Monastic State of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem[a]
1530–1798
Flag Coat of arms
Map of Malta and Gozo in relation toSicily andHospitaller Tripoli
Map of the Order's territories in the Caribbean
Status	Tributary state of theKingdom of Sicily (until 1753)[1] Sovereign state (1753–1800)
Capital	Birgu(1530–1571) Valletta(1571–1798)
Common languages	Official languages: Latin[2][3] Italian[4] French (spoken; used in documents, maps, and plans)[4] Vernacular language: Maltese (spoken by the majority)
Religion	Roman Catholicism
Demonym	Maltese
Government	Theocraticelective monarchy
Grand Master
• 1530–1534	Philippe Villiers de L'Isle-Adam(first)
• 1797–1798	Ferdinand von Hompesch zu Bolheim(last)
Historical era	Early modern period
• Agreement	24 March 1530
• Established	26 October 1530
• Loss of Tripoli	15 August 1551
• Purchase of Caribbean territories	21 May 1651
• Sale of Caribbean territories	1665
• Proclamation of sovereignty	1753
• Capitulation to the French	12 June 1798
Area
• Total	316 km2 (122 sq mi)
Population
• 1530 (estimate)[5]	33,000
• 1632 (census)[5]	51,750
• 1741 (estimate)[5]	110,000
Currency	Maltese scudo[6] Other currencies Spanishdollars/doubloons Venetianzecchini Livournine Genovine Louis d'or
ISO 3166 code	MT
Preceded by Succeeded by Kingdom of Sicily Habsburg Spain Company of the American Islands French occupation of Malta Ottoman Tripolitania French West India Company Sovereign Military Order of Malta
Area and population excluding Tripoli and the Caribbean islands

Hospitaller Malta, known inMaltese history as theKnights' Period (Maltese:Żmien il-Kavallieri,^[7][8]lit. 'Time of the Knights'), was ade facto state which existed between 1530 and 1798 when the Mediterranean islands ofMalta andGozo were ruled by theOrder of St. John of Jerusalem. It was formally avassal state of theKingdom of Sicily, and it came into being whenEmperor Charles V granted the islands as well as the city ofTripoli in modernLibya to the Order, following the latter'sloss ofRhodes in 1522.Hospitaller Tripoli waslost to theOttoman Empire in 1551, butan Ottoman attempt to take Malta in 1565 failed.

Following the 1565 siege, the Order decided to settle permanently in Malta and began to construct a new capital city,Valletta. For the next two centuries, Malta went through aGolden Age, characterized by a flourishing of the arts, architecture, and an overall improvement in Maltese society.^[9] In the mid-17th century, the Order was thede jure proprietor over some islands in the Caribbean,^[10] making itthe smallest state to colonize the Americas.^{[citation needed]}

The Order began to decline in the 1770s, and was severely weakened by theFrench Revolution in 1792. In 1798, French forces underNapoleoninvaded Malta and expelled the Order, resulting in theFrench occupation of Malta. The Maltese eventuallyrebelled against the French, and the islands became aBritish protectorate in 1800. Malta was to be returned to the Order by theTreaty of Amiens in 1802, but the British remained in control and the islands formally became a British colony by theTreaty of Paris in 1814.

The Order of Saint John was expelled from its base inRhodes during theOttoman siege of 1522. After seven years of moving from place to place in Europe, the Knights became established in 1530 whenEmperor Charles V, as King of Sicily, gave them Malta,^[11]Gozo and the North African port ofTripoli in perpetual fiefdom in exchange for anannual fee of a single Maltese falcon, which they were to send onAll Souls' Day to the King's representative, theViceroy of Sicily.^[12]

The Order settled in the town ofBirgu and made it their capital.^[13] The ancient fortress known asCastrum Maris was rebuilt asFort Saint Angelo, the town's defences were strengthened, and many new buildings were constructed. The Order soon began to mintits own coins as it settled in Malta.^[6]

The Hospitallers continued their actions against the Muslims and especially theBarbary pirates. Although they had only a few ships, they quickly drew the ire of theOttomans, who were unhappy to see the order resettled. In July 1551, Ottoman forces attempted to take overFort Saint Angelo and laterMdina but saw that they were outnumbered andinvaded Gozo several days later. They sailed to Tripoli andcaptured the city in August. Following these attacks, the Order tried to repopulate Gozo and strengthen theGrand Harbour fortifications. Several forts includingSaint Elmo andSaint Michael were built, and the city ofSenglea began to develop around the latter fort.

