The parish of Bir Miftuħ, 1600-1635

Abstract

The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate the population of the parish of Bir Miftuħ with the limits of the sources available. Bir Miftuħ was one of the important parishes of Malta from the fifteenth to the seventeenth century, but here we are particularly interested with the period 1600-1635, which coincides with the decline of the parish. The name Bir Miftuh is still retained today for a small residential area of Gudia, which had been then one of the three: remaining villages which together made up the Parish of Bir Miftuħ. The other two villages were Luca, by far the largest of them all, and Farrug. Today Farrug has become extinct while Luca was made a parish on its own in 1634. Besides the main villages the sources revealed the names of very small hamlets or perhaps farmhouses such as Casal Pasqualino, Millier, Casal Chirba, Casal Pircbud, Casal Manin and Casal Leu which has all since become obscure. To achieve this aim the parish records of Bir Miftuħ which are now kept at the Parochial Archives of Gudia were consulted. These records for the period stated above are contained in a single manuscript volume with the following [ ... ]