BOOK REVIEWS circles. The existence of an album of Carapecchia's original designs at the Courtauld Institute discovered by J. TONNA and D. DE LUCCA, Dr John Cauchi, has definitely Romano Carapecchia, Studies in Mal­ established the authorship of most of tese Architecture, 1·: Department of Valletta's eighteenth century build­ Architecture, University of Malta; ings and of other towns. It has also 1975; pp. 41, illus; 50c. helped to draw the line of distinction With the nomination of Romano between the designer and the execu­ Carapecchia to the post of Chief tive architect, a practice still preva­ Architect and 'fontaniere' to the lent to-day. Order in 1706, Valletta became des­ The list of Carapecchia's works is tined to undergo a major transforma­ both startling and impressive. It is tion less than a hundred-and-fifty impressive because of his enormous years after its birth. With the city output, and startling because it has and its population secure behind an changed most of our long-established, impregnable ring of fortified walls, but mistaken, ideas about the true the Grandmaster and his Council felt authorship of many of the most im­ that the time had arrived to change portant facades, churches, gateways, the outward appearance of the sombre porticos, etc of Valletta of the first and fortress-like palaces and other half of the eighteenth century. By public buildings in Valletta and else­ means of unimpeachable documentary where. Perellos' talent scouts in Rome evidence, this book has corrected had spotted young Carapecchia, who many misconceptions, and can be although only thirty-eight years old, safely considered to be one of the had already established himself as a most important and original contribu­ talented architect of Baroque Rome tions to the study of Maltese archi­ with a number of highly-successful tecture of recent years. projects to his credit. From his studio Michael Ellul in Rome, Carapecchia had already showed his worth with designs for G. ZAMMIT MAEMPEL, An Out­ buildings in Malta, and his prestige line of Maltese Geology, Malta, and fame preceded his arrival here. Progress Press, 1977, 44 pp., illus., In this splendid monograph, Jo £1.50. Tonna and Dennis De Lucca, working T. H. Huxley once wrote that "the together in an uncommon teacher­ historical student knows that his first student relationship, throw a com­ business should be to inquire into the pletely new light on the history of validity of his evidence, and the Maltese architecture. This book has nature of the record in which the not, unfortunately, received the evidence is contained, that he may acclaim it deserves and passed almost be able to form a proper estimate of unnoticed except in specialized the correctness of the conclusions 176 BOOK REVIEWS which may be drawn from that evi­ relation of the Maltese stratigraphy dence". In more than one way, the to that of other countries both far and geologist is also a historian. He near, the historical survey of local delves deep for evidence not in writ­ geological maps, and soils and their ten records, but in that thin crustal deposits. veneer of our Earth which is acces­ The book is amply illustrated by sible to man. photographs mostly taken by the The vast body of evidence on geo­ author himself. Some of them throw logy is massed unlimitedly around us, new light on already known aspects but it takes a refined mind and a lot of local geology, whilst others, of scientific scholarship to sift the especially those of fossils from the evidence, inquire into its validity, and author's collection and published for assess correctly the conclusions pro­ the first time, are of special interest vided by that evidence. Dr George to the more specialized reader. Zammit Maempel, in this welcome This is a book which no visitor to addition to the rather sparse literature the National Museum of Natural on Maltese geology, does exactly this. History should go without, and which Most of the evidence he collected no real lover of the Malta landscape himself, and his familiar figure should miss. The value of its many armed with camera and hammer and original observations, and the validity chisel is well known to quarry-owners of its conclusions, are guaranteed by and to frequenters of our geological the author's scientific preparation and sites. his scholarly acumen. The book acquires added interest by Michael Ellul the pleasant way in which it is pre­ sented. It follows chapter by chapter J. QUENTIN HUGHES, "The Defence the same sequence of the Geology of Malta", Quaderno dell'lstituto Halls of the National Museum of Dipartimentale di Architettura ed Natural History of which Dr Zammit Urbanistica, Universita di Catania, Maempel is Assistant Curator, and No. 8, 1976, pp. 1-40. which he personally set up. The book In December 1974, a seminar on is didactic without being pedantic, a the Fortifications of Malta was orga­ no mean achievement when one nized by Professor Quentin Hughes at considers the complexity of the sub­ the University of Liverpool. This ject. The first five chapters are suggested the idea to the Faculty of devoted to local geology generally. Architecture and Town-planning of The next chapters deal with the main Catania University, who had attended rock-formations that make up the the seminar, to dedicate one whole Maltese geological sequence. Of parti­ edition of their Journal to military cular interest, and containing a consi­ architecture in Malta and nearby derable amount of original material, Sicily. are the chapters dealing with the cor- Quentin Hughes, with his custom- BOOK REVIEWS 177 ary thoroughness and conciseness, in The siege of 1565 ended in victory this well-documented essay profusely for the Order, but it also revealed the illustrated with not less than fifty­ inadequacy of the Island's defences, three plans, designs, engravings and mainly because of the undefended photographs, traces the history of high ground overlooking the principal Malta's defences from the time of the forts. The fortified city of Valletta Knights to the years immediately pre­ (1566), besides providing the Order ceding World War Two., with a new and proud abode, and When the Order of St John came Laparelli and Cassar with a personal to Malta, the Knights were already triumph, was intended to deny a experts in the art of fortification. The potential enemy the use of the stra­ Krak des Chevaliers and Margat, their tegic high ground which dominates first strongholds, were advanced the two main harbours and their designs of military architecture of landfronts. These were further their time. No less developed were strengthened in the following century their fortifications in Acre, the Dode­ by the Floriana Lines (1634), and by canese and Rhodes. When they were the two magnificent defensive sys­ offered Malta by Charles V, the tems protecting the Three Cities, the Knights were at first reluctant to Firenzuola (1638) and the Cottonera accept, mainly because the Island was Lines (1663). The ring was closed by practically undefended. But following the building of Forts Ricasoli (1670) outside pressure, they finally gave in, and Manoel (1726), and, the last of and in 1530 set up their headquarters them all, Fort Tigne in 1793. here. Then began a hectic period of As a true and dispassionate archi­ fort-building during which a number tectural historian, Hughes recognizes of military engineers, mostly Italian, the important contribution to Maltese were commissioned for advice. Nicolo military architecture by the British de Flavani, Nicolo Belavante, Piccino, after 1800. During their first fifty Antonio Ferramolino, the Spanish years or so in Malta, the British, Pedro Pardo, Evangelista Menga, An­ overawed by the immensity of the tonio Quinsani, Bartolomeo Genga fortifications and the huge manpower and Baldassare Lanci, followed one necessary to garrison them, gradually another in quick succession. Within a phased out of most of the coastal period of little more than thirty towers and forts away from the main years, they strengthened the then still harbours. The second half of the primitive Fort St Angelo, cut the wet century, with the advent of powerful ditch between the Fort and the Borgo, and long-range guns mounted on built Fort St Michael and the integ­ ships, witnessed a new pattern of rated defensive scheme of the Isola defence, a string of detached forts all and the Borgo, and constructed Fort over the island. These included Sliema St Elmo on the outermost tip of the Point Battery, Forts St Rocco, St Sceberras promontory. Leonardo, Pembroke, Tas-Silg, Deli- 178 BOOK REVIEWS mara, Rinella, Cambridge, Delle Gra­ altri due fondi sono quello dell' zie, Spinola, and W olseley, and the Inquisizione e quello del Capitolo impressive Victoria Lines with their della Cattedrale), comprendente fra Forts Maddalena, Musta and Bin­ l'altro 464 volumi di Acta Originalia gemma. In our times, immediately tra il 1400 e il 1830 (una diecina, pre- before World War Two, the British 1530). Nella presente pubblicazione built the concrete coastal towers, viene stampato l'indice di documenti which though ugly and seemingly out di proprieta del Capitolo della Catte­ of place architecturally, reflect never­ drale, indice redatto dal Canonico theless the military thinking of the Gian Battista Borg, archivista tra il day as much as the earlier fortifica­ 1758 e il 1772, che catalogo e trascris­ tions of the Knights. se quei documenti. Qui vengono pub­ Michael Ellul blicati, in ordine cronologico, i titoli dei documenti relativi al periodo 1313- 1529. Ecco alcuni esempi: "21.1.1313 J. AZZOPARDI, ArchIves of the Concessione del feudo Tabria ad At­ Cathedral of Malta - Misc. 32 A: 1313- tardo de la barba eccetto i due giar­ 1529. The Study and Text of an dini possessi da Arnaldo de Solimella Eighteenth-Century Index of Tran­ Castellano e giustiziario di Malta. 10. scripts, Malta, Veritas Press 1977, 98 VI.1316 Breve Pontificio che applica pp. The Malta Study Center of the alcuni beni de Templari del Regno di Hill Monastic Manuscript Library, St Valenza alIa Religione Gioannina ... John's University, Collegeville, Min­ lO.1.1334 Bolle del vescovado di Malta nesota, U.S.A., No. 2. d favore di Fr. Nicola Boneti de Mino­ Finalmente, un uomo giusto al ri, vacato per morte del Vescovo erri­ posto giusto! Il posto giusto e il go .... 4.1.1350 Privilegio del giardino museD e archivio della Cattedrale, a di Irbinet a favor di Chic co Gatto Mdina. L'uomo giusto e il curatore c Castellano. Qual giardino 10 teneva la archivista di detto museo-archivio. E' Regia Corte per successione et estin­ l'autore di quest a magnifica pubbli­ zione della famiglia di Michele Bava. cazione, e dell'altra, ancora piu fon­ Qual priviIegio fu di nuovo confirma­ damentale, uscita in America, col to al Giudice Lancea Gatto figlio d'es­ titolo Handlist of the Episcopal and so Chicco a 14 Febbraio 1397 ...... 7. Pro-Vicarial Archives at the Malta X. 1350 PriviIegio del Re Ludovico di Cathedral Museum (ved. recensione di Sicilia, nel quale l'Isole di Malta e A P Vella, MH, VI, 4, 462). Con que­ Gozzo s'aggregano al Regio Dema­ st~ lavoro, del 1975, l'autore aveva nio". Questo Index Notitiarum e pre­ regalato alIa comunita internazionale ceduto da un saggio critico, ricco di degli storici un inventario preciso ed utili e sicuri particolari sulla storia esauriente di uno dei tre fondi dell' e suI valore del testo, come si addice importante archivio di Mdina, quello ad un lavoro altamente scientifico, della Curia vescovile maltese (gli come quello in parola. Di molto BOOK REVIEWS 179

