Divertimento insieme, e sollievo del popolo : the Coccagna as manifestation of Benevolent Despotism in Ancien Regime Malta

Abstract

The gradual increase in the variety and elaboration of public entertainment in Malta reached its climax – as was the case with most of early-modern Europe – during the course of the eighteenth century. In an age of mass illiteracy, entertainment, like the visual arts, constituted a highly effective vehicle for the outward demonstration of wealth and power by those who held either one or the other, or as was more common, a combination of both. Among the new occasions for public spectacles which evolved on the island during the period one finds the calendimaggio and compleannos del magistero festivities, both of which where state-created and sponsored affairs, aimed directly towards the glorification of the grand master cum sultan. The two festivities became an annual and increasingly sophisticated public relations exercise between the sovereign and his subjects of diverse social backgrounds. The social elite, made up of the Order’s members and the Maltese upper classes were wooed by being admitted to the baciamano ceremony as well as by theatrical representations, outdoor serenades and banquets. The basso popolo, the plebbe and the maltesi casalotti were, in turn, provided with the coccagna spectacle which would moreover result in the acquisition of exquisite and mostly undreamed-of foodstuffs for the few who were brave or lucky enough to fight their way through the multitude and manage to climb up the coccagna pole and grab some prizes without serious mishap. All this, of course, provided added thrill to the privileged classes looking down from the equally crowded balconies and windows surrounding the square where the coccagna was held. As long as the spectacle did not degenerate into an uncontrollable rabble on the loose, the coccagna was unrivalled as a public demonstration of the sultan’s magnanimity towards all his subjects.