Des frontières au sein d'une ville-frontière? Les non-catholiques à Malte à l'èpoque moderne (XVIe-XVIIe siecles)

Abstract

The main goal of this article is to determine the existence and the permanence of some possible frontiers within the so-called "frontier-city" represented by Malta and its port at modern times. Generally, frontier cities and societies are caracterized with a certain unity and the absence of internal caesuras which may represent a weakness against the external danger featured by the concept of otherness. However, the inner-city frontiers do exist in Malta, based on religion, and which separate clearly the Catholics from the others. Those frontiers appear to be solid and are dedicated to be constant (people compartmentalization in some areas dedicated to outsiders, in some buffer zones, symbolical tatoos on bodies to be easily identified ... ), but they are also dedicated to be overcome in the context of mixture of a frontier society which is highly ready for assimilation, both refusing sternly religious differences and extraordinary welcoming, provided those differences have disappeared.