayed on in the island, and many in +this new population were illegitimate children of the Knights. For, +though the vow of chastity was insisted on to the end as a condition +of entrance into the Order, in practice, by the eighteenth century, it +had become entirely ineffective. + +At first the Knights made but slight inroads on the privileges of +the natives, curtailing them only so far as was necessary for their +military security, and imposing but few taxes upon them. As the island +grew rich with the wealth brought in by the raids of the Knights, the +condition of the Maltese also improved, and while the Order flourished +it was not an excessive burden to the natives. But when the +Knights started upon their decline the condition of the islanders +deteriorated. They had always suffered from the occasional scarcity +due to the ill-humour of the Spanish King or the natural failure of +the Sicilian harvest. But now the taxes became heavier and heavier, +and the free services of the Maltese, either as labourers in the +constant fortifying of Valetta, or as soldiers in the garrison, or +as sailors in the fleet, were more and more rigorously exacted. Many +natives lost their lives while fighting with the Order, and from the +generous behaviour of Grand Masters to the native women and +children, which we find mentioned in chronicles, we can see there was +occasionally acute distress in the island. + +In its degeneracy the Order treated the Maltese with boundless +contempt, as might be expected from spoiled members of the great +European aristocracies towards petty islanders. One of the most +intolerable forms of the arrogance of the Knights during their last +years at Malta was their disgusting behaviour towards the womenfolk +of the natives; complaint was dangerous and futile. When the British +captured the island in October, 1800, the mere proposal to restore +the Order raised such a storm of protest from the Maltese as to prove +conclusively to all how hated had been the domination of the Knights. + +The splendour of the Knights at the height of their greatness can be +judged from the many magnificent buildings they constructed in the +island. The Church of St. John in particular received such careful and +lavish attention that it became one of the most splendid churches in +Christendom, being especially famous for its wonderful mosaic floor. +The "auberges" of the various langues were also built in the most +magnificent manner, and the palace of the Grand Master at Valetta was +a sumptuous building worthy of a king. + +The decline of the Order brought with it a diminution of respect +from the nations of Europe, and we read of constant and increasing +interference from outside in the affairs of the Order. The greatest +offender was the Pope, who had always enjoyed a nominal headship over +the Order, and who had been kept at a distance with difficulty even +while the Knights had been at Rhodes. The creation of a bishopric at +Malta, the introduction of the Inquisition, and then of the +Jesuits, had led to constant quarrels between the Knights and the +ecclesiastics, and from these had arisen the evil practice of appeals +to the Curia. In the seventeenth century the Popes regarded the +valuable patronage of the langue of Italy as in their gift, and the +Grand Masters were powerless to protect their defrauded Knights. The +depths of the Order's humiliation were shown by the demand of Pope +Urban XIII., in 1642, that the Order's galleys should help him fight +the League of Italian Princes which had been formed to resist his +invasion of Parma. Lascaris, the Grand Master, was unable to refuse, +and for the first time the famous red galleys were seen arrayed +against Christian neighbours. + +The operations of the Knights in the seventeenth century were mainly +carried out in alliance with the Venetians, who were the one Power +who continued to resist the Turk at sea. They were still lords of +the great island of Crete, which lay athwart the trade routes of the +Levant, and only by its conquest would the Ottoman control of the +Eastern Mediterranean be complete. In 1645 Ibrahim I. declared war on +Venice and besieged Candia; but the attack was so remiss that success +seemed impossible. The Knights of Malta threw themselves into the +struggle on the side of the Venetians, feeling