Hospitaller colonization of the Americas

From the beginning of the French colonization of the Americas, members of the Knights of Malta, fief of the Sicilian Crown, had been prominent in New France and the French Antilles. By then, most of the order was made up of French aristocrats, and many French naval officers had trained with the Hospitaller navy. Many Knights had high-ranking positions in the early French colonial administration, including Aymar Chaste and Isaac de Razilly in Acadia, and Charles de Montmagny in Quebec. In 1635, Razilly suggested to the Grand Master of the order, Fra' Antoine de Paule, that the Hospitallers establish a priory in Acadia, but de Paule rejected the idea. The next Grand Master, Giovanni Paolo Lascaris, was more interested in colonial affairs. In 1642 or 1643, he was named godfather to an Abenaki convert in New France. Montmagny represented Lascaris at the baptism. Phillippe de Longvilliers de Poincy, founder of the Hospitaller colonies, began his career in a manner similar to these other administrators. Longvilliers fought the Turks in the Mediterranean and participated in the Sieges of the Isle of Ré and La Rochelle in 1627. In between, he served under Razilly in Acadia, commanding a fort. ==History==

Poincy first went to Saint Christopher in 1639 as the appointed governor under the Company of the American Islands. King Louis XIII soon after made Poincy his Lieutenant-General for the entire Caribbean. He sent an additional 300 men to reinforce and take over the small French settlement on Saint-Martin. There he negotiated the Treaty of Concordia, determining the boundary between the French and Dutch settlements that remains in place today. Poincy also established himself as the absolute ruler of the islands, resisting the authority of the failing French company. He became embroiled in conflict with the Capuchin missionaries, who disapproved of the governor's consorting with local English, Dutch, and Huguenot Protestants, and of his refusal to liberate the children of baptized slaves. The Order's proprietary rights were confirmed in a treaty with France two years later: while the king would remain sovereign, the Knights would have complete temporal and spiritual jurisdiction on their islands. The only limits to their rule were that they could send only French knights to govern the islands, and upon the accession of each new King of France they were to provide a gold crown worth 1,000 écus. Poincy continued to develop the colonies. He built strong and impressive fortifications on Saint Christopher along with churches, roads, a hospital, and his own grand residence, the Château de la Montagne. In 1657 a rebellion overthrew the Hospitaller regime on St. Croix. Poincy sent a new governor to restore order, build fortifications and a monastery, and begin to clear much of the island's forests for plantation agriculture. By the early 1660s, frustration was growing that the colonies were not turning a profit. The Order still owed money to France for the initial purchase of the islands, and on Malta the knights debated whether they should sell them back. Jean-Baptiste Colbert, much more interested in colonization than Mazarin, was now in power in King Louis XIV's court, and he applied pressure to the Knights to sell. In 1665, the Knights sold their colony to the newly formed Compagnie des Indes occidentales. Hospitaller governors on Saint Christopher • Phillippe de Longvilliers de Poincy, 1651–1660 – Governor under the Company of the American Islands from 1639 • Charles de Sales, 1660–1666 • Claude de Roux de Saint-Laurent (1666–1689) ==Legacy==

. The Knights of Malta never established another colony. However, members of the order remained active in France's navy and overseas empire. The short period of Hospitaller occupation is still remembered on the different islands. Poincy's rule on St. Kitts is remembered for the spectacle of his large, grand household, the servants all dressed in the emblem of the Knights. On St. Croix one can find frequent reference to the "seven flags" in the island's history, counting the Knights of Malta together with the United States and five European nations that have ruled it. St. Barthélemy has in its coat of arms a Maltese cross on a red fess, representing the period of Hospitaller colonization. ==See also==