The French connection in the defence of Hospitaller Malta (1722-1789)

Abstract

This dissertation examines the extent and the nature of France’s role as a protector of Hospitaller Malta during the reigns of Louis XV and Louis XVI, particularly during periods of acute Ottoman threats to the island. France’s assistance to Malta was multifaceted, involving the provision of arms, munitions, and military experts, as well as diplomatic efforts to mitigate Ottoman aggression. The scope of this dissertation was to study three significant Ottoman threats (1722-23, 1731-33 and 1761) to illustrate how Hospitaller Malta and France responded to these crises, and to understand whether as, Jacques Godechot claimed, Malta was a dependency of France. In order to provide a complete picture of the extent of France’s protective stance, the dissertation has investigated the resourcing of Malta’s military even when the Ottoman threat abated, during which time France continued to replenish the islands’ armouries and gunpowder stores, including when France’s own military stocks were stretched to the limit because of its involvement in continental wars. While France was generally responsive to the Order of St John’s military needs, the procurement and delivery of weapons from France was an arduous and complex process, which was only rendered possible by the Order’s extensive web of Hospitallers spread throughout France, including grand priors, receivers, agents, and commissioned knights. Central to this extensive network was the ambassador of the Order in Paris, who negotiated with French government officials for the purchase of arms and gunpowder, oftentimes navigating through bureaucratic obstacles and the logistics for the transportation of armaments from across France to Marseille, and thence to Malta. As this dissertation shows, the ambassador was the lynchpin between the knights in France, the court of Versailles, and the Convent in Malta. Divided into seven chapters, this study probes into Hospitaller procedures, those established and those adaptive, for the summoning of knights from the periphery, for reaching out to Europe for assistance, and for the procurement of arms and experts. In chapters 2, 3, 4, and 5, the three Ottoman threats are explored in depth to tease out the dual nature of French assistance in the form of experts and weapons, alongside the diplomatic measures emanating from Versailles that often-placed French-Ottoman relations at risk. Chapter 6 deals with the logistics of procurement, transportation and shipping to Malta in times of stability, and the Order’s adaptation to the centralised system of weapons procurement of ancien régime France. Chapter 7, on the other hand, focuses on those situations when negotiations in matters pertaining to the Order’s needs were not seamless, especially when the request for manpower intended for the service of the Order had an impact on the navy and the army of France. Conclusions are then drawn on the extent of French protection on Malta, and how both countries benefitted from their mutual support.