Violence and society in Malta, 1814-1846

Abstract

In 1980, Paul Bartolo declared that 'studies of the first decades of the British rule in Malta have centred chiefly on British imperial interests and right to rule the Island and on their dealings with Maltese claims to representative government'. Not much has changed since then, and this period in Maltese history, significantly lacks any socio-economic analysis of the Maltese population. This dissertation attempts to look at the documents as a source for the study of socio-economic conditions in Malta. The research was often succeeded by the classification of documents which had not yet been assorted for research. Amongst the newly classified archives a source that was consulted in some detail were the processi verbali of the Criminal Law Courts held in the National Archives at Rabat were a main source of inspiration. These processi verbali do not only give us an insight of the 'bad guys' of the period in question, but also of the victims of crime, the witnesses of the prosecution and defence, the lobbying between the victim and the accused, the environment of the crime, the social conditions, the instruments of formal social control - like the police, the judges, the priests - and, on the other hand, the instruments of informal social control - like neighbours, friends and relatives. Basically, these documents bring forth the views of the man in the street with his fears, his mentality, his morals, his belongings, his social status and so on. The conflicts that I have studied present great potential for a study of the social context and cultural meaning of violence in Malta and in the Mediterranean region. Earlier historians, or criminal enthusiasts, have considered these documents as indicative of the hot passions of previous centuries and have primarily concentrated on murders and massacred the accused. Although passions certainly were involved, there is more to say about these incidents. Historical anthropologists of the last decade agree that what seems senseless violence at first sight becomes meaningful violence instead, which implies that we understand it better, but that we approve it. Often a man acted violently because he felt there were no other possibility; he just had to do it. Several methods of social research have been considered, but it seemed that the structural-functionalist model, can to explain the social problem of crime during the first part of the nineteenth-century. With this in mind a number of related studies have been studied and 'the insights and concepts of social anthropology to European societies of the past were applied to Malta. The dissertation, will not quantify the extent of aggression or, whether Maltese society was more aggressive in the past than at present or else, whether it was more aggressive than other societies which had a different culture. The reason for this approach is that firstly, the problem of crime has only recently been academically studied and, secondly there is a lack of literature and resources or, if such resources are available, they still have to be studied. The causes that instigated some Maltese to act violently in the past are very interesting to study. Various social scientists, particularly, anthropologists have studied 'simple societies' and discovered that since these are small groups who live in a precarious environment they have to co-operate because it is necessary for their well being, and for aggression to be avoided. On the other hand, since the Maltese belonged to a much more westernized society with various social, economic, political and cultural influences, in times of distress or danger it was easy for individuals to resort to aggressive behaviour so as to safeguard their interests or achieve their aims. It must be admitted that much of this work has been influenced by Stephen Wilson's work on aggression and conflict in nineteenth-century Corsica. Wilson's study has guided the course taken here extensively; however, certain aspects of crime that were not included in Wilson's study were also looked into. Naturally one cannot put Malta in the Corsican context since the two cultures have some considerable differences even both are islands of the central Mediterranean.