Malta Study
Center
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2000 Fall Exhibit
Treasures from
Malta
The island nation of Malta, located at the
crossroads of the Mediterranean, was ruled by the Knights of Malta between 1530
and 1798. Malta had a long history before the Knights came. Prehistoric temples
older than Stonehenge survive on the island. St. Paul was shipwrecked on the
island while on his way to face trial in Rome. The Muslims and the Normans ruled
the island and influenced the language and culture of the people. When the
Knights arrived on the island, they patronized the arts and built the city of
Valletta, leaving a rich legacy still visible today.
The Knights of Malta have their own
unique history. The Knights began as the military religious Order of
the Hospital in Jerusalem at the time of the First Crusade in 1099.
They operated a hospital for pilgrims and protected the Crusader
Kingdoms. After the last crusader outpost in Acre fell in 1291, the
Order of the Hospital acquired the island of Rhodes. They ruled the
island as a sovereign nation, and avoided the fate of the Templars,
who were suppressed once the era of the crusades was over. The Order
of the Hospital, now known as the Knights of Rhodes, continued their
mission of healing the sick and fighting for the Christian faith.
When the Ottoman Turks captured Rhodes in 1522, Charles V gave the
Order the island of Malta in return for a yearly rent of one Maltese
falcon. The Order, now known as the Knights of Malta, continued to
fight the Turks and survived a major siege in 1565. Finally, it was
Napoleon Bonaparte and the social changes brought by the French
Revolution that ended the Order's rule in Malta. The Order still
exists today as a charitable organization that supports hospitaller
work around the world.
The treasures in this exhibit
illustrate the history of the Knights and the culture of the island
of Malta. They are but a portion of the holdings of the Malta Study
Center, which also contains the microfilmed archives of the Knights
of Malta and the Cathedral Museum of Mdina (Malta).
(Click on thumbnail for enlarged
image)
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Guillemus Caoursin.
Descriptio obsidone Rhodiae. Venice, Erhard Ratdolt,
1480.
This incunabulum (a book
printed before 1500) describes the Ottoman Turks'
unsuccessful siege of the Knight's city of Rhodes in
1480. The author, Guillemus Caoursin,
was the vicechancellor of the Order and an eyewitness to the siege.
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John Guillim. A Display
of Heraldrie: Manifesting a more easie accesse to the
knowledge thereof than hath beene hitherto published by any,
through the benefit of method. London,
1638.
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Burchardo Niderstedt. Malta
vetus et nova. Helmstedt, 1660.
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L'Abbe de Vertot. The
History of the Knights of Malta. London,
1728.
The Abbé de Vertot was a prominent historian of the
order in the eighteenth century. His history of the Order was originally
written in French. This is the English translation.
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Naval Exploits of the
Knights of Malta, 1647-1736.
An album of eleven original
watercolors showing the naval actions of the Order's fleet
against the Turks.
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P.F. Ruperto a S. Gaspare. Divus Paulus Apostolus e
Melita Illyricana in Africanam quondam nunc vero S. Joannis
Hierosolymitani Equitum Feliciter redux sive anticriticarum
inspectionum Reverendissimi D. Abbatis Ignatii Georgii
Ordinis S. P Benedicti Amica Inspectio, pars prima.
Venice, 1739.
The Acts of the Apostles describe the shipwreck of
St. Paul on the island of Malta. According to tradition, he
converted the island to Christianity while he was there.
In the eighteenth century, there
was debate over whether Paul had been shipwrecked on the island of
Malta, the island of Melite (near Greece) or somewhere on the coast of
Africa.
Gaspere, a member of the
Order of St. John and the author of this book, argued that Paul had
been shipwrecked on the island of Malta.
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Louis de Boisgelin, Ancient and Modern Malta:
Containing a Full and Accurate Account of the Present State
of the Islands of Malta and Goza, the History of the Knights
of St. John of Jerusalem, also a Narrative of the Events
which Attended the Capture of these Islands by the French,
and their conquest by English. Two Volumes, London
1805.
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D-D. Parjasse. L'Italie, la Sicile, les Iles
Eoliennes, I'Ile d 'Elbe, la Sardaigne, Malte, I'Ile de
Calypso, etc. Paris, 1835.
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Collezione di monumenti e lapidi sepolcrali dei
Militi Gerosolimitani nella Chiesa di San Giovanni in Malta.
Malta, 1838.
The floor of the Conventual Church
in Valletta (St. John's Co-Cathedral) consists of inlaid marble slabs
marking the burial sites of knights under the floor of the
church. The volume contains engravings of each marble slab.
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This page created 15
March 2001
Author Theresa M. Vann / Scribe Justin Carroll
All images remain the property of the
Malta Study
Center, Hill
Museum & Manuscript Library, and may not be reproduced without
permission.
Hill
Museum & Manuscript Library
Saint John's University, Collegeville, MN 56321, USA
Phone: 320-363-3514/ Fax: 320-363-3222/ E-mail: Malta
Study Center
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