Hospitaller Malta's communication system with the Mediterranean world in the early seventeenth century

Abstract

Italics were used for words not in English. Square brackets were adopted when the spelling of original manuscript terminology was not clear, or to write letters omitted in abbreviated original text. When citing magistral correspondence, the surnames of the sender and the addressee were given throughout, except in the tables for reasons of space, while the designation (receiver, procurator) of the various Hospitaller correspondents was omitted due to the huge inconsistencies in the original documentation. The only exception was done in the case of Hospitaller ambassadors. The spelling of proper names in original texts was retained when possible, although the Italian version was generally preferred to the Latin one. In case of inconsistencies, one form was chosen and used throughout the dissertation. The term 'Regno' (an abbreviation for 'Regno delle Due Sicilie') was used to indicate Southern Italy and Sicily under Spanish Habsburg rule. Tables 1 to 4B list a selection of Hospitaller representatives and correspondents stationed outside Malta from 1601 up to 1621, Alof de Wignacourt' s last full year as grand master of the Order. Due to obvious constrictions created by the lack of space, separate tables - covering the years 1601-1611 and 1612-1621 - had to be created in order to fit in all the agents and correspondents throughout the entire period in question. In these four tables, multiple entries under one heading usually indicate a handover of the post within the same year in question, or a temporary deputy. Alternatively, they could indicate a division of tasks, especially in case of sizeable territories, as for Germany. Empty slots in these tables indicate years for which relevant data from the sources consulted is not available. In the vertical columns indicating the location in which these correspondents were posted, 'Priory of Lombardy' was preferred to 'Lombardy' since in Hospitaller jurisdiction the priory in question included also lands in present-day Piedmont. At times, throughout the dissertation, the terms 'Hospital' and 'Religion' were used for the Order of St John of Jerusalem, as is normal in Hospitaller terminology.