ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights a number of as yet unexploited primary sources from the Maltese Hospitaller period which allow for a preliminary inquiry into the subject. The Order was by far the largest provider and slave-owner in Malta, utilizing the manpower for its naval squadron and a variety of other labour-intensive works. Significantly from a demographic perspective, the granting of the owner’s or godparent’s family name to the newly converted constitutes a yet unstudied means of how Maltese and non-Maltese surnames–including some of Hospitaller origin–were further diffused within the local population since neophytes were allowed to marry. The Baroque Catholic establishment thus satisfied its sense of Christian duty in winning over more souls to eternal salvation, while concurrently, it delighted in the public manifestations of triumphalism and the ensuing propaganda which often accompanied Slave conversions. The vast majority of slaves remained steadfast in their faith and neophytes always remained a minority group within a more extensive Muslim slave community.
