Magic in Malta, 1605: The Moorish Slave Sellem Bin al-Sheikh Mansur and the Roman Inquisition

马耳他的魔法，1605 年：摩尔奴隶塞勒姆·本·谢赫·曼苏尔和罗马宗教裁判所

• 批准号: AH/L011611/1
• 负责人: Dionisius Agius
• 金额: $ 23.84万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF EXETER
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2014 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FL011611%2F1
• 关键词: Magic; Malta; 1605; Moorish; Slave

The islands of Malta - Malta, Gozo and Comino - have always been strategically vital, being on the boundaries between both the east and west Mediterranean, and Africa and Europe, which has resulted in the islands being a melting pot for different ethnic, religious, and linguistic groups. During the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries these aspects were particularly heightened, as the islands stood as a bulwark both politically, on the front line of the conflict between the Ottoman Empire and Europe, and religiously, as an outpost of Catholicism against Islam in the Mediterranean. This project will examine the unique socio-religious and political milieu of Malta in early seventeenth century by focusing on ideas of magic within this context, through a case-study of one specific magic-trial document as a case study, that of Sellem Bin al-Sheikh Mansur, a Muslim slave tried by the Roman Inquisition on Malta for practising magic. The major part of the project will be a transcription and translation of the trial proceedings, written in Latin, Italian and Arabic. This will provide important new evidence for academics in a wide variety of disciplines. The project will also provide a commentary on the proceedings which will involve the examination of other available source material, particularly other relevant trial records - both the minutes of the trial itself and the minutes of the sessions of torture the accused underwent, written by the notary, consisting of the Latin questions of the Inquisitor and the responses of the accused and of witnesses given in other languages, including Italian and Arabic - preserved in the Mdina Cathedral archives. As well as these, there are also graffiti written on the walls of the prison in Birgu where the accused were kept during their trial which shall be examined.The importance of this project lies in the interdisciplinary nature of the evidence and the conclusions which can be drawn. Discourses surrounding accusations of witchcraft and magic in the early-modern period have been going on decades, with dozens of scholars producing various theories over aspects as varied as gender, the psychology of the torture victim, the development of beliefs over the abilities and activities of those practising magic, and the role of the secular and ecclesiastical authorities (among many others), which form the backbone of any discussion on magic and witchcraft during this period. However, these ideas are based almost exclusively on evidence from continental Europe and the British Isles, and there has been almost no examination of magic trials in some peripheral areas of Europe, of which Malta is a prime example, and comparatively little attempt to study the role of Islam in ideas of witchcraft in early-modern Europe. By examining the trial of Sellem this project will open up to study a different social, cultural and political milieu in which to test current theories in the fields referred to above, and thus can help to strengthen or weaken those theories.It will also enable the exploration of aspects of Maltese society and Mediterranean history more widely during the period, such as Christian-Muslim Relations in the period, the role of the religious and secular powers of the Inquisition and Knights Hospitallers on Malta, and cultural diffusion in an area of intense cultural contact.

马耳他群岛-马耳他，戈佐岛和科米诺岛-一直具有重要的战略意义，位于东地中海和西地中海以及非洲和欧洲之间的边界，这使得这些岛屿成为不同种族，宗教和语言群体的大熔炉。在16世纪末和17世纪初，这些方面尤其突出，因为这些岛屿在政治上是奥斯曼帝国和欧洲冲突的前线堡垒，在宗教上是地中海天主教反对伊斯兰教的前哨。本项目将通过对一份具体的魔法审判文件的案例研究，即塞利姆·本·谢赫·曼苏尔的案例研究，研究马耳他在十七世纪早期独特的社会宗教和政治环境，重点关注在此背景下的魔法思想。该项目的主要部分将是以拉丁文、意大利文和阿拉伯文撰写的审判程序的誊写和翻译。这将为各种学科的学者提供重要的新证据。该项目还将对诉讼程序作出评论，其中将涉及审查其他现有的原始材料，特别是其他有关的审判记录-审判本身的记录和由公证人撰写的被告遭受酷刑的记录，其中包括调查官的拉丁文问题以及被告和证人以其他语文作出的答复，包括意大利语和阿拉伯语-保存在姆迪纳大教堂档案馆。除此之外，在审判期间关押被告的比尔古监狱的墙上也有涂鸦，应加以审查，这一项目的重要性在于证据的跨学科性质和可以得出的结论。围绕现代早期巫术和魔法指控的讨论已经持续了几十年，数十位学者提出了各种理论，涉及性别，酷刑受害者的心理，对那些练习魔法的能力和活动的信仰的发展，以及世俗和教会当局的作用（在许多其他），这形成了骨干的任何讨论魔法和巫术在这一时期。然而，这些想法几乎完全基于欧洲大陆和不列颠群岛的证据，几乎没有对欧洲一些边缘地区的魔法审判进行过审查，马耳他是其中的一个主要例子，相对而言，很少有人试图研究伊斯兰教在早期现代欧洲巫术观念中的作用。通过研究塞莱姆的审判，该项目将打开研究不同的社会、文化和政治环境的大门，以检验上述领域的现有理论，从而有助于加强或削弱这些理论。它还将使人们能够更广泛地探索这一时期马耳他社会和地中海历史的各个方面，例如这一时期的基督教-穆斯林关系，宗教裁判所和医院骑士团对马耳他的宗教和世俗权力的作用，以及在文化接触密集的地区的文化传播。