1st Edition
The Hospitaller Grand Priory of Messina in the Seventeenth Century
This book details the origin of the Grand Hospitaller Priory of Messina. It discusses a breadth of themes, such as the historiography, the Hospitaller’s European commandery and Sicilian patrimony, its management and organization in the seventeenth century, its religious practices, and the prioral mansion in Messina. The final chapter includes a detailed account of the 1674 Messina insurrection against the Spanish overlords. This event plunged the priory into political chaos, fracturing it and pitting members against each other. It also shattered neutrality issues embedded in the statutes of the religion and ignoring the precepts emanating from the Convent on Malta.
The Hospitaller Grand Priory of Messina in the Seventeenth Century will appeal to students and scholars alike interested in the Crusading Orders, the history of the Knights Hospitaller, and the history of Malta.
Chapter 1
Introduction and Historiography
Messina ‘La Nobile’
The Hospitaller Sicilian City par excellence
Historiography of the Grand Priory of Messina
Chapter 2
The Hospitaller European Commandery
Introduction
The Concept of a Priory within the Hospitaller Order c.1120-1140.
The Nature of the Hospitaller Priories in the West, c.1150 - 1400.
The Office of the Hospitaller Receiver, c. 1350
The Categories of Hospitaller Commanderies and their Management after 1400
Chapter 3
The Hospitaller Sicilian Patrimony
The Growth and Development of the Grand Priory of Messina, 1060 - 1798.
First Phase: Foundation to the End of Acre 1291.
Second Phase: c.1300 – c.1400s
Third Phase: c1500 - 1600
Fourth Phase: c. 1600 - c1650
Fifth Phase: c1660 – 1798
Chapter 4
Management of the Sicilian Commandery in the Seventeenth Century
Eligibility to a Commandery of Chevissement or di Cabimento
Conferment of a Commandery
The Visita dei Miglioramenti (Visitation to check Improvements)
The Cabreo (Cabreum)
The Commandery of Magisterial Grace (Commenda di Grazia Magisteriale)
The Commandery of Magisterial Chamber (Commenda di Camera Magisteriale)
The Commandery Pensioners
The Sicilian Commanderies of Jus Patronatus in the Seicento
Chapter 5
The State of the Priory of Messina in the Seventeenth Century
The Ricetta
The State of the Priory of Messina 1580-1760.
5.4 Some Observations on the Brethren Belonging to the Messina Priory in 1631
Chapter 6
The Sicilian Hospitaller Priory - the Religious Cult
Obsequium Pauperum et Tuitio Fidei
The Origins of the Hospitaller Prioral Church in Messina
The New Hospitaller Church of San Giovanni Battista
Descriptive Analysis of the Church of San Giovanni Battista in Messina in the 1603 and 1749 visitations.
Silverware of the Hospitaller Church
The Religious Hierarchy at San Giovanni Battista in Messina in the Seventeenth/Eighteenth century.
The Ecclesiastical Vicar.
The Choir Chaplains.
The Church Sacristan.
Office of the Dead
Sepulchral Monuments in the Prioral Church of San Giovanni Battista
Chapter 7
The Hospitaller Prioral Mansion in Messina
The Hospitaller Priory in Messina
The Archivist
Chapter 8
The Insurrection of Messina of 1674 and the Hospitaller Grand Priory
The Downfall of a Privileged City
The Status of Neutrality Professed by the Order
The Pre-eminences and Prerogatives of the Order
The Grand Priory of Messina at the Time of the Messina Revolt 1674
Disturbances at Trapani.
Messina 'The Gallant and Virtuous'
The Grand Priory of Messina and the Messina revolt in 1674
Involvement of the Order’s Naval Squadron
Political Conflicts at the Grand Priory of Messina
Dangerous Maneuvers in the Bay of Milazzo.
Ramifications of the Insurrection on the Grand Priory of Messina and Beyond
The Aftermath
Conclusion
Bibliography
Primary Sources
Archivium Ordo Melitensis (AOM) National Library of Malta, Valletta.
Archivio della Magione, Archivio di Stato di Palermo, University of Palermo
Secondary Sources
Unpublished Dissertations
Appendix A
An Outline of the Grand Priory of Messina in the Seventeenth Century
1. The Ricetta of Messina
2. The Hospitaller Assets in Agrigento
3. The Ricetta of Augusta
4. The Hospitaller Assets in Caltagirone.
5. The Ricetta of Catania
6. The Hospitaller Assets of Marsala
7. The Ricetta of Modica-Randazzo
8. The Hospitaller Assets of Palermo
9. The Assets of Piazza
10. The Ricetta of Scicli
11. The Ricetta of Siracusa
12. The Hospitaller Assets of Trapani
Appendix B
Lingua d’Italia Tomo 1
Vol. ‘Lingua d’Italia Tomo 1’ contenente la indicazione dei possessori delle commende delle Lingue d’Italia, coi rispettivi pensionisti dal 1645 al 1747.
Commende de fra Cappucini et fra Servienti
Appendix C
The Church of the Hospitallers’ San Giovanni Battista in Messina, 1604 - 1749.
The Interior of the Old Church
The Interior of the New Church
Biography
Ray Gatt has a professional medical background and holds a doctoral degree from the University of Malta. His thesis on the Grand Hospitaller Priory of Messina became the foundation for the current book with the same title. He has also written various papers on the Hospitallers which have been included in edited books, as well as on another Hospitaller Order, that of St Lazarus.
