# Malta 1698: The Plague That Nearly Wiped Out Valletta

An episode of [The Story of Malta: The Fortress Island of the Mediterranean — Fexingo History](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1895465859), 23 Jul 2026, 5:35.

Audio: https://audio.fexingo.com/history/the-story-of-malta/episode-0174.mp3

In 1698, a ship from Alexandria docked at the Grand Harbour carrying not cargo but bubonic plague. Over the next eight months, the plague ravaged Valletta and the Three Cities, killing an estimated 11,000 people — nearly a third of the island's population. This episode follows the outbreak from its first victim, a sailor named Mikiel Xuereb, through the desperate quarantine measures ordered by Grand Master Gregorio Carafa. We explore the Lazzaretto on Manoel Island, the role of the Sacre Infermeria, and the heartbreaking decision to wall off entire neighborhoods. We also look at how the plague reshaped Maltese society, from the rise of public health regulations to the enduring memory of the pestilence in local folklore. Lucas and Luna discuss the tension between trade necessity and disease prevention, the heroism of the Hospitaller nurses, and the controversial figure of Dr. Giacomo Mangion, who argued for total isolation when others hesitated. A story of resilience and loss that left an indelible mark on the island. #PlagueOf1698 #Valletta #GrandHarbour #MalteseHistory #OrderOfStJohn #GregorioCarafa #Lazzaretto #ManoelIsland #SacreInfermeria #BubonicPlague #PublicHealth #MikielXuereb #GiacomoMangion #18thCentury #MediterraneanHistory #Epidemic #FexingoHistory #History Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo

## Transcript

Lucas: So we've talked a lot about Malta in the age of the Knights — the corsairs, the grand masters, the building of Valletta. But one thing we haven't touched on is the plague of 1698, which nearly wiped out the entire island.
Luna: Wait, a plague that big, and we've never mentioned it?
Lucas: Exactly. It's one of those events that gets overshadowed by the Great Siege and the Napoleonic takeover, but it was devastating. It started in May 1698, when a ship from Alexandria docked at the Grand Harbour. On board was a sailor named Mikiel Xuereb, who was already sick. He died within days.
Lucas: Now, the Order had a quarantine system — the Lazzaretto on Manoel Island had been built decades earlier specifically for this. But somehow, the disease slipped through. By June, cases were popping up in Valletta and the Three Cities — Birgu, Senglea, Cospicua.
Luna: How did it spread so fast if they had quarantine?
Lucas: Good question. The problem was that the Lazzaretto was mainly for goods and travelers coming from known plague areas. But this ship from Alexandria wasn't flagged as high-risk — the plague was already endemic in the Ottoman Empire, but it wasn't always reported accurately. Plus, the incubation period meant that someone could appear healthy when they landed.
Lucas: The Grand Master at the time was Gregorio Carafa. He was an experienced administrator, but he initially hesitated to impose a full lockdown, partly because it would cripple trade. By the time he acted, the plague was already in the narrow streets of Valletta.
Luna: What did they do once they realized how bad it was?
Lucas: Carafa declared a cordon sanitaire — he ordered that the infected areas be sealed off. The gates of Valletta were closed, and no one could leave their homes if they were in a contaminated street. Food was distributed by the Order's knights and servants, who wore long waxed coats and carried vinegar-soaked sponges to their faces as primitive masks.
Lucas: The Sacre Infermeria, the famous hospital of the Order, was converted entirely to plague care. The knights who served as nurses were at enormous risk — many of them died. I've read that about forty knights perished from the plague during that outbreak, which was a huge loss for an order that was already small in numbers.
Luna: That's a lot of knights. Were there any doctors who stood out?
Lucas: Yes, a Maltese physician named Giacomo Mangion. He was one of the first to argue for total isolation of the sick, even from their own families. He advocated for the creation of a separate plague hospital outside the city walls — what we'd call a pesthouse. But the Order's council was divided. Some felt that abandoning the sick in a remote location was too harsh.
Lucas: Mangion was also a controversial figure because he insisted that the plague was contagious from person to person, which wasn't universally accepted at the time. Some still believed in miasma — bad air. So he was fighting an intellectual battle as well as a medical one.
Luna: So how did the outbreak finally end?
Lucas: It burned itself out by early 1699. By then, around 11,000 people had died — out of a population of maybe 40,000. Valletta alone lost about a third of its residents. Entire families were wiped out. The cemeteries were overwhelmed, and many bodies were buried in mass graves outside Floriana.
Lucas: One of the lasting effects was the construction of the Lazzaretto on Manoel Island was expanded and made permanent. The Order also started requiring all ships from the Levant to undergo a mandatory forty-day quarantine. This became a model for other Mediterranean ports.
Luna: It's interesting how tragedy can lead to better public health.
Lucas: Absolutely. And speaking of that, the reason we can have these deep, ad-free dives into Malta's past is because listeners like you support the show directly. We don't run ads — we think that would break the mood. So if you value hearing about plague doctors and cordons sanitaires without a commercial break, the link is buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo.
Luna: Yeah, it really lets us go into the detail without rushing. So where did the plague leave the island?
Lucas: Well, demographically, it was a huge blow. But the Order recovered, and by the 1720s, Malta was thriving again. The memory of the plague, though, lingered. There's a fascinating local tradition: every year on the feast of St. Roque, who is the patron saint of plague victims, people would light bonfires and process through the streets, praying that the pestilence never returns.
Luna: And did it ever return?
Lucas: Not on that scale. There were minor outbreaks in the 19th century, but the quarantine system held. The plague of 1698 was Malta's last great encounter with bubonic plague. It's a testament to how the island, always at the crossroads of the Mediterranean, had to learn to manage disease just as it managed war.
Luna: That's a pretty powerful legacy.
Lucas: It is. And it's a reminder that the Knights were not just warriors and corsairs — they were also builders of institutions, including public health, that shaped Malta for centuries.

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