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

马耳他、戈佐和科米诺三个岛屿一直具有重要的战略意义，位于地中海东部和西部以及非洲和欧洲的边界上，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与欧洲之间冲突的前线的堡垒，在宗教上是地中海反对伊斯兰教的天主教的前哨。该项目将通过对一份具体的魔术审判文件的个案研究，通过对被罗马罗马宗教裁判所审判的穆斯林奴隶Sellem Bin al-Sheikh Mansur的魔术审判文件进行个案研究，重点研究这一背景下马耳他独特的社会-宗教和政治环境。该项目的主要部分将是用拉丁文、意大利文和阿拉伯文编写的审判记录的转录和翻译。这将为不同学科的学者提供重要的新证据。该项目还将提供关于诉讼程序的评论，其中将涉及审查其他可用的材料，特别是其他相关的审判记录--由公证员撰写的审判记录和被告遭受酷刑的记录，包括审讯官的拉丁文问题以及被告和证人以包括意大利语和阿拉伯语在内的其他语言提供的答复--保存在Mdina大教堂的档案中。此外，在比尔古监狱的墙上也写着涂鸦，被告在受审期间被关押在那里，应对其进行审查。该项目的重要性在于证据的跨学科性质和可以得出的结论。围绕早期现代时期关于巫术和魔法的指控的论述已经持续了几十年，数十名学者提出了各种不同的理论，涉及性别、酷刑受害者的心理、对施法者的能力和活动的信仰的发展以及世俗和教会当局(除其他外)的作用，这些都构成了这一时期关于魔法和巫术的任何讨论的支柱。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，而且几乎没有对欧洲一些外围地区的魔法审判进行审查，马耳他就是一个典型的例子，相对较少的尝试是研究伊斯兰教在早期现代欧洲巫术思想中的作用。通过对Sellem的审判，这个项目将打开一个不同的社会、文化和政治环境的研究，在这个环境中测试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，如这一时期的基督教-穆斯林关系，马耳他宗教裁判所和骑士医院的宗教和世俗权力的作用，以及在一个文化接触密切的地区的文化传播。

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.