The Knights of Malta could have been offered land in Germany under the terms of the surrender signed with General Napoleon Bonaparte in 1798, but for some reason this offer did not materialise.

The claim came to light in a ‘manuscript’ of the emperor’s memoirs which is being auctioned by Roumet Histoire Postale on a Belgian-based website – Delcampe.

The site specialises in the auctioning of collectors’ items ranging from stamps, postcards, coins, banknotes, photos, vinyl records, historic documents, art and antiquities.

The historic document, which is not signed, is in the form of a brief note which is four-and-a-half lines long and states the following:

“Through the capitulation, the commander in chief promised his influence to obtain for the Order a sovereignty in Germany which would be equivalent to the population of Malta and assure a pension of 700 French francs and the enjoyment of the property to the French and Italian knights, and the permission to return to their patria.

“The stay in Malta would count as if they had never gone out of France. The Grandmaster received 600,000 in gold or 300,000 in pension.”

According to a background note accompanying the document, the memoir was written some time after 1815 when Napoleon was in exile on the island of Saint Helena in the Atlantic Ocean, where he died in 1821.

Asked on the authenticity, the auctioning website insisted that 99% of its clients were satisfied.

Furthermore, it noted that this particular item was being sold by “a real auction house”.

Contacted by Times of Malta, historian Charles Xuereb said he would have to consult Napoleon’s memoirs written by Emmanuel-August Dieudonné, better known as Comte de Las Cases, to verify if this note had been taken from there. However, it could also be the case that this was an original unsigned folio from any of the other memoirs Napoleon dictated.

It could indicate how Bonaparte was trying to lure French and Italian knights

Xuereb said it could indicate how prior to Malta’s capitulation, Bonaparte was trying to lure French and Italian knights who constituted the majority of the Order by promising them pensions and sovereignty to support his taking of Malta.

“This could have been a strategy to entice them until he took over the island but, on the other hand, it could have transpired that he did not manage to obtain this promised property,” the historian said.

Xuereb added that according to the terms of the capitulation, known as the Convention, signed on June 12, 1798, the property in Germany does not appear to have materialised.

The note forming part of Napoleon’s memoirs about Malta’s capitulation in 1798 which is being auctioned on the internet. PHOTO: WWW.DELCAMPE.NET

What do the other articles of the Convention say?

Articles III to VI of the signed Convention, however, speak of pensions and properties in other countries.

Article III specifically allows French knights to be able to return to France “and their residence in Malta would count as residence in France”.

Article IV specifies a pension of 700 French francs for life to French chevaliers in Malta with 1,000 French francs to those who were 60 years or older.

The French Republic, adds this article, will use its good offices with the Cisalpine (at the time made up of Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna and parts of Veneto and Tuscany), Liguria (consisting of the ex-Republic of Genoa, Liguria, Capraia and the Oltregiogo region) as well as the Roman and Helvetic Republics (all four newly-formed allies of France) to agree to accord the same pensions to the knights belonging to those different nations.

Article V declares that the French Republic will use its good offices with other European powers so that they protect the rights of the chevaliers over their properties in those states.

Article VI assures the knights of their rights over properties they possess in the islands of Malta and Gozo.

The Convention was signed by Bonaparte, Bosredon de Ransijat on behalf of the Order, a noble representative of the Reign of the Two Sicilies, the Spanish ambassador and four Maltese dignitaries, namely Baron Testaferrata, lawyers Nicolò Muscat and Benedetto Schembri and Counsellor F.T. Bonanni.

“From other sources we know that in Malta 33 French knights immediately joined the French army while others (like Ransijat) was included in Malta’s administration,” Xuereb said.

“I assume that once the Convention was signed, there was no further need of wooing anyone as the Order had ceded and agreed to the terms. The Grandmaster was granted this pension in the Convention though most of it served to pay debts which he had incurred in Malta.”

As for the selling price, Xuereb said that if the note was signed by Napoleon it would be worth much more, but if signed by Las Cases or some other diarist like Bertrand, the price would be lower.

Even without signatures the original folio, if authentic, would still be worth collecting, he noted.

Xuereb cautioned that there were rare circumstances in which Napoleon’s dictation conflicted with facts.

“That is why in certain diaries, especially in the first years of his exile he used to correct documents himself after dictating them. Very rarely did he write anything himself,” he said.