The Order of St John, Hospitaller Malta, and the major wars of eighteenth-century Europe

Abstract

Ever since Pope Paschal II issued the document that officially recognised the Order of St John in 1113 as an exempt Order of the Church, the Hospitallers grew both in numbers and fame at an exponential rate. Monarchs all over Europe, seeing the value of this Order, started donating money, lands, and even arms to help them in their mission to defend the Catholic Faith from the ever-increasing threat of the Muslims. As time progressed, the Hospitallers faced many challenges and devastating episodes, including the loss of Acre in 1291 and the Order's expulsion from Rhodes by the Ottomans in 1523. Despite this, however, it kept on going, all the while maintaining its mission, which was, first, to care for the sick and the poor and, second, to defend the Faith. The only way it could do this, however, was through the close relationships that it sustained with the papacy and the rest of the Christian monarchies in Europe, its patrons. It was this accomplishment that enabled the Order to set up a permanent residence on Malta in 1530. Malta is a small country and, being so prone to Muslim attacks owing to its strategic position in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, it required the help of foreign rulers. Therefore, when the Hospitallers decided to make it their headquarters, this became one of their priorities. The archives at the National Library of Malta in Valletta indicate that the Order of St John never stopped communicating with foreign rulers. Massive volumes of correspondence have survived of original letters received by grand masters from all corners of Europe and drafts of letters dispatched to practically every state, kingdom, principality, or republic in Europe. They deal with all issues that one can imagine. Maintaining relationships and secure agreements is not always a straightforward task. This is primarily owing to wars and other crises. The eighteenth century, whilst it was great for Europe in terms of the Enlightenment, progress and technological advances, witnessed a number of conflicts that could have easily threatened the continent’s, as well as the Order’s, stability. Most of the Order’s patrons and benefactors were involved in these conflicts and, on a number of occasions, ended up on opposing sides, which could have led to devastating outcomes. The present dissertation will try to analyse how these eighteenth-century conflicts — namely the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714), and the Seven Years' War (1754-1763), together with other outbreaks of armed conflict such as the War of the Quadruple Alliance (1718–1720) and the War of the Austrian Succession (1740– 1748) — influenced the Order and Hospitaller Malta and the extent their relations with the rest of Europe were strained as a result. Furthermore, the dissertation will discuss if the Order ended up taking sides in the conflicts and whether its close ties with the Catholic Church and its mission to defend the Faith in any way suffered.