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The island's administration was in the hands ofthe Universitas Gaudisii, the municipal Town Council of Gozo, which was answerable to the Governatore di Gozzo. The Governor, whose post was established in 1550, became responsible for the supervision of the island's administration replacing the sindicaturi that during the Aragonese rule were sent over for this purpose from Palermo. As early as June 1530, only weeks after Malta and Gozo had been handed over to the Order of the Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem, the Universitas had sought the confirmation of its rights and privileges from the Grand Master and insisted that they be placed under his special care (NLM: Bibi 670, 39r-42r; Valentino 1935: 170-227). On 18 July, Phillippe Villiers de l'Isle Adam, the first Grand Master, did in fact meet some of their demands, and his successor, Juan de Homedes, eventually created the post of Governor to represent him on the island (Agius De Soldanis 1746: 312-313).
The day to day running of the administration remained, as before, in the hands of the town council made up of two, three, or four giurati or aldermen assisted by several officials. In 1560 the Universitas Gaudisii was made up of nine (NAG 1/1: 10r). Besides the Governor, there were two jurats, a treasurer, two Cattapani, two Giudici idioty, and a Maestro di Piazza. The jurats were also chosen by the Grand Master and their term of office commenced on 1 September and more often than not they were replaced every year. One of them was a trained lawyer or notary who acted as townjudge with jurisdiction in both civil and criminal cases. He stood for the Governor during his absence from the island. The jurats had a host of responsibilities: two of the most vital being the restoration of the fortifications and the provision of grain. The treasurer was responsible for income and expenditure. Income was raised from exercise duty and from taxes levied for keeping shops and other establishments. A lion's share of the expenditure was employed in the upkeep of the fortifications. The Cattapani were responsible for the market and the hygiene of the town. They were to check the use of correct weights and measures and to enforce the prices of objects established quadrimestrally by the town officials. The couple of Giudici idioty, "ignorant of the law", delivered judgement in petty offences. The Maestro di Piazza, short for Piazza d'armi, was the man responsible for the organization of the delma or local militia and for its rapid deployment in case of an enemy landing.
By 1575, life on Gozo had reached the pre-1551 tempo. This is clearly discernible from the earliest extant registers of the Acta et Negotiorum Universitatis Gaudisii. Since the 1551 holocaust, the people had in their majority still taken up residence within the Castello or l-Imdina (NAV: R271/1, 84v) as the medieval fortified Citadel was earlier known, and in its Borgo or suburb, Rabat.
The rising population necessitated the importation of more and more grain, bread being the staple food of the people. This was imported directly from abroad by the Universitas. It was usually bought through an agent in Licata, Sicily (NAG 1/2: 435v) and from there shipped to the port of Marsalforn. It was stored in granaries within the Citadel (NAG 1/ 2: 436v). In 1593 the agent was a certain Commendatore Puccini and the shipment was in the hands of Matteo Cotugno and Matteo Cassaro (NAG 1/2: 435r v). The next most commonly imported item was wine. The import license was given to the bidder who offered the highest percentage of excise duty (NAG 1/2: 64r). The Gozitans were refined wine-drinkers, because duty on the imported product provided a high percentage of income to the administration (NAG 1/2: 446r).
An indicator of rising standards is the greater attention given by the officials for the upkeep of cleanliness at the market and in the streets of the Citadel. One Bando after another were promulgated to achieve that end and trespassers were being fined (NAG 1/2: 44v). As from 1593, fowl could no longer be left roaming in the streets of the Citadel (NAG 1/2: 432v).
Education was also being given due attention. There were two schools in Gozo: one was a public school under the responsibility of the Universitas; the second was run by the Matrice church and was tailored for clerics who wanted to proceed to the priesthood. The first recorded school-master of the former is the Augustinian Fra Marco Gandolfo, engaged since 1 December 1573 (NAG 1/2: 81v). A Dominican cleric Batholomeo Chaber was in the early 1590s master at the latter, and from September 1591 he was also running the school for the Universitas. (NAG 1/2: 438r-v). Problems regarding wages led more than once to the closure of one or both. Chaber had to protest over his low insufficient salary more than once (NAG 1/2: 435v; NAG 1/2: 530r), but he held his teaching post for over fifty years (NAG 1/4: 1636-37, 16r). He must have died in office, for his last salary up to 14 June 1642 had to be paid to his heirs. (NAG1/4:1641-42, 27v). Civil and ecclesiastical authorities did try to offer some form of education to the Gozitan youth, but financial problems were hindering progress in this field.
