Hospitaller Malta and the Mediterranean Economy in the Sixteenth Century

Demonstrates that Malta was much more than a military strongpoint in the Christian-Muslim divide but rather a major centre of international exchange. Malta in the sixteenth century is usually viewed in military terms: the great bulwark of Christendom against Islam, the island ruled by the crusader Knights of St John - the Hospitallers - with its vast fortifications and its famous siege of 1565. This book, however, which examines the development of the economy of Malta and its place in the wider