Maltese knights pull a Hohenzollern

What if the Maltese Knight Order secularizes and becomes protestant cnverting the former Catholic Crusader state into a Protestant duchy .
 
They are rapidly and brutally crushed and annexed by the Spanish Monarchy with the honors of the Knightly Order either being returned to His Popiness to re-establish or becoming part of the Kingdom of Spain.

Prussia managed to pull this because the only predominantly Catholic Power nearby wasn't all that interested in Crushing Heresy and was more interested in securing dominion over them via a Vassal Agreement. Prussia is also somewhat larger and more prosperous and far removed from the centers of the Counter-Reformation.

Malta on the other hand is right in Spain's Backyard and extremely small and poor with no power willing and interested in supporting them being positioned to do so.

Now, if they tried this while still ruling from Rhodes and falling to Ottoman Suzerainty in much the same way that Transylvania did, then they might have a shot at surviving.
 
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Zioneer

Banned
What if they didn't convert, and merely became a Catholic dukedom, and agreed to be a vassal of Spain?
 
1. Small nation is in strategically vital geopolitical position, surrounded by more powerful neighbours.
2. Said nation's survival hinges on maintaining a religion-based alliance with some of those powerful neighbours against the others.
3. Said nation proceeds to convert to new religion, not shared by its own populace, that is intensely hostile not only to its existing enemies but every single one of its allies.


Three guesses on what happens next, first two don't count.
 
The Grand Master who tries this will be rapidly deposed by other members of the order,with the support of Spain and promptly executed.IIRC,the GM of the Teutonic Order was only able to do what he did due to the support of the PLC over the objections of many members of his own order.
 
Sometimes I wonder, why nobody annexed Malta. Not even Naples.

Anyways, Malta can become a duchy, but not a Protestant one. And the one who'll rule it will come from an established noble house, not the GM.
 
Sometimes I wonder, why nobody annexed Malta. Not even Naples.

Anyways, Malta can become a duchy, but not a Protestant one. And the one who'll rule it will come from an established noble house, not the GM.
Because the knights actually helped fight corsairs?
 
Sometimes I wonder, why nobody annexed Malta. Not even Naples.

Too multinational after a while too : a country having tried to annex would have met opposition not only from others (as darthfanta said, Maltese knights were doing something, at least in a first time) but from part of their own nobility as well (noit even going into Maltese holdings on the main lands, many admirals were issued from the order) as various ones. If Convention tried to do that in 1793, and that Napoleon did pulled it off IOTL, it's that they simply couldn't care less.
 
Too multinational after a while too : a country having tried to annex would have met opposition not only from others (as darthfanta said, Maltese knights were doing something, at least in a first time) but from part of their own nobility as well (noit even going into Maltese holdings on the main lands, many admirals were issued from the order) as various ones. If Convention tried to do that in 1793, and that Napoleon did pulled it off IOTL, it's that they simply couldn't care less.

Not to mention that the Maltese population and nobility itself would probably revolt if offended enough by the new masters (they liked their charter from the King of Spain for example, that defined the liberty and rights of the nobility and just how the island may be transferred from one overlord to another). Such a rebellion was enough to paralyze the French garrison long before the British/Russians/Neapolitans arrived, for example.
 
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