Fra Jean de Boisredon de Ransijat (1743–1812) was a French nobleman and Hospitaller knight who played a role in the fall of Hospitaller Malta to Revolutionary France in 1798. He was also the President of the Commission of Government during the subsequent French occupation of Malta.
Jean de Boisredon de Ransijat was born to a French noble family with deep ties to the Order of Saint John. He was related to a number of other knights within the Order's Langue of Auvergne, including his nephew Sylvain de Bosredon.[1]
Bosredon de Ransijat attained the rank of Commander and Grand Cross within the Hospitaller Order, and he was also the Secretary of the Treasury.[1] He was a supporter of the French Revolution, and his residence in Lija and his apartments at the Treasury served as meeting places for Jacobins.[2]
When the French invasion of Malta occurred in June 1798, Bosredon de Ransijat addressed a letter to Grand Master Ferdinand von Hompesch zu Bolheim in which he expressed his reluctance to fight the French and asked to remain neutral in the conflict.[3] He was briefly imprisoned in Fort St. Angelo as a result of this,[4] but he was subsequently freed and he took part in the negotiations in which the Hospitallers agreed to capitulate to the French.[3]
Bosredon de Ransijat was subsequently appointed as the President of the newly established Commission of Government.[5] In order to procure finances for the new administration, he sent missions to gather valuables from monasteries and churches, violating the terms of surrender. This was one of the main causes of the subsequent Maltese rebellion against French rule which began in September 1798.[1]
References
edit- ^ a b c Gullo, Daniel K. (31 August 2023). "Impressions of a Death Foretold: the Execution of Fra Sylvain de Bosredon". Hill Museum & Manuscript Library. Archived from the original on 16 October 2023.
- ^ Grima, Joseph F. (13 June 2021). "It happened in June: Paving the way for the French capture of Malta in 1798 (2)". Times of Malta. Archived from the original on 13 June 2021.
- ^ a b Hardman, William (1909). "Chapter VII – Attack and Capture of Malta by the French". A history of Malta during the period of the French and British occupations, 1798–1815. London: Longmans, Green & Co. pp. 51–59.
- ^ Grima, Joseph F. (12 June 2022). "Malta's invasion by the French in 1798 – Joseph F. Grima". Times of Malta. Archived from the original on 16 April 2023.
- ^ Grima, Joseph F. (14 July 2019). "It happened this month: The publication of Malta's first newspaper". Times of Malta. Archived from the original on 27 June 2020.