ABSTRACT
During its existence from its foundation to the end of the nineteenth century, the Grand Priory of Messina went through various phases of development. In this chapter, it is being suggested that these can be divided into five periods. Although neither rigidly equivalent to their geographical eras, nor corresponding to a strict dateline, these phases reflect the surges of growth alternating with periods of quiescence, contextually instigated by surrounding European and Middle East historical events. Objective arguments are given for the evolution (or lack of) of each phase of development of this important central Mediterranean priory.
