The impact of the arrival of the Knights of the Order of St John on the commercial economy of Malta 1530-1565
Submitted by Joan Angela Abela to the University of Exeter as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Maritime History.
March 2012
This thesis is available for Library use on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement.
I certify that all material in this thesis which is not my own work has been identified and that no material has previously been submitted and approved for the award of a degree by this or any other University.
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To Deborah For always being there for me
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ABSTRACT
Much has been written about various aspects of the long presence of the Knights of the
Order St John on the island of Malta. Nonetheless, throughout this literature there is one noticeable omission - a study of the commercial development of the harbour area during the first decades of the Order’s rule. Despite Malta’s small size, the presence of the Order of St John (1530
-1798) ensured an inflow of foreign resources which eventually permitted very dense human settlement and an international projection beyond the island’s shores which was largely disproportionate to what would normally have occurred in such a small and sterile island. The maritime nature of the Order and the heavy dependence on imports hastened the creation of an efficient maritime communication system. The development of all these economic activities resulted in a prime economic means of generating wealth and served as a pull factor to a large number of enterprising individuals, both local and foreign. Early modern Hospitaller Malta eventually saw the consolidation of an enterprising business class, which, out of sheer necessity, grew accustomed to operating well beyond its narrow confines. In turn, this contributed to the island becoming more open to connectivity with the outside world. Hence, the main aim of this thesis is to explore in detail various economic activities taking place in Malta during this particular period which spans from 1530 to 1565. The year 1565 has been chosen as a marker since during this year there was a break in the normal chain of events due to the turmoil created by the Great
Siege. In order to reach this goal the practical functioning of commerce with its agreements and disputes, its currencies, its trading posts and its nodal points shall be analyzed. Furthermore, this thesis strives to show how notarial evidence, together with that derived from records of various tribunals set up on the island at the time, supplement each other and help to fill in gaps. While discussing different methodological approaches to the study of the Mediterranean, the first chapter of this study shall also assess Malta’s place within the wider Mediterranean historiographical framework. It shall also trace the development of Maltese historiography and its 3 contribution to the study of legal, economic and social issues relating to the sixteenth century.
Furthermore, this study shall place the various series of primary sources used for its compilation in their proper context, thus allowing the reader to evaluate better the significance of the information provided. The second chapter shall evaluate how the arrival of the Order provided for the setting up of new institutions and for the promulgation of new laws in order to consolidate its authority over the island despite repeated promises to respect and honour ancient rights and privileges. The following three chapters shall each be dedicated to a particular case study which will try to address specific topics that have been largely neglected in Maltese historiography. Thus, starting with an analysis of the grain trade, which was of the utmost importance for a sterile island with an ever-increasing population, it will be followed by another case study which seeks to evaluate the role of women, their legal persona and how this affected their contribution to the island’s economic activities. The final chapter will try to establish whether there were any commercial links between Malta, often described as the frontier and bulwark of Christianity, and its neighbouring Ottoman North African territories. If such trade existed, how did merchants, both
Christian and Muslim, manage to overcome religious antagonism which should have inhibited the easy flow of trade? The objective of this study shall therefore be to shed much-needed light on economic activities taking place in and around the harbour area during a largely unexplored period in Maltese history. Moreover, it shall seek to provide a better understanding of Mediterranean commercial relations since the Maltese harbour was a point of intersection not only for people of different nationalities, but even for people of different faiths, such as Muslims, Jews and
Christians of different denominations. All had one common goal which unified them, that is, trading and making profit out of it.
