Knights of St John

This Master's dissertation studies Cosmana Navarra within the context of patronage in the Maltese Islands, as a female philanthropist and patron during the Baroque period. Her social status enabled her to commission various works of art and architecture for herself and for the community of Rabat. Cosmana Navarra was a determined and strong-willed woman, and throughout her life, mostly in her mature age, she strove to embellish the Church of St Paul, actively participating in its reconstruction and decoration, and acting as a knowledgeable patron of the arts.

Il 15 febbraio 1113 Pasquale II concesse la Protectio S. Petri all'Ospedale
di San Giovanni di Gerusalemme, retto da Gerardo, fondatore e superiore
della fraternita laicale degli ospedalieri. Era il primo e più autorevole
riconoscimento eccelsiastico della fraternita, che pose le premesse per la
sua trasformazione in ordine religioso ospitaliero, poi evolutosi in ordine
militare. Con il privilegio Pie postulatio voluntatis l'Ospedale
gerosolimitano, i suoi membri e le sue dipendenze venivano subordinate
esclusivamente alla Sede Apostolica, mentre veniva comminata la scomunica
contro chiunque avesse osato ingerirsi nel governo dell'istituzione,
limitarne la libertà o sottrarre i suoi beni. La concessione papale,
inoltre, riequilibrava i rapporti di forza fra i poteri territoriali in seno
al giovane Regno Latino di Gerusalemme, entro cui veniva ad inserirsi anche
la Sede Apostolica.

In view of the discussion, which is going on within the Order of Malta regarding the commitment for a further institutional reform, the study makes an in-depth reflection and highlight the elements which historically and juridically give the identity of the Order and place it, according to the present canonical categories, among the Institutes of the Consecrated life. Then there follow some hints and suggestions for some directive corrections which aim to preserve the traditional nature of the religious order and, at the same time, they are aimed to bring about a necessary renewal.

Konzervatorska istraživanja i obnova crkve u razdoblju 2006. - 2020. godine doprinijela su nekim novim spoznajama o graditeljskoj slojevitosti, stilskim, tipološkim i strukturnim odrednica slojevite srednjovjekovne sakralne građevine. U srednjem vijeku crkva sv. Bartola u Novim Mikanovcima nalazila se na posjedu Horvati u srednjovjekovnoj Vukovskoj županiji. Taj posjed u 13. stoljeću bio je u rukama viteškog reda ivanovaca ili hospitalaca sv. Ivana Jeruzalemskog. Posjed se prvi puta spominje u ispravi ugarskog kralja Bele IV. iz 1238. godine. Crkvu sv. Bartola u Novim Mikanovcima izgradili su vjerojatno ivanovci nešto prije ili polovinom 13. stoljeća. Rezultati istražnih konzervatorskih radova na perimetralnim zidovima crkve ukazuju da je crkva obnovljena i utvrđena u drugoj polovini 13. stoljeća, u razdoblju kada je još uvijek u posjedu ivanovaca. Utvđivanje crkve vjerojatno je potaknuto provalom Tatara 1242. godine i njihovog pustošenja Ugarsko - Hrvatskog kraljevstva. U sklopu te obnove brod crkve produžuje se prema zapadu, a crkva dobiva skošeni kružni toranj obrambenih karakteristika, koji je mogao služiti i kao osmatračnica. Tijekom 14. stoljeća posjed je u rukama Horvata od plemićkog roda Báncsa. Godine 1387. posjed Horvati prelazi u ruke palatinske grane obitelji Gorjanski. Gotička obnova crkve izvedena je u razdoblju 1402. - 1420. godine, vjerojatno od strane tadašnjih vlasnika posjeda palatina Nikole II. Gorjanskog (1367.-1433.) i njegovog brata Ivana Gorjanskog (1371.-1429.). U sklopu te obnove, na poziciji starijeg svetišta podignuto je novo gotičko poligonalno svetište i sakristija. U pogledu stilskih obilježja, radi se o izrazito kvalitetnoj obnovi koje su izveli graditelji, odnosno kamenoklesarska radionica, koja je radila po uzoru klesarskih radionica češke gotike i kruga oko Petra Parlera. Od 1481. godine posjed Horvati se nalazi u vlasništvu banske grane obitelji Lovre Bánffyja Gorjanskog. U razdoblju od 1478. do 1503. godine crkva je stradala u ratnim razaranjima, kao i sva naselja ovog posjeda. Crkva je vjerojatno obnovljena 1506. godine nakon smirivanja ratnih prilika i dinastičkih previranja i sukoba između Lovre Bánffyja Gorjanskog i pristaša Maksimilijana Habsburškog i ugarske velikaške obitelji braće Géreba od Vingarta i kralja Vladislava II. Jagelovića. U sklopu te kasnosrednjovjekovne obnove, za koju je zaslužan vjerojatno Lovro Bánffy Gorjanski kao vlasnik posjeda, unutrašnjost svetišta crkve oslikana je renesansnim zidnim oslikom. Od cjelovite kompozicije zidnog oslika svetišta sačuvala se djelomično ikonografska kompozicija na začeljnom zidu gotičke trodjelne sedilije. Ikonografska kompozicija sastoji se od prikaza triju svetaca u stojećem stavu: Mojsija, sv. Nikole kao srednjovjekovnog titulara crkve i sv. Ivana Krstitelja. Ikonografska slikana kompozicija s početka 16. stoljeća je kvalitetan primjer renesansnog slikarstva u Slavoniji i šire u Hrvatskoj, estetsko - umjetničke vrijednosti. Nakon oslobađanja prostora od Osmalija, slijedeća barokna obnova crkve sv. Bartola izvedena je 1730. - 1731. godine od strane đakovačkog biskupa Petra Bakića. Crkva sv. Bartola u Novim Mikanovcima svojom stilskim karakteristikama, tipologijom tlocrta, od kojeg se posebno izdvaja jedinstveni volumen skošenog kružnog tornja, ubraja se u skupinu izrazito vrijednih fortificiranih srednjovjekovnih sakralnih građevina Hrvatske.