contribuisce all'indubbia importanza si e reso benemerito del progetto, in della presente pubblicazione ai fini fase di realizzazione, di microfilm are della conoscenza della storia medioe­ i documenti dei fondi archivistici di vale di Malta e Gozo, l'ottimo studio Mdina, e di pubblicare, inoltre, opere di Dr Luttrell su "The Earliest Docu­ come la Handlist e il presente Index ments Transcribed in the Cathedral (solo che quest'opera, a differenza Archives, Mdina: 1316-1372", studio della prima, e uscita a Malta, per i condotto con mano sicura, frutto di tipi della Veritas Press, la quale ha ampie ricerche con frequenti colla­ svolto egregiamente il suo compito). zioni con i testi dell' Archivio di Stato Quando, alcuni anni or sono, sorse l' di Palermo: in questo studio Luttrell idea di microfilmare l'archivio di si rivela ottimo conoscitore dei nostri Mdina (in duplice copia, restandone archivi, oltre che delle opere a stampa una all'archivio), non mancarono le relative a Malta, cio che gia si sapeva. perplessita, e non manco neanche Bravo, dunque, il nostro Dun Gwann qualche voce di aperto dissenso. Ora Azzopardi, che nell'arco di pochi anni risulta che gia cominciano a pervenire ha fornito agli studiosi alcuni ottimi da oltre Atlantico le richieste di strumenti di ricerca. Gli archivisti si informazioni e di pubblicazioni. La possono dividere, grosso modo, in tre storia di Malta - questo microcosmo! classi: quelli che si limitano alla pura - rischia di attirare l'attenzione degli e semplice amministrazione e cons er­ studiosi: dopo essere rimasta per tan­ vazione dei beni culturali a loro affi­ to tempo in ombra, rischia di diven­ dati; queUi che, approfittando della tare di dominio pubblico! Che bellez­ loro invidiabile situazione a contatto za! Auguriamo a Don Giovanni Az­ continuo con i documenti, si mettono zopardi di continuare a lungo ad a pubblicare, entrando quasi in con­ occupare il suo posto, lavorando in correnza con gli storici di mestiere; e silenzio e con umilta, con esemplare queUi, infine, che si fanno un dovere efficienza e intelligenza, come ha fat­ di aiutare e facilitare la ricerca altrui, to finora. di rendere accessibile e facile la G. Mangion compulsazione dei documenti d'archi­ vio, anche per mezzo di pubblicazioni A. T. LUTTRELL (ed.), Medieval specifiche a tal uopo. Quest'ultima Malta: Studies on Malta Before the categoria di archivisti merita, mi pare, Knights, The British School at Rome, particolare encomio. Altro debito di London, 1975; pp. xiv, 232; 24 plates; riconoscenza nutriamo verso un grup­ fJM11.50. po di persone - J S Micallef, 0 L The scarcity of documentation has Kapsner OSB, J.G Plante, la Curia e made the study of the islands' medie­ il Capitolo Metropolitano di Malta - val history particularly intriguing and che hanno contribuito in varia misura elusive and consequently Luttrell's a costituire, a Minnesota negli Stati fresh attempt at a clear definition of Uniti, il Centro di Studi Maltesi, che the state of the art is more than wel- 180 BOOK REVIEWS come, now that some forty years have tious reservations. Therefore each passed since the previous more or less article does provide the most up to systematic effort. The volume con­ date view of the theme discussed, sists of a collection of studies by even in the case of two reprints, J. three Maltese and five foreign scho­ Ward Perkins's fundamental "Medie­ lars on various aspects of Malta's val and Early Renaissance Architec­ medieval past but, although the first ture in Malta" (1942) and J. Cassar article and the last one actually show Pullicino's revised "Norman Legends two precise dates, 533 and 1570, in Malta" (1945). The other articles which purport to pinpoint the range are original contributions, typical of of events in focus, most of the studies the latest approaches in their atten­ in fact deal with the period 1200- tion to detail, awareness of the im­ 1500. A high degree of specialization portance of the chronological and is reached in most of the articles so geographical context and of the com­ that the result may be compared to parative technique, and thorough a fresco or mosaic with many missing familiarity with the relevant biblio­ patches (the economic, ethnographic graphy. The way the manuscript docu­ and linguistic aspects) but, although ments and the printed texts are comprehensiveness is unavoidably exploited, particularly in Brown and impossible, the picture is sufficiently Bresc, shows the good points of a ample and coherent to make out the rigorously academic formation; in fact central problem. This is without any the only flaw I feel qualified to point dOUJt the question of the continuity out lies where Abulafia strayed into of Christianity during the relatively the literary field, ignoring Avalle's brief but traumatic experience of critical edition of Peire Vidal's poems Arab domination. (1960) consequently quoting a verse All the articles project, each from that had been corrected (cfr. my its own particular angle and in its article in Melita Historica VII, 1, pp. own specialized way, a small set of 69-70). Although in each article limi­ constants: (i) the fundamental impor­ tations are admitted and directions tance of two turning points in the for further inquiry are indicated, the islands' history, 870 and 1530; (ii) the average reader will certainly feel that most intimate links with Sicily we have a fairly complete view of throughout the period under review; such topics as "Henry Count of Mal­ and (Hi) the fact that Christianity ta", "The Secrezia and the Royal must be regarded as the cynosure in Patrimony in Malta: 1240-1450" and this field of research. It is to the "The Lost Villages and Hamlets of credit of each contributor and Malta", for although the viewpoints especially of the editor that the ap­ are taken from very narrow angles, proach is strictly scientifiC, the hypo­ the degree of depth reached justifies theses which hopefully fill the gaps the painstaking sifting of available being always accompanied by cau- documents (cfr. Wettinger's progress BOOK REVIEWS 181 on Blouet's work after a decade). As quotation in note 98 on p. 82). The regards the missing evidence which Byzantines and the Arabs simply did hampers further progress most of the not need grandiose edifices: for a few authors look hopefully up to archaeo­ hundred soldiers and less than 10,000 logy. M. Cagiano de Azevedo and M. farmers a handful of places of wor­ Buhagiar have made two complemen­ ship was all that was needed. This tary steps in the right direction and fact explains why the island cannot their articles are symptomatic of the have a "history" for this period, not new faith in a field which was pre­ any more than similar communities viously reserved for prehistoric monu­ scattered along the Mediterranean ments. In both cases the findings coasts. concern solely places of worship. And yet there are two intriguing This brings us back to the central questions which beg clarific;ation: problem. The lack of remains of civil religion and the language. The first buildings points to the logical con­ problem is invariably touched upon clusion that the islands were deemed directly or indirectly in every article of very little use to the successive and the contributions tend to confirm rulers. This is a bit hard to appre­ Mayr's thesis (1896) asserting the ciate with a mentality which has been extinction of the Christian faith in pampered for 450 years about its the islands during Arab rule. All the strategic military value, but the fact evidence, oral, written and archaeolo­ is that before the Knights (and here gical, indicates a very violent take­ one notes that the subtitle is truly over by the Arabs which must have appropriate) the situation was totally caused an almost total substitution of different. For the Knights and for the the inhabitants. This. may have been British, Malta has been truly a centre due to mass emigration to Sicily and this implies the need for provoked by the increasingly frequent Auberges, palaces, cathedrals, offices, attacks before the actual invasion, a theatre, a university, hospitals, and then by persecution and slavery. barracks and fortifications. Before Consequently the newly established that Malta must be seen in the con­ Muslim colony WOUld. have greatly text of other neutralized small islands outnumbered what remained of the like Elba, Corfu, Majorca or even original inhabitants. This would not larger ones like Sardegna, Corsica, rule out the probable hypothesis that Crete and Cyprus. As Brown con­ the islands had been hellenized (like cludes, the strategic and political role Sicily) during Byzantine rule (Brown, of Byzantine Malta was a limited one p. 78), because a drastic change of and as Redjala (1973) has pointed out, population would not allow a sub­ to Arab authors Malta was only "an stratum to penetrate the new lan­ obscure morcel split off from Sicily guage. It also fits in with the fact which didn't merit any particular at­ that all the known churches were tention" (my translation of Brown's built since the first decades of Chris- 182 BOOK REVIEWS

tian resettlement (Buhagiar, pp. 163- the most striking features of this 4). Therefore unless it can be proved period in the Central Mediterranean that the 3rd, 4th and 5th century is the extent of the migration which catacombs and rock cut churches took place" (p. 84) but Wettinger is were still in use until and throughout of the opinion that "it would be a the Arab period, Mayr's thesis can't mistake to suppose that Malta under­ be refuted sCientifically. The strati­ went any extensive colonization from graphy at Tas-Silg (Roman, Byzan­ Sicily or other Christian parts of tine, Muslim and Christian places of Europe" (p. 203). The question is very worship in a series of destructions delicate indeed because apart from and reconstructions) may well be the Celano affair of 1224 (Luttrell, pp. symptomatic of the general situation 37, 40), in spite of the reported (Cagiano de Azevedo p. 88). expUlsion of Muslims and continuous A most striking fact is the contrast devastations and kidnapping till 1500 between the total lack of above­ (Wettinger, p. 191) the population of ground constructions dating back to the islands did increase considerably. the pre-Muslim period and the extra­ Further research into the population ordinary flowering of churches or problem may prove fruitful, especially chapels in groups of 2, 3, 4, 6 or even ' if it is carried out by Dr. Wettinger 12!, constantly mUltiplying up to the who is the best equipped scholar in incredible figure of 430 in 1575 (Bu­ this field. One should also delve deep­ hagiar, pp. 171, 179). At this point er into such indicative fields as com­ one wonders whether the reconstruc­ parative ethnology and dialectology, tion of churches in two traditional especially folklore and the material spots, Tas-Silg and San Pawl Milqi, aspects of popular culture (domestic could have been a mere coincidence architecture and furnishings, cos­ or a perfectly conscious act repre­ tumes, tools and utensils, arts and senting the victory of a long-standing crafts) and the relative terminology, and long-suffering tradition. If Mayr's as well as gesture and intonation. views were correct would not this If this points towards the same close­ revival seem spectacular? Would not ly bound ties with Sicily and Southern such an intense miSSionary campaign Italy as the political and ecclesiastical have created new popular saintly aspects expounded in Medieval Mal­ figures? The political renewal has ta's articles, then one will have to been personified in Count Roger in give very careful consideration to the local folklore (Cassar Pullicino, pp. hypothesis of a truly massive but 99-100) but the religious heroes have gradual immigration. continued to be Saint Paul and Saint The gradual movement of Muslims Publius. out of the island has been proved: The key to this dilemma may lie it is now accepted that 1090 is not in the depths of the popUlation prob­ the date for the total and immediate lem. Brown points out that "one of expUlsion of the Arabs by Count BOOK REVIEWS 183

