You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
The urban, cultural and political profile of the Maltese islands is deeply marked by the presence for 268 years of the Knights of St John. The Order has left its mark decisively in the collective memory of the Maltese. Malta: The Order of St John gives a global picture of this multinational institution in those crucial years when Grand Master L'Isle Adam moved the convent from Rhodes to Malta, when legendary Grand Master Valette withstood the Turkish assault in 1565, when Grand Masters Wignacourt, Cotoner and Carafa turned Malta into a centre of Mediterraean corsairing and Grand Masters Vilhena and Pinto tried to imitate the Central European absolutist princes. It all came to a sudden - but not unexpected - end in 1798 when Grand Master Hompesch handed over Malta to the rising star on the European horizon, Napoleon. The various diplomatic attempts of the knights to regain their island all failed. The book also provides the reader with an overview of the most important monuments connected with the knights on Malta and Gozo.
In 1565, the young Spaniard Juan de Guaras receives an exquisite brooch in the shape of a Maltese cross from his parents to commemorate his becoming a Knight in the Order of St. John. But within four months de Guaras dies in the defense of Fort St. Elmo against the Ottoman Turks during the Great Siege of Malta; and the brooch meant for his beloved, Maria, and their son-is lost to history. By chance, 450 years after the siege, watercolors commissioned by the Order in the 17th century for their ledger are on display for the first time in the Museum of Fine Arts in Valletta. Kiyoko Bartolo, a professor from the University of Tokyo who specializes in jewelry of the European Renaissance, recogniz...
The presence and history of the Order of St John in various regions of the lands of Germany and East Europe has been researched in several aspects but a comphrensive work on the langue of Germany as such has never been written. This book presents an overview of the 800 years of the history of the Hospitallers in Germany and in the lands of the former 'Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation'. Because of the vastness of the subject, the book does not pretend to be an in-depth study of this subject but is a basic outline of the development of the institution and of the most important events connected with it. The book is aimed at the general reader as well as at the specialist, who will find indications for further reading on single aspects and events.
Studies of the pivotal historic place of the Mediterranean have long been dominated by specialists of its northern shores, that is, by European historians. The seven leading authors in this groundbreaking volume challenge views of Mediterranean space as shaped by European trajectories, and in doing so, they challenge our comfortable notions. Drawing perspectives from the Mediterranean’s eastern and southern shores, they ask anew: What is the Mediterranean? What are its borders, its defining characteristics? What forces of nature, politics, culture, or economics have made the Mediterranean, and how long have they or will they endure? Covering the sixteenth century to the twentieth, this timely volume brings the early modern world into conversation with the modern world in new ways, demonstrating that only recently can we differentiate the north and south into separate cultural and political zones. The Making of the Modern Mediterranean: Views from the South offers a blueprint for a new generation of readers to rethink the world we thought we knew.
Over the past decade, scholars have vigorously reconsidered the history of Orientalism, and though Edward Said's hugely influential work remains a touchstone of the discussion, Karla Mallette notes, it can no longer be taken as the final word on Western perceptions of the Islamic East. The French and British Orientalisms that Said studied in particular were shaped by the French and British colonial projects in Muslim regions; nations that did not have such investments in the Middle East generated significantly different perceptions of Islamic and Arabic culture. European Modernity and the Arab Mediterranean examines Orientalist philological scholarship of southern Europe produced between the...
There is much to see in Malta beyond the beach. With Bradt's "Malta" visitors will discover this island's history, archaeology and birds alongside eating and sleeping options of character and interest.
This book provides translated selections from the writings of Muhammad Ibn Othman al-Miknasi (d. 1799). The only writings by an Arab-Muslim in the pre-modern period that present a comparative perspective, his travelogues provide unique insight with in to Christendom and Islam. Translating excerpts from his three travelogues, this book tells the story of al-Miknasi’s travels from 1779-1788. As an ambassador, al-Miknasi was privy to court life, government offices and religious buildings, and he provides detailed accounts of cities, people, customs, ransom negotiations, historical events and political institutions. Including descriptions of Europeans, Arabs, Turks, Christians (both European a...
This study seeks to correct the underrepresentation of Mediterranean maritime history in academic publications, in attempt to understand the multi-cultural and multi-ethnic environment in which maritime activity takes place, by compiling ten essays from maritime historians concerning Spain, France, Italy, Malta, Slovenia, Greece, Turkey, and Israel. The aim of the collection is to provide an insight into Mediterranean maritime history to those who could not previously access such information due to language barriers or difficulty securing non-English publications; some of the essays have translated into English specifically for this publication. The majority of the essays concern the Early Modern period, and the remainder concern the contemporary.
Ten papers, on campaigns, biographies, military hardware, fortifications and interpreting medieval records. The second issue of this new undertaking broadens its geographical and practical range, widening its focus to draw in the amateur specialist in addition to military historians: the study of the origins of the crossbow industry inEngland is a case in point. Other papers include studies of campaigns (Henry II in Wales and Henry of Lancaster in France), articles on weaponry and Spanish fortifications in the Mediterranean, a brief life of the mercenary Armengol VI of Urgel, and case studies of the interpretation of chronicles in reconstructing battles and military action. Taken together, the articles reinforce the centrality of fighting and warfare in the middle ages, adding valuabledetail to an understanding of medieval society. Contributors: DAVID S. BACHRACH, ROBERT J. BURNS, KELLY DEVRIES, JOHN B. GILLINGHAM, JOHN HOSLER, DONALD KAGAY, BERNARD F. REILLY, CLIFFORD J. ROGERS, THERESA M. VANN, J.F.VERBRUGGEN.