Documents On Għar Il-Kbir, Malta 1588-1733

Documents On Għar Il-Kbir, Malta 1588-1733

This present study illustrates eighteen Latin documents, falling into the period from 1588 (Doc. 1) till 1733 (Doc. 18), which have been transcribed, translated and commented upon by myself.  These documents are only a sample of a larger number that have been collected by Mr Joseph Borg, and do not show, by any means, an exhaustive picture of the Great Cave.  But they certainly reflect a lot on a habitation of a century and a half.  These documents are notarial deeds of couples going into marriage, promising and declaring what goods they were bringing into the marriage.  The very fact that the inhabitants of the Great Cave went to a Notary before marriage shows how these people were not completely cut off from the legal and religious practices of the rest of the island. These documents refer to who represented whom in the notarial deeds; what fields or other goods, including clothes and animals, were being pledged, and what conditions were imposed should the marriage have failed.

By: Joseph Borg

Format: paperback

No of pages: 248

Published: 2013