Mikiel Anton Vassalli

Maltese writer and philosopher

Mikiel Anton Vassalli (5 March 1764 – 12 January 1829) was a Maltese writer, a philosopher, and a linguist who published important Maltese language books, including a Maltese Italian dictionary, a Maltese grammar book, the first Protestant Gospels in Maltese, and towards the end of his life, a book on Maltese proverbs.

Mikiel Anton Vassalli was born in Żebbuġ in 1764 to a peasant family, and lost his father at the age of two. In 1785, at the age of 21, he started studies of oriental languages in the Sapienza University of Rome. Vassalli had three children, though he was not married.

Philosophically, Vassalli felt himself to be part of 'the century of light' and the 'Republic of Letters'. He had a passion for intellectual enlightenment and learning, a broad base for formal education, and a longing for a social and political system more in line with egalitarian and fraternal principles. On the other hand, his philosophy does not show any pronounced aversion towards religion or the Catholic Church. Vassalli came in contact with the doctrines of the 'Age of Enlightenment' while studying in Rome, Italy, between 1785 and 1795. He seems to have avidly read the major works of the encyclopaedists, and ventured to envisage their teachings in some concrete political form. Barely a year after terminating his studies in Rome, in 1796 Vassalli published an open letter, called Alla Nazione Maltese (To the Maltese Nation), as an introduction to his Maltese Latin Italian dictionary in which he exposed, perhaps for the first time, his philosophical and political views. The book also included a Discorso Preliminare (An Opening Word) in which he outlined his prospective reorganisation of Maltese society. It was political and social change that Vassalli sought. Translating and applying the philosophical doctrines of the Enlightenment to the context of Malta, he advocated a wide social reform aimed at the establishment of a Maltese republic based on a broad educational system centred upon the concept of Maltese cultural identity. Though philosophically Vassalli might not be considered an original thinker – for he drew almost all of his basic concepts and ideas from contemporary French encyclopaedists and illuminists – nonetheless his freedom of thought and his understanding of how philosophy could be socially and politically viable might be indeed regarded as significant. Most certainly, he is probably to be respected and studied as one of the first Maltese philosophers, apart from John Nicholas Muscat, who carried philosophy into novel ambits of thought and action.

Vassalli died in 1829 and, having been refused burial by the Catholic Church, he was buried in the Msida Bastion Historic Garden, a Protestant cemetery mainly used by the British.

There is a statue of Vassalli in his town of birth, Żebbuġ. His grave is to be found in the Msida Bastion Historic Garden, a restored early 19th century Protestant cemetery in Floriana that is maintained by the national trust Din l Art Ħelwa.

Frans Sammut wrote Il Ħolma Maltija (The Maltese Dream) a novel which revolves around Vassalli's life. The novel was acclaimed by The Times as the best literary work ever written in Maltese. The novel has been published in an esperantist translation in New York and described by English writer Marjorie Boulton as "a colossal work". The novel's main thesis had been proposed by Sammut in an issue of the Journal of Maltese Studies dedicated to Vassalli, namely that Freemasonry played an important part in the patriot's life. Sammut has also republished Vassalli's book on Maltese proverbs in a Maltese translation of the original Italian. Ġużè Aquilina's novel, Taħt Tliet Saltniet ("Under Three Rules"), explores Vassalli's life when the Maltese Islands were ruled by the Order of Saint John, followed by the French and lastly by the British. Vassalli's political figure is also celebrated in a number of poems: Lil Mikiel Anton Vassalli ("To Mikiel Anton Vassalli") is the common title of poems by Dun Karm Psaila, Ġorġ Pisani and Ninu Cremona. Rużar Briffa mentions Vassalli in the poem Jum ir Rebħ (Victory Day).

Singer songwriter Manwel Mifsud pays homage to him in his Maltese song Vassalli. A Maltese rock opera by Paul Abela (music) and Raymond Mahoney (lyrics) named Bastilja (Bastille) recounts the effects of the French Revolution on the Maltese Islands during those times. Mikiel Anton Vassalli is one of the main characters, calling on the Maltese to follow their French comrades to fight for freedom.