Parfum de Cour, Gourmandise de Rois: Le commerce des oranges entre Malte et la France au XVIIIe siècle.
By Alain Blondy

Professor Blondy takes us into the fascinating eighteenth century, where the orange is still a luxury item and its trade restricted.

Why? In the European and Mediterranean world, the orange was not yet truly considered a produce for consumption and trade as it was bitter in taste .  It was only as a result of the Portuguese introducing into Europe, the sweet type from Ceylon and China, in the late fifteenth century, that it had began to attract growers. Malta was soon to become a centre for this commerce, strengthened by the presence of two Portuguese Grand Masters, Anton Manoel de Vilhena (1722-1736) and Manoel Pinto de Fonseca (1741-1773).  Through the correspondence between the Abbé Louis Savoye in Malta and his father, Joseph, in Paris, an unusual window is opened.  In the context of the socio-political background of the late eighteenth century, and the French Revolution round the corner, we witness the development and difficulties in cultivating and promoting this delicate citrus fruit.

Professor at the Sorbonne (Paris IV), Alain Blondy has specialised in the Mediterranean world up to the present times. His main interest is Malta and the Barbary States. Author of countless articles which have appeared in French magazines as well as foreign publications, he has published: un guide culturel de Malte (A Cultural Guide on Malta, Arthaud, 1997), une Histoire de Chypre (A History of Cyprus, Que sais-je?, Puf 1998), presented an abrdiged version of Tripoly de Barbarie ( A History of Berber Tripoly, by Froment de Champlagarde (Bouchène, 2001) and the re-printing of Américains et Barbaresques (Americans and Barbaresques by Emile Dupuy, Bouchène, 2002), l'Ordre de Malte au XVIIIe siècle (The Order of Malta in the XVIIIth Century, Bouchène, 2002), Relations et échanges dans le monde méditerranéen de la chute de Constantinople (1453) à la reconquête ottomane de Tripoli (1835), Outil bibliographique (Trade and Diplomatic Relations in the Mediterranean from the Fall of Constantinople (1453) to the Ottoman Re-conquest of Tripoli (1835), Bibliographical References, Presses de l'université de Paris-Sorbonne 2003).