Nobility, Faith and Masculinity
The Hospitaller Knights of Malta, C.1580-c.1700
Book
Paperback/Softback
336 pages
978-1-4411-4990-9 (ISBN)
Description
This is an important study of elite European noblemen who joined the Order of Malta. The Order - functioning in parallel with the convents that absorbed the surplus daughters of the nobility - provided a highly respectable outlet for sons not earmarked for marriage. The process of becoming a Hospitaller was a semi-structured one, involving clear-cut (if flexible) social and financial requirements on the part of the candidate, and a mixture of formal and informal socialization into the ways of the Order. Once enrolled, a Hospitaller became part of a very hierarchical and ethnically mixed organisation, within which he could seek offices and status. This process was delineated by a complex interaction of internal factors - hierarchy, patriarchy and age - set within external mechanisms such as papal patronage and interference. This book is innovative in its methodology, drawing on a wide range of sources and applying historiographical approaches not previously brought to bear on the Order.
Reviews / Votes
...Buttigieg describes very well an institution that reflected, as one would expect, seventeenth-century Western society... thinking about this topic has led him to some extraordinarily interesting sources. He gives us insights into the world of the knights and their attitudes to dress, modes of behaviour and sex. His book is both thought-provoking and a good read... -- The Tablet ... Nobility, Faith and Masculinity- is as dense with facts as you would expect a history book to be- but there's nothing cold or clinical about [Emanuel's] treatment of the Order. The Knights are flesh-and-blood mortals, mostly honourable yet fallible, largely holy yet frequently deviating from the Church's teachings, truly brave yet plagued by the same fears and superstitions that beset so many others at the time. One-dimensional they are not. -- Sunday CircleMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-4411-4990-9 (9781441149909)
DOI
CBID177055
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Emanuel Buttigieg is a Lecturer in early modern history at the University of Malta. He read for a Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge, under the supervision of Dr Mary Laven (Jesus College).
Content
Introduction / 1. Becoming a Hospitaller / 2. Hospitaller Ranks: Hierarchy, Patriarchy and Age / 3. Religious Identity, Beliefs and Practices / 4. The Body, Chastity and Sexuality / 5. Violence and Punishments / Conclusion: Towards a Cultural History of the Order of Malta / Epilogue / Appendix: Popes, Grand Masters, Bishops and Inquisitors c.1580-c.1700 / Bibliography / Index