A study of the decorative designs on the suits of armour of the hospitaller knights (1550-1798) in the Valletta palace armoury

Abstract

The Palace Armoury Museum at the Grand Master’s Magistral Palace in Valletta, may well be regarded as one of the most important museums of its kind in Europe. One factor that contributes to its historical importance is the fact that the arms and Armours displayed in the present collection have been in the same building, though not in the same precise location, for almost four hundred years. Even more importantly, is that the Armeria was the last of a serious of military store houses, or martial magazines, set up by the Hospitaller Knights of St. John of Malta, and, consequently, the last arsenal established by the last crusading military order. The Palace Armoury encapsulates not only the Hospitallers’ military activities throughout their history, but, also, the Order’s capacity for military adaptations and innovations. This makes the Palace Armoury even more distinctive, especially when compared to other well-known similar arsenals. In 1903, the collection was catalogued and published by one of the most renowned Armour connoisseurs, and Art historians of the time, Sir Guy Francis Laking (1875-1919). Laking categorised many of the Armours and attributed some of the harnesses to particular members of the Order. His main contribution to the study of Armour in Malta is the pictures of various Armours, which helps in their identification, and in matching certain pieces. Laking managed to match a considerable number of loose components and still though these were not always correct, his descriptions, and categorical numbering, are valuable. In this sense, the studies Laking carried out in Malta and in England constitute a point of reference to any study of Armours of the Knights of St. John.