The life and career of a Knight of Malta in the age of secularisation: Michele Enrico Sagramoso (1720–1791). The Order of Malta and the First Partition of Poland

Abstract

For contemporary and arguably disinterested British observers, the First Partition of Poland by Russia, Prussia and Austria in 1772 was an “immoral act of appropriation”. This “most flagrant violation of natural justice and international law” was perpetrated by three absolute monarchs whose coordinated actions simultaneously re-moved the political threat of a progressive neighbour and delivered significant territorial gains, whilst cynically claiming to restore the balance of power in Europe. The 1772 Partition of Poland took place at the height of the Enlightenment, a movement which challenged the ancien régime and its mutually reinforcing pillars of the Church and State. This article examines the career of Michele Enrico Sagramoso, a key actor in the manoeuvres that normalised the 1772 Partition. Sagromoso was both the epitome of an enlightened, progressive European and a committed and successful diplomat in the service of the Church’s Order of Malta. An examination of Sagramoso’s intertwined personal and diplomatic “Happy are the people who, under so enlightened leaders can begin a journey through the darkness of ignorance and prejudice, to acquire the illumination thanks to your discoveries, your research and your studies. May fate itself be favourable enough to provide some means to make me take part in it. This will be the main purpose of all my actions, so that the only reward to which I limit my ambition is to earn in my lifetime, a place in your memories and, after my death, a tomb in your annals.” 26