New book looks into the history of the palace armoury

One of the main reasons why the knights and Maltese troops failed to resist the French in 1798 was because the administration was not functioning properly and the shortcomings can be best seen in the way the armoury was mismanaged, a new book shows.

Armoury of the Knights, a study of the Palace Armoury, written by Stephen C. Spiteri and published by MidSea Books Ltd is due to be launched shortly. It shows that the armoury set-up was continually plagued by a critical lack of armourers, a shortage of cleaning materials, and poor storage facilities, much to the detriment of the military hardware which grew increasingly unserviceable and was consumed by rust, and which frequently had to be written off or sold as scrap metal.

"In the end, the whole logistical system simply crumbled under the pressure of the lightning invasion of the French.

"The reports of the distribution of bad powder, unserviceable firearms, and the wrong type of ammunition to the Maltese troops that are encountered in many a chronicle of the French invasion of Malta in 1798 have generally been attributed to subversion attempts by fifth columnists. In reality these were the symptoms of an inefficient logistical set-up that had long ceased to function," Mr Spiteri writes.

Mr Spiteri is the superintendent of fortifications and is an authority on military-related architecture, about which he has published extensive studies.

In his latest book, he devotes his attention to the collection and military storehouses of the Knights of the Order of St John. In his study, Mr Spiteri puts the armoury collection in a historical context and gives the history of how the pieces came about.

Contrary to the popular belief introduced by two UNESCO experts who were sent to Malta in 1969, the Palace Armoury was not a showpiece of weapons but a real military storehouse, he says.

"What is left today in the armoury is a fraction of what this historical place once contained. Yet, despite the breathtaking magnitude of the spoliation that was to hit it during the course of the 19th century, the collection still remains a unique and formidable one."

Among the collection, one finds the intact suit of armour of Grandmaster Wignacourt as well as muskets and pistols made by P. Girard et Compagnie. The latter were bought in 1759 as part of an arms deal by Grandmaster Pinto. Some 20,000 muskets were bought in that deal.

Mr Spiteri argues that the armoury today needs to have better conservation facilities as well as the necessary human resources to maintain the collection. He also argues for its relocation to the first floor of the Palace "in order to give the unique collection the prestige and historical continuity it deserves".

One of the greatest blows to have ever been dealt to the armoury occurred in 1975, when the armour was hastily removed from its original gallery and transferred to the ground floor halls in order to make way for a new house of parliament.

"With this relocation the collection forfeited not only its claim to being one of the few armouries in the world to have survived in its original site but it also lost most of its dignity since it was literally dumped haphazardly into what were once the Palace stables, a totally inadequate and ill-equipped place for any type of museum," he said.

Mr Spiteri argues that of all the historical relics that have survived from the days when Malta was ruled by the Order of St John, none demonstrates a more personal and tangible link to the knights themselves than the harnesses and weapons of steel found in the Armoury.

"Yet, in spite of the importance and significance of this unique collection or arms and armour, the armoury and its history have rarely been the focus of any serious study. Basic questions of when the armoury was set up, how it was administered and equipped with weapons and how it was administered and functioned were never asked let alone answered. Most of the information available was a few isolated facts draped in much speculation and myth."

The armoury was established as a museum in 1860, but the only serious attempt to make a scholarly analysis came some 100 years ago, when the Governor of Malta, Lord Grenfell, called in Guy Francis Laking, then one of the world's leading experts on armour, to study and evaluate the collection.

A descriptive catalogue of the most notable pieces of the collection was produced, but nothing was published about the history of the armoury itself.

Mr Spiteri's new book has set out to fill the gaps. The focus of the book remains the history of the armoury as a military department but it also deals with the administration of war.

His studies revealed that the armoury passed through times of great activity, corresponding with times of national emergencies caused by threats of attack or invasion, when the military equipment was brought up to date with massive purchases of new weapons, and ones of virtual neglect, in times of peace, when very little attention was paid to the hardware.

Records show that over 40,000 muskets were available at one time, which implies that over 100 a day had to be cleaned for them to be serviced just once a year. This alone needed a lot of resources that were not always available, leading to rapid deterioration.

The book also rectifies many myths about the armoury. The book is available in both paperback and hardback editions and in CD-Rom format on special request. The author's royalties are being donated to the heritage group Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna.