Satellite, sentinel, stepping stone : medieval Malta in Sicily’s orbit

Abstract

No discussion of Malta’s pre-modern relationship with Sicily could afford to overlook the ten centuries of the Middle Ages. For more than one thousand years, the Maltese islands were intimately drawn into the wider sphere of influence of the largest Mediterranean island. A number of permanent factors converged to define the qualities and directions which would become evident as this relationship unfolded during that long period. Among these factors, geography takes pride of place; for it was the physical dimension and location of the Maltese islands which placed them and other small insular satellites in the orbit of their much larger neighbour. Geography set the stage for the individual and collective efforts of the central Mediterranean islanders stretching across millennial time, providing a fixed reference point in the ever-moving constellation of human actions and intentions making up history. The present essay investigates the relationship between Malta and Sicily in the Middle Ages. It sets out to outline the different aspects of this relationship, demonstrating how it evolved across the medieval centuries to make out of Malta’s multifaceted ties to Sicily a defining feature of the archipelago’s history. In the orbit of their large neighbour, the Maltese and other small insular satellites of Sicily played a role in its history, a history mirrored in their own experiences.