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Malte Début 12/05/06 11:29 Page 3 Malte Début 12/05/06 11:29 Page 3 L’Ordre de Malte au XVIIIe siècle Des dernières splendeurs à la ruine L’ORDRE DE M ALTE au XVIIIe siècle Malte Début 12/05/06 11:29 Page 4 REMERCIEMENTS Nous remercions vivement Madame Marie-Amélie Dewavrin, Présidente de l’Institut pour la Culture Maltaise (IMC) pour son soutien à cette publication. ISBN : 2-912946-41-7 © EDITIONS BOUCHENE, Paris, 2002. Malte Début 12/05/06 11:29 Page 5 ALAIN BLONDY L’Ordre de Malte au XVIIIe siècle Des dernières splendeurs à la ruine EDITIONS BOUCHENE Malte Début 12/05/06 11:29 Page 6 Abréviations ACM, Archives de la cathédrale (Mdina, Malte) BNF, Bibliothèque Nationale de France (Paris) AIM, Archives de l’Inquisition (Mdina, Malte) CO, Colonial Office (Londres) ANP, Archives Nationales (Paris) CRYPTA, Grotte de St Paul (Rabat, Malte) AOM, Archives de l’Ordre de Malte (Rome) FO, Foreign Office (Londres) ASN, Archivio di Stato, Napoli (Naples) MAE, Ministère des Affaires étrangères (Paris) ASV, Archivio Segreto del Vaticano (Rome) NLM, National Library Malta (La Valette) BM, British Museum (Londres) Malte Début 12/05/06 11:29 Page 7 L’ordre hiérosolymitain avant Malte En 1048, des marchands amalfitains faisant le commerce avec l’Egypte, obtinrent du Calife, l’autorisation de construire à Jérusalem, une église latine (Santa Maria della Latina), une auberge pour les accueillir et un monastère d’hommes qu’ils confièrent aux Bénédictins du Mont Cassin. Peu après, ils furent autorisés à construire un couvent de femmes, qu’ils placèrent sous le vocable de la Magdaléenne. Devant l’afflux de chrétiens latins, ils édifièrent ensuite à l’endroit où la tradition voulait que Zacharie fît oraison quand l’ange lui annonça qu’Elisabeth était enceinte de Jean, un hôpital qu’ils dédièrent au Précurseur. Les hospitaliers qui en assuraient le service prirent alors la croix d’Amalfi et le nom d’Hospitaliers de St Jean de Jérusalem. Ils se chargèrent des pèlerins, alors que les Hospitaliers de St Lazare se chargeaient des lépreux1. En 1099, le duc de Lorraine, Godefroy de Bouillon s’empara de Jérusalem. Il dota richement l’hôpital, lui donna des privilèges et encouragea ses nobles compagnons à y prendre du service. Le maître de l’Hôpital, Gérard 2, décida alors de soumettre les Hospitaliers à la règle de St Augustin ce qui fit d’eux des religieux. Cette situation fut régularisée en 1113, par une bulle de Pascal II (1099-1118), Pie postulatio voluntatis, qui leur imposa, outre les vœux ordinaires d’obéissance, de pauvreté et de chasteté, l’obligation de recevoir, de soigner et de protéger les pèlerins. Elle prévoyait aussi que le successeur de Gérard serait élu par ses frères. Mais l’année 1118 qui vit à la fois la mort de Gérard, celle de Pascal II et celle du roi Baudoin Ier, vit aussi l’apparition d’une nouvelle forme de monachisme: les ordres militaires. Ce fut à leur imitation que le grand maître Raymond du Puy organisa donc les Hospitaliers en trois classes : les chevaliers, les chapelains ou prêtres conventuels, et les servants d’armes. Ces nouveaux statuts furent confirmés par le pape Calixte II (1119-1124); ils faisaient de l’Ordre de St Jean un ordre chevaleresque, religieux, hospitalier et militaire. En 1123, les Hospitaliers prirent le nom de chevaliers de St Jean de Jérusalem, et en 1130 ils adoptèrent l’étendard rouge à croix de St Georges blanche 3. Le 18 novembre 1267, le pape Clément IV (1265-1268) conféra le titre de Grand Maître à Hugues de Revel (1259- 1300). Repoussés de la Terre-Sainte, qu’ils gardèrent les derniers, ils se retirèrent successivement à Margat (jusqu’en 1194), Limassol de Chypre, puis Rhodes en 1310. En occupant Rhodes, les Hospitaliers devinrent un corps souverain. En 1312, ils reçurent, du concile de Vienne, la dévolution des biens des Templiers 4 1. MAE, MD Malte 5, Historia della Sacra religione e Illustrissima militia di S. Giovanni Gierosolimitano, di Giacomo Bosio, compendiata dal cav. Frà Bartolomeo del Pozzo. 2. Gérard de Martigues, dit Gérard Tenque. 3. MAE, MD Malte 27, Mémoire sur les ordres religieux (1720), 8-16. 