Under orders from the Pope, in order to maintain order in Malta, the Order place an order for short pistols, and long pistols, in that order. Pistols were delivered in orderly fashion.
Just as a random bit of trivia about the island of Malta, a long time ago when ships docked the import tax for their good was actually barrels of topsoil from their country since Malta is basically a giant sandstone rock. Most of the soil on the island used for farming today came from this.
For some reason, the phrase "the order from the.. order" got funnier every time I heard it. (I audibly snorted with laughter when Ian said it the second time. Good thing I wasn't drinking milk.)
Conn Clark If my memory serves,there was a particular size of late Medieval cannon called a falcon. Trying to think of some of the other names,but it has been too many years.
A _Falcione_ is a short wide bladed sword-like weapon common in Europe from the 11th to the 16th century. It varied in form, sometimes resembling a cross hilted machete and other times with a sweeping blade much like a short scimitar.
It's important to remember, when handling the holy handgrenade, that first shalt thou take out the Holy Pin, then shalt thou count to three, no more, no less.
The Grand Order of the Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem, Rhodes, Mallta and Rome, still exists, in Rome. Owing allegiance only to the Popes they are the world's smallest independent polity. There is a grand palace in the city centre and the Grand Masters Priory can be found at no.3 Piazza dei Cavallieri di Malta (address bit of a come down but great location), on the Aventine Hill in Rome, where the order has a church. They also took a 90 year lease recently on Castel St. Angelo on Malta itself. Perhaps the Order may have to think about placing a new order for the Order?
The Knights of St. John are probably my favorite group, mostly because Age of Empires 3 focuses on them and I love their organization. I would love to own one of these....
And King of Spain (with its territories in América, the Philipines, Marian and Carolinian Islands) as Carlos l, beside the titles of King of : Napoli; Sicily; and Sardinia just for good measure.
It wasn't the pope that granted them Malta, but Charles V, the Hapsburg emperor and crucially king of Sicily, which Malta belonged to, leased it to them Edit: Dunno if the pope was involved, he certainly could have been, Charles V was rather fond of the catholic church, but Malta wasn't owned by the pope, so it wasn't his to give.
Andvare The island was gifted by Charles V. The sovereignty was granted by the Pope. Charles turned the order from knights errant into domiciled knights with a fief. The Pope turned the order from domiciled knights into a state, thus making them theoretically independent of Charles' liegeship. Popes were rather wary of Charles V due to his habit of marching down the Italian peninsula to besiege them.
The backstory of these guns is what really makes them interesting to learn about to me. Those look to be in great shape. The brass work stands out. Thanks for the video.
That I suppose is the trouble of living on a prime stratigic spot. Everyone want's it! A few years back there was a lot of concern when Russia started to excert influence on the Island. Doubt it will ever change.
Russia is Europe's new bogeyman. The Soviet Union wasn't one, oddly enough. Europeans like their Bogeymen not real... like the Elders of Zion. Real threats they tend to suck up to.
In the 1700's it was the standard for a cavalryman to have a pair of pistols holstered in front of the saddle, so the short pair were likely intended for cavalry use. Longer-barreled pistols with belt hooks were issued to naval troops. Given that the Order did most of it's fighting aboard ships during the 1700's, it's likely that the belt hooks were added to the short cavalry pistols so they could be easily carried in naval engagements.
Went to Malta two years ago on honeymoon. Absolutely loved the history there.... and the firearm displays. Great video, great looking guns. Quite incredible condition on them.
I'm loving this series on Malta - When I was a kid we'd usually travel there on vacations, and I vividly remember the feel of the island, it feels shrouded in its history. Back then I only cared about sandy beaches and the burning hot sun. But these videos have really given me an urge to go back and sink my teeth into the past of the island, and it's culture.
“Made to the pattern of the French 1873/4” Should that be 1773, or were the French actually still producing flintlocks in the 1870s? Edit: I see the date in the description now, 1733 makes much more sense!
Should be 1733 (as the name of the video implies). Ian mentions the Maltese having these for roughly 30 years until 1798 - meaning they had them since roughly 1768, which would make this a 30 odd year old model by the time the Maltese signed the contract with Gerard & Compagnie to produce these.
If you ever find yourself in Rhodes, be sure to tour the Order’s Palace of the Grand Masters. It’s a beautiful castle chock full of Roman statuary and mosaics “liberated” from North Africa and reassembled in Greece. Worth a trip to the island just for that.