Roger as crystallized in tradition. If mon with their Maltese counterparts the Arabs were forced out in 1224 the which proves that the situation must interval may be considered as a suf­ have been identical once (Sicilian ficiently long period to permit slow Arabic; cir. B.S.J. Isserlin in J.M.S., immigration from Sicily and the Ital­ n. 11, 1977, pp. 19-25). Just as Malta ian South with very gradual latiniza­ could absorb the influx better, Sicily, tion of the race and romanization of being much larger in size and popula­ the language. As the majority contin­ tion was relatively easier to re­ ued to speak the Arabic dialect intro­ romanize since the Muslims had suc­ duced with the invasion of 870 and ceeded in Arabicizing the coastal imposed on the small number of na­ towns especially Palermo and the tives who refused to move out (this area near the Tunisian promontory, would account for the lack of a pre­ but not the hinterland. Arabic substratum because the Berber The theory of gradual immigration, element must have already been in­ mainly but not exclusively from corporated in the language of the Sicily, with generations of Latin conquerors and colonists), each new stock grafted on the few thousands of wave of immigrants must have con­ Muslim converts who remained after formed to the way of communicating 1240, would help explain such contra­ of the majority. In this manner the dictory factors as the conservation of process that has led to the present the Semitic morphology, placenames state of race and language in Malta and the basic nucleus of everyday may be traced down to its beginning and "country" terms on the one hand, in Medieval times: each new genera­ and the complete embracing of the tion would progressively consist of Christian faith, the predominantly more Latin speakers of the Semitic Romance character of Maltese seman­ tongue which was in this way becom­ tics and the loss of the more charac­ ing Maltese. In my attempt at a com­ teristically Semitic sounds in Maltese parative study of Maltese and the phonology, which has in fact moved dialect of Pantelleria (Journal of Mal­ closer to that of the dialects of tese Studies, n. 11, 1977) I have con­ Southern Italy. A careful analYSis of cluded that although Pantelleria is the chronology and stratigraphy of much closer to the Arab coast than the lexicon with particular attention Malta, the fact that its dialect is pre­ to the different registers may yield dominantly Sicilian and not Semitic concrete proof of such a type of im­ is due to the smallness of the island, migration. An example that readily its meagre population (8,500 now) comes to mind is the fishing and and the higher rate of immigration in maritime sector the terminology of proportion to the older stock. This which is predominantly siculo-italian must be seen as the determinant fac­ (Aquilina, Nomi di pesci...... , 1969) tor because the farmers of Pantelleria and which is certainly related to the have much lexical material in com- fact that fishing was not very im- 184 BOOK REVIEWS portant in the Middle Ages (Wettin­ Luttrell advocates and has been in­ ger, p. 195). The specialized termi­ strumental in bringing about by the nology of the traditional crafts (wood­ deep interest he has aroused in work, masonry, shoemaking, sewing, Medieval Malta as quite a number of etc.) is prevalently Romance especial­ works that have been published after ly in the details. the publication of this volume by A. T. Luttrell certainly deserves our Wettinger, Vella, Cassar PulIicino, V. gratitude for putting together such a Borg, Luttrell himself (Hal Millieri) worthwhile collection of studies. and others amply show. Moreover his introductory chapter J. M. Brincat must be considered as the starting point for study on Malta in the GIACOMO F ARRUGIA, Ismeria, a Middle Ages (and non-specialists and cura di Franco Lanza, Catania, Socie­ students may like to know that it is ta di Storia Patria per la Sicilia available separately), for he has suc­ Orientale, 1977, 123 pp.; 3500 lire. ceeded in updating the work of the It is safe to say that the Maltese Archivio Storico di Malta group of public knows next to nothing about the thirties, to whom, particularly to the cultural life of Malta in the Valentini, credit is duly given by seventeenth century - except, per­ Luttrell and most of the other contri­ haps, that what literature there was butors. "Approaches to Medieval almost invariably happened to be Malta" is much more than an ordinary written in Italian. At best, Gian introduction to a collection of essays: Francesco Abela's Descrittione di it is a serious attempt to coordinate Malta of 1647 might be known. In them, showing a remarkable skill at the inter-war years of the present synthesising the conclusions of each century and slightly before, scholars and to present them in a carefully and others interested in the past objective picture. LuttreII's care is Italian culture of our islands became evident in such minor details as the interested in the poetry and prose rigorously accurate cross-references written here during the long period that link the overall view of the intro­ of the Order's rule, and a couple of ductory article with each deeper look seventeenth century works were pub­ at the single topics in the others. lished. Cagliola's Le Disavventure Moreover, in each article one finds Marinaresche was issued by Dr. references to the others whenever the Giovanni Curmi in Malta Letteraria topics overlap. This stratagem really in 1929 and separately as well. Prof. keeps the whole together. As I have V. Laurenza, occupying the same already noted the bibliography is im­ chair of the University of Malta now pressive and it's a pity that it has held by Prof. F. Lanza, published a not been grouped together if only in study and extracts of Enrico Magi's alphabetical order. This would have 'Dafne' and 'Rime' in Archivum Meli­ helped in any further research which tense some years before, proceeding BOOK REVIEWS 185 to a definitive study and publication and the devotees of Our Lady of of the Datne, a pastorale, in Archivio Liesse were to be found in several Storico di Malta in 1932-33, and se­ other localities abroad. parately in 1936 by the Regia Depu­ The story had alrealy been dealt tazione per la Storia di Malta. R. with by chroniclers and antiquarian Briffa wrote a study 'Due commedie historians of the Order, and several di Carlo Magri' in Athenaeum Meli­ accounts were also published abroad tense in 1926, and Domenico Magri's starting with one by Simone Calvarin Voyage to Mount Lebanon was pub­ in 1555. In a scholarly introduction, lished again in its original Italian Prof. Lanza lists them all and shows version. All this was also accompa­ in particular that stories of knightly nied with examples of eighteenth prowess formed a major subject of century writings and other docu­ the numerous poems and other lite­ ments, memoirs, etc., mainly of a rary works of the time. Other impor­ historical character. tant subjects were those concerning The plot of Ismeria, a work meant the life of St. John the Baptist, the for the stage, is built round the patron saint of the Order, and those legendary stubborn refusal of three connected with the coming of St. Paul knight captives of the sultan of Egypt to Malta. He has up-dated the text during the siege of Ascalon in Pales­ slightly in consonance with the tine in the twelfth century to abandon modern usage of Italian orthography, their faith. Neither blandishments nor specifying all his changes in a preli­ punishments had any effect on them. minary note, but has left largely un­ As a final ruse to break down their touched the curious snatches of Nea­ resistance, the sultan sent them politan Italian uttered by the slave Ismeria, his own daughter, to win Cemmino and by the devils masque­ them over to Islam by the use of all rading as slaves. her wiles. Instead, however, she was Though our seventeenth century herself much impressed by their for­ writers mostly wrote in Italian, they titude; and the miraculous descent, were frequently surprisingly widely borne down by angels, of a small travelled men. Enrico Magi studied statue of Our Lady into their midst philosophy at Aix en Provence, where finally clinched the matter. By divine G. F. Bonamico also studied. The lat­ assistance the whole four of them ter subsequently travelled to Paris, were able to escape out of Egypt, the Spanish Netherlands, the Low finding themselves in a trice wander­ Countries and Germany. Attard de ing about out in the French country­ Vagnolis, the author of some of the side near to the town of Liesse, where earliest known Italian poetry from they left the little statue. The church Malta, was ordained priest at Graz in of Il-Madonna ta' Liesse was one of Austria before becommg parish the most venerated churches of Val­ priest of Qormi. Giacomo Farrugia letta during the times of the Order, (ca. 1641-1716), after studying philo- 186 BOOK REVIEWS sophy and theology in Malta, went the Italian and German attacks on over to Naples to study law. G. F. Malta. Augusta was also the place Abela, the historian and Vice-Chan­ from where the unsuccessful E-boat cellor of the Order, had studied juris­ attack on Malta and the equally un­ prudence at the university of Bologna successful landing of Borg Pisani and and travelled on diplomatic missions Giuseppe Guglielmi originated. to France and Spain. Both Magri With the retreat of the Afrika brothers spent long periods of their Korps along the African littoral, panic lives abroad. Salvatore Imbroll, prior struck the city and the stronghold. and historian of the Order, and his The civilian population deserted the nephew Carlo Micallef, who continued city and found shelter in the hinter­ Imbroll's history, also studied abroad. land. Augusta had no landward de­ They all belonged to a republic of fences and both German and Italian letters much wider than our shores. defenders either retreated or simply G. Wettinger melted away, leaving only a skeleton force behind. The 8th Army landings T. MARCON, Augusta 1940-43. in Sicily, including a landing in Cronache della piazzaforte, Mendola Augusta itself, were practically un­ Press, Augusta (Sicily), 1977, 208 pp. opposed and the city was turned into including bibliography and index; a base for reinforcements, food and illus. ammunition. A hastily collected rein­ This is the story of the civilian forcement of German and Italian population and the military strong­ forces sent to the area from Southern hold of the Sicilian town of Augusta Italy provided sporadic opposition to during the war years 1940-1943. In the advancing British army. More many ways the story of this Sicilian effective were the German and Ital­ fortress is of special interest to ian raids (by sea as well as by air) Malta, as Augusta was the southern­ on the city of Augusta itself and on most Italian naval port originally the ships that were plying in and out aimed to harass enemy shipping in of the harbour carrying men, arma­ the Central and Eastern Mediterran­ ments and supplies. But nothing could ean. Though Augusta served to stop the British advance. The fame harbour a small number of destroyers, of the 8th Army advanced before it minelayers, torpedo boats, seaplanes along the east coast of Sicily. and other small craft, the Italian Signor Tullio Marcon has been able naval force was withdrawn early in to narrate the history of this strong­ the war. This dejected both the hold objectively by consulting a num­ civilian population as well as the ber of war histories and libraries in­ defenders who had hardly any means cluding the Historical Office of the of stopping sneaking British aerial Italian Army, the Historical Office of and sea attacks, even though these the Italian Navy, the Historical Office were rare and hardly comparable to of the Italian Air Force, the Naval BOOK REVIEWS 187

