1749 Muslim slave revolt plot in Malta
The Grand Master's Palace – the location of the planned revolt – as photographed in 2014 | |
| Native name | Konfoffa tal-ilsiera |
|---|---|
| Date | 6 June 1749 (discovery) 29 June 1749 (planned revolt) |
| Location | Valletta, Hospitaller Malta |
| Coordinates | 35°53′55″N 14°30′51″E / 35.89861°N 14.51417°E |
| Type | Planned assassination and slave rebellion |
| Target | Manuel Pinto da Fonseca Order of St. John |
| Organised by | Mustafa, Pasha of Rhodes |
| Outcome | Plot foiled |
| Sentence | 35 executed 3 died in custody (2 during or after torture, 1 by suicide) 72 condemned to the galleys |
The Conspiracy of the Slaves (Maltese: il-konġura tal-ilsiera or il-konfoffa tal-ilsiera; Italian: congiura de schiavi) was a failed plot by Muslim slaves in Hospitaller Malta to rebel and assassinate Grand Master Manuel Pinto da Fonseca of the Order of St John, in an attempt to facilitate the capture of Malta by the Ottoman Empire in June 1749.
The plot is believed to have been instigated by Mustafa, Pasha of Rhodes, an Ottoman official who had been captured following a revolt by Christian slaves on his galley Lupa in January 1748. He was enslaved upon the galley's arrival in Malta in February 1748, but he was given comfortable living quarters due to his high rank and he was formally freed in May 1749 following French intervention due to the Franco-Ottoman alliance.
The revolt involved a planned takeover of the Grand Master's Palace and other key locations in Valletta and Birgu, an uprising among slaves on board the Hospitaller galley squadron, and naval support from the Barbary states and the Ottomans. The uprising was to take place on 29 June 1749, but plans leaked to the Hospitallers in advance, and the plot was foiled before it could be implemented.
Some 150 people – including Muslim slaves and Christian neophytes – were arrested and interrogated under torture in the subsequent trials. 35 were executed between July and October 1749, while 3 others died in custody and 72 were condemned to the galleys. Due to French influence, Mustafa was not punished for his role in the plot, and he returned to Constantinople in 1751.