bound in honour to +do so, as the refuge of Maltese galleys in Venetian harbours was the +Turkish pretext for war. In 1656 Mocenigo, the Venetian Admiral, with +the aid of the Knights, won a brilliant victory off the Dardanelles, +capturing Lemnos and Tenedos. This imminent peril brought Mohammed +Kiuprili to power as Grand Vizier, and the war was thenceforward +conducted with great energy by the Turks. Year after year volunteers +flocked to Candia to save the last Christian outpost in the Levant, +but it was all fruitless, and in 1669 the island, with the exception +of three ports, was surrendered to the Turks--their last important +conquest in Europe, and the final term of their advance. + +The seventeenth century saw the gradual displacement of galleys in +favour of sailing ships. The long voyages across the Atlantic and to +the East had given great impetus to the development of the sailing +vessel; its increasing use, and the entrance of England and Holland +into the Mediterranean, had shown the Powers of that sea its +superiority over the galley; finally, slaves were becoming more +difficult to obtain in sufficient quantities, while criminals had +never been a satisfactory source of supply. The Knights were slow in +changing the oar for the sail, and to the end kept a small squadron of +galleys as well as men-of-war. When Napoleon captured the island, in +1798, he found there two men-of-war, one frigate, and four galleys. + +The pride and the renown of the Order had always demanded a salute +from the warships of other nations, and even the mighty Louis XIV. +yielded this privilege to the little squadron. There is extant an +interesting correspondence between Charles II. and the Grand Master, +Nicholas Cottoner, on the subject of salutes. A squadron of the +British Fleet, under Admiral Sir John Narborough, had refused to +salute Valetta unless assured of a response from the guns of the +fortress--a mark of respect that the Order was unwilling to pay to the +British flag. The Grand Master had also ventured to doubt Narborough's +rank as Admiral, but the affair was amicably settled to the +satisfaction of all. + +Though the decline of the Order was obvious to Europe throughout the +eighteenth century, and the value of such a fortress as Malta to a +Mediterranean Power apparent to all, yet there is little definite +proof of any desire to wrest the island from the Knights. Of all the +nations round the Mediterranean, France alone could be said not to be +in a state of decay; Venice, Genoa, and Turkey were becoming more and +more feeble at sea, and there was little fear of an attack on Malta +from any of them; and though Spain paid great attention to her fleet +in the second part of the eighteenth century, there was little reason +to fear her aggression. Britain was acquiring greater and greater +interests in the Mediterranean, but most of her attentions were +directed to Spain and France. While the Knights kept their neutrality, +however decadent and feeble they might be, there was little fear of +their being disturbed. Europe still respected the relics of a glorious +past of six centuries of unceasing warfare against the Moslem; but the +moment that past with its survivals became itself anathema the Knights +and their organisation would collapse at once. The French Revolution +meant death to the Knights of the Order of St. John as well as to +other bodies of aristocrats. + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +THE FALL + +1789-1798. + +A wealthy Order of Knights drawn exclusively from the ranks of +the nobility was sure to attract the attention of the French +revolutionaries. Its international character was a cause of offence to +the strong French nationalism engendered during the Revolution, while +its traces of monastic organisation helped to identify the Knights +with the Church. + +When Necker, in the financial distress of the autumn of 1789, appealed +for a voluntary contribution from all landowners, the Order gave him a +third of the revenue of its French commanderies, and later it pledged +its credit for 500,000 francs to the destitute Louis XVI., to help him +in the flight that ended so disastrously at Varennes. This last act +put it in definite opposition to the Revolution. + +The Constituent Assembly declared the Order of St. John to be a +foreign