Matthew Xuereb
Facebook campaign for return of de Valette’s sword
A man with an avid interest in Maltese history is appealing to the authorities to embark on diplomatic efforts with France to bring back Grand Master de Valette’s sword and dagger, which are exhibited at the Louvre in Paris.
Jesmond Bugeja, an IT manager, has created a Facebook group to raise awareness that part of the islands’ history is in another country’s museum.
His aim, he says, was simply to gauge the interest in the subject but this soon changed into an attempt to convince the authorities to take up the issue on a diplomatic level with France.
Mr Bugeja said the French in Malta had ransacked a number of churches, forcing the local community to rebel. Among the items stolen was Grand Master Jean Parisot de Valette’s sword and dagger.
The sword and a matching dagger had been given to the Grand Master by the Holy Roman Emperor Philippe II of Spain in 1565, to mark the Order’s victory in the Great Siege in the same year, which had led to the retreat of the Ottoman forces.
In 1798, while on his way to Egypt, Napoleon landed in Malta. He captured the islands with the loss of only three Frenchmen. The knights had lost their fighting spirit and although the Maltese forces offered to resist the occupation, Grand Master Ferdinand Von Hompesch surrendered.
In his Facebook page, Bring Back The Sword of La Valette to Malta, Mr Bugeja says: “This sword was unfortunately taken from us by Napoleon’s soldiers when they invaded Malta and is now on display in the Louvre Museum in Paris. This sword rightfully belongs to the Maltese people and should be in a Maltese museum and not in Paris.”
Mr Bugeja insists that other countries, such as Italy, were returning similar objects to their “rightful owners” and questioned why France could not do the same.
The Facebook group is gathering momentum, with members approaching the 300 mark in just a few weeks.
Asked about the next step, Mr Bugeja said decisions would be taken depending on the size of the group. He did not exclude petitioning the French government in an attempt to bring back the military memorabilia.
The Facebook page can be accessed at https://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=107838372578431 .
31 Comments
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Dennis Castillo
Aug 25th 2011, 15:49
Valette regarded himself first and foremost as a member of the Order, not a Frenchman. While many of the members of the French speaking langues lived on the estates in France, Valette lived on Malta and dedicated himself to the Order. If Valette were given the choice of Malta or France, I am sure he would have picked Malta.
Schembri keith
Aug 25th 2011, 13:34
I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings here but let's imagine a great Maltese person born in Malta to a noble family.
Let's say he was sent over to France to defend France against the Infidels.
Let's say our Maltese man managed (with the help of Frenchmen) to fend off the assailants and becomes a hero.
Let's say this victory became one of the founding happenings in French history and that even today our Maltese hero is hailed in textbooks and this victory is a national day in France.
Let's now imagine that our Maltese hero is buried in the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, his original portraits hang at the French Elisée palace and the one important jewelled dagger of his is still kept in France.
Honestly, can any one of my fellow Maltese countrymen can look straight in the mirror and say that we wouldn't ask the French in return for all the great favours done by our Maltese hero to return at least the prized dagger to his home country, leaving in France his remains and other possessions?
I think we need to be frank and honest about this affair although the fact that Napoleon took in from the island without our permission does hurt us.
John Meli
Aug 25th 2011, 18:45
@Keith Schembri::But the difference between that Maltese person and his property belonged to him not to the Maltese and he lived in France, yet no body stole his dagger and took it somewhere else to exhibit the dagger. Then the French under Napoleon did not only stole the dagger but lots of other artifacts from our Churches and Palaces which belonged to the Maltese.
For this reason we started the cause under the title "Support the return to Malta of La Valette's Sword & Dagger" to which we already had a big support with the majority from Malta, and soon we will reach the 6000 persons that would had joined our cause.
Schembri keith
Aug 26th 2011, 14:18
You mean to say that Jean Parisot de la Valette had bequeathed his dagger to the Republic of Malta?
The answer is NO and you know that the rightful owners are the Order of St. John.
You should consider raising this question to them. That will be the opening of the Pandora Box because, as you know, a lot of people inside and OUTSIDE the Order wanted Napoleon here to get rid of the Knights.
On a LIGHTER note, have you considered what will happen if some 6000 French people join and ask us to return the remains of all the French grandmasters belonging to Provence, France and Auvergne "langues" ? Will we ever consider unearthing skeletons from St John's and shipping them over?
Mr paul grima
Aug 24th 2011, 22:54
That sword and matching dagger belong to Malta. It doesn' hurt to try to bring them back.
John Meli
Aug 24th 2011, 22:03
Just for the record and information to the general public one has to note that our Cause, Support the return to Malta of La Valette's Sword & Dagger, was the original and first cause that was created so as to pressure France Government to return this Sword and Dagger of De La Valette through our facebook page, in which over five thousands joined up and are still joining up with us so as to support this cause.
Good to note that we expect to reached over 6000 members soon so as to join up our page and that this Cause, Support the return to Malta of La Valette's Sword & Dagger, was originally created to pressure France to return the Sword and Dagger of De La Valette to the Maltese Islands as this was stolen from Malta. We welcome more members to join so that we would consolidate this cause further.
You can find it at:
http://www.causes.com/causes/449771 Majority are Maltese from Malta and Gozo.