Historical Branch of the British Mi­ Daniel Massa, con il titolo alquanto nistry of Defence, the British Public pomposo di Attraverso le Culture. Records Office, the Historical Divi­ Helmut LUdtke contribuisce un saggio sion of the United States Air Force teorico intitolato "Epistemological and the Deutsche Dienststelle of the Remarks on Language Change and Federal Republic of Germany. Photo­ Language Universals", destinato pro­ graphs have been supplied by the babilmente a suscitare vivo interesse various Italian War Historical Offices, come gia altri articoli del noto lingui­ the Imperial War Museum (UK) and sta tedesco, a partire dal citatissimo the Historical Office of the Royal Die strukturelle Entwicklung des ro­ Australian Air Force. The civilian side manischen Vokalismus, del 1956. Vit­ of the story was collected from the tore Pisani, uno dei piu illustri studio­ records of the municipality of Augus­ si di linguistica storica, scrive su ta, diaries and eye-witness accounts. "Etimologie di voci italiane inizianti This aspect of the history of Augus­ per s-" e prop one etimologie di sbir­ ta, and the able manner in which it ciare, sbronza, sbruffare, scampare, is blended with the history of the scaracchiare, scaraventare, scarpa, port, is the chief asset of the book schiccherare, sgomentare e sgomi­ and makes it a veritable history of nare, respingendo a1cune etimologie the city of Augusta. I must say I proposte da Giacomo Devoto. Giovan enjoyed reading the book tremen­ Battista Pellegrini, altro illustre stu­ dously and I consider that it should dioso italiano di linguistica storica e be a valuable addition to anyone in­ ormai specialista della Romania Ara­ terested in the history of Malta during bica, tratta di "Santa Nefissa nella the same period as well. Letteratura Italiana del '500", illu­ J. Zammit Mangion strando da par suo l'identita di questa 'santa' 0 sayyida musulmana, per Across Cultures. Festschrift edition molto tempo creduta finzione imma­ of Journal of Maltese Studies, No. 11, ginaria di scrittori italiani del Cinque­ 1977, Malta University Press, 144 pp. cento. Giovanni Oman, noto arabista, 50c. scrive su "I termini arabi relativi alIa Questo numero speciale del Journal sogliola nel Mediterraneo". B S J Is­ of Maltese Studies (fondato nel 1961) serlin, della universita di Leeds, pro­ e un volume collettaneo di studi lin­ pone alcune rapide, ma interessantis­ guistici in onore del professor G. sime, osservazioni su "Sicilian Arabic Aquilina, che l'anno scorso ha lascia­ and Maltese: Some Remarks on their to, per raggiunti limiti di eta, la Phonetic Interrelations", rilevando la cattedra di Lingua e Letteratura Mal­ dissimilarita, gia in epoca medioevale, tese presso la locale universita, cat­ fra il maltese e l'arabo di Sicilia. tedra da lui ricoperta, con lodevole Giuseppe Brincat, promettente italia­ impegno bisogna dire, sin dal lontano nista, nell'articolo "Malta e Pantelle­ 1937. Il volume e edito a cura di ria: Alla ricerca di un sostrato comu- 1811 BOOK REVIEWS ne", appoggiandosi ai lavori di Tropea ly scanty, yet it is now increasingly suI pantesco, mette in rilievo i punti accepted that, despite Roger the di contatto, soprattutto a livello lessi­ Norman's raid in 1090, twelfth­ cale, fra il maltese e l'elemento arabo century Malta remained predominant­ (magrebino) del pantesco. Mons. ly Muslim in religion and culture; that Carmelo Sant scrive su "Protestant Latin trade and the Roman church Maltese Bible Translation 1870-1872", obtained a tenuous foothold only to­ interessante continuazione di un bel wards the end of the century; and lavoro pubblicato nel 1975 relativa­ that effective Christianization came mente al periodo 1810-1850. Pier later still. Malta was never "Norman", Cachia, docente di letteratura araba except in a distant and indirect alIa Columbia University di New political sense, and the turning point York, tratta di "Mustafa Ibrahim in the process of Latinization came, 'Ajaj, a Giant of Egyptian Popular through a series of Genoese Counts Literature". Ladislav Drozdik, dell' of Malta, only after Norman rule in universita di Bratislava, scrive su Sicily had collapsed. Such interpreta­ "Three Types of Inter-systemic tions are advanced in various contri­ Restatement in Arabic", e padre butions, including D. Abulafia, Andre Louis, profondo conoscitore "Henry, Count of Malta, and his della cultura araba moderna, tratta il Mediterranean Activities: 1203-1230," tema "Famille et Vie Familiale a contained in Medieval Malta: Studies travers les Proverbes Tunisiens". on Malta before the Knights, ed. A. Albert Borg, infine, presenta una Luttrell (London, 1975). One of Abu­ breve nota intitolata "A Male-female lafia's sources has since been given an Speech-habit Difference in Maltese expanded dimension in J. Brincat, Individuals: A Preliminary Comment", "Le Poesie 'Maltesi' di Peire Vidal: suI diverse uso dell'inglese e del 1204-5," Melita Historica, vii no. 1 maltese da parte dei due sessi. Il (1976), which provides some extra volume e ben stampato, ma gli errori information and emphasizes local del proto, purtroppo, abbondano. prosperity and patronage during an G. Mangion uncharacteristic period in which Malta was ruled from Malta; inciden­ DA VID ABULAFIA, The Two tally, Brincat (p. 65) wrongly gives Italies: Economic Relations between the Genoese Guglielmo Grasso, not the Norman Kingdom of Sicily and "Grosso", as the son of Margarito the Northern Communes. Cambridge of Brindisi. On the whole there are Studies in Medieval Life and Thought, only limited chances that new texts 3rd Series Volume IX, Cambridge will emerge, but excavation must University Press, 1977, pp. xvii - 310, eventually shed more light on Muslim 2 maps; £14.50. Malta and its overseas contacts, while The sources for Maltese history a study of the coins which is now in between 1090 and 1194 are indubitab- preparation may reinforce the Sicilian BOOK H.EVIEWS 189

connection emphasized by the This is not the place for any twelfth-century geographer al--Idrisi. detailed critical analysis of Abulafia's For the rest, the Mediterranean con­ researches or of their somewhat text is crucial, and economic develop­ strained arrangement within a partly ments in Sicily and further north, ideological thesis which confronts an particularly in Genoa, are now consi­ agrarian Mezzogiorno with an indus­ dered in David Abulafia's important trialized North, as if twelfth-century thesis. Still awaiting attention are the Palermo was bound to become more commercial relations between Sicily "agricultural" than Genoa, Venice or and Africa for which Abulafia indi­ Pisa. The author is evidently aware cates various untapped sources. that the search for origins, however The newer interpretation seeks cautious, involves the dangers of first to establish what can reasonably reading history backwards. The city­ be ascertained about Malta itself, and states of Northern Italy certainly then to interpret such data against the evolved attitudes and techniques widest possible background. The which did not develop in the South, older approach was to fit real or but that was a matter of geography supposed facts concerning "Norman" and sea-power, of foreign colonial­ Malta into a Sicilian pattern. Even if isms, of communal institutions, of the latter procedure were methodolo­ capital investment and of other often gically acceptable, it would still highly intangible factors, rather than involve the historian of Malta in a of industry as such; and the whole process of historiographical revision, Mediterranean world, not just the for historians of Sicily now empha­ Mezzogiorno, was eventually to be size not Norman tolerance or Norman left behind. Furthermore, a complete innovation, but the repressive aspects treatment of these problems demands of Norman government, the conserva­ investigations of numerous other tive policies which often left Muslim developments centering on the emer­ populations for long largely undis­ gence of the latifondo: cf. H. Bresc, turbed: cf. S. Tramontana, "Aspetti e "Histoire et ideologie aux origines du problemi dell'insediamento norman­ 'probleme meridional': a propos de no in Sicilia," Atti del Congresso In­ quelques congres," Melanges de l' ternazionale di Studi sulla Sicilia Ecole francaise de Rome: Moyen Age Normanna (Palermo, 1973), and for a - Temps Modernes, Lxxxv (1973). more general treatment M. del Trep­ This debate, in any case, has little po, "Medioevo e Mezzogiorno: appun­ direct bearing on the history of late­ ti per un .bilancio storiografico, pro­ Muslim Malta, which calls for facts poste per un'interpretazione" in Isti­ more than theories. Though most dili­ tuzioni e societa nella storia d'Italia: gently mustered, Abulafia's sources Forme di potere e struttura sociale in are slender. Only the Genoese notarial Italia nel Medioevo, ed. G. Rossetti contracts permit even a somewhat (Bologna, 1977). uncertain assessment of the real trad- 190 BOOK REVIEWS ing operations which lay behind the resident one, is first reliably docu­ generalities of commercial treaties mented. In 1162, however, the Genoe­ and biased chroniclers. For such se switched to an alliance with the reasons, Abulafia's broad hypotheses German emperors. Genoa's trade in inevitably remain debatable, but hi!': Sicily continued despite this new detailed considerations constitutf: entente, just as its commerce in Tunis an important contribution which must outlasted the end of Sicilian control be fundamental to an understanding there in 1160, but when Norman rule of Malta's Mediterranean position. in Sicily itself eventually crumbled in The Genoese associated their own 1194, some Genoese profited, under maritime expansion with Norman German protection, from the ensuing conquests in Sicily and North Africa. power vacuum. They had long been Malta lay within this zone but its infiltrating the whole Central Mediter­ conquest in 1090 was not sustained, ranean market area and they