Power possessing property in France, and, as such, liable to +all taxes to be levied on natives, and immediately afterwards a decree +was passed declaring that any Frenchman belonging to an Order of +Knighthood which demanded proofs of nobility from entrants could not +be considered a French citizen. This was followed by the main attack +on September 19, 1792, when all the property in France was declared +confiscate and annexed to the French national domains. There was +some mention of indemnification to the despoiled Knights, but as the +necessary condition to a pension was residence in France--a dangerous +course for a noble in 1793 and 1794--the scheme came to naught. The +decree of September, 1792, was the death-blow to the Order, and its +extinction was simply a matter of time. The course of the war and the +constant French successes made their position even more perilous. Half +the revenues had gone with the confiscation in France; but this was +not all, for Bonaparte's Italian campaigns meant the loss of the +Order's estates in Northern Italy, and the conquests of the French on +the Rhine diminished the German possessions. With decreasing resources +and dwindling numbers, the fortress of Malta could not long hold out +if attacked, and the position of the Order was becoming desperate. +De Rohan, the Grand Master, temporised and refused to declare war on +France, but he seems to have helped the Spanish and English fleets by +allowing them to recruit at Malta, a privilege hitherto granted very +sparingly by the Knights. But whatever the Grand Master's policy, no +words or pretences could disguise the fact that the French Republic +by its confiscation had assaulted the Order. It was only too probable +that France would seize the first opportunity of attacking the +Order in its own home and by this means increasing its power in the +Mediterranean. + +One gleam of light came to cheer the gloom at Malta. The third +dismemberment of Poland had brought the Polish Priory into the hands +of the Tsar Paul I. Among other eccentricities of that monarch was a +passionate admiration for chivalry, which he displayed by changing +the Polish into a Russian Priory, increasing its revenues to 300,000 +florins, and incorporating it in the Anglo-Bavarian langue; he also +assumed the title of "Protector of the Order of Malta." + +In 1797, at Ancona, Napoleon had intercepted a message from the Tsar +to the Grand Master containing this news. Plans for the capture of +Malta took shape in Bonaparte's mind, and he sent a cousin of the +French consul at Malta, Poussielgue by name, to spy out the condition +of the island, at the same time ordering Admiral Brueys, on his +journey from Corfu to Toulon, to examine the situation of Malta. When +the expedition to Egypt was decided upon, the capture of Malta formed +part of the instructions to Napoleon. + +Bonaparte, relying on the demoralisation of the island, intended the +capture to be a swift piece of work, and Poussielgue had helped him +by winning over some natives and French Knights to his side. The +Grand Master, Von Hompesch, seems to have been utterly unnerved by the +bewildering problems before him, and the cowardice and irresolution +he displayed were a disgrace to the traditions of the Order. Speed was +essential to the French army, as discovery by Nelson would be fatal +to Bonaparte's plans, but had Von Hompesch been an utter traitor +the capitulation could not have been more sudden and disgraceful and +beneficial to the enemy. + +On June 6 the vanguard of the French appeared off the island, and on +the 9th it was joined by the main fleet, the whole now numbering about +450 sail, of which 14 were ships of the line and 30 were frigates; +the Grand Master had about 300 Knights and 6,000 men, chiefly +Maltese, under arms. Had this garrison been resolute and united, +the fortifications of Valetta could have held the French for a +considerable time. But the natives were divided, many regarding +the French, despite their doubtful career of the last few years, as +liberators from a detestable tyranny. Two-thirds of the Knights +were French, and many of them had become infected with republican +principles, though the French langues also contained the fiercest +opponents to the invaders. + +Bonaparte sent for permission for his fleet to enter the