The Order of the Hospital's experiences during the magistracy of Juan D'Homedes (1536-1553)

Abstract

The purpose of the present dissertation is to study the Hospitaller Order of St John's sad experiences during the seventeen-year magistracy of the much maligned Juan D'Homedes from 1536 to 1553. For the Hospital, as the military-religious institution was generally known, these were still unsettled years. The Hospitallers had reached Malta six years earlier, after a long spell of indecision, roaming about, cap in hand, homelessly, with no real sense of direction. The impact of the loss of Rhodes had been ruthless and relentless; it would keep haunting them through the rest of the sixteenth century. A fairly similar trauma, though not perhaps on as wide a scale, was experienced in 1551, with the devastating raid on Malta and Gozo, followed by the siege and loss of Hospitaller Tripoli. It was a foretaste of what was yet to come, fourteen years later. The dissertation consists of three chapters. Chapter 1 aims at recreating the Mediterranean framework within which the Hospital's activities were performed. It is precisely this wider context that makes the Knights' political role and their naval and military activities, whether in alliance with Spain and the Papacy or on their own, historically intelligible. Chapter 2 discusses Juan D'Homedes's portrait. Chapter 3 take the crucial year 1551 as its subject. It traces the events of that year as they influenced Malta and Gozo. It also deals with the Muslim siege of Hospitaller Tripoli and its significance as a necessary evil.