The Maltese Cross and the Maltese Falcon. The Knights of Malta and the Great Siege of Malta. Those were among the brief, scattered impressions I had of the country before I headed there over this past weekend. I didn’t know much, but I did know that Malta had a fascinating past that I wanted to learn more about. Plus, the prospect of a couple of days under brilliant skies, away from gloomy British weather, appealed to me tremendously.
A small country situated just south of Sicily in the middle of the Mediterranean, Malta comes replete with history, and is one of those proverbial places that sits at the crossroads of empires. It was settled by the ancient Phoenicians, conquered in turn by the Romans, the Arabs and the Normans, overrun later by the French and then colonized by the British. This island nation – there are actually three main, inhabited islands – finally attained independence in 1964, became a republic in 1974, and has been a full member of the European Union since 2004.
The Maltese are an interesting people. Latin in background, Catholic in belief, they speak their own language, Malti, which, in its written form, appears to me like some impenetrable Southern Slav tongue, but it’s in fact most related to Arabic. Nonetheless, virtually everyone speaks English – the visible legacy of British rule, along with red phone boxes and blue police lamps.
But I had gone to Malta principally in search of something from further back in time. I had gone in search of the fabled
Knights Hospitallers, whose footprints are all over Malta. They were also known variously as the Knights of Malta, the Knights of St John, or, to give them a more elaborate title, the Sovereign Military and Hospitaller Order of St John of Jerusalem.
So who were they? It’s an amazing story, really. Formed during the time of the Crusades in the 11th to 12th Centuries, the Knights Hospitallers comprised noblemen from across Europe who were pledged with helping sick or infirm pilgrims on their long journey to the Holy Land. In popular culture, some be more familiar with other orders, such as the Knights Templar – courtesy of Dan Brown and the
Da Vinci Code – or even with the Teutonic Knights, who became famous for their exploits in Europe against the Poles and the Russians in later years. But the Hospitallers offer a gripping thousand year long tale of charity, conquest and creation.
The Knights of St John started by operating hospitals and caring for the sick. From this core mission, they soon began providing protection and escort duties, and in time, they developed a strong military wing. While they retained the charity element to their cause, the Knights Hospitallers emerged as a formidable armed force, fighting against foes such as the Bedouins and the Saracens - dedicated, as they saw it, to defending Christendom.
I first became interested in the history of the Knights during a trip I made with a friend to Syria last year. North of Damascus, we found the awe-inspiring
Krak des Chevaliers – a full scale Crusader castle which once served as the headquarters of the Hospitallers. Sited on top of an imposing bluff, the castle afforded the defenders a sweeping view of the entire region. I remember walking along the castle fortifications, imagining the action which would have taken place there eight or hundred years ago. What was also interesting for me, moreover, was that in the Krak, one saw a piece of medieval Europe essentially transplanted into the Middle East, with much of the structure designed in a gothic manner.
So what has all this to do with Malta? Well, around the year 1291, the Knights finally lost possession of Acre, their last remaining territory in the Holy Land, and consequently sought refuge in Cyprus. Thus began a long journey over many years that would take them steadily westward across the Mediterranean. After a short sojourn in Cyprus from 1292 to 1306, they sailed to Rhodes and settled there for the next two hundred years.
With its lush terrain, fertile plains and mild climate, Rhodes proved to be a luscious Garden of Eden for the Hospitallers. But in the early 16th Century, after frequent skirmishes with the Ottoman Turks, the Knights were forced to abandon Rhodes, their home for two hundred years, and they remained without a permanent physical base for the next seven years, wandering around Europe. By now, they had also acquired a remarkable naval flotilla.
In 1530, however, the Holy Roman Emperor, King Charles V of Spain offered the Knights the territory of Malta as a fiefdom, under the lordship of the Viceroy of Sicily, with an annual fee of a single Maltese falcon, to be presented to the Viceroy. And so, for the next two hundred plus years, the history of the Knights Hospitallers became synonymous with that of Malta. The eight-pointed Cross that the Knights adopted as an emblem also became known in time as the Cross of Malta.
