Warriors, Garrisons, Militias and Fortifications in Malta Through the Ages: Part II (535 – c.1260 CE)

Charles Debono

In this second instalment, we will continue to navigate the military history of the Maltese Islands through written tradition and selected medieval artefacts, chosen for what they might reveal about this somewhat obscure period of the Islands’ history and culture of violence, warfare, and defence strategies.

Byzantine Malta (535–869/70)

A near-total lack of documentary evidence makes it impossible to learn what political destiny befell the Maltese Islands with the gradual withdrawal of Roman Imperial forces from the western provinces. Sicily was completely controlled by the Vandal Kings of North Africa from 445 to 477. Ostrogothic rule, which was extended to Sicily by Theodoric in 493, was terminated in the wake of Justinian’s reconquest of the lost western Roman provinces. Under the command of his able General Belizarius, Byzantine forces defeated the Vandal kingdom of North Africa in 533, and two years later embarked on a fresh military campaign in Sicily; the island rapidly succumbed to the invading forces, paving the way for its reintegration in the Eastern Roman Empire. It is within this wider political context that the available evidence from the fifth and sixth centuries of Malta and Gozo has to be read. The Byzantine official historian, Procopius, mentioned that Justinian’s fleet ‘touched’ at Malta on its way to North Africa in 533. Rather than viewing this statement as proof of Byzantine conquest, it seems more likely to have been an instance of Ostrogothic-Byzantine collaboration. In any case, Byzantine control over the Maltese Islands must have been inevitable from 535 onwards.1

An episode occurred in 550 during the voyage of the General Artabanes from Cephalonia off the mainland of

Greece to take up his post as commander of the Byzantine forces in Sicily, after a storm had risen up when the ships were off the Calabrian coast. Despite suggestions that Artabanes reached Meleda rather than Malta, both the manuscript tradition and geographical probability favour Malta. The sixth-century writer Arator called Malta a statio, or place of call for ships, but this reference occurs in an account of St Paul’s shipwreck and, therefore, cannot be used as evidence that Malta was a statio in the strict naval sense in the sixth century.2

Emperor Heraclius (610–641) was informed that his son, Atalarich, and Theodorus, magister by rank, the son of Theodorus, the emperor’s brother, intended to conspire against him along with certain others. Believing in the accusation, he cuts of their noses and hands and sent Atalarich to the island called Principus. Meanwhile, Theodorus was sent to the island called Gaudomelete, ordering the dux of the place to amputate one of his feet on his arrival.

This conspiracy can be dated late in 637, and this shows that Malta then had a dux; maybe it was already being governed by a regime of military officers of the kind found in Italy and Sicily. In another episode, from 790, Emperor Constantine VI punished the leaders of the revolt of the Armeniakon theme by branding them on the face with the motto ‘traitor’ and sending them to Sicily and the other islands.3

Several sites of late Roman complexes have yielded Byzantine and later materials. Commercial traffic into and out of the islands utilised a network of ports on the eastern and south-eastern side of Malta, including Pwales, Marsa, and Marsaxlokk. Shipping used these anchorages to unload provisions for the Byzantine garrisons, but it is clear that there were also numerous civilian clients for wares originating in the central and eastern Mediterranean areas.

It has been noted that the gold solidus from the time of Emperor Phocas (602–610), discovered at Salina, indicates use of the site about that time, an Abbasid gold dinar of the late eighth century might indicate early contacts with the Arab world.

A seal datable to the eighth century, discovered in Gozo, carries the name of one Nicetas droungarios and archon of Malta. It is deduced from it that Malta was governed by a high-ranking naval official who commanded a small fleet. A study, from the very precise analysis of references to archontes and drougarioi from the various Byzantine coastal areas, suggests that Malta was the base for an important naval squadron which came under direct imperial—as distinct from thematic— control, and that this fleet was commanded by a naval officer of high rank who was directly responsible to the emperor, who had at his disposal a detachment of a 100 men, and who also possessed the rank of archon in the military hierarchy because he was entrusted with the administration of the island.4

