ADRIAN STRICKLAND scrutinises the sarcophagus in the co-cathedral.

1995 was the fifth centenary of the birth of Jean Parisot de la Valette, the man destined to be instrumental in halting the maritime, westward advance of the Turks and who consequently changed the course of European history. In the island of Malta, where the dramatic siege of 1565 took place, a number of events have been organised to mark the half millennium of the birth of this great man.

This article about Grand Master de la Valette’s funerary monument in the crypt of the chapel of the Holy Crucifix, under the presbytery in Saint John’s Co-Cathedral, is a small part of this tribute.

The yellow sandstone sarcophagus, in which the mortal remains of Grand Master de Valette were finally laid to rest, lies on the epistle side of the crypt and is placed within the alcove formed by one of the five arches. It is closed by a bronze covercle which, according to Sir Hannibal Scicluna in The Church of Saint John in Valletta, bears a “high relief figure, of life size, of the Grand Master, also in bronze. With hands crossed on chest, the effigy of this great crusader conveys a powerful impression of the character of a man of high ideals and deep faith: a firm-but-beloved commander to whom not Malta alone but all Europe, and perhaps the world, owes more than is now generally remembered.”

The eulogy in Latin, with some words in Greek, engraved on the covercle was composed by the Grand Master’s Latin secretary, the English Knight Fra Oliver Starkey. The text is reproduced on page 253 of Sir Hannibal’s book; the following is a translation:

To Almighty God

and the undying memory of our illustrious brother

Jean de Vallette, of France

After many and various actions at Tripoli in Africa, the whole of Numidia, and throughout all Greece, carried out with vigour and success by land and sea, by general consent of the whole Order he was elected Master and Prefect

He increased the opinion long formed of him by freeing Malta in the year of our Lord 1565 from the siege of Sulieman, while the Christian princes hesitated, by preserving the ancient city and castle, by banishing the Turks from the whole island, by freeing both seas of pirates, by founding the new city of Valletta as a firm bastion against the enemies of our Religion and as an everlasting monument to the name of Valette and France,

with the greatest speed and remarkable skill.

He died on the 21st April in the year of our Lord 1568 on the very day on which eleven years before he had become Master of the Order.

He was a terror to his foes and beloved by

his friends.

Hence deservedly he was known by all as

‘The shield of the people and the destroyer of the

enemy.’

He lived 73 years, six months and 17 days.

Fra Louis de Mailloc Sacquenville,

a knight of the same Order

Lord of Croxville and Saint Malvite,

first steward of the above mentioned Prince,

mindful of the gifts received from him has caused

this tomb to be built in his honour at his own expense

in the year of our Lord 1580.

Closer to the altar and on the same side of the crypt is the yellow sandstone sarcophagus of Malta’s first Grand Master, Philippe de Villiers L’Isle Adam; while opposite is another of de Vallette’s predecessors, Grand Master Hugo de Loubenx Verdalle. Their sarcophagi are covered with marble coverlets, bearing their effigies beautifully carved in high relief. Centrally and opposite the altar lie the remains of Grand Master Jean Levesque de la Cassiere, in a similar sandstone sarcophagus.

De Valette’s first resting place was, to quote Sir Hannibal again, “in the subterrene of the Parochial Church of the Order, erected by him under the name of Our Lady of Victory, where it was his custom to spend many hours in solitary prayer.”

All of the sarcophagi in the crypt are borne on the backs of heraldic animals, mostly taken from the shields of arms of the Grand Masters. While la Cassiere’s rests on lions and de Verdalle’s on wolves, Grand Master de Vallette’s rests on his gerfalcon and lion.

We are fortunate in this day and age to benefit from the marvels of science and to be able to reproduce in colour, illustrations of what Grand Master de Valette’s monument actually looks like today.

The monument is essentially in two parts: firstly, the sarcophagus, which as we have seen was built in 1580 at the expense of Fra Louis de Mailloc Sacquenville. The arms of this knight, encircled by a rosary, appear on the bronze covercle in the centre and in base of the inscription at the Grand Master’s feet. The same shield also appears below the exquisitely-carved arms of Grand Master de Valette at the centre of the sarcophagus.

The arms of the order, Gules a cross Argent in the first and fourth quarters, are quartered with the family arms of Grand Master de Valette, Gules a gerfalcon Argent impaling Gules a lion rampant Or, in the second and third. This is the usual manner to indicate the arms of a Grand Master of the order. This shield of arms is encircled by a rosary and placed within an ornate oval frame supported by a gerfalcon on the dexter and a lion on the sinister. Whereas the former is fortunate to have had a small plinth or compartment upon which to stand, the latter does not. This lion however, bears a remarkable resemblance to that carved in the second and third quarters of the arms of Grand Master de la Cassiere, whose sarcophagus lies only a few feet away. One suspects they are by the hand of the same master craftsman.

