The October talk was given by
Tony Holmes on the subject of the Coinage of the Knights of Malta.October 2010.
Next club meeting - Monday 1st. November 2010.
Meetings are held at the Abbey Baptist Church, Abbey Square, commencing at 7.00 p.m.
WINTER BOURSE
Please have a think about items you can bring for the show-and-tell at the Winter Bourse for December’s meeting. Also, the committee will be running a members’ “dealers” table – should you have anything that you wish to sell, please speak to the committee.
October meeting
The October talk was given by
Tony Holmes on the subject of the Coinage of the Knights of Malta.
Tony began his talk by giving a brief history into the Knights of Malta. The Knights Hospitaller, also known as the Knights of Malta, were a major Western Christian military order that originated during the Middle Ages.
The Order arose around the work of an Amalfitan hospital located in Jerusalem, founded around 1023 to provide care for poor, sick or injured pilgrims to the Holy Land. After the Western Christian conquest of Jerusalem in 1099 during the First Crusade, the organisation became a religious and military order under its own charter, and was charged with the care and defence of the Holy Land.
Following the conquest of the Holy Land by Islamic forces in 1291, the Order operated from Rhodes, over which it was sovereign after ceasing control in 1309. They withstood two invasions in the 15th century, one by the Sultan of Egypt in 1444 and another by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II in 1480. In 1522 an entirely new sort of force arrived: 400 ships under the command of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent delivered 200,000 men to the island. Against this force the Knights, under Grand Master Philippe Villiers de L'Isle-Adam, had about 7,000 men-at-arms and their fortifications. The siege lasted six months, at the end of which the surviving defeated Hospitallers were allowed to withdraw to Sicily.
The Knights then roamed for approximately 7 years before being gifted the island of Malta by the then Holy Roman Emperor Carlos V. The catch was that they also had to accept Tripoli in modern-day Libya as well! This allowed the Knights to continue their naval action against the Barbary Pirates as well as against their old enemy, the Ottomans. This displeased Suleiman, who dispatched an invasion force of about 45,000 men to besiege the 450 knights and 4-5,000 Maltese soldiers and expel them from Malta and gain a new base from which to possibly launch further assaults on Europe. The battle and subsequent siege did not go well for the Order. Only illness and the rumour of Sicilian reinforcements (in actuality a very small force) caused the Ottomans to withdraw.
During the 16th and 17th Centuries, the Knights
found themselves ‘policing’ the Mediterranean,
and profiting from the spoils. This income gradually replaced their dwindling sponsorship from European
states. Life flourished for over 260 years, until the Order was badly weakened by Napoleon's capture of
Malta in 1798 and became dispersed throughout Europe. It regained strength during the early 19th century
as it repurposed itself towards humanitarian and religious causes. Its modern-day Roman Catholic continuation
is headquartered in Rome, with allied Protestant orders headquartered in the United Kingdom, Germany, the
Netherlands and Sweden.
Following this introduction, we were shown a selection of slides showing the coinage used over the years. As a value guide, there were 6 Piccioli to the Grano; 20 Grani to the Tari and 12 Tari to the Scudo. The coins from the early periods to not survive in very good condition, and the earliest (undated) coin showed two shaking hands with a legend translating as ‘Not Copper But Trust’ with a blank reverse. Next was a copper 4 Tari piece showing the same shaking hands and legend, but with a crest of a double-headed eagle on the obverse. We then had a copper Grano of 1718 showing a lamb carrying a flag, with the Maltese cross on the reverse with the date in the angles.
The copper Tari coins of the 1760’s were somewhat gruesome in that the obverse depicted the severed head on John the Baptist on a platter – with the rather ironic (given the Orders history) legend of ‘Do Violence To No Man’. During this period, the silver coinage (4 to 30 Tari) imitated their European counterparts with typically 18th Century busts (long hair over armour) with the Grand Master’s arms on the reverse. These arms were also used as countermarks to prevent forgery.
In 1813, Malta fell under British Governance, and as such, British coinage was circulated alongside the Maltese. This latter was by now rather tired, and was demonetised during the 1820’s. However, no British coin existed with a small enough value to meet the Maltese requirements, and as such the one third farthing was struck intermittently from 1827 right up until 1913. In 1940, during World War Two, Malta was once again under siege, and was awarded the George Cross for their dogged defence. 1964 brought independence and in 1974 Malta was declared a Republic within the Commonwealth. Malta continued to use Sterling until Britain decimalised in 1971, when they adopted the Maltese Lira. Three series of coins were struck (’72-’75; ’75-’91 and ’91-’07). These coins depicted various emblems (eg Maltese Cross and George Cross), animals (eg weasel and crab) or historical figures (eg a Knights Hospitaler). On 1st Jan 2008, Malta adopted the Euro, which feature the Maltese Cross (1 and 2 Eu), the Maltese Coat of Arms (10, 20 and 50 cents) and the Mnajdra Temples (1, 2 and 5 cents).
The twenty four members in attendance showed their appreciation in the usual way, and we thank Tony for his very informative talk.
Annual Subscriptions
Will the few persons yet to pay their club subscriptions please do so at the next meeting.
Future Events.
Past Events
1 Year ago – “British Colonial Money” - John Roberts-Lewis
10 Years ago – “The Numismatics of Three Great Naval Battles” - Peter Clayton
30 Years ago – “Medals of the Royal Berks” - Albert