| CODE | HST2033 | ||||||||
| TITLE | The Eight-Pointed Cross of the Mediterranean | ||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 02 - Years 2, 3 in Modular Undergraduate Course | ||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 5 | ||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 2 | ||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | History | ||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | The study-unit on the Order of St John and the Mediterranean offers a documentary history of the religious-military order of the Hospital from its origins in Jerusalem in the early 1070s, to 1798 when it was evicted from the Island of Malta. The first main focus will be on key documents which provide insights into the major characteristics of the Hospitaller institution, what its original raison d’être was, its function in the Holy Land, how it assumed a military role along with its religious one, why it and the other Orders lost Jerusalem and Acre, and how it settled on Rhodes and later Malta. The second major focus will be a documentary account of the role it played in Europe and the Mediterranean in early modern times. During these long years it participated in all the pivotal naval expeditions in the Mediterranean against Islam - either in alliance with powers like Spain, Venice, and the papacy, or on its own initiative in seasonal statutory cruises or indeed through individual Hospitallers in daring privateering enterprises in every corner of the Middle Sea. How were all these activities financed? The class will be introduced to another important theme — the Order’s vast landed property and how it was organised and administered. , A series of class discussions will be held on key documents that show why and how the Order after 1530 thrust Malta into the forefront of Mediterranean history and turned the island into a formidable fortress, a naval centre of considerable strategic significance, an important base of operations for corsairs, an international slave and ransom market, and a hospital of wide renown. Study-unit Aims: • To combine the study of Maltese history with that of the Mediterranean, which constitutes the main external context within which this history unfolds; • To offer a documentary approach to, and evaluation of, knowledge which in part may have been previously acquired through secondary literature; • To provide a basis for further study-units on the Order and the Mediterranean at a higher level. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: • Understand the value of archival documentation in history; • Take a more three-dimensional view of Hospitaller history within its Mediterranean context; • View certain aspects of history, originally learned as European history, from a Mediterranean vantage point; • Acquire alternative perspectives on certain features of Maltese history; • Apply the knowledge acquired to a fuller understanding of contemporary issues concerning Malta and the Mediterranean. 2. Skills By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: • Approach the study of history with a more critical outlook than s/he has been accustomed to at pre-university level; • Connect and combine knowledge acquired from different lecturers in a synoptic manner; • Detect broad historical trends. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: • Students will be guided on the use of the literature at the beginning of the lecture series. Copies of original documents will be provided. Recommended Reading • J. Riley-Smith, The Knights Hospitaller in the Levant, c. 1070-1309 . (London 2012). • Several papers in Ashgate Variorum edition by A.T. Luttrell: to be identified during the first lecture. • Hospitaller Malta 1530-1798: Studies on Early Modern Malta and the Order of St John of Jerusalem, ed. V. Mallia-Milanes (Malta 1993). • F. Braudel, The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II (London 1972-73). |
||||||||
| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture | ||||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
|
||||||||
| LECTURER/S | Victor Mallia Milanes |
||||||||
|
The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2025/6. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
|||||||||