Knight Templar remains in Gozo?

Abstract

The Maltese Archipelago occupies a central position in the Mediterranean being barely 93 km away from Sicily and 290 km from Northern Africa. Gibraltar is 1836 km to the west and Alexandria is 1519 km to the east. During the medieval period, the Islands lay at the southern most position of Christian Europe which at the end of the 11th century A.D. initiated the first of a series of campaigns to recapture lands under the dominion of Islamic rulers. Some of these Crusades proceeded overland, but a number utilised naval transport. These generally made use of the Ports of larger Sicily to the north of the Maltese Islands and there is no documentary evidence of any of the major campaigns being launched from Maltese ports. The Islands would however have served as a useful stepping stone for campaigns against North Africa especially when maritime conditions were unfavourable for remaining out at sea.