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Table of Contents
Abstract 3
Table of Contents 5
List of Tables, Figures and Charts 9
Notes and Explanations 13
Abbreviations 19
Maps 20
Acknowledgements 22
Chapter 1: Mediterranean and Maltese Historiography
1.1 Introduction 23
1.2 Malta and the surrounding Mediterranean context 25
1.3 The Mediterranean in European historiography 30
1.3.1 Different methodological approaches to the study of the Mediterranean 30
1.3.2 Ottoman-Christian connectivity throughout the Mediterranean 42
1.3.3 Political change and its impact on commercial activities 46
1.4 Historians of Malta and sixteenth-century historiography 50
1.4.1 Political, institutional and legal historiography 53
1.4.2 Social and economic historiography 60
1.5 Primary sources 70
1.5.1 Notarial documents - The notary’s role in society 70
1.5.2 The evolution of notarial practice in Malta up to the early modern period 75
1.5.3 The four volumes of an act 85
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1.5.4 Characteristic elements 90
1.5.5 The signum 93
1.5.6 The clauses 95
1.5.7 Other primary sources 97
1.6 Conclusion 103
Chapter 2: New Institutions and Legislations 1530-1565
2.1 Introduction 105
2.2 The administration of the Maltese Islands prior to 1530 106
2.3 Sources of income 126
2.4 The donation 133
2.5 A pact to honour local privileges broken too soon? – The early legislations and the usurpation of local rights 150
2.6 The privilege to import duty-free grain 165
2.7 Taxes and defence of the islands 167
2.8 Conclusion 169
Chapter 3: The Grain Trade
3.1 Introduction 171
3.2 Land, its produce and use in the light of notarial acts – 1467-1565 174
3.3 The need for a credit market 182
3.4 Local cereal production and consumption 188
3.5 The price of wheat 192
3.6 The Università and the importation of grain 198
3.7 The complicated lives of the consul and the grain merchant 203
3.8 The Order’s Receiver in Sicily and the export of cereals 207
3.9 The miller and the baker 210 6
3.10 Risks, contraventions and litigations 216
3.11 Income derived from wheat and the upkeep of fortifications 225
3.12 The capture of grain ships 228
3.13 Conclusion 230
Chapter 4: Women and Economic Activities
4.1 Introduction 232
4.2 New trends in the study of the history of women 235
4.3 How much weaker in the eyes of the law? 237
4.4 The mundualdus 243
4.5 The marriage contract and its implications on women’s economic activities 248
4.6 Women in the economy of a port city 254
4.7 Domestic service 258
4.8 The business-oriented woman 262
4.9 Women and transactions in property 267
4.10 Married women and contracts of obligation 271
4.11 Loans – sine aliquo usurarum ? 275
4.12 Conclusion 288
Chapter 5: Trade with North Africa and the Levant
5.1 Introduction 291
5.2 The Castle of Tripoli under Christian rule 296
5.3 Trade and taxation in Tripoli prior to the arrival of the Knights Hospitallers 298
5.4 The governance of Tripoli – a forced “option” 303
5.5 Tools of the trade 309
5.6 Commercial litigation 324
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5.7 The salvi conductus – a passport to freedom of trade to “all parts of the world” 330
5.7.1 Safe conducts and corsairing 338
5.7.2 Safe conducts and Muslim traders 343
5.8 The human commodity 349
5.9 The Greek community of merchants 367
5.10 Conclusion 371
General Conclusion 374
Appendices
Appendix I List of Notaries practising during the sixteenth century whose acts are still extant 384
Appendix II Foreigners mentioned in R4/1 and MS 514/1 (1557-1558) 387
Appendix III Analysis of CEM, Liber Usurarorum, Liber Primus (1570-1571) 392
Appendix IV Salvi conductus given to various persons to trade in merchandize or to redeem slaves in North Africa or the Levant (1530-1565) 399
Bibliography 411
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List of Tables, Figures and Charts Tables
Table 1.1 Notaries practising in the towns 1520 – 1600 75
Table 2.1 Revenues of the Royal Crown in 1506 131
Table 3.1 Prices and weight of bread in Malta during the sixteenth century 211
Table 3.2 Pandetta or price list of various commodities issued in 1562 213
Table 3.3 Various taxes imposed on cereals by the Università of Mdina 1552-1588 226
Table 5.1 Shipping destinations from the Malta harbour 1564-1600 332
Table 5.2 Shipping destinations to Italian ports 1564-1600 333
Table 5.3 Shipping destinations to Sicilian ports 1564-1600 334
Figures
Fig. 1.1 The fragile quire of a notarial register dated 1485 which was discovered during the restoration project at the Notarial Archives, Valletta. Most of the deeds in this bundle refer to wills and are countersigned by the witnesses as was stipulated by the prevailing law of the Regno 84
