ABSTRACT
This introductory chapter sets out the groundwork for the city of Messina after Arab rule and its eponymous priory of the Hospitallers from its inception. It sets out to examine the state and development of the Hospitaller priory of Messina during the seventeenth century, a period of growth and activity for this small but very influential priory within the Order of St John. A section discusses the reciprocal deep bonds between the city and the Hospitaller Order and how the fate of both was intertwined throughout their existence. This chapter traces the current historiography of the Grand Priory of Messina, identifying lacunae leading to the objectives of the present monograph.