According to a source, the system of naval commands with civil and military jurisdiction was common in coastal areas on the perimeter of the Byzantine Empire. However, some reservations must remain, especially since both titles mentioned could have a very different meaning. A case could be made for seeing this official as merely the landarmy commander of a droungos, a unit of between 1,000 and 3,000 men, who had taken over the functions of an archon or civil governor of a town.5

The rank of droungarios was also used in the Byzantine navy to designate its admirals. The term droungarios is not documented before the early seventh century but might have been used as an informal or unofficial opposite, top: Figs 1-2 opposite, bottom: Figs 3-4 designation before that date. The droungarios of the Fleet is positioned relatively low in the hierarchy, following all the senior military and civilian officials, placed between the prōtostratōr and the ek prosōpou of the themes.6

The Maltese Islands formed part of the overall command of the strategos who governed the theme of Sicily. Together with the southern Italian territories, Sicily belonged to the exarchate of Italy.7

Initially, the term strategos was used along with stratelates and, less often, stratopedarches, to render the supreme military office of magister militum (the general in command of a field army). It could, however, also be employed for the regional duces. In the seventh century, with the creation of the Theme system, their role changed. As the field armies were resettled and became the basis for the territorial themes, their generals too assumed new responsibilities, combining their military duties with the civil governance of the theme.8

Following the conquests by the Arabs in the seventh century, there were fundamental changes to Byzantine military organisation. The most important was the establishment of theme or regional armies. That a soldier’s family should inherit his military obligations was well established, while the difficulty of paying units dispersed during the chaos of the Arab attacks further encouraged soldiers to settle down, gain property, and even part-time jobs. However, it must be stressed that the nucleus of theme forces remained properly equipped regulars.9 Malta might have had part of a theme stationed on the island, and this argument is based on the fact that, as we shall see, the island experienced two sieges in which the Arabs encountered a determined resistance by the garrison.

Vital new evidence has come to light in recent years on the chief late Roman and Byzantine urban centre in the Maltese Islands. Contemporary research has uncovered a different alignment, which utilised a natural ridge running across the eastern half of the Mdina-Rabat area. The west drop of the Mdina-Rabat table is concealed by centuries of landfilling, as is revealed in the late medieval moat which utilised this natural feature. This natural topography was possibly still affecting the evolution of the town and its suburb in the late medieval period. There can be little doubt that it represented the Island’s chief medieval walled settlement for long stretches of time.10

Arab attacks and their final conquest of Byzantine Malta during the ninth century

It is unclear when the first Arab attacks against Byzantine Malta took place; nearby Lampedusa was attacked in 812, while the base on Pantelleria was, in all likelihood, neutralised in the initial phase of Sicilian conquest, although according to one source the Byzantines still held on it until around 864. Arab chronicles vaguely mention attacks against ‘the islands’ in the 830s. However, there is a likely reference to a raid on Malta in the Arab chronicler Ibn al-Athir, where he states that Abu al-Aghlab prepared an expedition which attacked the islands near Sicily and obtained great plunder.11

However, it seems doubtful that the Arabs waited until 869-870 to neutralise the largest island off Sicily. The garrison on Malta deprived the Muslims of a potentially important base for intercepting enemy supply ships and launching raids against Byzantine-held centres in eastern Sicily, not least Syracuse.12 The internal difficulties in Tunisia could explain why the Arabs took so long to launch their definite conquest of Malta. However, conquering Malta meant removing an obstacle in the Arab conquest of Syracuse. In fact, the fall of Syracuse came eight years after that of Malta; while Malta had good harbours for the fleet, such a large army needed resources.