Fig. 1.2 The opening page of the acts of Notary Vincenzo Bonaventura de Bonetiis R 206/7 for the year 1543, wherein he states that he is a Rhodiot notary, particularly that he is the appointed notary of the Knights of St John, and that he holds Maltese citizenship. His signature and signum are also distinguishing features on this folio 88
Fig. 1.3 The evolution of an act (from left to right) - copy of a sixteenth- century act relating to the sale of wax which is still extant in three different registers, Protocollo or Bastardello copy R 4/1 in folio plicato , n.f., the Register copy R 4/1, n.f., and the Original copy MS 514/1, f. 32 89
Fig. 1.4 The name of Ferdinand II of Aragon is herein mentioned together with the territories under his rule. The mention of the
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Spanish monarch in Notarial registers was interrupted during the Order’s rule, though not immediately 90
Fig. 1.5 1 December 1538, eight years after the arrival of the Order of St John, the name of King Ferdinand is still recorded in Maltese notarial deeds 90
Fig. 1.6 Together with the monogram of the name of Jesus, the elaborate initial letter “I” was a particular feature in Notarial deeds, often serving as a distinguishing sign for a particular notary 91
Fig. 1.7 Evolution of the signum tabellionis from the hand-drawn version to the stamped imprint 94
Fig 1.8 The letters DC referring to D[ata] C[opia] were jotted down each time the notary issued a copy of the act. In this instance, two copies were issued 95
Fig. 1.9 Detailed Map of Malta. The Castle of Birgu (bottom right) is given prominence as the main defence post and harbour of the island and Mdina, the seat of the old Università, has the most prominent buildings in the centre of the island. Note how Valletta, the city built after the Siege of 1565, is still shown as a barren promontory between Mdina and Birgu 104
Fig. 2.1 The deed drawn up between Alonso Pardal (sic) and members of the Confraternity of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin, showing clear signs of the extensive damage sustained by numerous notarial documents during the Second World War 141
Fig. 2.2 Royal and Municipal Offices – pre and post 1530 154
Fig. 3.1 The formula stating that the property could be redeemed back by its original owner – cum gracia seu facultatis redimendis 176
Fig. 3.2 Selection of 300 contracts categorized as Debitum, Venditio and Mutuum which had to be repaid through a cash payment. (Source: NAV, R 224/17, 1560-1561) 196
Fig. 3.3 Reference which states that the debt had to be repaid in cash, through the services of the money changer, at Birgu “[...]in hac nova civitate melitae in pecunia numerata in pace et de plano ut bancus[…]’ 196
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Fig. 3.4 A declaration made by an investor in the grain trade, namely Mag . Angelo Giliberto stating that he had been paid with profit by Matheo Chiappara, one of the official grain merchants 202
Fig. 3.5 Main Sicilian caricatori in 1532 205
Fig. 3.6 Insurance contract entered into by the Università of Mdina with respect to a consignment of wheat from Licata 217
Fig. 4.1 Maltese women drawn by the Knight of Malta Fra. Opizio Guidotti in c. 1600 234
Fig. 4.2 The donation of Agatha Zoppardi from Casali Sancta Katherina to her children, a deed which was drawn by the Rhodiot notary Vincenzo Bonaventura de Bonetiis without the woman being represented by a mundualdus 246
Fig. 4.3 Clara La Carruba (top left) recorded as having lent money to a Neapolitan merchant 287
Fig. 5.1 Plan of the fortress of Tripoli di Barbaria 322
Fig. 5.2 Heterogeneous composition of Jurats at the Birgu Università included Catalan, French, Rhodiot and Maltese representatives 325
Fig. 5.3 Extract from a typical letter patent issued by the Magisterial Palace and given to Muslim traders so that they may travel freely between Malta and North Africa 347
Fig. 5.4 The signum and seal of Notary Pedro de Trugillo, the notary who practised in the Tripoli fortress before and during the rule of the Knights Hospitallers, is found in a few certified true copies of his acts which were required by his clients and which are still extant in the Maltese archives. 357
Fig. 5.5 The signum of notary Selvagi de Via accompanies the signature of Pedro de Trugillo. De Via is here confirming that this particular copy of a contract drawn up in Tripoli in respect of a redemption agreement was a true copy extracted from Trugillo’s acts 357
Fig. 5.6 Barresi’s appeal to the judge at the MCC wherein he is requesting that the case opened against him be declared null since it involved a monk who was thus immune from being taken to the secular tribunals 361
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Charts
Chart 4.1 Individuals who were accused of usurious practice 280
Chart 4.2 Average of credit advances in scudi 280
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