“After being exposed to ‘The Passion of the Christ’ at a young age, Easter Celebrations, specifically Good Friday, has entrenched in my conscience extreme connotations with the holiday,” says Dr William Zammit, author of Kissing the gallows: a cultural history of crime, torture and punishment in Malta, 1600–1798

“While Jesus’ suffering in that film may seem extreme and brutal, it appears that this was common occurrence in the past. The period under the rule of the Knights of St John was dominated by harsh punishment to crime.”

Dr Zammit is the head of the Department of Library, Information and Archive Sciences at the University of Malta. His book features about 600 crime and punishment cases.

The accounts are the result of the original correspondence between the Inquisitor of Malta and the Vatican. In fact, Dr Zammit explains, the documents are found within the Archives of the Vatican City. 

Dr Zammit explains that contrary to the popular belief that the Inquisition dished out the harshest judgements, it was actually the Knights of St John who typically issued the cruellest punishments to offenders. 

While people may instinctively compare 16th Century society with 21st Century ideals, and view their perspectives on justice as primitive or barbaric, Dr Zammit insists that it is important to analyse the cases and their respective punishments in a 16th Century lense.

Old map showing the route of the execution procession

For instance the idea of rehabilitative justice was, as Mr Zammit puts it, “alien” to 16th Century society. Rather, the society practised what we call retributive justice, which focused on punishment. 

This form of punishment may not be unique to Malta, but torture and extreme forms of punishment will long be associated with the inquisition and the catholic nation states that dominated the European landscape at the time. 

It may be possible to put forward the notion that the very suffering of Jesus’ death may have been reflected in the punishments of the day, in that the judicators believed in the redemption of the soul through violent means. 

Procession was an important part of the execution process; in the book a detailed report on the parade of Greek and turkish pirates sheds light on this ritual. 

Three men out of out a group of 12 Greek Pirates, who had committed mutiny and were thusly sentenced to death, were first led out of a side door (in today’s St John Street). The procession was led by a crucifix and included 12 knights dressed in black and a parish priest. Money was collected during this procession.

The procession then went along St Paul’s Street to Ordinance Street (where the market stands today) then along Merchants Street, down St John’s and towards City Gate along Republic Street.

The men were hanged near where the War Memorial and bus terminus are sitauted outside city gate. They were then quartered. 

Christianity was deeply rooted in the process of punishment, in that the Knights strongly believed in the idea of the soul. This meant, as Dr Zammit explains, that days leading up to the execution would be spent with priests attempting to convert or seek repentance from the guilty party. 

In fact, regardless of the crime that was committed, as long as the offender repented or converted, he or she would be granted a Christian burial.

The Church played a unique role when it came to crime. Provided with the sacred protection of sanctuary, a number of offenders often found refuge in a Church after committing a crime. 

In these circumstances, Dr Zammit says, the offender would fall under the jurisdiction of the Bishop’s court, which often meant that the death sentence would not be issued. 

However, there were instances where Knights from the order would patiently wait outside the church until the offender made a costly error and emerged, even momentarily, out of the Church. 

Photo Daniel Cilia

Dr Zammit points to a case concerning an alleged offender who took refuge within the Church of Hal Muxi in Haz-Zebbug. Upon exiting for a couple of moments, the man was shot by a knight stationed outside the church. The man ended up dying with half of his body within the church, and the other half outside. 

For instance, on 23 March 1746, a priest from Vittoriosa named Don Pino Rizzo, murdered a woman, who turned out to be his mistress of 18-years. The priest then sought sanctuary in the oratory of the Filippini in Senglea, from where he was conducted to the Bishop’s prison.

"The murderer, licking the blood off the dagger, escaped to sanctuary in a church,” the report reads. 

However it goes on to say that “given the seriousness of the incident, with the woman being married and the case being premeditated for months, the murderer may be refused the enjoyment of immunity.”

The next report, dated on 14 February on the last day of carnival, reads that Don Rizzo “ended his days miserably without even having time to confess” in a suspected suicide.

Slaves, as Dr Zammit pointed out, got the worst treatment by far. For instance the book recalls a report of case dated on 12 March 1673 when fourteen slaves attempted to escape by boarding a Genoese pollaca and sailing out of the Grand Harbour. 

Unfortunately, The Grand Master happened to be in a house near the harbour and saw the conflict and the pollacca with the slaves on board making good its escape. He ordered that the vessel be chased and many knights around him immediately embarked on a brigantine in hot pursuit. The following morning the ship with the slaves on board was escorted back to harbour. 

The slaves were place in chains and subjected to four sessions of corda torture. The corda strappado, also known as strappado, is a form of torture wherein the victim's hands are tied behind his or her back and suspended by a rope attached to the wrists, typically resulting in dislocated shoulders.

On 1 May 1673, the fourteen slaves who attempted to escape by taking over the pollacca had their noses and ears cut off.