The parish of Naxxar 1600-1650 : a demographic study

Abstract

Our history research towards a B.A. (Gen.) Degree was to consist in examining and copying all the entries in the Baptism Registers at Naxxar for the period 1600 to 1650, both dates inclusive. The specially supplied forms on which these entries were transcribed are now deposited at the Department of History of the Royal University of Malta. The information elicited from these records was used in our attempt to build a tentative picture of the social life of the Parish of Naxxar during the first half of the seventeenth century. However, as the Baptism Records by themselves did not provide enough information or data raising more questions than indicating answers and as our interest in this so far nearly untapped source of local history multiplied itself, we supplemented the details gathered from the Baptism Records with an examination of the Marriage and Death Registers for the same period. We used these extensively in our attempt to draw up, as far as possible, a complete list of the family units at Naxxar together with relevant background information on them. We also consulted other contemporary as well as modern sources in order to present the picture in as coherent a form as possible.