soon for the Normans were generally established a base on the southern stronger on land than at sea and fringe of the Sicilian kingdom at Genoese seapower had not yet been Malta, where a series of Genoese implicated on the Maltese islands, Counts began to bring the island per­ which were on the route to Tripoli manently within the Christian, Latin rather than to Tunis. A Sicilian royal sphere of influence. grant to Savona of 1127/8, which Anthony Luttrell spoke of totum mare quod est a Nu[mid]ia usque ad Tripolim et totum S. M. HASLAM, P. D. SELL & P. A. mare et totam terram que inter nos WOLSEL Y, A Flora of the Maltese et eos sunt (p. 65), perhaps reflected Islands, Malta University Press, 1977, an extension of interests towards PP. Lxxi-560, paper, 8vo. 70 plates Tripoli and therefore towards Malta, with about 450 line drawings. Price: which was again conquered by the f)M3.50. Normans in 1127. Genoa's interests, This is the first complete flora of furthered through a curious but effec­ the Maltese Islands since J. Borg's tive blend of personal initiatives and Descriptive Flora of the Maltese public policies, were in the commerce Islands (1927), recently reprinted by and grain of Sicily itself and in its O. Koeltz. own Levantine trade-routes, as well The opening chapters include infor­ as in North Africa. Genoese contacts mation on geography, topography, with Sicily in 1127 coincided with climate, soils, vegetation and other Norman preparations for an African physical aspects. A good proportion campaign and with the second Nor­ of the information given here is origi­ man conquest of Malta. Genoa's nal. There is also a useful section on major treaty with Sicily came in 1156, the history of the study of the Mal­ the year in which, coincidentally, a tese flora, but although the informa­ Norman Bishop of Malta, albeit a non- tion here is essentially accurate, it BOOK REVIEWS 191 leaves the reader with the impression information (e.g. Centaurea pullata that hardly any work was done in and Gaudiniopsis macra which should this field in the period between the be replaced). two floras. The status given to the plants The flora includes descriptions of included in the flora also shows a about 1,130 species (of which some number of inconsistencies. Thus a 160 are commonly cultivated plants). number of cultivars and hybrids of Apart from the author's own observa­ Narcissus which very occasionally tions, the records have been based escape from cultivation are given a mostly on the work of Grech-Delicata full treatment. Conversely such im­ (1853); Sommier & Caruana-Gatto portant taxa as Enarthrocarpus pter­ (1915); Borg (1927); G. Lanfranco ocarpus, Polygonum equisetiforme (1955, 1969) and Kramer & Westra and Nicotiana longiflora are relegated (1972). The way in which the writers to a brief mention. Various doubtful quote the records is inconsistent since records appearing in the old floras they fail to acknowledge a number of have been included here without com­ records given by the above and other ment while many validly recorded authors. Thus they fail to quote Som­ and confirmed species in the recent mier & Caruana-Gatto for 200 papers of Kramer & Westra, E. Lan­ records, G. Lanfranco for about 70, franco and Silverwood (all cited in Kramer & Westra for 14. Only about the Bibliography) have been left out a dozen of Borg's records have been of the flora completely and arbitra­ overlooked but the authors seem to rily. Among victims of such treatment ignore completely the existence of his are Polygonum patulum, Chenopo­ Third Supplement ... (1935) with the dium ficifolium, Ononis alopecuroides result that some half-dozen newly (a frequent plant), Cephalaria syriaca, recorded species are left out of the Rumex obtusifolius (common) and flora. Rumex sanguineus. The authors also ignore the exis­ Some of the genera receive a poor tence of a number of important papers treatment. Thus only four out of at published in The Maltese Naturalist. least eight species of Rumex and only Considering that the most recent in­ five out of nine species of Amaran­ sertion in their Bibliography is dated thus are recorded. Andropogon dista­ 1975 it works out that 9 of the rele­ chyus must have been omitted by vant papers appearing between 1970 oversight since this is common and and 1974 have been disregarded. It is well known. The authors also failed evident that the authors had access to take into consideration a number to this periodical since they cite two of recent revisions of genera such as papers from it. This resulted in the those of Runemark, Pignatti and omission from the flora of more Steinberg for Parapholis, Phagnalon than 40 species and in the failure to and Adonis respectively, all of which correct old records in the light of new bear on the Maltese plants. They mis- 192 BOOK REVIEWS

quote Sommier & Caruana-Gatto with inventing new vernacular names claiming that according to S. & C. G., where they do not exist but if it has Cerastium brachypetalum is more fre­ to be done, this should be the respon­ quent than C. glomeratum whereas S. sibility of a board of botanists and & C.G. actually claim the reverse. linguists and not decided arbitrarily. On the credit side I should mention Some of the new names are impracti­ the inclusion of four new records: Ca­ cal, e.g. Widen il Gurdien Idellek rex spicata, Origanum onites, Myrio­ (Cerastium glomeratum); Kittien tal­ phyllum verticillatum and Paspalum lmharbat (Unum strictum) and Xnejn dilatatum. Some of the misidentifica­ inhaxlet (sic) (Trifolium campestre & tions appearing in the older floras scabrum). Calling the Autumnal Scilla have been put right. These include autumnalis: Ghansal tax-Xitwa (transl. Fraxinus angustifolia, Carex otrubae, "Winter Squill") is misleading. Silla Onopordum argolicum and Aster Qatranija for Psoralea bituminosa is squamatus, replacing F. excelsior, C. superfluous since this plant already vulpina, O. sibthorpianum and A. enjoys at least two vernacular names. subulatus respectively. Other positive Some of the new English names are features include the incorporation of not much better, e.g. Bloody Broom­ a very useful glossary and the very rape (Orobanche sanguinea). It is low price which brings this relatively strange then that some well-establish­ vast work within everybody's reach. ed Maltese names have been omitted, The illustrations are generally very e.g. Tuffieh is-Serp (Solanum luteum) well executed and accurately display and Ghallis (Notobasis syriaca). the character of the plants they por­ In spite of the numerous technical tray. It is a pity that as a result of faults outlined, this book is still the quality of printing and reduction, valuable when considered simply as some of the diagrams have lost cla­ an identification guide. The incorpo­ rity. It is also unfortunate that some ration of keys and the diagrams, of the diagrams represent plants other especially the details given of the than those which they are meant to legumes of the many Medicago portray. Thus "Galium aparine" is species and the flowers of Ophrys Rubia peregrina (which features twice would make this book much easier to in the same plate); "Vicia tetrasper­ use.than Borg's Flora. I urge anybody ma" is V. leucantha; "Frankenia interested in identifying Maltese levis" is F. pulverulenta; "Chenopod­ plants to get the book. I cannot help ium album" is C. opulifolium. The mentioning that had the authors faken names of Ferula communis and Foeni­ the trouble to consult people actively culum vulgare have been switched working on the Maltese flora, all the (printer's error?). technical faults mentioned could very The authors have given new Mal­ easily have been averted. tese and English names to some of the species. I do not personally agree Edwin Lanfranco BOOK REVIEWS 193

VICTOR MALLIA-MILANES, "Some attempt to arrive at a comprehensive Aspects of Veneto-Maltese Trade Re­ view of Veneto-Maltese consular lations in the XVIIIth Century", Studi relations". The paper is in two parts: Veneziani, XVI, 1974, pp. 503-553. "The Maltese Consulate in Venice" "Malta and Venice in the Eighteenth and "The Venetian Consulate in Mal­ Century: A Study in Consular Rela­ ta". The former is a revised and tions", Studi Veneziani, XVII-XVIII, enlarged version of a paper which the 1975-76, pp. 265-320. author had published in 1971 in Melita The questions discussed ·in "Some Historica (V, 4, pp. 321-337). "The Aspects ... " relate to Veneto-Maltese Venetian Consulate in Malta" is a "interdependence in matters of trade threefold comparative study of the and other related services" soon after Order's "unconventional practice and the establishment of three intimately highly peculiar attitude" towards the related institutions in the course of foreign consul in Rhodes and in the eighteenth century - the Maltese Malta, of the Venetian consulate in consulate in Venice, the Venetian con­ Malta in relation to other consulates sulate in Malta and a Venetian Min­ on the Island, and of the vaguely istry in Malta in the person of Massi­ termed Venetian consul in Malta miliano Buzzaccarini Gonzaga. These before 1755 and the truly Venetian include such aspects as Malta's trade consul in Malta after that date. The potentiality as viewed by Buzzacca­ theme is scientifically approached rini Gonzaga, attempts to conclude a within the broad framework of central bilateral trade agreement, the Order's Mediterranean history in general and principle of neutrality, Grandmaster as an integral part of the Venetian Pinto's design for the setting up of Republic's "rehabilitation policy" in Venetian factories in Malta, the deli­ particular. cate grain and timber trade, Venetian The two papers, both scrupulously merchant shipping in Malta and Mal­ documented, are an important contri­ ta's strategic significance to Venice bution, indeed an essential one, not in the Republic's relations with Bar­ only to the commercial and economic bary Regencies. Together these ques­ history of Malta but also to key tions constitute what Mallia-Milanes aspects of Venetian history and Vene­ calls "a study of the gradual process tian historiography. of mutual exploitation of the good Louis J. Scerri relations" prevailing between Venice and Malta. ALEXANDER BONNICI, Il-MatriCi In his second study ("Malta and Kolleggjata ta' l-Assunta u l-Ewwel Venice ... "), the author examines the ParrocCi ta' Gnawdex; Gozo 1975, pp. system behind Maltese consular estab­ 136. lishments overseas and foreign con­ This study is a sane, readable and sulates in Malta in "its eighteenth thoroughly informative piece of work, century stage of development in an marked by an academic objectivity 194 BOOK REVIEWS