Sometime between 1551 and 1556, atornado hit Malta, destroyed at least four of the Order's galleys, and killed 600 people. This is the worst natural disaster that ever occurred on Malta and one of the deadliest tornadoes in recorded history.^[14]

In 1553, Charles V offered a third possession to the Order, the city ofMahdia in modernTunisia. However, the Order refused to take control of the city since the commission that was set up decided that it would be too expensive to maintain. Therefore, the emperor ordered the Viceroy of Sicily,Juan de Vega, to destroy Mehdia to prevent Muslim occupation.^[15] De Vega burnt Mehdia, but retaliated against Malta for not accepting the city, and prohibited exportation of wheat to the island. To combat this,Grandmaster Sengle brought the engineer Vincenzo Vogo to Malta to upgrade the mills so the population would not starve.^[16] Authors such asGiovanni Francesco Abela claim that, following theBattle of Verbia in 1561, the Order may have gained a puppet state inMoldavia, which was ruled by the Malta nativeIacob Heraclid until 1563; their assessment remains disputed.^[17]

In 1565 Suleiman sent an invasion force of about 40,000 men to besiege the 700 knights and 8,000 soldiers and expel them from Malta and gain a new base from which to possibly launch another assault on Europe.^[11] At first the battle went as badly for the Hospitallers as Rhodes had: most of the cities were destroyed and about half the knights killed. On 18 August the position of the besieged was becoming desperate: dwindling daily in numbers, they were becoming too feeble to hold the long line of fortifications. But when his council suggested the abandonment ofBirgu andSenglea and withdrawal toFort St. Angelo,Grand MasterJean Parisot de Valette refused.

The Viceroy of Sicily had not sent help; possibly the Viceroy's orders fromPhilip II of Spain were so obscurely worded as to put on his own shoulders the burden of the decision whether to help the Knights at the expense of his own defences.^{[citation needed]} A wrong decision could mean defeat and exposing Sicily and Naples to the Ottomans. He had left his own son with de Valette, so he could hardly be indifferent to the fate of the fortress. Whatever may have been the cause of his delay, the Viceroy hesitated until the battle had almost been decided by the unaided efforts of the Knights, before being forced to move by the indignation of his own officers.

On 23 August came yet another grand assault, the last serious effort, as it proved, of the besiegers. It was thrown back with the greatest difficulty, even the wounded taking part in the defence. The plight of the Turkish forces, however, was now desperate. With the exception ofFort Saint Elmo, the fortifications were still intact. Working night and day the garrison had repaired the breaches, and the capture of Malta seemed more and more impossible. Many of the Ottoman troops in crowded quarters had fallen ill over the terrible summer months. Ammunition and food were beginning to run short, and the Ottoman troops were becoming increasingly dispirited by the failure of their attacks and their losses. The death on 23 June of skilled commanderDragut, a corsair and admiral of the Ottoman fleet, was a serious blow. The Turkish commanders,Piyale Pasha andMustafa Pasha, were careless. They had a huge fleet which they used with effect on only one occasion. They neglected their communications with the African coast and made no attempt to watch and intercept Sicilian reinforcements.

On 1 September they made their last effort, but the morale of the Ottoman troops had deteriorated seriously and the attack was feeble, to the great encouragement of the besieged who now began to see hopes of deliverance. The perplexed and indecisive Ottomans heard of the arrival of Sicilian reinforcements in Mellieħa Bay. Unaware that the force was very small, they broke off the siege and left on 8 September. TheGreat Siege of Malta may have been the last action in which a force of knights won a decisive victory.^[18]

When the Ottomans departed, the Hospitallers had but 600 men able to bear arms. The most reliable estimate puts the number of the Ottoman army at its height at some 40,000 men, of whom 15,000 eventually returned to Constantinople. The siege is portrayed vividly in the frescoes ofMatteo Perez d'Aleccio in the Hall of St. Michael and St. George, also known as the Throne Room, in theGrandmaster's Palace in Valletta; four of the originalmodellos, painted in oils byPerez d'Aleccio between 1576 and 1581, can be found in the Cube Room of theQueen's House atGreenwich, London.

