Malta is not known for its revolutions. Unlike many other countries, the people have preferred other ways of changing history. This doesn’t mean there wasn’t any revolting.

Background

In the 18th century, the Knights had governed Malta for almost 200 years. Sources report about 8 000 Muslim slaves living in the Maltese islands. The Knights were no longer at war with the Ottoman Empire and the prisoners had relaxed living conditions. They could congregate for prayers, they worked as merchants and could sell their wares in the fortified city of Valletta. They were not supposed to interact with the Maltese, but this was rarely enforced.

In February 1748, Christian slaves^{1 2} aboard the Ottoman flagship Lupa² revolted. They took the 150-strong crew captive² landing in Malta on 2 February 1748. There they showed off their prize prisoner – Mustafa, Pasha of Rhodes².

The Knights enslaved all the prisoners except Mustafa. France stepped in to protect its Franco-Ottoman alliance. They wanted him freed³ but the Knights compromised and placed him under house arrest.

Mustafa converted to Christianity, married a Maltese woman and lived in Valletta³. He seemed to be well-integrated and they allowed him to communicate with the rest of the world¹.

The plot

Mustafa started to plan a revolt for 29 June 1749¹. This was – and still is – a feast day in Malta dedicated to Sts Peter and Paul. In their honour, the Grandmaster organised a lavish banquet at the Palace in Valletta³. Mustafa was in touch with Constantinople who promised support¹ in this nefarious endeavour.

Mustafa wanted to poison the food in the banquet. His co-conspirators would do the same in the Knights’ auberges and palaces too to create a nation-wide attack. After this, palace slaves planned³ to assassinate Grandmaster Manuel Pinto de Fonseca³. They hoped to free prisoners and ransack the armouries at Fort St Elmo.³.

Mustafa had also exchanged secret messages with the Ottoman beys – or leaders – of Tunis, Tripoli and Algiers. An Ottoman ship of corsairs² was going to be close to Malta, ready to invade once the slaves gave the right signal³.

The Knights had a tower keeping an eye on the harbour, so it’s unclear how the slaves thought they’d get to the Ottoman ship.

Discovery

On 6 June 1749, three slaves met in a coffee shop³ in Valletta to try to win over one of the Grandmaster’s Maltese guards¹.  The four of them quarrelled. This escalated into a public brawl¹ which attracted the attention of the shop owner. He was a neophyte – a Jew who had converted to Christianity – called Giuseppe Cohen^{2 3}. He reported their conversation to the Grandmaster^{2 3}, leading to these slaves’ arrest³.

The guards tortured them on the rack³ so they confessed to the entire plot. The Knights arrested and tried the 38 slave leaders³. They took the guily ones in an open mule-drawn cart to Floriana³ to hang³, quarter and behead them^{1 3 4}.

Hoping for forgiveness some of the slaves converted to Christianity on their deathbed³. They hanged another 125 conspirators in Palace Square in Valletta, and branded 8 more with the letter R on their forehead³ (R for rebels), condemning them to life on the Knights’ galleys³.

France intervened once more and to make sure the Knights exiled Mustafa to Rhodes². He left on a French vessel soon after².

Consequences

Grandmaster Pinto reported this plot to his ambassadors in Europe³. Given the tensions with the Ottoman Empire, this alarmed Europe’s capitals. In Malta, rules around slaves were tightened³. They no longer had the freedom to move around as much as they previously had³, they no longer could leave the city³ and they could not approach the fortifications³. The only exception was the Slaves prison which was the only place they could sleep in³.

On 14 August 1749⁵ Giuseppe Cohen was rewarded with a pension of 300 scudi from the Order³, and an annual 200 scudi reward from the University³. The University also gave him the building it used to be housed in⁵. He lived there till 1778⁵.

The next revolution in Malta happened in 1773 and was a priests’ revolution.

This revolution didn’t work out. In 50 years’ time, rather than revolt, the Maltese people chose to align themselves with a foreign power to help them get rid of the unloved French administration.

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References

1. Very rare contemporary account of an abortive Muslim slave revolt in Malta; FREIRE, Manuel Tomás da Silva; 1749; (Retrieved 2019-09-11) [↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]
2. The Maltese Cross: A Strategic History of Malta; Dennis Angelo Castillo; 2006[↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]
3. The Decline of the Order of St John in the 18th century; Sandro Sciberras; (Retrieved 2019-09-11) [↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]
4. Patriotism, deception and censorship; Robert Thake; 2013[↩]
5. Houses in Merchants’ Street, Valletta; Victor F. Denaro; Melitensiawth.com; (Retrieved 2019-09-11) [↩][↩][↩]

Remember: links were correct at time of publication.