Malta and the Mediterranean shipping lanes in the Middle Ages

Abstract

Historic events throughout the Middle Ages in Malta are used by historians to create convenient chronological sub-divisions for Maltese history. The Byzantine conquest in the mid-sixth century AD is the event that marks the end of antiquity and the dawn of the medieval period on the island. Other historic events that punctuate subsequent centuries include the Arab invasion in 870, the Norman invasion in 1091 and finally, the arrival of the Knights of St. John in 1530, a date used to mark the end of Malta's medieval period. The study of the islands' medieval history, and more so its medieval archaeology, is a relatively recent phenomenon.