harbour for +water and for his soldiers to land--a request which was tantamount to +a demand for surrender. Von Hompesch sent back a conciliatory letter, +saying that treaty obligations forbade the entrance of more than four +vessels at a time. Napoleon thereupon threw off the mask, and during +the night landed troops at seven different parts of the island. A +slight resistance was encountered from a few detached forts, but by +the evening of the 10th Valetta was closely invested. The mob was +encouraged by hired emissaries to attack as traitors the Knights, who +were really the most bitter enemies of the invaders. While Napoleon's +agents were busy throughout the town, Von Hompesch sat motionless in +his palace, and no subordinate commander would take the responsibility +of firing on the besiegers. Finally, a party of citizens interviewed +Von Hompesch and threatened to surrender the town if he refused to +capitulate. + +At this point a mutiny broke out in the garrison, and the Grand Master +and his Council, seeing the hopelessness of the situation, sent for an +armistice preliminary to surrender. The armistice was concluded on the +11th, and on the 12th Napoleon entered Valetta, full of amazement at +the might of the fortress he had so easily captured. On the 12th the +capitulation was drawn up, of which the main clauses were: + + 1. The Knights surrendered Malta and its + sovereignty to the French army. + + 2. The French Republic would try to secure + to the Grand Master an equivalent principality + and would meanwhile pay him an annual pension + of 300,000 livres. + + 3. The French would use their influence with + the different Powers assembled at Rastadt to + allow the Knights who were their subjects to + control the property of their respective langues. + + 4. French Knights were allowed to return to + France. + + 5. French Knights in Malta were to receive a + pension from the French Government of 700 + livres per annum; if over sixty years old, 1,000 + livres. + +Such was the end of the Order at Malta. Napoleon treated the Knights +and the Grand Master with extreme harshness. Most of them were +required to leave within three days, and some even within twenty-four +hours. + +On June 18, Von Hompesch, taking with him the three most venerable +relics of the Order--all that the conqueror allowed him from the +treasures at Valetta--left for Trieste, whence he withdrew to +Montpellier, dying there in obscurity in 1805. Most of the homeless +Knights proceeded to Russia, where, on October 27, 1798, Paul I. was +elected Grand Master, though Von Hompesch still held the post. + +But on the Tsar's death in 1801 the Order lost the one man who might +have been powerful enough to bring about a restoration, and the +survival of some scattered relics could not conceal the fact that +vanished for ever was the Order of the Hospital of St. John of +Jerusalem. + + + + +APPENDIX I + + +SOVEREIGNTY OF THE ORDER + +There can be no doubt whatever that, after 1530, the Order was no +longer independent and sovereign, and that L'Isle Adam, despite all +his efforts, had become a feudatory, though the service demanded was +very slight. The Act of Donation of Malta put them definitely into the +position of feudal vassals of Charles V. as King of the two Sicilies. +This is plain to everyone who examines the Charter itself (Vertot, +III., p. 494, or Codice Diplomatico, II., p. 194). The tenure on +which the Knights held the island from the King of the Sicilies may be +classed as a form of serjeanty--the annual payment of a falcon being +the only feudal service demanded. There were other conditions in the +Charter concerning the Bishop of Malta and the Grand Admiral of the +Order, but they were not strictly feudal. The chroniclers of the Order +were naturally reluctant to admit this, and as the feudal tie was very +weak, they glossed it over. But the Sovereign of the island, strictly +speaking, was the King of the two Sicilies, and the Knights were never +more than tenants. When the Order had been expelled by Napoleon we +can see this universally admitted. While the fate of the island was +in doubt--that is, before the preliminary peace between England and +France in 1801--both natives and English regarded the King of Naples +as lord of the island (Hardman, 111, 142. Foreign Office Records, +Sicily, 