Malta antemurale Christianitatis: Viceroyalty military defence in the Mediterranean under the Knights of St. John

This paper will investigate the Order’s relations with the Viceroyalty during mid16th century. In 1523, the Spanish Emperor was conceding the Maltese archipelago and Tripoli to the Order of St. John. Malta and the Mediterranean provided excellent facilities to the application of new discoveries in engineering: the best military engineers perceived as real the importance to prevent enemies from entering the Mediterranean through the ports of Malta, Messina, and Syracuse. The model adopted for the Order’s new city was influenced by the Spanish power closely related to Malta: the same urban pattern (the Hippodamus grid) of the new capital of the Order, Valletta, was introduced in the city of Carlentini.