Plague brought social disruption and physical devastation on a large scale in pre-industrial society. This study provides an overview of the occurrence and socio-economic impact on society of the pestilence in the Mediterranean world and beyond from Antiquity up to the nineteenth century, with considerations on recent historiographical trends regarding the analysis of the outbreak and spread of the phenomenon based on a multi-disciplinary approach. Aspects discussed in the paper are the biological origins of the disease, how it spread across territories along trading and maritime routes, and the different religious approaches to the epidemic. The paper makes special reference to the fight against plague from within an island context in early modernity, with special reference to Hospitaller Malta (1530-1798). Focusing on seventeenth-century Malta in particular, the paper analyses the collaborative efforts between Mediterranean maritime centres for mutual alarm regarding possible contagion, and Malta's early warning system based on an international contact network which helped the Knights Hospitallers and the islanders they governed in their attempts to prevent plague.

The present study surveys the local history of the Hospitaller military-religious order of St John from the middle of the twelfth century until the beginning of the fifteenth century.
The survey opens with a historiographical analysis which pinpoints and briefly evaluates the most important scholars of the field as well as the directions they determined by their seminal publications. The second important unit the most important milestones of the history of the Order from its foundation (1113) until the beginning of the so-called Maltese era (1530) which played a determinant role in the activity of the Hungarian–Slavonian Priory. The historical overview is followed by the display of the structural hierarchy of the Order as well as of the functioning of the system. It also includes the institutional hierarchy: from the administrative units (preceptories) until the overall structure of the tongues (linguae). The analysis of the personnel of the Order outlines the different levels of the brethren starting from the knights, through the serjeants up to the chaplains, including the roles played by the non-full members, such as the donors (donati) and lay members (confratres and consorores). This basic overview also studies the legal exemptions of the Order.
The historical overview of the Hungarian–Slavonian Priory begins with the analysis of the circumstances of the settlement of the Hospitallers in the second half of the twelfth century. It concerns not only the provincial characteristic features but also its Central European context in which the Hospitallers established their first preceptories and shelters for pilgrims. The analysis traces the way of substantial donations received from Queen Euhprosyne, wife of Géza II, from King Béla III up to Béla IV and the exemptions, privileges the Hospitallers received during the Arpadian Era which secured the financial stability of the Order in Hungary. Some of the above donations later became autonomous preceptories of the Priory. The distribution of the preceptories can also be traced (1150–1409) on maps, including the important turning point caused by the acquisition of the belongings of the dissoluted Order of the Temple (1311–1312).
Having studied the basic outlines, there is a subchapter dedicated to the military activity of the Hospitallers, partly related to the Crusading movement, partly independent from it, for instance, the during the Mongol invasion and its aftermath, and in the course of the Angevin rule. The compilation of the list of the dignitaries (priors, vice-priors, lieutenants) of the Hungarian–Slavonian Priory is closely related to this activity, and it included the highlighting of the most important features. It is worth mentioning that the leaders of the Priory came from abroad until the last quarter of the fourteenth century, but later the brethren of local origin played a gradually growing role in the leadership of the province. Remarkable turn can be observed during the rule
of Sigismund of Luxemburg, from that point onwards the Hungarian rulers demanded an active role in the choice of the would-be leader of the priory.
The overview of the Hospitallers in Hungary is closed by the analysis of two important fields: the estate management of the Priory until the beginning of the fifteenth century and the activity of nine Hospitaller preceptories as places of authentication (locus credibilis). The evaluation of these two activities points it out that despite the fact that
the majority of the brethren was of foreign origin, they fully complied the local norms during their activity and besides the supposed knowledge of local customary law, these Hospitallers had a basic command of the vernacular language too.

