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Alain Blondy: Chrétiens et Ottomans de Malte et d’ailleurs. PUPS Paris-Sorbonne, 2013. 906 pp.
At the turn of the 16th century, the Ottoman sultans had expanded a Mediterranean empire which stretched from Hungary to Morocco, including the Balkans, Anatolia, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Tripolitania and the states of Tunisia and Algeria.
In the face of such dominance, the Habsburgs, who ruled most of the continent, spent the first half of the century plotting to end this Islamic expansion. Only two outstanding events seem to have stopped this tide, namely the Great Siege of Malta in 1565 and the Battle of Lepanto in 1571. After these events, conflicts decreased, turning the inner sea into a state of cold war, largely allowing for a reasonable modus vivendi that was mainly based on trade between Christians and Ottomans to the benefit of both.
This is the chivalric world that historian Alain Blondy sets out to delve into and interpret in his work regarding a confrontational period which eventually partitioned the Mediterranean as we know it today. The book is the accumulation of 30 years of the author’s research concerning evolutions, power structures, economical circuits as well as diplomatic and military ambitions held by old powers in a Mediterranean that was losing its influence on global events.
The volume is divided into three parts: Cyprus, France and Malta, with the last taking the lion’s share. The author navigates through Maltese history starting with prehistory, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, ultimately focusing on the Order of the Knights and its diplomatic affairs, especially the Order’s relations with Russia, France and Britain leading up to, and following, the French Revolution.
Corsair activities and slavery, mostly concerning the Barbary Regencies and their dealings with the Ottomans, close the first section of the study. In the second part, Blondy tackles the history of Cyprus in relation to Malta regarding the islands’ identities and diversities.
The author reproduces the contents of an interesting manuscript
The third section focuses on the Maltese and their contribution to the cotton culture in Provence under the First Empire.
In chronicling the Christian history of Malta, Blondy pays particular attention to the two revolts which took place in 1798 – one in June, creating the first republic of the island and the second, 10 weeks later, known as la rivoluzione della campagna. Supported by Sicilian, British and Portuguese forces, the latter paved the way for the island’s absorption into the British Empire 200 years ago.
At this juncture, the author reproduces the contents of an interesting manuscript dated 1799, found at the National Library in Valletta, which outlines what seems to have been a first attempt to draft a Maltese constitution. The document, which must have been written during the blockade, proposes a detailed plan steering Malta away from its former centuries-old role of fighting the Infidel.
Instead, this political and organisational project would have the island pursue a vocation of peaceful commerce in the Mediterranean. Probably inspired by republican structures – foremost among them those of the US and France – this constitution provides for four presidents nominated by the monarchies of Britain, Neapolitan Sicily and Portugal, and a national one representing the Maltese.
The new state would fly a flag with four quadrants, each depicting the coat of arms of the three foreign powers, together with the statue of St Paul to represent the island. The four rotating presidents were to oversee five nominated administrative directors, the bishop being one of them.
Blondy believes that whoever wrote this proposal must have formed part of a moderate faction that, a year before, had promoted the French take-over of Malta but was now opting to endorse a commercial strategy. He concludes that the Bishop’s strong pastoral function in the proposed plan points to the group being close to Bishop Labini, who at the time was residing in Valletta with the French.
Blondy’s elegant Chrétiens et Ottomans differs from other history books on this theme not only because of numerous reproductions of pertinent archival material, but also because of the variety of intriguing narratives interspersed with analytical provocations and observations.
The text presents an authoritative challenge to readers on matters concerning humankind’s attitude towards religion, patriotism, wars, sexuality, economic conflicts, language, identity and nationalism spanning centuries of inter-relations between two of the world’s foremost militant faiths.