After the siege a new city was built,Valletta, which was named in memory of the Grand Master who had withstood the siege. It became the Order's headquarters in 1571 and remains Malta's capital city to this day.^[19]

In 1574, the Roman Inquisition was established in Malta whenPope Gregory XIII sentPietro Dusina as mediator between the Grandmaster and the Bishop. This inquisition replaced the old medieval inquisition in Malta that had been run by theBishop of Palermo.^[20]

In 1581, there was a crisis between the General Convent of the Order and the Grandmaster,Jean de la Cassière. This escalated into a mutiny in which la Cassière was confined in Fort St Angelo and the knightMathurin Romegas was elected Grandmaster. Pope Gregory XIII sent the envoyGaspare Visconti to settle the dispute, and la Cassière and Romegas were summoned to Rome to explain and plead the case. Romegas died within a week of arriving in Rome, and la Cassière was restored to his position as Grandmaster. However, he too died within a month in Rome thus ending the dispute. In January 1582,Hugues Loubenx de Verdalle was elected Grandmaster.^[21][22]

Between 1610 and 1615, theWignacourt Aqueduct was built to carry water fromDingli andRabat to the capital Valletta. This aqueduct remained in use until the early 20th century, and most of its arches still survive.^[23]

Throughout the course of the seventeenth century, Malta's fortifications were also improved. Large parts of Gozo'sCittadella were completely rebuilt between 1599 and 1622. TheGrand Harbour area was strengthened by the construction of theFloriana Lines andSanta Margherita Lines in the 1630s and 1640s, which encircled the land front of Valletta and that of Birgu and Senglea. Later on, theCottonera Lines were built around the Santa Margherita Lines between 1670 and 1680. Due to a lack of funds, the Santa Margherita and Cottonera Lines remained unfinished for many years before being completed. In the late seventeenth century,Fort Ricasoli was also built to protect the entrance to the Grand Harbour, while Fort Saint Elmo and Fort Saint Angelo were strengthened.

Despite the significant fortifications in the harbour area, by the early seventeenth century, most of the remaining coastline was still largely undefended. In 1605,Garzes Tower was built on the island of Gozo. In the following years,Alof de Wignacourt continued upgrading the coastal fortifications by building theWignacourt towers, a series of six bastioned watch towers. During GrandmasterLascaris' reign, a number ofsmaller towers were also built. His successorde Redin once again built a series of similartowers. The last coastal tower to be built wasIsopu Tower, which was constructed in 1667 during the reign ofNicolas Cotoner.^[24]

In 1693, anearthquake damaged many buildings in Malta, particularly in the former capital ofMdina. Thecathedral, which had been built during the Norman occupation of Malta, was subsequently demolished and a new Baroque cathedral was built in its place starting from 1697.^[25]

In the seventeenth and early eighteenth century, the Order's navy was at its peak. The Order, usually along with other European navies, engaged in naval battles against the Ottomans such as theaction of 28 September 1644, or theBattle of the Dardanelles in 1656. They had also participated in the Battle ofLepanto in 1571 under the command ofJohn of Austria. Corsairing also became an important part of the Maltese economy until the early 1700s.^[26]

From 1530 to 1798 the Order of Malta waged a long-standing naval operation harassing Ottoman ships in the Mediterranean, reaching its peak from 1660 to 1675.^[7] It was an important source of income for the Order and employment for the local Maltese, profiting from plundered booty and the capture of Muslim slaves.

