Got thinking about Malta, probably from reading Jennifer's post about coffee...Malta has awesomely good coffee. St. Paul was shipwrecked on Malta, and went to the Roman Governor's house. The top pic was taken from the governor's house, looking at St. Paul's Bay (where he was ship wrecked) along the sides of the fortifications at MDina. MDina, or Medina is a common name in the Mediterranian...this one was the old capital city of Malta. It was a cool day, and not too many people about. I think it is also darn near the highest point on the Island!The second picture is of the great Crusader's cross. Thats the original...the one the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem carried from Jerusalem, to Krak de Chevaliers, to Acre, to Rhodes, and eventually to Malta. I had seen this in woodcuts and paintings, and was thrilled when the keeper of the lamps let us into a backroom to see it. (Backroom! Ha! It was the whole North transcept!) A little shock went through me when I saw the movie about Geoffery de Bhohun, in that not so bad movie about the Crusades that just came out last year, because the cross was there in the movie! Or a darned good copy of it I suppose! Considering part of that movie was filmed in Malta, I suspect the props guys made a point of checking out the real thing. I know they got the armour and weapons right. The K of St. J. were well represented, but their names and heraldry were changed because they are still around. (And they had not pissed off the Christian world with the far right extremism of the Templar Knights. ) Otherwise the weapons and armour was pretty much bang on accurate! (and I should know!)I had always had a problem with the concept of the Church Militant. I never really figured that there were conditions on any of the ten commandments...but clearly so many Deacons, Curates, Pastors and priests are smarter than I am, so who am I to point out that misappropriation of church funds is, like....stealing! And that a crusade is, like.....killing. But, I don't feel like ranting right now. It never seems to prove anything! But the Templars, Knights of St. John, and the Teutonic Knights were the three great orders of Church Militant Knighthood. They came from wealthy families, had no wealth of their own, but dined on silver plate and wore armour from Milan. The third picture is of an armour in the Palace Museum. It is all covered in grease (hence the shine!) and it is not nearly as rusty as it looks....the axle grease is dark brown, making the armour look rusty. The piece in front is quite ornate, both repousse'd (pushed into), embossed (pulled up and away from the background) and engraved. The edges are roped, the spaulder is articulated, and the cannon rotates as if it were new! After being in this trade now full time for almost 12 years, I am almost ready to tackle a job a nice as that one! You can see me in the background getting instruction from Mr. Stroud, the curator. (He wants me to work there. I am so not worthy of that honour, give me a few years to practice!)
6 comments:
Awesome! I was wondering about the relationship of the Knights of St. John and the Templars, so thanks for the education. I have always gotten a chill being in any historical place, as I imagine all the souls that have crossed that very spot for thousands of years. Too cool.
Oh, the Templar history is a wild and crazy one! They were outlawed in France, went on to become pirates (as did the K of St. John as well) under the Jolly Roger flag, may have buried their treasure under Oak Island in Nova Scotia, and may be the engineers who built the great cathedrals of Europe. They went on to shuck both the piracy, and even their Catholisism, to become the modern Masonic Lodge. The Templars were the Catholic Medieval equivalent of the Religious Right. The K of St. J. were hospitalers, the Teutonics were land armies who worked with the Hanseatic houses and THEY stopped the attacks of Ghengis Khan's kids, who were set on rolling over Russia and the Ukraine.
Of course, that is an over-simplification! The Knights of St. John of Jerusalem were Hospitaler Knights. That is to say, their raison d'etre was to build hospitals, to provide field hospitals during warfare, and to save lives. Their history is a really long one, since it lasts for about 900 years or so....they are still around. If you were to receive first aid instruction from the St. John's Ambulance, you have had dealings with them. They are most famous for stopping Suleiman the Magnificent in his tracks at the Great Seige of Malta in 1565. If they had not done that, then Europe would have followed North Africa into Islam. There is still a Grand Master, and the Maltese Cross of white on a black background still flies over Fort St. Angelo, where it was first placed by Jean De LaValette in 1540. Their history is not so grand later on though....Napoleon kicked them out and they went to Rome, where they have quarters in the Eternal City. I note that they still have offices in the walls of Valetta though!
I have read about explorations of Oak Island in various archealogy publications.
Work in Malta?! I think you should; that would just be super cool. Then I really would have to come and visit you guys (and not just talk about it for years and years...)
DJ
My husband is crazy about this stuff! :)
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