The Military Orders IX: Documents and Monuments 2026

The year 2026 marks the 460^th birthday of the Hospitaller convent-city of Valletta, in Malta, on 28 March 1566.

Taking its cue from this anniversary, the ninth Military Orders conference will be held in Malta and focus on the theme of ‘Documents & Monuments’.

While Valletta stands as one of the most significant urban projects undertaken by a military-religious order, these organizations were often key agents of both urban and rural transformation across Europe and the Middle East. This phenomenon was deeply intertwined with their capacity to manage complex political and administrative systems, comprising people, regulations, and archival procedures.

The conference invites a comprehensive exploration of the role of military orders in shaping a variety of landscapes and the ways in which these processes can be studied through both monuments and documents. Spanning topics from institutional history to architecture and material culture, the event will also offer a platform for those seeking to pioneer innovative methodologies, challenge established historiographical frameworks, or pose new questions about the military orders and the broader crusading movement.

Topics will include:

• The military orders as fosterers of networks
• Their role in driving social, economic or technological change
• Their activities beyond the cloister (i.e. in courtly, commercial, or diplomatic contexts)
• Urban commanderies of the military orders
• Rural commanderies of the military orders in relation to urban centres
• Archives and the military orders
• Archaeology and the military orders
• New methodologies (esp. digital and interdisciplinary) and sources
• Memories of the military orders in former commanderies and surrounding territories / 20th-21st century deployments of their memory.

Organised by:

Emanuel Buttigieg

Valeria Vanesio

Partners and sponsors:

Heritage Malta

Janatha Stubbs Trust

Malta Study Center at the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library

National Library of Malta

National Archives of Malta

Society for the Study of the Crusades and the Latin East

Italian Cultural Institute, Valletta

For more info about the upcoming Conference, visit the website.

Acknowledgment for the images:

The Malta Study Center at the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library; The National Library of Malta