The Order of St. John and social life on Malta and Gozo as seen through petitions to Grand Masters (1775-1798)

Abstract

It was while reading 'The Birgu Phase of Hospitaller History' written by Victor Mallia-Milanes, that I was first inspired to conduct research into the social life of the inhabitants of the Maltese islands by delving further into the petitions submitted to the Grand Masters. On deciding to focus on the eighteenth century, I did not wish to limit my research to a particular area of the island nor to a particular aspect of social life, but rather I wanted to endeavour to throw light on as many aspects as possible which affected the social life of the inhabitants in both islands. I therefore began my research into the last twenty-three years of the Order's rule in Malta - that is during the magistracies of Grand Masters Emanuel de Rohan and Ferdinand von Hompesch - with the original intention of continuing to work backwards to include the magistracies of both Francisco Ximenes de Texada and Emanuel Pinto de Fonseca. I soon realised however that petitions hold a mine of information and, with the limitation on the number of words as set by the course requirements for the writing of the dissertation, the last two magistracies proved more than ample for this study. The dissertation firstly analyses the formulation of the petitions themselves and the petitioning process, followed by four chapters, each pertaining to different social aspects - earning a living; the standard of living; social and medical services; marriage and family - all which featured strongly in the petitions, as did the dependence of the inhabitants on the Grand Master. The petitions submitted to the Grand Master were the primary sources used to form the basis of this study. Numerous secondary sources were also utilized to provide further insights into the particular aspects dealt with in this dissertation. During my research seven of the eighteen 'Suppliche' volumes preserved in the Archives of the Order together with one of the four held in the Archives of Gozo were consulted, being these which covered the last two magistracies.