MALTA: THE HALTING PLACE OF NATIONS 



453 



subject to various powers, until finally 

 the Arabs, who also ruled Sicily, took 

 possession. While excavating the Roman 

 governor's villa at Notabile several Arab 

 graves were found, all pointing east- 

 ward. Their Semitic inscriptions seemed 

 strangely out of place in a Roman ruin. 

 The Arabs built the fortress of St. An- 

 gelo, which guards the entrance to the 

 Grand Harbor, on a site formerly occu- 

 pied by a Roman temple dedicated to 

 Juno. 



In A. D. 1090 Count Roger of Nor- 

 mandy, having conquered Sicily, landed 

 at Malta and exacted tribute from the 

 Arabs. An inscribed stone over the en- 

 trance to Fort St. Angelo records the 

 Norman victory, and several beautiful 

 Norman buildings are still to be seen at 

 Notabile. 



The Arabs finally left Malta about A. 

 D. 1250, having exercised rule over the 

 island for nearly 400 years, doubtless fa- 

 cilitated by their language, which is 

 closely akin to Maltese. 



During the next three centuries Malta 

 did not figure largely in history. It 

 lacked agricultural resources and was 

 periodically ravaged by the commanders 

 of Turkish fleets, who dragged the un- 

 fortunate inhabitants into slavery, while 

 famine and plague often followed in 

 their wake. 



In 1530 the population of the island 

 did not exceed 25,000 and was probably 

 considerably less. 



the; birth of the order of ST. JOHN 



In that year a great change occurred. 

 Charles V of Spain granted the islands 

 of Malta and Gozo, together with the 

 town of Tripoli, in Africa, to the Order 

 of St. John of Jerusalem, afterward 

 known as the Knights of Malta. 



In the early nth century a pilgrimage 

 to the holy places at Jerusalem was a 

 very arduous and dangerous undertaking 

 and many pilgrims died from exhaustion. 

 A hospital was founded about 1085 at 

 Jerusalem for the use of pilgrims and 

 was dedicated to St. John. To meet 

 various requirements, the hospital was 

 reorganized and an Order instituted, con- 

 sisting of ecclesiastics, to administer to 

 the spiritual wants of the pilgrims, lay 



brothers for secular duty, and knights 

 for defense and protection. 



After the capture of Jerusalem by the 

 Saracens, Crusaders from all kingdoms 

 of Christendom hastened eastward and 

 the Knights of St. John, then installed 

 at Acre, added members of many nation- 

 alities to their number. In 1252 the 

 Pope granted the title of Grand Master 

 to the head of the Knights. 



For general convenience, the Order 

 was divided into subdivisions according 

 to the principal languages spoken by its 

 members. The sections of the Order 

 were the "Langues" of Provence, Au- 

 vergne, France, Italy, Aragon, Catalonia, 

 Navarre, England, Germany, Castile, 

 Leon, and Portugal. The Langue d'An- 

 gleterre was dissolved in 1540, at the 

 Reformation. An Anglo-Bavarian Lan- 

 gue was reinstituted in the 18th century. 



Each Langue had its own headquarters, 

 or "Auberge," and those built at Malta 

 are monuments of architectural beauty. 

 They are now used chiefly as government 

 offices and during the World War were 

 scenes of intense activity. 



THE TURKS DEFEATED BY EA VAELETTE 



The Order removed from Acre to 

 Cyprus and thence to Rhodes, where its 

 headquarters remained until the island's 

 fall, in 1522.* The old bond between 

 Rhodes and Malta was commemorated 

 by the Pope, who gave the Bishop of 

 Malta the title of Archbishop of Rhodes. 



In 1565 the Turkish fleets made a 

 powerful attack on Malta, but were 

 finally defeated by Grand Master La Val- 

 lette, who built the city of Valletta in 

 memory of the victory. The Cathedral 

 of St. John, in Valletta, was also built as 

 a burial place for the Grand Masters, the 

 remains of those previously interred in 

 the Chapel of Fort St. Angelo being 

 transferred. 



In the latter part of the 18th century 

 the Langue de France was the richest 

 and most powerful section of the Order. 

 Lack of military enterprise and luxurious 

 living, however, sapped the power and 

 prestige of the Knights, who were cordi- 

 ally hated by the Maltese. The French 

 Revolution at one blow deprived this 



* See "Historic Islands and Shores of the 

 /Egean Sea," by Ernest Lloyd Harris, in the 

 National Geographic Magazine, Sept., 1915. 



