Petitions by medical practitioners 1632-1732

The very humble suppliche or petitions addressed by subjects to the Grand Masters constitute a major source of information about everyday life in Malta at the time of the knights. Seventeen large volumes of them have been preserved,1 ranging from the year 1603 to the end of the Order's rule. Rarely do they deal with matters of great historical import, but rather document private matters which have, at most, a social relevance.peer-reviewe

Grand Masters in the Cinquecento : their persona & death

The manuscript records of the Order of Malta understandably turn out to be rather stingy with information about the health and psychological profile of individuals. Unless illness, (e.g. insanity), hampered the proper discharge of their official functions, health remained a matter of eminently private domain. Similarly, the printed histories, foremost among all Giacomo Bosio's truly monumental and detailed chronicle of the Order from its foundation in Palestine to the year 1571, have very little about the medical problems and the passing away of dignitaries, including Grand Masters. Of course, this reticence or restraint were not peculiarities of `Maltese' recorders and historians. A `non-subjective' approach to chronicle responded closely to the ethos of the age. Why write history? The scope was to teach, in a manner faithful to truth and to theology, and to mould the spirit through learning, abstracting from personal interpolation and researches that pandered to purely subjective curiosity. One could say that, to this limited extent, history then respected privacy more than it does today.peer-reviewe

Doping

Since centuries ago, man has always tried to find ways to improve human performance whilst suffering less in doing so. People who were thought to be the best were preferentially fed better diets and given treatments that were considered to be beneficial to their performance.peer-reviewe

The persona and deaths of Six 16th century Grand Masters of the Order of St. John

In a previous issue of this Journal, I focused on the personal and psychological traits of four sixteenth century Grand Masters of Malta, perhaps the most popular, or, anyway, the better known. I believe it would be equally rewarding to investigate the physical and mental set-up and health of the other six, who may have left a more indistinct impact on the course of Maltese history, but are nonetheless net contributors to the formation of our nationhood.peer-reviewe