The house of Aragon and Malta : 1282-1412

Abstract

Malta and Gozo, two small and barren islands lying between Sicily and Africa at the very centre of the Mediterranean, were for many centuries dependent on Sicily, if only because their rocky soil and limited water supply meant that the population had to import foodstuffs. The Norman, Hohenstaufen and Angevin rulers of Sicily all considered that it would have been dangerous to, allow Malta to be controlled by a hostile power. The Maltese were influenced in many ways by their successive conquerors, but the isolation and smallness of the islands helped them to preserve their own characteristics; their Christian heritage survived centuries of Muslim occupation just as their African language subsequently endured through centuries of European rule. In 1282 Malta and Gozo were governed by the Angevin Kings of Sicily, and they enjoyed a small measure of prosperity as a commercial outpost of Genoese and other traders. Following the conquest of Sicily by King Pere of Aragon, the Maltese recognized the new regime. When Charles of Anjou, King of Naples, attempted to use Malta as a base for the recovery of Sicily, the Aragonese Adr.liral Ruggiero Lauria inflicted a decisive defeat on the Angevin fleet in a great battle fought in the harbour at Malta on 8 July 1283.