The Hospitallers as Historians

Dates
Friday, 4 November 2016, 19:30
Venue
Santa Cecilia Chapel, Ghajnsielem
Price
Free

A lecture by Dr. Paul George Pisani.

When dealing with the historiography of a particular institution, one has to be very cautious. When the historian commissioned to write the history happens to be a member of the institution or on the payroll of the same, there is a strong natural tendency to extol the qualities and merits and minimize the flaws and shortcomings. The lecture shall attempt to show how the Order of Malta was continually preoccupied to have its annals recorded for posterity, how it regulated and censored the historians' accounts and if it actually succeeded or otherwise in reaching its aim of convincing public opinion that the institution was still relevant, especially after the loss of the Holy Land.