For the Statutes of the Order we possess the Italian edition of 1567,
two Latin editions of 1556 and 1588, and the collection at the end of
Vertot's fourth volume, which is later and more complete. The Codice
Diplomatico of Fr. Pauli is the only collection of Charters to my
knowledge which covers practically the whole history of the Order: the
magnificent Cartulaire of Delaville Le Roulx only covers the Syrian
period in the Knights' history. Many valuable hints can be found in
the Calendars of State Papers issued by the Record Office, but they
fail us at the beginning of the seventeenth century.

Of the various historians above mentioned, Bosio, for the period he
covers, is by far the best and completest. Vertot only goes down to
1565: after the siege he treats the subject in a bare annalistic form.
Boisgelin, who was a Knight himself and wrote his history after his
expulsion from Malta, is valuable for his elaborate excursus on the
financial system of the Order. All three--who are our completest
authorities--wrote from the point of view of the Order, and
consequently are very unreliable in some matters. The treatment that
the Maltese received from the Order is very inadequately dealt with,
and none of them can seriously estimate the Mediterranean background
to the history of the Knights, and especially their relations with the
Barbary pirates. General Porter, whose history is the only English
one at all worthy of mention, possesses the same faults. Though his
knowledge of the island is thorough, his ignorance of European history
makes him neglect the importance of the external activities of the
Knights, and he follows the Order's chroniclers too slavishly to claim
authority as an independent investigator. Miege, who was a French
Consul at Malta, is interesting as a bitter opponent of the Order and
all its work; and he practically confines himself to the treatment of
the Maltese at the hands of the Knights.

The best authority on sixteenth-century sea power in the Mediterranean
is Admiral Jurien de la Graviere, while Commander Currey's book is
very sound and interesting.

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Knights of Malta, 1523-1798, by R. Cohen

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK KNIGHTS OF MALTA, 1523-1798 ***

***** This file should be named 12034.txt or 12034.zip *****
This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
http://www.gutenberg.net/1/2/0/3/12034/

Produced