11). When the Maltese wanted to be put under the protection of +England, either temporarily or, later, permanently (Hardman, 185, +193, 204), they applied to the King of the Sicilies, as their lawful +Sovereign, to grant their request. Events soon made Malta a question +of great importance in the relations between France and England, +and the renewal of war, in 1803, left Great Britain in _de facto_ +possession of the island, until the treaty of May 30, 1814, gave +England full right and sovereignty over Malta. + + + + +APPENDIX II + + +CONNECTION BETWEEN KNIGHTS OF MALTA AND THE MODERN ORDER OF ST. JOHN + +During the Napoleonic wars the surviving Knights were too scattered +and too helpless to be able to improve their condition. But from 1815 +onwards we find various attempts of the Order to obtain from Europe +another _chef-lieu_, and representatives of the Knights at the +Congress of Vienna (1815) and at the Congress of Verona (1822) tried +in vain to persuade the Allies to grant them an island. The French +Knights were by far the largest and most powerful section of the +Order, and in 1814 they had established a capitular commission in +which they vested plenary powers to treat on their behalf. During the +various negotiations for a _chef-lieu_ the question of reviving the +English langue was started, and the French Commission entered into +communication with the Rev. Sir Robert Peat, Chaplain to King +George IV., and other distinguished Englishmen. The outcome was the +reconstitution of the English langue on January 24, 1831, with Sir +Robert Peat as Grand Prior. + +The English branch of the Order of St. John has devoted itself for the +last ninety years to the succour of the sick and wounded, setting +up cottage and convalescent hospitals, aiding the sick in other +hospitals, and establishing ambulance litters in dangerous industrial +centres, such as coal-mines and railway-stations, which at last +developed into the St. John Ambulance Association, which rendered such +magnificent service during the Great War. The German branch of the +Order was the first to start ambulance work in the field in the Seven +Weeks' War of 1866, work which was continued in the Franco-Prussian +War of 1870. Since that date the mitigation of the sufferings of war +has been a conspicuous part of the work of the Order of St. John, +and nowhere has the Order's magnificent spirit of international +comradeship been more fully displayed. + + + + +BOOKS CONSULTED + + +PRIMARY AUTHORITIES + +Statuta Ordinis Domus Hospitalis Hierusalem. Edited by Fr. Didacus +Rodriguez. Rome. 1556. + +Statuti della religione de Cavalieri Gierosolimitani. Florence. 1567. + +Statuta Hospitalis Hierusalem. Rome. 1588. + +Collection of Statutes in Volume IV. of Vertot's Histoire de +Chevaliers de Malte. Paris. 1726. + +[As there was no Chapter-General between 1631 and 1776, all the above +collections are practically complete, Vertot's containing little more +than the others.] + +Codice Diplomatico del sacro militare ordine Gierosolimitano oggi di +Malta. Fr. Sebastiano Pauli. Lucca. 1737. + +Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic. 1523-1547. + +Calendar of State Papers. (Foreign.) 1547-1585. + +Calendar of State Papers. (Venetian.) + +Calendar of State Papers. (Spanish.) + +Les Archives de S. Jean de Jerusalem a Malte. Delaville Le Roulx. +Paris. 1883. + +Report of Philip de Thame. Grand Prior of England. 1338. Camden +Society. Volume LXV. 1857. + +Armoury of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem at Malta. Edited by +G.F. Laking. London. 1903. + +Carta y verdadera relacion escrita por il eminentissimo Senor Gran +Maestre al Commendador Fr. Don Joseph Vidal. 1669. + +E Tanner. Notitia Monastica. Ed. James Nasmith. Cambridge. 1787. + +Malte. Par un Voyageur francais. Anonymous. 1791. + +Le Monete e Medaglie del S. Ordine Gierosolimitano. C. Taggiasco. +Camerino. 1883. + +Relation du Voyage et Description exacte de Malte. Paris. 1779. + +Malta illustrata. Giovanni Abela. Malta. 1772-1780. 2 Volumes. + +Liste de Chevaliers des Langues de Provence, Auvergne et France. +Malta. 1772. + + +SECONDARY AUTHORITIES + +GIACOMO BOSIO: Dell' Istoria della sacra religione et ill'ma Militia +di San Giovanni Gierosolimitano. Rome. 1594. 2 volumes. + +ABBE DE VERTOT: Histoire des Chevaliers de Malte. Paris. 