Victor Pulis
Aug 24th 2011, 15:31
Although I have joined the group as I wish to see the sword back in Malta, I have my doubts whether the items 'belong' to us or not. When Napoleon invaded Malta we were not a nation yet. The islands belonged to the knights.Any booty taken by napoleon actually belonged to them and we may consider ourselves lucky that he did not clean out the entire treasury left behind by the knights including paintings, armour and manuscripts. The beat we can do is to appeal to the French government to return the sword as a sign of good will and the louder the plea the more chance of it being heard.
Mr David Buttigieg
Aug 24th 2011, 17:13
Almost true,
It did not belong to the Knights, but to Spain originally, 'we' were literally part of Spain, much like Gozo is part of Malta.
The knights merely rented it for a falcon a year.
Victor Pulis
Aug 24th 2011, 19:00
The knights wee a sovreign order and all their property belonged to them.
Mon Swinger
Aug 24th 2011, 13:24
I would have thought the Grand master of Malta with whom Maltese identity is so closely associated, is named de La Valette and not de Valette. Small things but only to those who care about maltese history are these details so important!!!
Victor Pulis
Aug 24th 2011, 16:13
The proper title is Jean de valette. The la was added later and stuck throughout the years.
j brincat
Aug 24th 2011, 10:58
@Frans Aguis
It would be an enormous achievement BUT we WILL never get them back. Just wishful thinking. So dream on......
(jb)
Lawrence Civelli
Aug 24th 2011, 20:14
I'm a Vittoriosan and grew up in Birgu and I was always been told that the Dagger & Sword was stolen from US by the french. About time we try to get it back.
WAY TO GO MR . BUGEJA.
Jesmond Bugeja
Aug 24th 2011, 10:25
I wish to publicly thank The Times of Malta for publishing this story. With their help the group has gained enourmous momentum. Thank You
Alan Cordina
Aug 24th 2011, 13:05
Jesmond I promise you that by tomorrow, around 300 of my friends will probably join the group, ferociously !
Mr David Buttigieg
Aug 24th 2011, 10:03
As much as I would LOVE that sword to be given to Malta, and agree that it was stolen, IF that sword were EVER to be returned to it's "rightful owners", those owners would sadly not be Malta, but the Order of St John, another sovereign nation.
It is a bitter pill to swallow, I know, but legally that sword belonged to the order, who was renting Malta for the princely sum of a falcon a year.
One must remember that Malta was NOT a country or even a colony back then, rather a county of Sicily (which was also not part of Italy for the record) but we were much the same as Gozo is to Malta today!
Charles Said-vassallo
Aug 30th 2011, 10:54
David your right on the money.
Here is a translation of the Grant given by Emperor Charles V.
Translation of the Deed of Donation of the Maltese Islands to the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V.
http://www.saidvassallo.com/SME/SME2/Translationofthedeed.html
If we are going to start a battle we should start with the english first !!!, after all we invited the English here. The french invaded the island. Victor takes spoils.
Anthony Farrugia
Aug 24th 2011, 09:57
Don't hold your breath in this weather !
Patrick Sacco
Aug 24th 2011, 09:23
To be honest I would like to have it back together with a number of other valuable articles which the British have stolen from us.
What worries me is that it might be held in place with a piece of wire (as in some Museums around Malta) or worse...stolen!
Patrick Mulholland
Aug 24th 2011, 09:16
Agree!
In the same way that stolen Egyptian history was retruned to its rightful place, so too must Maltese history return to its rightful place - in Malta.
Christian Sciberras
Aug 24th 2011, 08:51
For another perspective, it's surely an honour that such a treasure is situated in a museum of a certain caliber.
If it were in Malta, I would assure you there will be much less attention given to the well-being of this gem.
Think about it, Michelangelo's painting in Malta, doesn't really have any security around it...
Mr M camilleri
Aug 24th 2011, 09:14
So please give your own gold to the qween of england she will surerly take more care of your gold than you do.....Xkull wahda ukoll ..
Christian Sciberras
Aug 24th 2011, 10:04
Mr M camilleri - I don't bury my gold/money in barns or under my bed.
But the other Maltese that do, deserve theirs to be stolen.
Same case with the sword.
Stefan Zammit
Aug 24th 2011, 14:30
Mr. Christian Sciberras: The great tombs of Dante and Galileo Galilei are within a Church but completely unprotected. Doesn't mean they are going to give them away.
Christian Sciberras
Sep 6th 2011, 01:08
Stefan Zammit - Why don't you talk about "stupid analogies"?
Mr Joseph Pavia
Aug 24th 2011, 08:42
I mentioned this before. The French own us big time for letting their warplanes land in Malta when they found themselves in trouble. It would be the least thing for the French Government to do to show gratitude. 'Just hand us back what your forefathers stole from us now. You have the right excuse to do it'.
Christian Sciberras
Aug 24th 2011, 08:49
"Own us big time", for what? Crash-landing aircraft?
j brincat
Aug 24th 2011, 08:00
A useless campaign!
Would haughty France ever give in to the demands of a small nation like Malta?
For them it's just pats on the PM's back whenever it suits them. But that's just it.
(jb)
Frans Aguis
Aug 24th 2011, 08:47
Not useless we should be pursuing it as hard as we can and with the help of the government.Just for the sake of publicity.If we do get them back it will small potatoes compared with the publicity
Mr Hamish Dempster
Aug 24th 2011, 07:33
I think there are many more treasures belonging to the Maltese in France which were stolen by Napoleon Bonaparte and believe that they all should be return.
Angela Grima
Aug 24th 2011, 16:05
I agree. The Maltese government should contact the appropriate French departments and ask for all the goods the French stole from the islands.