The Fondo Mesina in the Archivo Ducal de Medinaceli

Abstract

Heartened by the discovery in Madrid of the important Byzantine poem which the authors recently published (Trista ex Melitogaudo: Lament in Greek Verse of a XIIth-century exile on Gozo) and the fact that the manuscript containing the poem was found in Spain, the authors have been on the lookout for the possible existence of other manuscripts with a similar history. To this end, the authors where interested in gaining access to the private archives of the Duque de Medinaceli in Seville and Toledo as they are known to contain material from the Fondo Mesina (the same section where the poem was found). This section was originally located in Messina until 1679 when the collection was moved to Palermo as revenge for a rebel uprising in 1674. The collection was again moved in 1696 to Spain. Eventually the collection was restored in 1992 and made available for research. Despite this, the collection contained precious little that does not concern Messina directly and from the ‘Maltese’ point of view it was rather disappointing. What follows is a description of the documents, including references to Malta and a copy of the documents consulted.