4. Seuls l’Espagne et le Portugal refusèrent cette décision conciliaire et réunirent les biens des Templiers à leur Couronne. Malte Début 12/05/06 11:29 Page 8 8 ALAIN BLONDY qui venaient d’être supprimés, accroissant ainsi, de façon exceptionnelle, leur richesse foncière constituée de legs pieux et de fondations royales. Ils tinrent Rhodes pendant plus de deux siècles. Ils s’y défendirent brillamment des attaques des Turcs Ottomans, en 1455 et en 1480. Mais, en 1522, cédant sous le nombre, ils durent abandonner l’île à Soliman le Magnifique qui accorda au grand maître l’Isle-Adam et à ses chevaliers les honneurs de la guerre. Après quelques années d’errance, à la suite de la réconciliation entre Charles Quint et le pape Clément VII 1, l’Ordre, au traité de Castelfranco, du 24 mars 1530, se vit mettre l’archipel maltais à sa disposition. Ainsi, en ce premier tiers du XVIe siècle, l’Ordre de St Jean de Jérusalem était le seul des ordres monastiques chevaleresques créés au moment des Croisades qui subsistât 2. Son prestige était immense et quand on parlait de lui, on disait et écrivait : «la Religion». L’Isle-Adam était alors un véritable héros européen. L’Ordre était extrêmement riche de biens-fonds répartis dans tous les royaumes, mais nul ne songeait à critiquer une fortune que l’on estimait mise au service de la noble cause de la lutte contre l’Infidèle : il ne s’agissait certes plus de défendre le tombeau du Christ, mais d’empêcher l’avancée du Turc. Et pourtant, très rapidement, le XVIe siècle allait marquer un tournant essentiel pour l’Ordre. L’Ordre à Malte Charles Quint céda l’archipel maltais à l’Ordre, «avec haute et moyenne justice et tous les droits de propriété, seigneurie et pouvoir de faire exercer la souveraine justice et droit de vie et de mort, tant sur les hommes que sur les femmes qui y habitent et y habiteront ci-après, à perpétuité, de quelque ordre, qualité et condition qu’ils puissent être, avec toutes les autres raisons, appartenances et exemptions, privilèges, rentes et autres droits et immunités» et l’exempta «de tout autre service de guerre et autres choses que des vassaux doivent à leur seigneur»3. Toutefois il s’en réservait, pour lui et ses successeurs, le dominium altum et cette notion féodale ne manqua pas d’être à l’origine de nombreux conflits 4. En contrepartie, l’Ordre s’engageait à reconnaître les îles comme fief de la Couronne de Sicile, il en faisait l’hommage annuel en présentant au roi un faucon, il en demandait l’investiture à chaque nouveau règne sicilien, et il concourait à la défense du royaume de Sicile (notamment en refusant de recevoir dans ses ports aucun bâtiment d’une Puissance en guerre avec ce pays). De surcroît, il présentait à la nomination du roi, trois candidats au siège épiscopal de Malte, dont obligatoirement un sujet sicilien; il s’engageait à ne confier la charge d’Amiral de l’Ordre qu’à un chevalier de nationalité italienne. Enfin, en 1. Jules de Médicis (1523-1534). Il avait appartenu à l’Ordre des Hospitaliers. 2. Le Temple disparut en avril 1312. En 1525, l’Ordre des chevaliers teutoniques se saborda quand son grand maître, Albert de Brandebourg, décida de se faire luthérien et de séculariser les biens de l’Ordre. 3. MAE, MD Malte 27, mémoire cité. L’original est conservé à la Bibliothèque nationale de Malte. 4. Voir Joseph Carrière, De Justitia et Jure, Paris, Méquignon fils, 1839, vol. 1, section I, chap.1: De natura dominii, 25, n°18: «Dominium proprietatis duplex satis comuniter distinguitur a théologis, altum et humile seu bassum. Dominium altum dicitur jus quod habet princeps vel respublica, disponendi de bonis privatorum propter bonum comune...» Malte Début 12/05/06 11:29 Page 9 L’ORDRE DE MALTE AU XVIIIe SIÈCLE 9 cas de transfert du chef-lieu de l’Ordre dans un autre endroit, il acceptait que Malte revînt au roi de Sicile. En fait, par cet acte de cession, le futur Empereur réservait à la Couronne de Sicile le droit suprême d’administration de l’archipel maltais; l’Ordre en était (ou n’en était que) le propriétaire immédiat et usufruitier, sans beaucoup d’obligations ni limitation de durée. Néanmoins, cet acte faisait de l’Ordre un souverain, achevant par une nature juridique supplémentaire, sa complexité politique : – c’était un ordre religieux composé de moines-soldats, dirigés par un Grand Maître élu et dont le supérieur était le Pape; – c’était une milice sacrée dont la fonction militaire était de s’opposer aux entreprises turques et aux gênes des Barbaresques contre le commerce méditerranéen; – c’était une puissance économique européenne très importante en raison des biens-fonds qu’il possédait dans tous les royaumes catholiques et qui constituaient la source des revenus des chevaliers comme du chef-lieu; – c’était enfin un micro-État souverain, officiellement vassal du roi de Sicile, mais dont la neutralité avait été reconnue et garantie par les Puissances catholiques. C’était en fait un État et non un pays puisque les habitants indigènes se voyaient privés de tout accès au pouvoir : les nobles maltais ne pouvaient entrer dans l’Ordre et les roturiers, pour y avoir fonction, devaient changer de nationalité. Malte Début 12/05/06 11:29 Page 10 Malte Début 12/05/06 11:29 Page 11 PRÉLIMINAIRES L’organisation de l’Ordre LES MEMBRES DE L’ORDRE On oublie trop souvent que l’Ordre était composé, comme toute la société civile d’Ancien Régime, de clercs, de nobles et de roturiers.
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