1726. 4 +volumes. + +CHEVALIER DE BOISGELIN: Malta Ancient and Modern. English edition. 2 +volumes. 1804. + +PRESCOTT: Life of Philip II. Volume II. + +MAJOR-GENERAL PORTER: History of the Knights of Malta. Revised +edition. 1 volume. London. 1883. + +DE GOUSSANCOURT: Le Martyrologe des Chevaliers de S. Jean de +Hierusalem. Paris. 1643. + +ANONYMOUS: Memoire de' Gran Maestri del sacro militare ordine +Gierosolimitano. Parma. 1780. + +L. HERITTE: Essai sur l'Ordre des Hospitaliers de S. Jean de +Jerusalem. Paris. 1912. + +HARDMAN: History of Malta, 1798-1815. Edited by J. Holland Rose. +London. 1909. + +REV. W.K.R. BEDFORD: Malta and the Knights Hospitallers. London. 1894. + +REV. W.K.R. BEDFORD: The Hospital at Malta. Edinburgh. 1882. + +J. TAAFE: History of the Order of S. John. 4 volumes. London. 1852. + +A.T. DRANE: History of the Order of St. John. London. 1881. + +MIEGE: Histoire de Malte. 3 volumes. Paris. 1846. + +M.M. BALLOU: Story of Malta. Boston and New York. 1893. + +REV. W.K.R. BEDFORD AND R. HOLBECHE: Order of the Hospital of St. John +of Jerusalem. London. 1902. + +ADMIRAL JURIEN DE LA GRAVIERE: (1) Les Chevaliers de Malte et la +Marine de Philippe II. Paris. 1887. (2) Les Corsaires barbaresques et +la Marine de Solyman le Grand. Paris. 1884. (3) Les Marins du XV'e +et XVI'e siecles. Paris. 1879. (4) Les derniers Jours de la Marine a +Rames. Paris. 1885. + +COMMANDER E.H. CURREY: Sea Wolves of the Mediterranean. London. 1913. + +SIR JULIAN CORBETT: England in the Mediterranean, 1603-1713. 2 +volumes. London. 1904. + +S. LANE-POOLE: Barbary Corsairs. (Stories of the Nations.) 1886. + +E. DRIAULT: La Question d'Orient. Paris. 1898. + +J.A.R. MARRIOT: The Eastern Question. Oxford. 1917. + +G. VIULLIER: Le Tour du Monde. Malte et les Maltais. + +P.J.O. DOUBLET: L'lnvasion et I'Occupation de Malte. Paris. 1883. + +C.T.E. DE TOULGOET: Les Responsabilites de la Capitulation de Malte en +1798. (Revue des Questions Historiques. 1900.) + +DE LA JONQUIERE: L'Expedition d'Egypte. Paris. 1901. + + + + +NOTE ON THE AUTHORITIES + + +For the Statutes of the Order we possess the Italian edition of 1567, +two Latin editions of 1556 and 1588, and the collection at the end of +Vertot's fourth volume, which is later and more complete. The Codice +Diplomatico of Fr. Pauli is the only collection of Charters to my +knowledge which covers practically the whole history of the Order: the +magnificent Cartulaire of Delaville Le Roulx only covers the Syrian +period in the Knights' history. Many valuable hints can be found in +the Calendars of State Papers issued by the Record Office, but they +fail us at the beginning of the seventeenth century. + +Of the various historians above mentioned, Bosio, for the period he +covers, is by far the best and completest. Vertot only goes down to +1565: after the siege he treats the subject in a bare annalistic form. +Boisgelin, who was a Knight himself and wrote his history after his +expulsion from Malta, is valuable for his elaborate excursus on the +financial system of the Order. All three--who are our completest +authorities--wrote from the point of view of the Order, and +consequently are very unreliable in some matters. The treatment that +the Maltese received from the Order is very inadequately dealt with, +and none of them can seriously estimate the Mediterranean background +to the history of the Knights, and especially their relations with the +Barbary pirates. General Porter, whose history is the only English +one at all worthy of mention, possesses the same faults. Though his +knowledge of the island is thorough, his ignorance of European history +makes him neglect the importance of the external activities of the +Knights, and he follows the Order's chroniclers too slavishly to claim +authority as an independent investigator. Miege, who was a French +Consul at Malta, is interesting as a bitter opponent of the Order and +all its work; and he practically confines himself to the treatment of +the Maltese at the hands of the Knights. + +The best authority on sixteenth-century sea power in the Mediterranean +is Admiral Jurien de la Graviere, while Commander Currey's book is +very sound and interesting. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Knights of Malta, 1523-1798, by R. 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