and a meticulous regard for strict status of parish, cfr.ch.IX-X - any documentary evidence, both local and church or churches had ever sprung foreign. In comparison, one can put from her. This does not imply, says all previous and contemporary publi­ Bonnici, that the Assumption was not cations on the subject, including Wet­ the oldest parish church, but simply tinger's Il-Grajja Bikrija tal-Knisja that the other early parishes in Rabat MatriCi t'Ghawdex 1435-1551, on an (Gozo) had not been her offshoots. undergraduate introductory reading The next chapter gives a detailed list. and precise definition - essential as The book begins with two brief a basic term of reference - of the chapters. The first is on the early Latin phrase terra et insula ("the city writers on the history of the church and island") with reference to Gozo. in Gozo, whom, with the exception of In chapters V, VI and VII the author Ciantar, the author considers of no casts "a cursory look at the four great historical value. The second parish churches in Rabat" - San attempts the dubious task of tracing Gorg, Savina, San Gakbu and the the origins of the earliest church in Assunta - during the 16th and 17th Gozo. centuries in the light of Duzina's Chapter III evaluates the Church of Apostolic Visit of 1575 and Bishop the Assumption's claim to precedence Molina's of 1680. In a later chapter over all other parish churches in (XIII) and with an accelerated narra­ Gozo. The key document in question, tive pace, Bonnici passes a few Le. the will of the Gozitan Nucio de concluding remarks on the Mother Episcopo, dated 12 October 1435 and Church and "all the other parishes preserved, according to Wettinger, in together at the dawn of the eight­ the Notarial Archives, Valetta (R. eenth century". 399/7, f. 276v) , is analysed critically This monograph is a serious study in the process. It is the earliest docu­ in the history of the early church in ment which refers to the Assumption Gozo. Its only limitation is that Gozi­ as the Mother Church in Gozo. It tan society, within which the churches implies also that by then it was grew and gained in their relative normal usage to refer to that church importance and stature, has been by the name of Matrice. But since (wilfully?) neglected. One looks for­ when still remains obscure; so, too, ward to the publication of Wettin­ does our knowledge of whether this ger's promised study in the social and parish church was "the Matrice of economic aspects of Gozitan life Gozo" in the whole judicial sense of during the fifteenth and sixteenth the term. No documentary evidence centuries. has so far been produced to prove Victor Mallia-Milanes that before 1678 - when Xewkija (and others later) was dismembered Heritage. An Encyclopedia of Mal­ from the Assumption and given the tese Culture and Civilization, Malta, BQOKREVIEWS 195

Interprint, 1977, nos. 1-6. Published reach a wider public, has published by Midsea Books Ltd., Klabb Kotba quite a few books which were not Maltin (3A Strait Street, Valletta); worth publishing because they were 15c per issue. devoid of literary or 'scientific' value. Heritage is the latest in a series of Similarly, Heritage, to keep up the bold ventures by the newly founded tempo of a monthly publication, might publishing house, which originally suffer from hurried decisions as re­ started as a book club aimed at pro­ gards selection of contributions and viding the Maltese public with suit­ their authors, insufficient and uncriti­ able reading material and gradually cal proof-reading and other shortcom­ widened its scope and activities so ings. A more judicious and exacting as to cater for the publication of editorial board could be the answer. books on Malta in the English lan­ An enterprise such as Heritage ought guage. The success encountered so to depend on tutored minds. If stan­ far by the Klabb has come as a happy dards are maintained, this review, surprise to most of us. Part of this which has already secured a very success is due, I think, to the know­ wide readership, can become a veri­ how and good taste of those who are table cultural catalyst in this Island. responsible for the printing and pro­ If standards were to drop, then it duction of most of the Klabb's publi­ would become - God forbid! - a cations. With the introduction of new monthly document of mediocrity and establishments and sophisticated parochialism! To go back to the 'de­ techniques over the last ten years, sign' of the magazine. Much as I there has been considerable progress admire the documentary illustrations in the art of printing in Malta, so aptly and lavishly included in the (though, of course, costs have soared text, I must say I do not see the and it is no longer easy for one to point of having so many hand-drawn be one's own publisher). Heritage is illustrations whose main purpose a case in point. I think it can be seems to be a prop to the readers' safely said that, typographically, it is imagination. Such illustrations are the finest example of periodical litera­ worth publishing only if they are ture published in Malta to date. Hav­ highly original and artistic: otherwise ing said this, however, I must add adult readers are not to be treated that Heritage may well be labouring like schoolchildren! The true-to-life under a dilemma which presumably depiction of 'Archbishop Caruana dis­ bedevils the whole activity of Klabb guisedas a hawker selling bananas Kotba Maltin. It is not easy to strike and oranges in Mexico City' on p. 26 a balance between what is 'popular' of Heritage ? lacks justification. and what is 'scientific', between Similarly, precious space could have quantity and quality, between busi­ been saved if the authors' biographical ness and culture. I am afraid that the note on cover page 2 of each and Klabb, in its praiseworthy· effort to every issue were omitted. It is not 196 BOOK REVIEWS

really important to know that a highly readable. The Diary of a War certain contributor "was employed for is collected mainly from contempo­ sixteen years as clerk with the British rary local newspapers, I suppose. Armed Forces and is now employed There seems to be, in this first instal­ in a similar capacity by the Maltese ment, a certain partiality for the pro­ Government", and that "for many British Malta Chronicle, but it may be years he was the secretary of the just a coincidence! Malta under the Societa (sic) Don FiIippo Borgia of Cottoners presupposes a considerable Birkirkara and in 1974 was elected amount of research, but its style is President of the same Societa (sic)". discursive (see for ex. the last para­ If at all, these biographical notes graph of Chapter 3) and hardly com­ (thank God no photos were included!) patible with a scientific approach. are to be kept to a bare minimum. The editor and 'moving spirit' of the G. Mangion journal is Brig. A. Sammut-Tagliafer­ ro, author of the History of the Royal The Armed Forces of Malta Journal, Malta Artillery. Malta, Lux Press, October 1977, No. G. Mangion 28, pp. 57-84, illus., 50c. This journal - former titles: The Malta Library Association Year­ Royal Malta Artillery Journal, 1969- book 1975 & 1977; respectively, Veri­ 1971; The Malta Land Force Journal, tas Press, 31 pp., 50c, and Union 1971-73 - is published twice a year, Press, 43 pp., 70c. in April and October. It includes news The first volume contains the fifth items, letters and articles of interc~ and sixth annual reports by the then to members of the Malta Armed chairmen J. Montalto and A. F. Sap­ Forces, whose official organ this is. ienza, respectively. There is also Articles are almost invariably of a a useful and updated directory of historical nature, though most of libraries in Malta, compiled by Lillian them are short, if interesting, contri­ Sceberras. Here is the entry regarding butions which lay no claim to scien­ the Royal Malta Library, now the tific value inasmuch as they are not Malta National Library: "36 Old the result of research work. This not­ Treasury Street, Valletta; 26585 withstanding, the journal is of un­ [telephone no.]; 1555 [year when doubted interest to historians. The library was established]; P [Public, present issue introduces the first in­ National Library]; 335,000 [stock in stalments of two historical works no. of volumes]; 0, 1, 2, 3, 33, 34 ... which can later be assembled into [areas of interest], Melitensia, Archive book form. These are: Malta under Collection, Rare books and binding; the Cottoners (1660-1680), by Win­ 1st October to 15th June Mondays, ston L. Zammit, and Malta: Diary of Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays: 8.15 to a War (June 1940-August 1945), by 5.45 (! hour lunch break), Saturdays: Michael Galea. Both articles are 8.15 to 1.15, 16th June to 30th Sep- BOOK REVIEWS 197 tember: 8.15 to 1.15 (except Wednes­ teacher-librarians, created an esprit days); Vincent A. Depasquale RA., de corps among themselves. We all LL.D. [librarian]". According to the appreciate their effort, and hope to same article the Malta University see more efficient libraries (the recent Library has 125,000 books, the Beltis­ appointment of school librarians is a sebh Public Lending Library has very welcome development) and bet­ 60,000, the MCAST Library 13,000, ter-stocked bookshops functioning in the College of Education Library (now our midst. Even today there is no real at MCAST) has 16,000, the British substitute for the printed word as a Council Library 19,620, the Istituto tool for the dissemination of ideas. A Italiano di Cultura 2000, the US IS survey of Maltese children's (and Library 800, the Gozo Public Library adults') reading habits, as suggested 61,000, the Victoria Boys' Secondary by Mr T. Zahra in the above-mention­ School Library 10,000. ed article, would be extremely useful. The 1977 Yearbook carries the G. Mangion seventh and eight annual reports by the MLA chairman Paul Xuereb, and V. FENECH, A Bibliography of articles by Trevor Zahra on "Books Children's Literature in Malta, Malta for Children in Maltese" and Victor University Press 1976, 18 pp., cover Fenech on "The production of child­ design by J. MaIlia. Published by the ren's books with special reference to Malta Library Association, 35c. Malta". These both make very inter­ A neat, handy, classified list of esting reading. Fenech's is particular­ children's books, compiled by one ly to the point. who has had training and experience "It is the first time in our history in this field. A welcome addition to that a body of librarians with the our Melitensia. Entries in this com­ minimum of resources has kept up pilation are split into six separate the pressure for a better deal in sections: Reading in stages, Narrative bringing the book to the people". So (Original), Narrative (Translations/ writes the editor, Fr A. Sapienza, in Adaptations), Bible Stories, People the foreword to the latest issue of the and Places, Poetry. Textbooks, "un­ journal. The 60-odd members of the less story books", have been purpose­ Association have actually done quite ly omitted. I don't really understand a lot to enhance the prestige and why. I expected to find AIdo Farini's efficiency of their profession. They Fior del Mondo and Fiabe, tradizioni have set up sub-committees, published e leggende maltesi duly included in papers and yearbooks, established the list. But then I found just one contacts with Library associations item - Anne Mangion's Adventures overseas, promoted the award of from Other Lands, Malta 1974 - scholarships in Librarianship, organis­ which was not in Maltese. Trevor ed the National Book Week since Zahra in MLA Yearbook 1977 pays 1975, held in-service courses for homage to Temi Zammit, Annibale 198 BOOK REVIEWS

