Mgr Salvatore Imbroll

Abstract

Whereas Maltese nobles were not admitted into the Order of St John of Jerusalem unlike other nobles of Europe, Maltese prelates were accepted as conventual chaplains. Among such prelates who distinguished themselves for their acumen and erudition there was Salvatore Imbroll, a contemporary of Gio Francesco Abela, who is considered the father of Maltese historiography for having written the first history of Malta: Descrittione di Malta (1647). The Imbroll family hailed from Catalonia, Spain, and settled in Malta in 1283, when a member of the family arrived on the Island with admiral Ruggiero Loria, who in that same year had expelled the Angevins from Malta. One of the Imbroll (Imbrul) ancestors was also called Salvatore, who in 1372 quelled a rebellion in Malta against the ruler of the Island, King Frederick III. In the 17th Century two members of this family are mentioned: Michele Imbroll who was a Jurat of the Municipal Council, and Salvatore Imbroll who was a Frate Cappella no of the Order of St John. There was a /uogotenente by the name of Antonio Imbroll at the time of Governor Alexander John Ball in the beginning of the 19th Century.