Grand Master Nicholas Cotoner and the foundation of the lectureship of anatomy and surgery 1676

Abstract

This paper is a biography written by Paul Cassar on the Grand Master of St. John, Fra' Nicolas Cotoner. He was the 61st Prince and Grand Master of the Order of Malta, between 1663 and 1680. In 1674 he funded in Malta a school of Anatomy and Medicine as an annex of the Sacra Infermeria. He drew up (in Italian) the constitutions and statutes of the order (1674). In fact, his place in the history of Malta is definitely that of medical innovator because his most outstanding and lasting achievement has been and remains the institution of the Lectureship of Anatomy and Surgery. It was from that seed sown by Cotoner three hundred years ago that our present Medical School has germinated, flourished and prospered and that the Maltese medical profession derived its origin, identity and vitality.