The Arab takeover of Malta came at a time of great tension in Tunisia as a result of the power struggle between the freed black slaves and the ruling Arab population who, during this period, was not yet a demographic majority. Mahfoudh added an important detail to the already described status of the mawtili; they were freed black slaves. The Aghlabid army reflected most this policy of openness towards the slaves. It was normally formed of the gund (Arab and hur asaniens soldiers), the ansar (auxiliary soldiers) and the mawtili (freed black and Christian slaves). Once again, in adopting such a policy, the Aghlabids were following in the footsteps of the Abbasids. Indeed, it was the Abbasids who introduced the system of using black slaves in the army. They were given their freedom and then engaged to protect the Emir. It should be pointed out that freedom from slavery, as well as the attained state of mawtili, was conditional to their conversion to Islam.13

The man who was to lead the first Arab siege of 868, Khalaf, belonged to the community of these freed black slaves from Sousse. Khalaf could have been approached and invited to support the established regime in its struggle to consolidate its internal power. On his part, Khalaf accepted the invitation, became a Muslim, and gave his full allegiance to the Arab rulers. In return, he got promoted and made headway in the Arab army. Khalaf could have been a black Christian who converted to Islam.

The account of the Arab geographer, al-Athir, created doubts about what actually happened in 870. He recounts that, after Khalaf’s death in Malta, the people proclaimed his son Muhammad bin Ahmed bin al-Aghlab sovereign of the princedom of Kairouan who, in 870, sent an army to Malta which was being besieged by the Byzantines. Al-Athir insists that ‘when the Byzantines heard of their coming, they abandoned the siege’.

Malta was eventually conquered by Abu Malik Ahmad Ibn Umar Ibn Abd Allah Ibn Ibrahim Ibn al-Aglab known as Habasr. According to an anonymous author, Habasr was put at the head of the African fleet and succeeded in conquering Malta on 28 August 870. Thanks to this historical evidence, we now can speak with certainty that Malta was besieged at least twice by the Aghlabid forces whilst it also seems to have suffered from other minor raids from this Arabic kingdom.14

The failed siege of 868 can perhaps help us to explain why the Arabs moved with such ferocity against Malta in 870, destroying everything they came across, thus rendering the island barren for a number of years. The Arabs wanted to avenge the death of Khalaf. Secondly, they wanted to ensure that the island could not be used as a base for Byzantine incursions against Ifriqiyya. This explains why al-Himyari described Malta as being a wasteland for many years. It is known that marble pieces were taken from Malta to Sousse and utilised to decorate its buildings. Therefore, if al-Himyari is correct that Malta was a wasteland for some decades, the Arabs must have changed their policy in the wake of an aggressive maritime strategy that the Byzantines began to wage against Arab expansion in the High Middle Ages. If we believe what Ibn Khaldun has written, it is most probable that the Arabs not only fortified Mdina and Rabat (in Gozo), but also one of the harbour entrances which they could use as a port.15

The Byzantine attacks (1048–49/1053–54)

The defence capabilities of eleventh-century Arab Malta were put to a serious test by the Byzantines in a major attack which took place in 1048–1049 according to al-Qazwini, or 1053–1054 according to al-Himyari. Both dates are, in fact, highly problematic because Byzantine forces led by George Maniakes temporarily recovered eastern Sicily in 1038–1040, which means a decade later.

The large Christian naval force assaulted Malta and drove its population to ask for a peace treaty or aman. According to the latter Arab chronicler, this was refused. The Muslims in the Madina mustered their forces, which included 400 adult male combatants according to alHimyari; then they turned to their slave-soldiers or abid, who were more numerous. The religious or ethnic character of these slave-soldiers remains undefined; however, they were a distinct social group and were an organised community which could negotiate with its Muslim masters a highly attractive deal: promotion to free men, or ahrar.

In the event, the slave-soldiers ‘rushed against their enemy more promptly than (the Muslims) themselves’. Al-Himyari’s account distinguishes throughout between the Muslims and the slave-soldiers since the latter did not adhere to the Muslim faith or were deprived by their unfree status from sharing that noble name with the ahrar The barrier between the freemen and their slaves was possibly only social in character but might also have been underlined by other differences. What is certain is that any such diversity was overcome in the face of adversity.16

In al-Himyari’s account, the battle with the enemy took the form of a jihad:

…they asked for the help of Allah the Almighty, and they marched and stormed around them, piercing (the Rum) with spears and striking them with swords, without fearing or faltering, confident of obtaining either of two fine goals: a quick victory or the triumph of the hereafter. And Allah the Exalted provided them with help and gave them patience, and He cast fear into the hearts of their enemies, and they fled defeated without looking back, and the majority of them were massacred. The Muslims took possession of their ships and only one of these slipped away. And their slaves reached the state of their free men, and they were given what had been promised to them.17

Little is known about military equipment of Islamic Sicily, but lightly equipped troops seem to have predominated. The mace remained popular, even among twelfth-century Arabs under Norman rule, and it had already appeared in southern Italian sources showing strong Arab influence. Later, during the last decades of Arab rule in Sicily, the island’s warriors were very mixed. Most were lightly armed but, judging by their performance under subsequent Norman rulers, they would seem to have been exceptionally skilled in siege warfare.18

When the Norman conquest of Malta and Gozo did take place, in July 1091, it came at the end of a 30-year-long conquest of Sicily; the last Muslim stronghold, Noto, was granted a peace treaty in February 1091.

The Norman conquest of Malta (1091)

The Norman Count Roger, knew from reports, that Malta was ruled by the Arabs, and so he ordered a fleet to be assembled quickly in an attempt to take the island. He informed his knights, of his plan and ordered them to follow him and participate in the new campaign. Then, one day in July 1091, an army was organised from all over Sicily and Calabria and, in the evening, the Count hastened to board the ships. While the fleet was being prepared, the Count’s son Jordan expected that his father would send him in his place to lead his forces to attack Malta. But the

Count ordered Jordan to stay behind, along with the other leaders whom he had designated to defend Sicily against any eventuality of attack.

The Count and his followers left Sicily and the fleet reached Malta on the second day. The Count’s ship, which sailed ahead of the rest, was the first to land. The count left the ship with only thirteen knights. They mounted their horses and attacked a great multitude of inhabitants, possibly warriors, who had come to the shore to prevent them from advancing. The Normans killed many of them and put the rest to flight, pursuing them for some distance as those who remained behind were massacred. Returning from the pursuit later that evening, he camped on the shore with his army. With sunrise, the Count advanced close to Mdina and prepared to besiege the town, where at the same time he sent his men all around the island to plunder.19

The Gaytus (commander), who ruled Mdina and Malta, was, like the rest of the citizens, unfamiliar with the strains of war. He and the inhabitants asked for a truce, so they could negotiate with Count Roger. When this had been granted, they came to the Count’s tent to sue for peace. After attempting various periphrases, they finally realised that they would not be able to deceive the astute Count. Therefore, in accordance with the Count’s desires, they first released their Christian captives, handed over their horses and mules as well as all the weapons, along with a great amount of money. Having pledged their fealty towards Roger, becoming his confoederati, or allies, they agreed to pay him an annual tribute.20

With the town now subjugated, the Count placed the captives on the ships and hastened to return to Sicily. According to Malaterra:

… all the while apprehensive that the ships might sink under the great weight of the additional passengers … the hand of God, as we believe, was clearly manifest: bearing the ships through the waves, it lifted them a cubit higher on the sea, so that the weight of the ships’ cargo was less of a burden than it was when they were sailing to the island in the first place!21

As the Count hastened to return to his ships, he saw an island in the distance—Gozo—and ordered the sails to be adjusted so he could go there and attack it. Landing on Gozo, he laid it to waste, plundering it, knowing that in this way the inhabitants would seek terms with him. Thus, in this way, he placed the island under his dominion. From there he directed his ships over the sea without incident and returned to Sicily.22

However, it was King Roger II’s invasion of 1127 that brought about a permanent political change in the Maltese Islands, with the establishment of a Christian regime, the immigration of a number of permanent Christian settlers, mostly garrison members, administrators, traders and clergymen—none very numerous or their language would have replaced the Arabic dialect which eventually evolved into the Maltese language. Islam was predominant among the islanders for long after 1127, and survived down to c.1250.23

Although the Normans continued to use the tactics of northern France, after decades of warfare in southern

Italy their equipment soon reflected southern influences, which generally meant that slightly less armour was worn. Many knights wore no coif, relied solely on a tall conical helmet and a mail hauberk, sword, and shield. Apart from the knights, Italian warriors used arms and armour which was very different from that seen in the north, and almost certainly reflecting Byzantine or Arab influence. Such warriors were armed with based shield of typical Italian infantry, while their sword was an early form of falchion.