Preca, Xand Cortis, E.B. Vella, A.M. Fenech's introduction finds me in Galea as being those who have most complete agreement: "The Maltese are contributed to establish Children's not exactly a reading nation, and it Literature in Maltese. Their names, has been amply proved that parents with the exception of E. B. Vella, who read produce children who read. are not to be found in Fenech's list. Since the child is father of the man, Is it because their works were not we thus have a vicious circle· which actually written as children's litera­ only a real and sustained programme ture, as Fenech seems to suggest on of action can hope to overcome". p. 3? What age is intended to be G. Mangion covered by the term 'children'? All items on the list belong to the 70s, A. F. SAPIENZA, A Checklist of with just a few dating back to the Maltese Periodicals and Newspapers late 60s. But did the compiler delibe­ in the National Library of Malta and rately fix a terminus a quo? It is a the University of Malta Library, pity the compiler did not deem it fit Malta University Press, 1977, n.p. to explain his methodology in the Si tratta, come dice il titolo, di un introduction. Otherwise the booklet is catalogo di periodici e giornali esi­ an eye-opener to those who are not stenti nelle due maggiori biblioteche aware of the great vitality that has dell'Isola. L'autore El padre Sapienza, characterised the compilation and benemerito bibIioteconomista nostra­ production of Maltese literature (in­ no. L'elenco comprende tutti i giornali cluding textbooks like Id-Denfil) for - a parte quelli, presumibilmente children over the last ten years, pochi, inevitabilmente echappe al thanks to the initiative of dedicated compilatore, e gia prima ai bibliote­ writers like Victor Fenech himself, cari - pubblicati a Malta, a partire J. J. Camilleri, Trevor Zahra, Pawlu dal Journal de Malte del 1798 fino a Mifsud and publishers like Merlin tutto il 1973. Vi sono inclusi ben 1222 Library and Klabb Kotba Maltin. It is titoli! Un numero incredibilmente alto to be hoped that there will be more di testate per una popolazione che, a books (and textbooks) for Maltese meta del secolo scorso, raggiungeva sl children, and with a Maltese setting, e no le 130,000 unita. Ma fu, quello, in English, Italian, French and even­ il secolo delle nazionalita; delle rivo­ tually other languages. To love books, luzioni; dell'immigrazione poIitica, it is imperative that our children cos1 forte e incisiva a Malta; del should find interesting books to read. romanticismo, tendente ad avvicinare Reading is so important for the deve­ la cultura al popolo; di un impe­ lopment of one's ability to express rialismo repressivo delle liberta politi­ oneself easily and clearly, orally and che e costituzionaIi delle colonie; di in writing, an ability on which much ampia circolazione delle idee a causa of one's success in life depends. The delle migliorate vie di comunicazione following quotation from Victor marittima. Tutti questi elementi con- BOOK REVIEWS 199 tribuirono a far sorgere a Malta tanti nale anziche all'intero arco della e tanti giornali. Questo, della stampa sua esistenza. In altri rari casi, anche periodica a Malta, e un argomento di relativamente a giornali tuttora in indubbio interesse scientifico. Se e corso di pubblicazione, 1'informazione esatta la informazione ricevuta, e in fornita non e esatta. Per fare qualche corso di stampa un ampio lavoro esempio: del Ponte, solo il primo n. sull'argomento da parte di Bianca fu pubblicato dal Gruppo Giovanile Fiorentini, gia benemerita, fra 1'altro, della "Dante"; e la pubblicazione di per 1'ottimo studio "11 giornalismo a Melita Historica non e "irregular", ma Malta durante il Risorgimento Italia­ annuale. 11 valore della presente no", nel volume Edhi del Risorgimen­ Checklist sta quasi unicamente nell' to a Malta edito dalla "Dante" nel elenco dei titoli e nell'indicazione 1960. Sullo stesso argomento ha della reperibilita dei fascicoli nelle lavorato anche Dionisio Mintoff, auto­ due biblioteche. A questo proposito e re di una tesi di laurea inedita, scritta davvero inspiegabile come le due nel 1971 e intitolata Journalism in biblioteche non dispongano dell'intera Malta. Ed ora, questo catalogo per collezione di riviste e giornali facil­ ordine alfabetico. Che il lavoro sia di mente acquistabili, come per esempio grande utilita euristica e fuori dubbio. le riviste tuttora vegete e vive, tipo Che esso risponda a modesti intenti Melita Historica. Si dice oggi che le di limitata guida bibliografica, 10 biblioteche non devono star li, inerti, ammette candidamente l' autore nell' come botteghe oscure, ad aspettare introduzione: "To determine the date che vengano gli 'avventori', ma devo­ of the last issue of several of these no darsi da fare per attirare a se i periodicals would have been a worth­ 'lettori e, se necessario, devono loro while exercise. Internal evidence is at stesse andare incontro al popolo per times possible. But it would have costringerlo, quasi, a consumare il involved the compilers in much more bene della cultura (ho visto, a Berna, detailed study of the periodicals con­ attraenti eaccessibili biblioteche a cerned than could be done in the time pian terreno, sparse per la citta, that was available". Alcuni titoli sono frequentate da ragazzi, madri, operai corredati di informazioni bibliografi­ intenti a leggere giornali e libri nei che essenziali; altri, invece, fanno a ritagli di tempo libero). Tanto menD menD anche di queUe. Nel caso dei possono pretend ere, le nostre biblio­ giornali ottocenteschi, quelle brevis­ teche, che vengano da se libri e sime informazioni sono prese di peso, riviste! quasi sempre, dal summenzionato G. Mangion studio di Bianca Fiorentini. In qual­ che caso, quei ragguagli, COS! scarni F. KRIER, Le maltais au contact de e rapidi, possono indurre il lettore in l'italien: Etude phonologique, gram­ errore, in quanto si riferiscono ad una maticale et semantique, Hamburg, determinata fase della vita del gior- Helmut Buske Verlag, 1976, 150 pp., 200 BOOK REVIEWS

s.i.p. mout, of'frou, ecc., mentre solo in una Fernande Krier, lussemburghese, ristretta zona portuale (Birgu-Kalka­ attualmente assistente di linguistica ra) persiste tale pronuncia, unitamen­ romanza alI'universita di Kiel, in te alI'altro idiotismo, ugualmente in­ Germania, aveva gia pubblicato due spiegato fin ora, rilevato pero indiret­ studi suI maltese: "Analyse phonolo­ tamente dalI'autrice, della manuten­ gique du maltais", Phonetica, 1975, zione nella q maltese del suono della pp. 103-129, e "Analyse syntaxique de qaf delI'arabo classico. Si tratta per la phrase nominale en maltais", La altro di una ricerca esclusivamente Linguistique, 1975, fasc. 2, pp. 93-116. sincronica: "L'objectif essentiel est d' Si tratta ora delIa pubbIicazione delIa examiner a quel point une langue tesi di laurea elaborata sotto la guida indo-europeenne parvient a influencer di Andre Martinet, e dedicata agli une langue semitique". E conclude influssi fonologici e morfosintattici che "les faits syntaxiques releves delI'italiano suI maltese, con raffronti prouvent nettement que le maltais, con l'italiano standard, il siciliano dont l'apparence est parfois tres ital­ letterario, l'arabo classico e i dialetti ienne, etant donne qu'un enonce peut tunisino (Kairouan) e libico (tripolita­ renfermer jusqu' a 30'10 de lexemes no). E' un argomento senz'altro inte­ italiens, n'en est pas moins un idiome ressante e originale, cui la Krier ha arabe" (pp. 105-6). L'autrice insiste portato un contributo utilissimo, suI fatto che l'influsso italiano non anche se certo suscettibile di appro­ abbia squilibrato il sistema morfosin­ fondimento, come essa stessa rico­ tattico del maltese, mentre ne avrebbe nosce. Non mancano inesattezze e esteso e arricchito il lessico e la fono­ 'cantonate' dovute forse ad una im­ logia. In effetti tale squilibrio non perfetta conoscenza del maltese, non­ appare perche ormai il maltese ha una cM delI'italiano (a p. 95 sembra igno­ componente costitutiva romanza, rare il costrutto /nel mezzo di/) e dovuta al secolare, inevitabile inter­ delIa dialettologia araba, triplice co­ scambio tra lingua colta e lingua noscenza necessaria per trattare la parlata. Non cosl pacifico e benefico grammatica, soprattutto storica, del appare l'influsso delI'inglese suI mal­ maltese. La Krier si basa soprattutto tese: il 29 agosto scorso alIa televi­ sui primi scritti di Aquilina (specie sione maltese sentii parlare di /kemi­ The structure of Maltese) e su un stri:a/ (al posto di /ki:mika/), ultima corpus di 868 vocaboli tolti da testi di una lunga seri:e di interferenze letterari e giornalistici, e s'appoggia a (non solo lessicali) dall'inglese che due informatori per la fonetica. A rischiano di scardinare il sistema questo proposito, nuoce veramente della lingua, introducendo un partico­ l'abbaglio preso nella pronuncia mal­ larismo linguistico sfrenato; per cui tese del nesso eu, che e reso sempre aveva probabilmente ragione Hum­ con ou, per cui si legge continuamente boldt a sostenere che la stabilita e loun, mizzou'gi:n, '1 ouel, tassou, ricchezza di una lingua richiedono BOOK REVIEWS 201 una massa sufficientemente ampia di tese Dialect Survey" apparso dappri­ parlanti. ma in Zeitschrift fur Mundartfor­ G. Mangion schung, Wiesbaden 1967-68,1, 19-30, Aquilina da notizia di un'inchiesta J. AQUILINA, Maltese Linguistic dialettale da condursi a Malta (ora in Surveys, Malta, 1nterprint, 1976, 216 fase avanzata di elaborazione) in col­ pp. Published by the University of laborazione con un'equipe dell'univer­ Malta. £M5.25. sita di Leeds, e discute inoltre la E' una pubblicazione importante, da presenza a Malta e Gozo di un nume­ mettere in relazione alle due opere ro imprecisato di dialetti, e perfino di fondamentali di Aquilina, The Struc­ sotto-dialetti che si troverebbero spar­ ture of Maltese, Malta 1973 e Papers si nelle fattorie e capanne del conta­ in Maltese Linguistics, Malta 1970. do. "The historic origin of these dia­ La presente opera consiste di sedici lects must go back to the time when saggi gia pubblicati in Atti congres­ the islands were inhabited by family suali, riviste 0 miscellanee, e che groups who moved from one village vengono qui lievemente riveduti e to another. Such an idea of perhaps aggiornati. Sono raggruppati in tre originally nomadic migration can be sezioni: linguistica, toponomastica e based on the etymology of the Arabic folklore. Ecco i titoli, con la data di verb ... rahal [ ... ]. The present Mal­ presentazione 0 pubblicazione dei tese dialects must be the residues of saggi stessi: Linguistic Cross Currents the different dialects spoken by the in Maltese, 1974; A study in compara­ different migratory tribes or clans tive Maltese and Arabic idioms, 1971; who settled down in different places Maltese Christian words of Arabic at different times. These are the origin, 1972; The Berber element in places which they called irhula ... ". Maltese, 1970; Maltese Dialect Sur­ Malta e Gozo - secondo Aquilina - vey, 1965; Some dialect aspects of pullulano di dialetti. E questi dialetti Maltese, 1973; Prepositional verbs in non sarebbero varieta parlate del Maltese, 1969; L'arabo a Malta; La cod ice lingua, cioe del maltese stan­ stratificazione del vocabolario marina­ dard, come parlato dai maltesi oggi resco maltese, 1966; L'elemento less i­ residenti neIle citta, ma sistemi auto­ cale italiano antico e moderno nel nomi, geneticamente indipendentisep­ maltese, 1974; Maltese toponymic pur linguisticamente affini, sorti con­ stratification, 1966; The hills of Malta temporaneamente in seguito al pro­ and Gozo, 1969; Influenze arabe sulla babile insediamento nelle isole malte­ toponomastica maltese, 1961; Compa­ si di diverse tribu migratorie