This source was recently discovered at the V&A Museum by the medievalist Kenneth Nicholls. The document is a seventeenth-century copy of Annals from a much earlier period. The content of Annals can vary from simple notes regarding specific events in a single year to more lengthy narratives. These specific Annals were transcribed by the Protestant antiquarian Sir James Ware. The manuscript consists of brief entries that focus on Ireland, south-west England, Wales and Scotland. This suggests that the geographical area encompassed by the exemplar was seen as one entity at the time of composition and transcription.

I am grateful to the V&A Museum for permission to consult the manuscript and to Kenneth Nicholls for his comments and criticism of an earlier draft of this article.

Maria Teresa Sorrenti - Sante Guido (a cura di ), UN PONTE TRA LA CALABROA E MALTA. Il Cavaliere Mattia Preti e il Gran Maestro Gregorio Carafa, catalogo della mostra, Reggio Calabria, Museo Archeologico Nazionale, 20 ottobre - 12 dicembre 2015, Reggio Calabria 2016, 80.

Παρουσίαση της πολιορκίας και της κατάληψης της λατινικρατούμενης Σμύρνης από τον Ταμερλάνο (1402) μέσω των σχετικών πληροφοριών από τις βυζαντινές πηγές του 15ου αιώνα (δημοσιεύτηκε στα Πρακτικά του Δ΄ Πανελληνίου Συνεδρίου για τον ελληνισμό της Μ. Ασίας - εκδ. Θεσσαλονίκη 1996, και ανατυπώθηκε στο Ν. Νικολούδης, Μεσαιωνική Μακεδονία, Θράκη και Μ. Ασία, εκδ. Αντ. Σταμούλη, Θεσσαλονίκη 2006).
An analysis of the information of 15th century Byzantine sources on the conquest of Smyrna my Tamerlane (1402) (published in the Proceedings of the 4th Panhellenic Conference on Greeks in Asia Minor - Thessalonike 1998; repr. in N. Nikoloudis, Byzantine Macedonia, Thrace and Asia Minor, A. Stamoulis Publ., Thessalonike 2006).

Between 1530 and 1798, Malta, the southernmost tip of Catholic Europe, was home to the military-religious Order of St John (of Malta). This organization traced its origins to the years just before the beginning of the crusades in late eleventh-century Palestine. From Malta, the Order sought to keep up its dual mission of hospitality (hence the appellative of hospitallers) and fighting the infidel Muslim at sea. From 1592 to 1768 the Society of Jesus was present in this Catholic outpost from where it supported the mission of the Order and sought to remould hospitaller piety. The relationship between these two organizations had ramifications that spread beyond tiny Malta, both because of the issues that arose between them, as well as because of the international composition of the Order and the Society. The Carnival of 1639 proved to be a defining moment in this relationship; though generally passed over as a ‘temporary disturbance’ this article emphasizes that it was more than this by looking at the dynamics of the links between hospitallers, Jesuits, the Inquisition, and Carnival. This article is based on a wider range of sources than previous studies, which will help to bring out the nuances of the subject under investigation.

Melit et Gaul.
By Anthony Pace, with photography by Daniel Cilia.
Published: 1995, Malta, Miranda Publishers.
Melit et Gaul is a short history of 7,000 years of developments in a small group of islands that became in modern times, the small island state of Malta. The Maltese islands rank well among the most successful small states of the world. Located in the centre of the Mediterranean, Malta and Gozo (where the bulk of the archipelago’s population lives) are relatively remote and isolated. Sicily is only about 60kms to the north, but still the archipelago was destined to follow its unique historical pathways in spite of forming part of empires or geo-cultural settings. The book, with large-scale black and white photography by Daniel Cilia traces Malta’s role in the Mediterranean, beginning with the arrival of the first farming communities and culminating with modern political developments. In between, the islands accumulated a wealth of experiences, a history of events, a unique language spoken by less than half a million people, and one of the world’s most impressive concentration of monuments and art. What is so impressive about the Maltese islands is how marked by success they were, especially when compared to other Central Mediterranean islands such as Pantelleria, or the remote islands of Linosa and Lampedusa. In spite of being small, with precariously delicate economies of scales that are often smaller than those of a sizeable city, Malta and Gozo continue to thrive in world systems that have become and more competitive.