Proceedings of history week 2011

Abstract

Love or loath them, anniversaries tend to serve as useful focal points for reflection, generating all kinds of activities from publications to exhibitions. It was during a Committee meeting of the Malta Historical Society that Albert Ganado suggested that during History Week 2011 mention should be made of the fact that this coincided with the 450th year since the passing away of Jean Quintin d'Autun (often referred to simply as Quintinus), author of the renowned lnsulae Melitae Descriptio (Lyons, 1536). The intention was to pay tribute to a man whose work - as the first published treatise on Malta - has been of significant influence in the centuries since its first appearance. Moreover, History Week and the published proceedings to which it bears fruit, follow in the footsteps of Quintinus in the sense that at its basis, History Week is about a quest for, and indeed a love of, knowledge and understanding in their widest possible forms.