Nicholas McDermott
Research student, History and Welsh History, School of History, Archaeology and Religion
Research
Research interests
- Medieval History
- Slavery
- Military orders
- Crusades
- The Mediterranean
Thesis
Hospitaller slavery from the conquest of Rhodes to the siege of Malta
My research seeks to highlight the significance of slavery to the Hospitallers as a system that developed after the fall of acre, 1291, and was an intrinsic part of the operations of the order. The system that the order put in place lasted into the early modern period, in the year 1800 Napoleon conquered Malta and found 2000 slaves still held by the order. The orders archives provides detailed documentation of the use of slaves and allows for an insight into a unique slave system operated by a Christian military order.
