Culture in Malta in the eighteenth century

Abstract

The popular view of the history of Malta in the eighteenth century is based on a number of imprecise generalizations and assumptions. The general picture given in most history books is one of economic ruin, of a stagnant culture and Baroque art, and of hostility between the Maltese and the Knights who abused their religious vows and lost interest in defending the Island. Blouet's chapter on the period is typically entitled "The Order in Decline and Defeat’. The historian is frequently tempted to pass judgement on the past for he is in a position to know what happened later. The eighteenth century was to close with the French invasion, the end of the Order's rule, and the British take-over. It is easy to magnify the remote causes for this momentous political upheaval and to project a general deterioration onto the conditions of the Island in the eighteenth century. Some interesting research has already been carried out on various aspects of the period. However, this has been too departmentalized. For instance, Vella gives several details on the administration of the University, Hughes writes skilfully on the technicalities of the architecture and Cassar Pullicino published several works on the folklore of the time. However, these authors only rarely present their subjects in relation to the general history of the time. There have been several valuable contributions made to the study of eighteenth-century literature, but these have been done by linguists rather than by historians and so their approach is different. While the literary criticisms are very well done, the historical aspect is given secondary importance. There is also a tendency among these authors to be either anxious to assert the value of the Maltese language or to show a preference for Italian culture. In the first case the main preoccupation is to show the literary merits of the eighteenth century works and history is used only as a background to raise patriotic feelings. Then Laurenza and Mangion go to the extreme of overestimating the Italian influence on Maltese culture and giving it exclusive importance, although contemporary paintings show that it might have been French as well. Also, these historians who discuss the literature of the period, either deal with one particular author or else with a choice selection of a few well-known works. The several other publications are hardly ever referred to collectively, and yet they must have been such a novelty in, and so important to, the cultural activity of the time. There are also some very helpful unpublished theses at the University of Malta. Many are well written, authoritative and deal with various aspects like law, drama, and problems of administration. It is understandable that these works are limited to the specific subject they specialize in and thus do not give a comprehensive view of the period. However, it is an error to apply the conclusions reached from one particular subject to the other aspects of history as well. The more general histories that are available go to the other extreme and are usually limited to the political developments of the eighteenth century. These historians, and Blouet in particular, appear to be only vaguely familiar with other aspects and so they rely on generalizations and assumptions. Cavaliero attempts to be wider in his approach, but this led him to be imprecise, to use unconnected and irrelevant examples, and even to err at times. He assumed that the influence of the French philosophes was clandestine'; yet a large number of books by these authors were available to the knights as well as to the Maltese in the Public Library. These histories tend to present the cultural conditions to fit the political situations. Consequently, a number of distortions arise that invite the historian to be more cautious. One such distortion is the generalization that the Maltese clergy and the Knights of St. John were inevitably at loggerheads in the eighteenth century and this is most evident in the book on the Priests' Revolt by Callus. Yet the cooperative efforts on a cultural level, and the letters they sent to each other suggest that perhaps this was not always the situation. Also, another point most historians do not mention sufficiently is that the French invasion occurred amidst a growing cultural life, when there was a theatre, a Printing Press, a Library and a flourishing art which looked promising in spite of political unease. Therefore, it is important that unless the popular generalizations and assumptions are explained more and put in their right perspective, a very vague and unbalanced picture may be given instead. This thesis tries to give a wider and deeper view of the cultural situation of Malta in the eighteenth century. It is not concerned with political developments more than is necessary and unnatural parallelisms are avoided. The conclusions reached do not adhere to the popular generalizations and assumptions. Although, they might not provide new solutions they try to show that the old ideas need to be questioned and modified in order to present a fairer and more balanced picture of the way things were. The way in which the subject is approached here is based on Christopher Brooke's interpretation of cultural history and the method he used for his own book: "(It) is the relation of the few selected creative men… to the world in which they were born, with its extraordinary limitations and opportunities".