The Normans relied also on Muslim archers from Sicily, who were among the most effective infantry in twelfth-century Europe. Most were unarmoured, but others were given a light mail hauberk, possibly worn over a padded cap. Their powerful composite bow was of early form used throughout the Middle East. They used a system of shooting ‘under’ their leather shield.24

In Malta, Latinisation itself probably started around 1127, but one has to remember that Islam persisted on the Island for considerably more than a century after that date. In fact, a number of Saracenic tombs from the cemetery behind the Roman Domus, Rabat, are genuinely dated to Norman times (Fig. 7). In 1198, the document sent to the Christian and Muslim communities of Malta and Gozo was bilingual, Latin and Classical Arabic. For long after 1127, the official languages of Malta, as those of Sicily, were probably Latin, Classical Arabic, and Greek. Of the physical heritage of the Normans, the most tangible and visible in Malta are their coins. Particularly interesting are the coins with Latin wording on one side and Arabic on the other, indicating a mixed population and culture. Of course, they were intended for use throughout the Sicilian kingdom and must have been struck there away from the Maltese shores.25

During the 1130s, though, Norman power in the Mediterranean increased due to the aggressive policies of Roger II and his admiral George of Antioch. The relationship between the Normans and Zirids soured in the 1140s when an unprecedented, nearly decade-long drought struck Ifriqiya. As a result, Roger II and George of Antioch opportunistically conquered the Ifriqiyan coast from the Zirids and other local governors in the midlate 1140s. Following the conquests of Mahdia, Sousse, Sfax, Gabès, and Tripoli, in the summer of 1148, Roger II established the Norman Kingdom of Africa. The last Zirid emir, al-Hasan ibn Ali, fled his ancestral home. Meanwhile, Roger II continued to expand his imperial ambitions through attacks in the central and eastern Mediterranean until his death in 1154.26

The foundation of the Norman Kingdom of Africa led to meaningful changes in the region. The Normans forced local Arab or Berber governors to swear loyalty to them and, in some cases, Norman officials directly controlled affairs in Ifriqiyan cities. The Norman monarchs imposed new taxes on Muslims, installed garrisons to maintain order, minted coins in their name, encouraged the immigration of Christian traders, and financed improvements for churches.

Spurred by the political, economic, and religious changes that the Normans had brought, most cities in Ifriqiya under the Normans’ control revolted against their rule in 1156. Roger II’s successor, William I, did little to bring these possessions back under Norman control. Four years later, in 1160, the last Norman stronghold in Ifriqiya, Mahdia, fell to the army of the Almohad Caliphate with the support of the deposed Zirid emir alHasan ibn Ali.27

It was during the following decades that we encounter the first Counts of Malta. Margarita of Brindisi, an Apulian pirate of Greek origin from Xante, had become Admiral of Sicily in 1184 under King William II (1166–1189), and had continued to serve under King Tancred (1190–1194) by whom he was created first Count of Malta sometime in 1192 in reward for his excellent services. A document published by Sciascia and dated 23 November 1194, a full month before King Henry’s coronation, shows the monarch already confirming to Guglielmo Grasso, a Genoese, and to his heirs in perpetuity, the County of Malta with all its rights.28

Meanwhile, Constance, daughter and heir of Roger II, married Frederick II’s son Henry under the terms of a treaty signed in 1184. Sicily and Malta became part of the domains of the Hohenstaufen dynasty after Henry succeeded his father as Henry VI in 1194.29

The Hohenstaufens and the Swabians

If the Normans brought Sicily back into the European orbit following centuries of Byzantine and Arab rule, the Swabians made it one of the most important regions of Europe. Swabia is a region of south-western Germany which, in the twelfth century, included part of Bavaria and eastern Switzerland. Swabia takes its name from a

Germanic people, the Suabi, and borders the region once ruled by the Alemanni, another Germanic tribe. Some historians regard the Swabian (or Suabian) period as a continuation of the Norman rule of Sicily. However, Sicily changed greatly under the Swabians.