The Order also took part in thecolonization of the Americas. On 21 May 1651, it acquired four islands in the Caribbean:Saint Barthélemy,Saint Christopher,Saint Croix andSaint Martin. These were purchased from the FrenchCompany of the American Islands which had just been dissolved. The Order controlled the islands under the governorship ofPhillippe de Longvilliers de Poincy until his death, and in 1665 the four islands were sold to theFrench West India Company. This marked the end of the Order's influence outside the Mediterranean.^[27]

At the end of theWar of the Spanish Succession, theTreaty of Utrecht in 1713 granted Sicily from Spain to theDuke of Savoy, becoming the new sovereign of Malta until seven years later, whenTreaty of The Hague reunited Naples and Sicily to theEmperor Charles VI. In 1735, during theWar of the Polish Succession,Charles, Duke of Parma, defeated the occupying Austrians and became Charles VII of Naples and V of Sicily.

From 1714 onwards, about 52 batteries andredoubts, along with several entrenchments, were built around the coasts of Malta and Gozo.^[28] Other major fortifications of the 18th century includeFort Chambray on Gozo, which was built between 1749 and the 1760s, andFort Tigné in Marsamxett, which was built between 1792 and 1795.

Throughout the eighteenth century,Baroque architecture was popular in Malta. This is mostly associated with the GrandmastersAntónio Manoel de Vilhena andManuel Pinto da Fonseca, both of whom were Portuguese. During de Vilhena's reign, the city of Mdina was significantly remodelled in the Baroque style.^[29] Other significant Baroque structures built during de Vilhena's reign includeFort Manoel and theManoel Theatre. The town ofFloriana also began to be developed around this era between the Floriana Lines and Valletta, and it was given the title ofBorgo Vilhena by the Grandmaster. During Pinto's reign, which lasted from 1741 to 1773, the Baroque style was still going strong. Typical buildings from this era includeAuberge de Castille and theValletta Waterfront.^[30]

In 1749, there was theConspiracy of the Slaves, in which Turkish slaves were planning to revolt and assassinate Pinto, but this was suppressed before it started due to their plans leaking out to the Order.

In 1753, Pinto proclaimed the sovereignty of the Order on Malta and a dispute started with theKingdom of Sicily underKing Charles V. The dispute eventually ended a year later on 26 November 1754 when Sicily and the Order returned to normal relations. Despite this Sicily no longer had any control over the Maltese islands and Malta under the Order effectively became a sovereign state.^[31]

In the last three decades of the eighteenth century, the Order experienced a steady decline. This was a result of a number of factors, including the bankruptcy that was a result of Pinto's lavish rule, which drained the finances of the Order. Due to this, the Order also became unpopular with the Maltese.

In 1775, during the reign ofFrancisco Ximénez de Tejada, a revolt known as theRising of the Priests occurred. Rebels managed to capture Fort St Elmo andSaint James Cavalier, but the revolt was suppressed and some of the leaders were executed while others were imprisoned or exiled.^[32]

In 1792, the Order's possessions in France were seized by the state due to theFrench Revolution, which led the already bankrupt Order into an even greater financial crisis. When Napoleon landed in Malta in June 1798, the knights could have withstood a long siege, but they surrendered the island almost without a fight.^[33] The French thenoccupied Malta until 1800, when they wereousted by Maltese revolutionaries aided by Great Britain. Malta became a Britishprotectorate and although theTreaty of Amiens stated that they should be handed back to the Order, nothing materialized. When the new GrandmasterGiovanni Tommasi demanded that the BritishCivil CommissionerAlexander Ball hand back theGrandmaster's Palace in Valletta, Ball replied that Britain was authorised to continue basing troops on the island since some powers were still not recognising Malta's independence and that the government palace could not be vacated.

Malta eventually became aBritish colony in 1813 and remained as such untilindependence in 1964. The Order itself became dispersed throughout Europe, but in the early 19th century it redirected itself toward humanitarian and religious causes. In 1834, the Order, which became known as theSovereign Military Order of Malta, established its headquarters inits former embassy inRome, where it remains to this day.

• Hospitaller Rhodes
• Kingdom of Sicily
• List of Knights Hospitaller sites
• Principality of Heitersheim

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