Despite the many honours bestowed upon them by the Holy Roman Empire throughout the sixteenth century, the Knights of Malta struggled on a reduced income as many European nations no longer saw the necessity in funding their continued operations after the successful defense of Malta in 1565, and the Christian victory over the Ottoman fleet at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571. Financial matters for the Order were only compounded by changes in local exchange rates that saw their trading power diminish. Unable to use the barren island they now …

After their loss of Rhodes in 1522 CE to the Ottomans, the Order would spend seven years on the road in search of a permanent home. Travelling through the kingdoms of Europe they eventually found a home in Spain when King Charles V gave them Malta in 1530 for the paltry sum of a single Maltese falcon a year. Their fiefdom included the small island of Gozo off the coast of Malta, as well as the North African port of Tripoli. From their island fortress they returned to their duties …

Also known as the Knights Hospitaller, or simply the Hospitallers, the Order can originally trace its roots back as an offshoot of a Benedictine hospital established by Italian merchants in 1023 CE, after receiving permission from the Caliph Ali az-Zahir of Egypt to rebuild on the site of the Saint John the Baptist monastery destroyed almost twenty years earlier. Their mandate encompassed caring for the poor, sick, and injured faithful who made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
After the Western Christian conquest of Jerusalem in 1099 during the First Crusade, the organization …

Like many of the prominent buildings in Valletta, St. John’s Co-Cathedral was designed by the Maltese military architect Glormu Cassar after being commissioned by Grand Master Jean de la Cassiere in 1572 CE.
The interior would end up waiting almost ninety years, until the arrival of Mattia Preti, a Calabrian artist, and Knight of the order, who designed the intricate carvings which adorn the stonewalls, and himself painted the vaulted ceiling and side altars (circa 1661 through 1665) with scenes from the life of St. John the Baptist, the patron …

Previously we’d written a little about the various sites being used as shooting locations across the small archipelago state for the HBO Game of Thrones production, and now that we’ve actually been, we thought we’d take a closer look at the old capital of Mdina.

While greatly enhanced by CGI, the strategically-located walled city of Mdina – Citta Notabile – stands in for King’s Landing. Situated in the centre of the island, the medieval city is known by natives as the “Silent City” thanks to the small local population incapable of …

Named for Jean Parisot de la Valetta who led the successful defense of the island from an Ottoman invasion in 1565 CE, the official name given by the Hospitaller’s was Humilissima Civitas Valleta – Most Humble City of Valletta – but given their desire to see the city realized as an artist’s masterpiece, the nickname Superblissima – Most Proud – used by the ruling European houses of the time, seems more apt.

Colloquially known as Il-Belt in Maltese – The City – Valletta is the capital of Malta. The name …

Our third port of call for the cruise this past November was the small archipelago state of Malta off the coast from Sicily in the middle of the Mediterranean. And having done our research, our first stop there while we were in at Valletta, was the Knights of Malta’s conventual church, St. Johns Co-Cathedral.
Following the conquest of the Holy Land by Islamic forces, the city was bequeathed to the Order of the Knights Hospitaller to safeguard the Catholic faith and Europe from the Ottoman Empire. Inhabited by noblemen from the …