First Session of the Conference Charles V and His Grand Chancellor Mercurino Di Gattinara

First Session of the conference Charles V and his Grand Chancellor Mercurino di Gattinara. Malta, Fort St. Angelo 9-11 June 2000

From Peregrinationes II, a publication of the Accademia Internazionale Melitense

Opening

A historical and academic homage to the Emperor Charles V, with an extraordinary commemorative meeting and exhibition was held from 9 to 11 June in Fort St. Angelo in the presence of H.M.E.H. the Prince and Grand Master, Fra' Andrew Bertie, H.E. the President of Malta, Prof. Guido de Marco, the Grand Chancellor, Amb. Count Don Carlo Marullo di Condojanni, Rector of the International Academy, H. E. Cardinal Pio Laghi, the Minister of Education of Malta, Hon. Louis Galea, and the Rector of the University of Malta, Prof. Roger Ellul Micallef. The event was organised by the Order of Malta to commemorate the donation of the islands of Malta, Gozo and Comino and of Tripoli by the Emperor Charles V, King of Spain, to the Knights of St. John after the loss of Rhodes. Ambassadors accredited to the Holy See and to the Order, personalities of the cultural world and civil and religious authorities participated.

The embassies of the countries historically linked to the figure of Charles V, such as Italy, Austria, Spain and Malta, supported the initiative and experts and historians delivered papers during the conference, co- ordinated by the President of the International Academy, Prof. Paolo Caucci von Saucken. A parallel event was devoted to the Meeting of Representatives of the "Order's Study Centres" organised by the Accademia Internazionale Melitense.

Within the framework of the International Conference, the Grand Chancellor Amb. Carlo Marullo di Condojanni was received by the President of Malta Prof. Guido de Marco, to whom he presented the members of the diplomatic corps accredited to the Order, coming coming from all continents to participate in the meeting. In his address, the Grand Chancellor recalled how Charles V's assignment of the island to the knights launched a new destiny for Malta, which from that moment on started to become a people and nation by separating itself from the Kingdom of Sicily, following Charles V's own idea of Europe.

The Malta of today, to complete its political experience, will soon enter the European Community, and the presence of ambassadors from numerous European countries to the conference is certainly a good omen for its integration into Europe in the near future. The Order, added Amb. Marullo, and the government of Malta can work together for the respect of human rights and peace for populations in their awareness that in Europe one is formed and to Europe one must refer. With this hope, the Order's Grand Chancellor ended his address to President de Marco, who in turn stressed the close ties of tradition and action that link the Republic of Malta with the Order of the Knights of Malta. The people of Malta, he said, owe much to the assignment of the island to the Knights, because their current independence is due precisely to the presence of the same Knights, which led it to develop a political entity separate from that of the other islands of the Kingdom of Sicily. In conclusion, the President hoped for the Knights' increasing presence on Malta following the forms of co-operation for which negotiations are underway.

A particularly warm climate was fostered by the encounter with the ambassadors accredited to the Order, enabling talks at the highest level that will certainly bear fruit. For the occasion, the Order's Magistral Post Office issued a stamp commemorating the Fifth Centenary of Charles V. The first session of the International Conference in Fort St. Angelo opened with an exhibition of the original document in which Emperor Charles V ceded the archipelago of Malta and Tripoli to the Knights of St. John. In inviting those present to say the Pater Noster in Latin, Cardinal Laghi referred to the universality of this language, "in which Charles V's document was written, with the aid of a cardinal since, in an epoch in which countries were extremely united, everything was universal", as on this island of Malta that "I consider represents universality very well".

The President of Malta, H.E. Prof. Guido de Marco, referred to the "universality of the culture of the times" in the address to the assembly which the rector of the academy had invited him to give. "Latin has played the significant role of a unifier of culture, helping to create the great universality of Europe. And this is the origin of this maison commune that was Europe and that is Europe". Referring to the exhibition of historical photographs and documents he stressed that: "there is a certain continuity in the European culture to which we all belong," and added that "if one compares yesterday's events with those of today and tomorrow, in the imperial document ceding the island of Malta and Tripoli to the Knights of St. John and others in the exhibition, we can find the evidence of a Euro-Mediterranean bond that finds its highest expression precisely on Malta". Examining further this bond, the President stated that "it is a golden thread linking Malta as a European country to the Mediterranean of which it is a part, and enables one understand to what the Mediterranean signifies for Europe and how the stability and security of Europe depends on the stability and security of the Mediterranean. And this is the future," he added, "the present and the future. When we study the past, we are inclined to look at it as the past and only the past." One must instead look at history "with a sense of how past events have shaped present events and how they will contribute, to an even greater extent, to making the history of tomorrow". Concluding, the President affirmed that "the Order's return to Fort St. Angelo represents a positive judgement on the past and," he added, "therefore it is only right that the Order is again in St. Angelo."

