The concept and practice of charity in late 18th-Century hospitaller Malta

Abstract

The aim of this dissertation is to evaluate a number of petitions and dispropriamenti, produced in the late eighteenth-century and today held at the Archive of the Order of Malta (AOM) at the National Library of Malta (NLM), to obtain a clearer idea of what kind of charity the Knights of St John performed with the Maltese people in the years before they had to leave the Islands in 1798. The concept of ‘charity’ within the Order has been studied on multiple occasions, however, this study tries to take a different view of the Hospitallers by looking at a different set of primary sources and by taking a cultural history approach. The Early Modern period in history has always been of great personal interest and delving into these documents has given me the opportunity to look first hand at the way of life of some Maltese people, particularly women, and the Hospitallers. These documents have enabled me to study individual personalities which made this experience even more extraordinary. I divided this dissertation into three chapters. The first chapter deals with the founding years of the Order of Saint John and then it goes into the time they spent governing the Maltese Islands. This chapter also gives a brief description of the international context of the second half of the eighteenth century, which is the period this dissertation is concerned with. This is followed by an analysis of the primary sources used, the dispropriamenti and the suppliche. The second chapter has a special focus on women. It discusses the information found in the suppliche (petitions) written in the name of Maltese women which brings forth a number of issues that they faced. The third chapter is concerned with the dispropriamenti of the Hospitallers. It first describes what these documents were, why they were written and what one can find in them. Afterwards, the chapter delves into the different acts of charity displayed in these dispropriamenti and to whom they were given.