Emmanuel de Rohan-Polduc

Fra' Emmanuel Marie des Neiges de Rohan-Polduc (18 April 1725, in La Mancha, Spain – 14 July 1797, in Valletta, Malta) was a member of the Poulduc branch of the wealthy and influential House of Rohan of France, and Prince and 70th Grand Master of the Order of St. John from 1775 to 1797.

Biography

Rohan was born in la Mancha, Spain on 18 April 1725. He was the son of Jean-Baptiste de Rohan, Comte du Poulduc, seigneur de Kercabus, (1691-1755) and his wife, Marie Louise de Velthoven. His father was French, but had been banished to Spain. He served King Philip V of Spain in the Walloon Guards and then his son, Philip, Duke of Parma as Master of the Horse. He was sent as ambassador of Parma to the Holy Roman Emperor Francis I.

Thanks to a papal brief, Rohan was received into the Order of St. John in the Langue of France. He was named Bailiff, and in 1755 Captain-General of the Order's Navy. The following year he convoked a Chapter General of the Order, the first to be held since 1631. The De Rohan Arch commemorating this event was constructed in 1798.

Rohan compiled the Code de Rohan, a constitutional law book published in two volumes in 1782. He was also responsible for the publication of the Diritto Municipale in 1784.

Rohan instituted the Anglo-Bavarian langue, which was housed in the former Palazzo Carniero. In 1797, he established the Russian Grand Priory, which later evolved into the Russian tradition of the Knights Hospitaller. St. Lucian Tower & Battery were also upgraded during Rohan's magistracy, and the complex was renamed Fort Rohan in 1795 after the Grand Master. It was rebuilt as Fort San Lucian in the 1870s, but it still retains Rohan's coat of arms on the façade.

The last few years of Rohan's magistracy were troublesome, due to the decline of the Order because of the French Revolution. Rohan suffered a stroke in 1792, and his health began to deteriorate. He died on 14 July 1797, and was buried in St. John's Co-Cathedral in Valletta. His last words were "I, at any rate, am the last grandmaster, at least of an order illustrious and independent." Less than a year after his death, the French invaded Malta and expelled the Order from the island.