Meanwhile, Henry VI died in 1197. Upon reaching the age of maturity, Frederick II’s realm included regions from Saxony to Palestine, effectively ruled from Palermo, though he travelled almost continually. The kingdoms of Sicily and Jerusalem were not part of the Holy Roman Empire; strictly speaking, they were separate realms which just happened to be ruled by the same monarch. Furthermore, the kingship of Germany was one thing, the emperorship something more.30

Returning to the Counts of Malta, following the death of Henry VI, it was Grasso’s tum to clash with the monarchy. At the time, the Maltese Islands were promised reintegration within the royal demanium. The empty promise was very soon to be forgotten and, by 1203, Guglielmo Grasso’s son-in-law Arrigo, nicknamed ‘Pescatore’, a pirate-turned-admiral of Sicily, appears to have somehow inherited the title of Count of Malta. By May 1232, Arrigo was presumably dead as the title was then being used by his son Nicoloso, for instance, when signing a treaty between Genoa and Arles.31

It is not clear why the same title was not adopted a decade later when Nicoloso appears as one of the treasurers of the Commune of Genoa in 1243. This period coincides with the time when the Maltese Islands were being governed by Paolino de Malta and, on his death, by his successor Giliberto Abbate. It is possible that this was a time during which the Islands had been returned to imperial control by Frederick II, a reintegration that is only attested to in later documentation. One questions the relation, if any, Paolino de Malta may have had with the rest of the De Maltas. According to Prof. Stanley Fiorini: … it is possible, maybe even probable, that in the same way that Arrigo, Nicoloso and their descendants were referred to as De Malta, when their real surname was de Castro or Castello, by virtue of their intimate association with Malta, so too Paolino may have had a different surname and that De Malta was a further common appellative by which he was known.32

It is interesting to note that the registers of the late Paolino de Malta revealed that 150 servientes, or infantry serjeants, including 25 sailors who operated two armed vessels, required the sum of 11,000 tareni. After Abbate’s appointment, the size of the garrison had increased to serjeants. Abbate’s work was crucial for the defence of the Maltese Islands. As this centred on the maintenance of the three castles, he received the crown’s approval for a further 20 serjeants, bringing the total to 240. This must have increased the crown’s expenditure to around 17,600 tareni. 33

In the meantime, Nicoloso at the head of a Genoese faction in Malta engaged in otherwise undefined activities that ran counter to Manfred’s interests. It was only in July 1257 that a peace treaty between Manfred and the Genoese was signed in Melfi, patching up the situation and reinvesting Nicoloso with the title of Count of Malta, but who, like his father, was not in control of the Castrum Maris. Thereafter, and for a long time, Nicoloso retained the title even under the Angevin regime with which he sympathised.34

In the next articles, we will see, how the Angevine rule ended in a short time, leading to the conquest by the Aragonese-Catalan crown and, at the end, under Spanish rule. During this period, Malta was to experience raids by Moorish and, later, by Ottoman attacks, but the island was also to have its municipal government within AragoneseCatalan rule.

Charles Debono is the Curator of the National War Museum. He has published in local newspapers a substantial number of articles about the First and Second World Wars and others about the inter-war period. Although his main specialisation is the military history of the Second World War, he also has an interest in military history through the ages.

Notes

1 Thomas S. Brown, ‘Byzantine Malta: A Discussion of the sources’, in Anthony Luttrell, ed., Medieval Malta: Studies of

Malta before the Knights (London: The British School at Rome, London, 1975), 72-73.