For anyone who feels bad for the Ottomans just remember that, at this time, they practiced enforced concubinage. Whole lotta Christian travelers wound up in Ottoman harems after meeting with Ottoman or Moroccan pirates/corsairs.
Yeah, ugly times. All of the knightly orders became pretty damn shady, if they didn't start out shady to begin with. The Teutonic Order did some pretty heinous stuff during the Baltic Crusades. Also little know fact for many, there were in fact Baltic Crusades. XD
Yeah. Hundreds of years before the sickness of feminism started growing in the West these women were taken in, protected, fed and clothed. They might have had to give up the goods now and then. Pretty sure they hated it.
The idea of a bunch of heavily armed religious fanatics sailing around the med playing pirate with the blessing of the pope is both utterly brilliant and terrifying.
It occurs to me that the British Empire owes a lot to Napoleon: he knocked over the Spanish, the Portuguese and the Dutch, who were early empire-builders, then when he was defeated, the Brits said, 'Oh I say, look at all theae territories just lying around': South Africa, Sri Lanka, India... not to mention the French sold the middle of N America to the Americans, to pay their war debt.
This was a crazy time for manufacturing. As it was produced through smaller, unique workshops;. They were made prior to the more modern, factory assembly line production, reminiscent of modern day manufacturing techniques.
If the patterns follow British military doctrine of the time the short barrel pairs would have been for cavalry and infantry, and the long 12 inch barrel ones would have been naval issue. One of the ways to easily spot a Brit naval issue flintlock is the 12 inch barrels and belt hooks. I love these old pistols....so graceful, but so damn expensive....
Actually, it was GRANTED to the order by the Holy Roman Emperor, who owned it as he was also the King of Sicily. The annual tribute was a Maltese Falcon...yes, that one. The Pope approved the grant, as the order was under the aegis of the Holy See.
We had our honeymoon on Malta. I saw where my uncles served in WW2 and the Maltese people were lovely. We bought a model of a Neolithic fertility goddess. My wife had been told in 1990 she would never be able to have children. We came back to England in June 2005 and my wife was expecting twins by September 2005!!!! Beware the goddess........unless you're happy with multiple births!!!
He's a clown (from the name, at least, heheheh!!). And a misinformed one too. Still thinking that Malta si sunder some Socialist regime. As if anything Socialist still remains.
Hmm, as for which is for which, my thought is thr longer barreled one may be for the cavalry due to the much longer belt hook. Would have less risk of getting jostled loose and losing your pistol on horseback.
Holy hell, i think i actually have a pistol like this hiding somewhere at my grandfather's house. Havent seen it in years and last i remember its in terrible shape but now i need to take another check!
I imagine the pairs were for cavalry carried in holsters on the saddle, and the longer ones for ship board use. That might actually account for there being fewer long ones; loss due to corrosion, lost overboard, etc.
Thank you for the video of these excellent pistols. The close up video was very interesting. You could see that these saw a lot of service. It's curious that they made a long barrel version of the same gun? Was this for improved accuracy or for appearance? It would be fun to test both pistols to see how much of a difference there was between them.
Boney himself wasn't defeated at Aboukir Bay, his fleet under Adm. Brueys was soundly routed by Nelson. Brueys and his flagship done blowed up in battle. Boney was off campaigning inland and shooting the nose of the sphinx (allegedly).
It seems strange that the short barrelled guns come in pairs, but they are identical and not handed. The belt hooks are made so that the guns would be worn on the same hip, or if one was worn on the left side it would be facing forward for gripping with the right hand. Maybe you shoot one and then put the gun away and draw the other and shoot with your right hand.
Show one of those in any street of my city and you'll be taken 4 a serial killer...That's why i love this Channel... Not many gun lovers in my homeland...
I wonder, what caliber are these? These look to be fairly large bore, I've seen a handful of originals from the peroid, including iirc French 16mm ones, also in pairs, but in different pattern, a 14mm O/U and ottoman damascened/gilded one and a SxS coat pistol in 10mm bore. Just for comparison's sake.
How medieval knights became early-modern pirates. All they needed to do then was to become samurais and there you'd have the holy trinity of hollywood warrior tropes.
05:07 Please confirm: Are these really "model 1873/4" ?? They... uh... Would that not indicate that the model was developed in the years 1873 and 1874 but *SOLD in the year 1733* ?? I am SO confused right now!
My questions are, In order for the Order to receive the order, did the Order place the order as a single order? Or did the Order place the order as more than one order? When the Order received the order in what order did the Order receive the order?
