[Book Review] The Maltese dialogue : Giuseppe Cambiano, history, institutions, and politics of the Maltese Knights (1554–1556) by Kiril Petkov

Abstract

The aim of this book is to draw attention to an interesting unpublished sixteenth-century source for the history of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem. It provides a transcription and translation of the exemplar preserved at the British Library, while also making reference to another manuscript of the same work held at the Archivio Apostolico Vaticano. As explained in the introduction, this “comprehensive and detailed exposé of the history of the Order of the Knights of Saint John”, called by Petkov the Maltese Dialogue, is a treatise written in the form of a dialogue, a literary genre popular in the sixteenth century (see, for example, Castiglione’s Il Cortegiano), by the brilliant character of Fra’ Giuseppe Cambiano.