possi­ rative Maltese and Arabic Proverbs, bilmente di origine nomadica: tanto si 1967; Lexical material in Maltese folk­ ricava, per esempio, dalla citazione lore, 1957; A comparative study in sopra riportata. A parte il carattere lexical material relating to nicknames ipotetico dei dati storici cui si fa rife­ and surnames, 1964. NeI saggio "Mal- rimento, la condizione dialettologica 202 BOOK REVIEWS delle nostre isole come descritta da insano che mai si possa dare e peg­ Aquilina, non mi convince. Pur accet­ giore della lingua Siciliana riguardo tando un'ampia definizione di 'dialet­ all'Italiana"), dialetto di Gozo e dia­ to' come uno strumento di comunica­ letti dei paesi bassi, dei paesi di zione linguistica di ambito ed impiego mezzo e dei paesi alti, era spinto a demograficamente piu ristretto che la tale concezione da esigenze pre­ 'lingua' (G. Berruto), mi pare che ,ci romantiche di nazionalismo linguisti­ debba essere una consistente differen­ co, e del resto lui stesso ammetteva ziazione perche si possa parlare di che tali dialetti "principalmente si dialetti, a maggior ragione se si inten­ distinguono dalla variazione della pro­ dono come autonomi nei confronti nuncia". Giova ricordare che Malta e della lingua comune, come sono per Gozo coprono un'area di appena 316 esempio i dialetti italiani, ma non, kmq. secondo me, i 'dialetti' del maltese. La G. Mangion differenziazione tra le varieta parlate del maltese e marcata solo a livello M. FSADNI, Id-Dumnikani Maltin fonologico, e cio succede, mi pare, in Fi Zmien il-Gwerra 1939-1945, distinti e distanti ambienti geografici Progress Press 1977. pp. 261; illus. e non certo tra un razzett e l'altro, Fr. Mikiel Fsadni O.P. needs no come suggerisce Aquilina. A livello introduction. He is one of the very lessicale e semantico tale differenzia­ few local scholars whose writings zione e molto tenue, ed inesistente a have made a really worthwhile contri­ livello morfosintattico. Per cui dubito bution to Maltese studies. This book, che si possa, scientificamente, parlare the fourth in a series of important di dialetto di Qala come diverso da monographs on the history of the quello di Xaghra, e di dialetto di Dominican Order in Malta, is an inter­ Rabat (Malta) come diverso da quello esting and often absorbing account of di Birkirkara (p. 47). In Italia, dove la the activities of Dominican friars dur­ differenziazione e frammentazione ing the second World War. It is there­ dialettale e estremamente marcata, fore different from his other publica­ un milanese che parli meneghino non tions which were chiefly concerned si farebbe capire a Bari, e un dialet­ with late medieval and early modern tofono piemontese non sarebbe com­ history. It is also, on account of its preso in Abruzzo. Non mi pare che subject matter, necessarily less aca­ sia analoga la situazione a Malta. Lo demic and therefore more easily ac­ stesso Mikiel Anton Vassalli (1764- cessible to the general reader; and, 1829) chiamato in causa da Aquilina because it is based principally on un­ per avere per primo identificato cin­ written reminiscences, it dispenses que dialetti maltesi, distinguendoli su with footnotes which feature so pro­ base geografica come dialetto delle minently in Fsadni's other books. This cittll (che bisognava estirpare poiche does not however detract from its rischiava di "rendersi il gergo il piu value for it throws an important BOOK REVIEWS 203 light on the socio-religious aspects of members including friars, lay the war years. To compensate for the brothers, students and simple novices, absence of footnotes there is a detail­ had three convents at Rabat, Valletta ed list of people interviewed and of and Birgu, and a house at Sliema manuscripts and other archive­ which was becoming increasingly material and books consulted; and important. Blissfully unaware of the the analytical index at the end facili­ dark clouds ahead, even though there tates its use by students and research were persistent rumours of an, im­ workers. pending war, the Sliema Dominicans Thanks primarily to Charles Boffa's embarked in 1939 on an ambitious book The Second Great Siege, Malta and costly building programme involv­ 1940-43 (Malta, 1970) and the subse­ ing the modification and extensive quent foundation of the hard working enlargement of the beautiful church War Museum Association, the last of Christ the Nazarene that had' been decade has witnessed a remarkable entrusted to their care in 1909. The revival of interest in the war and war did not deter them and in spite several books with a war-theme have of the frequent air raids, rising costs, been published or are in course of and increasing scarcity of necessary publication. The one under review is materials, they tenaciously carried on definitely one of the best. As Fr. with the work bringing it to almost Fsadni concedes in the introduction, near completion in 1941 during one the full story of the war in Malta has of the worse periods of the blitz. The yet to be told. He has however con­ church was subsequently hit several tributed substantially towards this times and considerably damaged; it end by collecting experiences which was the new technique of 'ferro­ would otherwise have been lost. concrete' used successfully by Mr. There is much to recommend this Guze Damato that probably saved the approach. The war is still vividly church from utter destruction. This remembered by thousands of people fate befell the architecturally much a great number of whom have inte­ more important church of the Virgin resting stories to tell and stimulating Annunciate at Birgu. On the eve of experiences to communicate. The the outbreak of hostilities with Italy work of recording them must start in June 1940 the Dominicans there without delay or it may soon be too were proudly preparing for the un­ late. Already some of the people veiling of Giovanni Battista Conti's interviewed by Fr. Fsadni, such as dome paintings which were to crown Professor Seraphim Zarb, have passed the decoration of the church. Their away. sense of satisfaction was, however, The book opens with a description short lived. The heavy blitz of 19th of the Maltese Dominican Province in July turned the church and adjoining the immediate pre-war period. The monastic building with its fine clois­ community consisting of ninety-five ter into a heap of ruins. The attractive 204 BOOK REVIEWS bell tower escaped but was subse­ work in an almost military zone. The quently pulled down when the present Sliema Dominicans did not abandon church was built after the end of the their flock and when on 26th Decem­ war. Fr. Fsadni claims that it was ber 1942 their house was completely structurally unsound and that its destroyed they lived in a public demolition was only undertaken on shelter for several months until they expert advice. It is indeed a pity it could rent an alternative accommoda­ could not be saved. One of the book's tion. At Rabat which became an im­ most important chapters describes the portant refugee centre, the Domini­ artistic treasures lost at Birgu and cans opened two wings of their large other Dominican churches. The plates cloister which were divided into which illustrate it probably constitute cubicles to give shelter to those who the only survIvmg photographic could not find other accommodation. record of these works of art. The Dominican Fathers continued The Dominicans experienced, on meanwhile as far as possible to lead account of the situation of three of their cloistral life and attend to their their houses in Malta's worst bombed choir and other duties. At the helm areas the full brunt of the war. At of the Order was the remarkable Valletta where the crypt of their Irishman Fr. Nolan. An ascetic and a church sometimes served as an air­ strict disciplinarian he was also a raid shelter for almost about a thou­ gifted leader who was instrumental in sand people, they ministered to the keeping the morale high during the needs of those who for various long ordeal. He was above all an inde­ reasons could not join the exodus out fatigable worker who inspired his of the city, some of whom led a brother Dominicans to rise to the nightmarish existence in the old rail­ occasion. Some of them worked hard way tunnel and other rock-cut galle­ in District Committees and the A.R.P. ries such as il-Mina s-Sewda and the while others gave brilliant service as Yellow Garage. At Birgu during the military chaplains. Their vividly nar­ first days of aerial bombardment rated experiences help capture the people sought refuge in the Domini­ war atmosphere as few other books can cloister but they luckily soon have succeeded in doing. found more secure shelters in the ditch round the fortifications where One hopes that Fr. Fsadni's work the friars together with the only two will provoke members of other relig­ other priests Dun Pawl Galea and ious orders to publish accounts of Dun Anton Caruana gave them all their war activities. This together the assistance they could until their with the collection of other experienc­ convent was razed to the ground in es will help build for posterity a. January 1941. They then opened a comprehensive picture of this momen­ temporary house at Fleurs de Lys tous event in Maltese History. where they continued their pastoral Mario Buhagiar BOOK REVIEWS 205

MALTA HANDBOOK. A Depart­ 1815, early during the British connec- ment of Information Publication, tion" (p. 41). G. Mangion Malta Government Printing Press, 1977, 240 pp., illus., 30c. ~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.-.~.~. i i This handbook supplies essential, i i updated, official information on i i i BOOKS AND ARTICLES i Malta, with concise descriptive articles (including statistics) on all i i FOR REVIEW Government Departments. This edi­ i i tion covers the 1977-78 period, and is i i ARE TO BE SENT TO well printed and illustrated (though i i of course there is ample room for i i THE EDITOR. improvement in this respect). It sells i i at the almost nominal price of 30c. i i THEY MUST DEAL WITH Those who are interested in Malta i i and the Maltese should certainly i i SOME ASPECT OR OTHER obtain a copy of such a useful refe­ i i rence book. The contents are divided i ! OF THE HISTORY OF into the following main items: Malta i i and the Maltese; a brief historical i i MALTA AND GOZO. outline; administration; social deve­ i i lopment; the economy; public services i i ALL SUCH PUBLICATIONS and communications; living in Malta; i i reference section; diary of events i i RECEIVED - WITH RARE 1976. The cultural and historical i i items, though sound and balanced on i i EXCEPTIONS - WILL BE the whole, would need revision in i i order to enhance their professional i i THE OBJECT OF A reliability. There are some odd, un­ i i substantiated, sweeping statements i i REVIEW OR SHORT NOTICE. such as the following: "Towards the i i end of the ninth century the Arabs i i i THE CHOICE OF i [ ... ] affected the structure of Punic i i Maltese to a considerable degree. Up i THE REVIEWER i to the end of the Arab domination i i the structure of Maltese remained i IS THE RESPONSIBILITY i purely Semitic" (p. 13); "The legal i i system of Malta stems off from the i OF THE EDITOR. i doctrine. of the separation of powers i i which was first clearly laid down in i i Malta by Sir Thomas Maitland in • • .~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~