The ornate frame surrounding de Valette’s arms all but conceals in its folds two small fleurs-de-lys, and when this simple innocent decoration is noted also on the top edge of the shield of Grand Master L’Isle Adam, and similarly on that of de la Sengle, as well as on the pommel of the sword of Cardinal de Verdalle, all of whom were French, one might conclude it is more than just coincidence!

Above Grand Master de Valette’s arms, probably to counterbalance de Mailloc’s shield of arms in base, is the face of an ogre, with heavy brows, long moustaches and a fearful grin. Similar faces are found on de la Cassiere’s arms, strengthening the conviction that the two are made by the same hand. Strangely enough, the skulls, bones and hourglasses, found on other monuments and ledger stones in the crypt and in the lapidary, do not appear on the earlier monuments in the crypt.

Although both the gerfalcon and the lion in de Valette’s arms are shown with one leg raised and indeed are the same beings when acting as heraldic supporters, their attitude while bearing the heavy sarcophagus on their backs is different, and while they are of necessity couchant, or lying down, only the gerfalcon raises one leg!

The sarcophagus itself is covered with a massive bronze lid, upon which the effigy of the Grand Master lies. He wears his armour, covered with a sourtout showing the shield of arms of the order on his chest and upper arms. His helmet and gauntlets are on either side of his feet, while his hands are joined across his chest in perpetual prayer.

The second part of the funerary monument to de Valette consists of what has been affixed to the wall of the crypt within the alcove behind his sarcophagus. In the apex of the arch, his arms are carved on a circular convex shield, again supported by the gerfalcon and lion, but in different attitudes due to the curvature of the arch. Beneath these arms on a while marble slab are the words:

DOMS

ILLI ASIAE LIBYAEQ PAVQR TVTELAQ

QUONDAM

EVROPAE EDOMITIS SACRA PER ARMA

GETIS

PRIMUS IN HAC ALMA QUAM CONDIDIT

VRBE SEPVLTVS

VALLETTA AETERNO DIGNUS HONORE

IACET

Roughly translated as:

To Almighty God our Saviour

That terror of Asia and Libya and once the saviour

Of Europe,

after defeating the Turks in holy war was the first

to be buried in this the beloved city which he

founded worthy of undying honour

Beneath this inscription, between two shields of arms, is a central floral motif reminiscent of the tree of life of prehistory. The shield on the left may be blazoned as Gules three mallets upright Argent, that is, a red shield with three upright silver mallets.

The second shield may be blazoned as Argent a bend Gules charged with a crescent (probably a mark of difference for cadency).

In plain language, a silver shield with a red diagonal band, upon which is a crescent.

Both these shields of arms have a “chief” of the order, indicating they were Balis or bailiffs.

When such a shield is encircled by a rosary, this indicates a professed Bali.

The former shield bears the arms of Fra Louis de Mailloc Sacqenville, whose family (according to Reitstapp’s Armorial General) hailed from Normandy, while the other shows the arms of Fra Jean de Soubiran Arifat, whose family, according to the same source, was from Landuedoc.

Another Latin inscription is found on the marble slab beneath these arms, reading as follows:

TANTAM TANTI VIRI MEMORIAM

TANTVMQ HYERSOLIMITANO MILITTI

VIRTVTIS STIMVLVM PRIVS HUMI IACENTEM

F.LUDOVICUS DE

MAILLOC SACQENVILLE

F.IO.DE SOVBIRAN

ARIFAT

IN EMINENTIOREM IACEM ERECXERE

ANNO DNI. MDXCI

Translated, this reads:

The memory of this great man and the spur of

courage

To the Hiersolomitan Militia, first lying in the

ground

Fra Louis de Mailloc Sacquenville and Fra Jean

De Soubiran arifat

have here raised to a nobler light

The year of our Lord 1591

To feel the sombre presence of de Valette and the 16th century warrior monks, there is no substitute but to kneel in the dimly-lit crypt dedicated to the Holy Crucifix.

There, below the presbytery of the Co-Cathedral of St John in the city built by Grand Master de Valette, a few feet away from the hustle and bustle of modern everyday life in Malta’s capital city, one can steal a silent moment to pause in prayer.

If this article will help to draw you to that sanctuary, it will have served its purpose.

Adrian Strickland is the former Ambassador of Malta to The Netherlands. He is the editor of “Malta from The Hague in the 18th century”: two Dutch travel journals by W.H. van Nieuwerkerke and Johann Meerman; illustrated with about 70 drawings and paintings of the Swiss artist Louis Ducros.

This article first appeared in the Summer 1995 issue of “Treasures of Malta”, which is published by “Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti”. “Treasures of Malta” is a magazine about art and culture which is published three times a year, and is available from all leading bookshops