Their early years on the barren island were difficult. Life in Malta was much tougher than Rhodes, and the threat from the Turks did not cease. Indeed, the Knights endured through a great siege from Ottoman forces in May 1565, who were then ruled by the legendary Suleiman the Magnificent. But under the astute leadership of Grand Master Jean de la Valette, the Knights pulled through, and in 1566, they began laying the first stones of what they hoped to be a new, fortified capital –
Valetta.
Devoted ostensibly to the service of God, the Knights Hospitallers nonetheless built themselves an impressive temporal edifice in Valetta, which they maintained and expanded over the coming decades of comparative peace. The powers of the Ottomans declined, and the Knights never saw major action again against non-Christian forces.
As capital cities go, Valetta is tiny. Eminently accessible on foot, it measures about only 1 km long by 600 m wide, but what a host of architectural and historical treasures can be found within the city limits. Narrow streets, with saintly statues on most corners, fading paintwork on balconies and walls, and churches galore. The highlight must surely be
St John’s Co-Cathedral, which functioned for many years as the Knight’s conventual church, and whose austere and plain external facade obscured the exquisite treasures within. I stepped in early on Saturday morning, and was instantly bowled over by the sheer richness and opulence of it all. The Hospitallers, indeed, were very well endowed. This was definitely high-Baroque, and on display was even a genuine Caravaggio,
The Beheading of St John the Baptist.
Near to the Co-Cathedral was the
Grand Master’s Palace and Armory. It was built in 1571 and has served as the seat of political power since then. The few State Rooms which I visited provided a visual feast for the eyes – portraits of past Grand Masters, priceless furniture and furnishings, and dramatic frescos. Two opposing rooms on the ground floor contained a trove of medieval armour and weapons, including impressive cannon pieces.
Beneath the Grand Master, the Knights of the Order were grouped according to different
langues, or national groupings – Auvergne, France, Provence, Aragon, Castille, England, Germany and Italy. This was a truly pan-European order. Each langue maintained its own
auberge, or hostel, and many of the fine old structures remain in Valetta, a few of which have since been converted into government ministries.
While in Valetta, I was also able to tour the Sacra Infirmeria, or Holy Infirmary. This was a huge hospital operated by the Knights, and on display there was an exhibition on the history of the Knights, including many of the medical advances their pioneered. Another exhibition,
The Great Siege of Malta and the Knights of St John, located near the Library, also provided a gripping retelling of how the Knights came to settle in Malta.
But who drove them out? After two hundred years of comparative peace in Malta, it appeared that the Knights had grown soft, even decadent, excelling more in business and diplomacy than in warfare. When Napoleon Bonaparte delivered an ultimatum to the Knights, demanding their surrender, they meekly acquiesced. Perhaps they had lost much of their fighting spirit. The Order left, and the British turned Malta into a Crown possession in 1800.
But of course the
Order never ceased to exist. They are based in Rome today, and while they no longer retain a military role, the charitable and caring duties that they began with still continue. The romance of the Knight’s tale lay, I guess, in how distant it all seems. To modern sensibilities, the idea that a private grouping could exercise political control over a territory appears quaint. But we were then in an era before the rise of the nation state, and the concept of feudal lordship was more common.
While in Malta, I took the opportunity as well to familiarize myself with other aspects of the country’s history. Malta withstood intense bombardment during the Second World War, mainly from Italian forces, during what some had term the Second Siege of Malta. The War Museum located at the tip of Valetta, next to Fort St Elmo is worth visiting, as is Fort Lascaris, site of the wartime control room used by British and Maltese forces.
I headed back in time as well by touring Mdina, the ancient capital of Malta which pre-dated the arrival of the Knights of St John, located in the middle of the island, and also checked out Mosta, site of the Mosta Dome – a gigantic domed church surpassed in size, it’s said, only by St Paul’s in London and St Peter’s in Rome.
I returned to London late on Sunday evening, tired but enriched, overwhelmed by history, and happily clutching a foot-high figure of a dashing Knight of the Order of St John clad in full armour – a silly little tourist souvenir from a most sublime and intense ancient island.
Travel notes: I flew to Malta with Ryanair from London Luton airport, and got myself good deal at the Victoria Hotel in Sliema, a short ten minute bus ride away from Valetta. Good cheap eats can be found at the Café Barrakka, located at Castille Place, near to the Upper Barrakka gardens and the Auberge de Castille, which serves as the office for the Maltese Prime Minister.
