Rome Fellowship: Leprosy and religion in medieval Italian society: the evidence from thirteenth-century sermons

Abstract

that shaped antiquarian activity. During my time in Rome, my research focussed on the three decades from the posting of Fabio Chigi to Malta as Inquisitor and Apostolic Delegate in 1634, to the end of his papacy, as Alexander VII, in 1667. I was able to examine several strands of the intensive correspondence that bound this remote island group to the metropolis. The five years that Fabio Chigi spent in Malta were a period of particularly formative and intensive antiquarian activity. In 1637, the Cardinal’s nephew Francesco Barberini deployed the Jesuit polymath Athanasius Kircher, as well as his librarian and trusted friend Lucas Holste, to Malta to accompany the Landgrave of Hesse, a recent convert to Catholicism. The acquaintances and lasting friendships formed between Chigi, Kircher, Holste and the Maltese antiquarian Giovanni Francesco Abela resulted in a thriving exchange of ideas that persisted well after their departure. Chigi’s meticulous diary reveals a keen interest in ancient numismatics, while his personal correspondence with Holste documents Barberini’s active interest in Abela’s collection of ancient coins, shedding light on the inseparability of patronage, power and antiquarian collections. New light was also shed on the intrigues which isolated Abela and pushed him out of his office as Vice-Chancellor of the Order of Saint John in 1640, which also had consequences for his antiquarian efforts. Another thread that emerges insistently from the written accounts of the period was that antiquarian practices were inseparable from the construction of imaginary geographies. These constructs were also an arena of contestation, in which the islands of Malta were alternately cast as a remote fragment of North Africa, or as integral part of Europe. A wider aim that needs more work, and that is now being pursued, is to chart how the intertwined biographies and microhistories of individual actors contributed to a paradigm shift in the way archaeological remains were perceived and managed. I am immensely grateful to the Shortland-Jones Fellowship and to the BSR for making this time in Rome possible, and to all the staff and award-holders for making it such a pleasant and productive time.