His Most Eminent Highness the Prince and Grand Master, Frà Andrew Bertie then addressed those present, stressing the epochal significance of the deed of Charles V, "which marked the start of the third or Maltese period of the Order's history, a period which saw yet another epic siege and the construction of marvellous churches and palaces in Valletta, still to be admired today. It is a great privilege," he added, thanking the president and the Maltese Government, "to be able to see the original and - if I may say so - definitive deed of the nation here". The Grand Master then congratulated the Rector of the Accademia Internazionale Melitense, Carlo Marullo di Condojanni, "for the initiatives and endeavours which have led to the centenary celebrations and which have enabled us all to meet here". He also thanked the Ambassador of Spain, Carlos de Abella, "for his great efforts to promote the participation of so many ambassadors whose presence, with that of the Cardinalis Patronus, has helped to make this symposium so significant". He then expressed his appreciation to Comm. Fra' John Edward Critien and to the President of the Maltese Association Roger de Giorgio for their work in setting up the exhibition and in organising the conference. Concluding, the Grand Master praised the speakers and experts from the various countries for their historical analysis and research into "such a difficult period in our history, but which ended with the definitive establishment of the Order on Malta".

The Grand Chancellor and Rector of the Academy, Amb. Carlo Marullo di Condojanni, then introduced the conference, welcoming all the guests and in particular the representative of H.M. the King of Spain, the Ambassador to the Holy See, the representative of the President of the Italian Republic, the Ambassador of Italy to Malta. He referred to the historic bonds between the Sovereign Order and Malta, created with Charles V's deed ceding the island to the Knights of St. John, and also to the plausible theory of a relationship between the Grand Chancellor Mercurino di Gattinara and his nephew the Grand Prior of Messina. With regards to this deed, which was certainly of historic significance for the Order, he stressed the Accademia Internazionale Melitense's firm intention to use the conference as a starting point for continuing a debate and a dialogue, also by means of a scholarship to be instituted by the academy. In referring to the Order's initiatives sponsored by the academy in other nations and the co-ordination which is increasingly often being asked to carry out, the Rector announced the establishment of three departments in the academy which, with their multidisciplinary character, will enrich and enhance the Order's global reach: the Historical-Cultural Department, the Medical-Scientific Department and the Department for Diplomatic Studies.

The creation of the Department for Diplomatic Studies, the Rector observed, had already been discussed at the meeting of the Order's diplomatic service on 29 and 30 May in Milan, with the idea of creating the basis for training and refresher courses for the future members of the Order's Diplomatic Corps. It was also planned to create and reconstruct an archive on the activities of the Order's diplomatic relations and works in the territories where it is present, with the objective of establishing a post-graduate master's course. This could be a goal for the near future on the catholic plane and on the presence of the Order on Malta, as a body with experiences in different countries and in different situations, the rector concluded

The conference continued with the address by the Minister of Education, Hon. Louis Galea, who acknowledged the Accademia Internazionale Melitense's merit of having consolidated and strengthened the bond of friendship between the Sovereign Order and Malta through its initiatives and its cultural activities organised in Fort St. Angelo with the help of its Ministry of Culture and institutions. He expressed his gratitude to the Order and the academy "for having enabled the island of Malta to take part in the celebrations in honour of Charles V". The minister then stressed the dual "internationality" of the conference, represented by the experts coming from various countries, whose "papers shed new light on local and European historical facts," and "by the presence of a great number of ambassadors." Addressing the Prince and Grand Master, the minister thanked him "for having followed the example of your predecessors - who have founded schools of mathematics, medicine and other disciplines, as well as the university itself - by creating during your magistry the Accademia Internazionale Melitense, and for having chosen Fort St. Angelo as its headquarters. We benefit from your presence and we are certain we can rely on your constant co-operation". The speeches opening the conference concluded with that of the Rector of Malta University, Prof. Roger Ellul-Micallef, who, besides declaring that the assignment of the island to the Order was a milestone in the island's history, stressed that alongside the numerous buildings, splendid auberges and churches, the most important thing the Order did was to have established on these islands, as soon as it arrived, the first hospital service, to be followed by the schools of medicine and mathematics and, later on, an entire university. "There is no doubt," continued Prof. Ellul-Micallef, "that these islands benefited from the presence of the Order when we had a common European home established here on Malta. I believe, he concluded, that no other European country had people from different European states coming to live and work together as happened here."