2 Ibid., 74.

3 Ibid., 76.

4 Ibid., 77.

5 Ibid.

6 Refer to https://context.reverso.net/translation/english-french/ droungarios. Accessed on 14 October 2022.

7 Brown (1975), 77.

8 Alexander Kazhdan, ed., The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991), 1964.

9 David Nicolle, Romano-Byzantine Armies 4th-9th Centuries (Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2000), 14.

10 Charles Dalli, Malta: The Medieval Millenium (Malta: Midsea Books, 2006), 41-45.

11 Ibid.

12 Ibid., 48.

13 Simon Mercieca, ‘The failed siege of 868 and the conquest of Malta by the Aghlabid princedom in 870’, in Joseph F. Grima, ed., The Malta Historical Society 2010 (Malta, 2010), 91-93.

14 Ibid., 93-97.

15 Ibid., 97-98.

16 Charles Dalli, ‘“Greek”, “Arab” and “Norman” Conquests in the Making of Maltese History’, in Storja 2003–2004 (Malta: University Historical Society, 2004), 15-16.

17 Ibid., 16-17.

18 David Nicolle, The Armies of Islam 7th-11th Centuries (Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2000), 18-23.

19 Charles Dalli, ‘A Muslim Society under Christian Rule’, in Toni Cortis, Thomas Freller, and Lino Bugeja, eds, Melitensium amor: Festschrift in honour of Dun Ġwann Azzopardi (Malta: Gutenberg Press, 2002), 41-43.

20 Ibid., 41-43.

21 Ibid., 43-44.

22 Ibid.

23 Goddfrey Wettinger, ‘The “Norman” Heritage of Malta’, Treasures of Malta, Vol. 1 No. 3 (Summer 1995), 39.

24 David Nicolle, The Normans (Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2003), 59.

25 Wettinger (1995), 35.

26 Matt King, ‘The Norman Kingdom of Africa and the Medieval Mediterranean’ (Ph.D. dissertation; Faculty of the University of Minnesota, 2018), 4.

27 Ibid.

28 Stanley Fiorini, ‘The De Malta Genoese Counts of Malta: c.1192–c.1320’, Melita Historica, Vol. 12 No.4 (1999), 359-360.

29 Donald Matthew, The Norman Kingdom of Sicily (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992), 276-290.

30 Refer to https://www.britannica.com/place/Italy/Henry-VI. Accessed on 11 October 2022.

31 Fiorini (1999), 360.

32 Ibid., 360-361.

33 Dalli (2006), 112-113.

34 Fiorini (1999), 361.

‘In reality some images or drawings have a greater impact than many buildings that are built’.

Conrad Thake has over recent years regaled us with a plethora of scholarly volumes on a number of our islands’ prominent edifices and also with publications on other local architectural thematics. His in-depth studies of the different typologies of Malta’s three major funerary complexes—the Addolorata, Ta’ Braxia and Ottoman Cemeteries— remain paradigm academic documents, as is also his learned and erudite Art Nouveau to Modernism volume. His publications focussing on local staircases, doorways, and the capital city’s portals are also worthy of note, as are his studies on William Scamp and Giuseppe Bonavia. In all of these he demonstrates himself to be a meticulous researcher and scholar. The Art and Art History Department at the University of Malta is privileged to have him as a pedagogue.

In Visions on Paper, Thake now tackles not completed buildings but exploratory and imaginary renders of proposed and unrealised projects, together with a selection of visionary fantasy drawings. Featured in this book are the seed germ storyboards for projects ranging from the sixteenth century to the present day. I personally would have liked to have gone back to even earlier prehistoric times and to have included the unfulfilled Neolithic temple façade image etched on the entrance doorway of the upper level Mnajdra Temple complex, perhaps man’s earliest and primary architectural render.

The earliest drawing featured in the book is a 1543 proposal for a four-pointed bastion ditch defence system on Mount Sciberras, attributed to Antonio Ferramolino. Worthy of interest, both for their historical importance and delineation quality, are the later triumphal arch proposals for Grand Masters Zondadari (1720) and De Vilhena (1722) by multitalented artist-designer-sculptor Pietro Paolo Troisi. Later schemes for Mount Sciberras are