|
|
|
CONNECT NOW TO |
my-malta-dotcom
Links: The Order's origins Before Malta Arrival at Malta Rights witheld Fortifications Grand MastersIt would be immensely appreciated if you can quote our website when making reference to any material provided herein, so as to promote this site with your friends and contacts. Thank you for visiting us regularly.
Our main doorway is: http://www.my-malta.com
Our history doorway is: http://www.my-malta.com/history/main_BC.html
or, alternatively: http://www.my-malta.com/history/main_AD1.html
To return to the previous page or other history links, go to the bottom of this page and click-through
For step-by-step instructions, please view our help page.
It is recommended that this page be viewed in the proper font, which can be added by
clicking this link or
this.
To install the font/s, it should be necessary to 'unzip' the file using Winzip © and then to save the font to your 'Fonts' folder under 'Windows' directory. (C:\Windows\Fonts\ ).
The origins of the Order go back to the eleventh century, circa 1083 AD, when a group of merchants from the southern Italian town of Amalfi, distressed by the inhuman treatment received by Christian pilgrims travelling to the Holy Lands, joined the Benedictine monks and financed the founding of their first hospital there.
Other hospitals were eventually set up in many of the maritime provinces of Europe so that such pilgrims could be sheltered and tended while awaiting transport to the Holy Sepulchre.
The fraternity, under the leadership of Frà Gerard, later parted ways with
their Benedictine brothers and requested the Holy See to protect and recognise them as a religious
order under the patronage of S. John the Baptist.
Pope Paul ll acceded to this request on February 15th, 1113, giving the Order rights to own certain property as well as to build churches and hospitals anywhere.
The group, under their second leader, Frà Raymond du Puy, became
a Militant Order somewhat similar to other knights engaged in the Holy Crusades, but with the main difference being
that the Order of Saint John was also a "Religious Order".
The Order's black robe with an eight pointed cross, symbolising the eight beatitudes, or the virtues mentioned in Jesus' Sermon of the Mount, was handed to it by Pope Alexander lV in 1259. Grand Master Vasconcellos is seen here in the Order's customary black habit with its 8-pointed cross.
When the knights lost their first seat in Jerusalem to the Ottoman forces in the year 1187, they moved to Acre (Palestine) and then to Limassol (Cyprus). By 1310, they had conquered Rhodes, spending there around 200 years until 1523, when on new year's day the Order surrendered its stronghold yet again to its Muslim enemy, led by Suleiman ll.
Thereafter, the Order of S.John roamed the Mediterranean for some 7 years until March 24th 1530, when the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, conceded them soverignity over "...the Maltese Islands and the city of Tripoli with all the castles and fortresses thereon."
The arrival of the Order at Malta must have been met with
mixed reactions since the Maltese people, who had always been subjected
to one kingdom or another throughout history, had previously been granted a bill of
rights by their rightful Sovereign
King Alphonso of Spain, but now these were on the verge of being discarded.
The islanders' rights: Despite the terms of Alphonso's
Magna Charta Liberatis,
redeeming the islands from the tyranny of previous feudal lords, once again, the powers of the
People's Council, or
Consiglio Popolare, were being transferred to yet another foreign, supreme ruler.
Grand Master Philippe Villiers
de L'Isle Adam was received by Malta's Nobility and Council Members at
Mdina, which at the time was
Malta's capital - a fortified city dating back to the times of the Romans and walled by the
Arab rulers in the preceding centuries.
The coming of the Order to the Maltese archipelago, however,
also meant that these once barren islands would be transformed into a formidable 'Island-Fortress'.
This southernmost outpost of Christianity would henceforth be given significance on the map of Europe.
Immediately after its arrival, the Order set out to fortify the area
around Malta's Grand Harbour, thus replacing any existing walls built by their predecessors,
the Arabs, with higher bastions.
At the entrance they constructed Fort Saint Elmo. This fortress
was later to be incorporated into the defence lines of the Order's new city, 'La Valetta,' but
first it had to endure the might of the Ottoman Turks during their siege of the islands in 1565.
Saint Elmo fell, but is said to have heroically diminished the enemy's strength as it battled the
invaders.
The main castle, where the Grand Master was located, was the indomitable
Fort Saint Angelo. In later years, its fortified suburb where the Order had its seat,
nowadays known as 'il-Birgu', from the term 'Borgo' or Township, was walled-in to
create a complex of Three Cities.
The area became known as the 'Cottonera' after the Grand Master
who was responsible for the building the adjoining defence lines in the area.
Fort Saint Michael, harbouring the town of Senglea, the city named after Grand Master
La Sengle, was the bastion on the other side of Galley Creek, where
the Order's fleet was berthed.
During the 1565 siege, this creek (as well as other strategic areas,
including the very entracnce to the Grand Harbour ) had chains laid across from one fortress
to another as a barrier for enemy seacraft.
After the advent of the Great Siege, or the
Ottoman invasion of the Maltese Islands, during the rule of Grand Master
La Valette, who is probably the best known of the Order's sovereigns at Malta, the city of
'Valletta' was constructed.
La Valletta, was to be the third in line as Malta's capital.
On the aftermath of the siege - as if to celebrate the islands' resilience against the most formidable
enemy of the period - on the peninsula known as Sceberras (pron: sh'eh-ber-ras) heights,
flanked by the two harbours, the Order set out to build a metropolis intended to compete with the
aesthetics of the grand cities of latter-day Europe.
This is how (centuries later) a young British statesman-to-be,
Benjamin Disraeli described the city when he visited around August of 1830. So impressed was
he by -- to quote his words -- its palaces and "noble architecture … comparable to Venice and
Cadiz " that he wrote passionately about it to his family and friends.
The Knights under Grand Master de Redin
eventually surrounded the coast with 13 watchtowers to warn and guard against mass invasion
and on-going pirate attacks. Maltese soldiers, known as '
id-Dejma', including mounted guard, kept watch around the islands in companies
organised by the councils of certain towns and villages. These were the same men who fought and
died during the 1565 siege, but whose names remain unknown to us and whose graves remain largely
unmarked!
The Order wanted to ensure that Malta was a comfortable and safe place for
its members to live in. Its Grand Masters commissioned the building of palaces and other fine
buildings, churches, hospitals where all (including the highest ranking of its members) served,
stores of munitions and grain, and fortifications which stood the test of battles and of time
itself.
_1_16082001_s_o.jpg)
They patronised a fine culture of art, music and theatre. At Malta, Mattia Preti, the 'Calabrese' and Michelangelo Merisi the 'Caravaggio' found refuge, leaving us some of their finest works ever.
For recreation, they planted beautiful and exotic gardens, amongst which was San Anton, left to the Order after the death of Grand Master de Paule, as well as a woodland (known as Boschetto) which served as hunting grounds for the nobles.
But not all was magical under the Order's rule, and the common folk faced some frighfully unpleasant conditions which, over the years, made the Order more and more unpopular, pushing the people to the extent of rebellion on more than one occasion.Valletta
"A City by Gentlemen
for Gentlemen."The Inquisition;
known as The Holy OfficeGrand Masters
list and explanations.
Return to Feudal Malta
Please circulate this page amongst your friends and contacts, urging them to support Maltese culture.
Nitolbuk tibghat din il-pagna lil hbiebek kollha, biex inhegguhom jibizghu ghall-kultura Maltija kollha.