A pointer towards normality is the fact that the people were again enjoying
organized entertainment, the chief attractions being the horse races on
the feast of Santa Marija and carnival. Some form of celebration related
to carnival is recorded as early as February 1593 (NAG 1/2: 437v). The
horse races had long been established. In 1587, the Universitas increased
the prizes and laid down that horses brought over from Malta for the races
were henceforth to be kept in Gozo for use by the militia in emergencies
(NAG 1/2: 67r).
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The old Citadel, into which the Gozitans could retire when raiding cors airs approached, was not up to contemporary standards and its walls could not withstand artillery bombardment. Yet the Knights were rather reluctant to modernize the town. The Castello was land-locked and unlikely to receive any reinforcement or reprovisioning in the face of a long siege. The idea of abandoning the old Citadel was frequently canvassed along with proposals to build a coastal fortressed town. Yet the idea never materialized. On the one hand the Knights lacked money for Gozo as the defence of the island was not amongst their initial priorities; on the other hand the general feeling was against the removal of the town from the very centre of the island.
Finally in 1599, the Order secured the services of the military engineer Giovanni Rinaldini of Ancona to prepare a report on Gozo's defence problems. He practically ruled out the restoration of the old Citadel, but the Knights rejected his advice and decided to fortify the old Castello (Dal Pozzo, 1703:426). Works commenced towards the end of 1599 (AOM: 100, 193v) and proceeded up to 1623 (Agius de Soldanis 1746: 132; Spiteri, 1994: 317-331). The lower South enceinte, the part overlooking Rabat, was provided with a main front of gunpowder fortifications, which are very impressive and surprisingly powerful for such a small Citadel. It is unknown how much of Rinaldini's suggestions were employed in this rebuilding, as his plans have not been traced.
Contemporaneously the Knights began tackling the coastal fortifications of the island. The first to be defended, reasonably enough, were the two principal ports of Gozo: Mgarr and Marsalforn. In 1605, after a bequest by Grand Master Martin Garzes (Hoppen 1979: 123) a tower was raised above Mgarr, the harbour employed for communications with Malta. Garzes tower was the first in a series that was to render the island much safer. A second tower was raised in 1616 above the port of Marsalforn (Sammut Tagliaferro 1993: 111), then Gozo's lifeline to Licata, Sicily, and the world. The Gozo-Malta channel was rendered still more safe for commerce in 1618 when Grand Master Alofde Wignacourt financed the construction of Santa Marija Tower on Comino (Hoppen 1979:123). More towers were raised at Xlendi in 1650, at Dwejra in 1652, at Mgarr ix-Xini in 1661, and Torre Nuova off Dahlet Qorrot, Nadur, in 1667 (Hoppen 1979:123).
The raising of these towers was to change the land-settlement pattern
of Gozo for good. The gradual mastering of the coast rendered the Gozitan
countryside more secure, and the constant threat from sea corsairs was
becoming a thing ofthe past. People began radiating out from the Citadel
and Rabat in all directions, to settle permanently in the countryside where
they had their fields and farms. These settlements were to develop into
hamlets and villages and eventually into small country towns.
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The continuous threat of corsairs in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries had convinced the authorities to issue a Bando obliging the people ofGozo to retire within the Citadel for the night. Prevention, it was found out at a price, is better than cure. The redemption of slaves was not only a costly and lengthy process but the majority of victims succumbed to the harshness of slavery and never made it back (Wettinger 1977: 427-430). No wonder that those who owned a house or a room within the Citadel were considered among the fortunate of Gozo!
This Ba ndo applied from 1 May to 31 October, during which time the calm Mediterranean waters were literally infested with pirates originating from ports throughout its littoral. The windy wintry months prevented long distant shipping and hence from November to April the people lived in tranquillity in small single or double roomed country houses close to their fields and farms in a wide scatter of settlements that dotted the whole island.
As the farms could not be left unguarded throughout the whole night, late in the sixteenth century grown-up males were relieved of the obligation to retire within the Citadel. Females and children were however still obliged to sleep in safety and it is certain that several had to share a single room with other families as sleeping quarters. The separation of males and females at night created a host of problems and innumerable litigations and a good number of females were being exempted and permitted to sleep in the countryside with their husbands against the payment of four or five Scudi annually (Agius De Soldanis 1746: 141-143).
This Bando had definitely slowed down all development removed from the centre of the island and the mitigation ofregulations immediately led to a sharp rise in the number of countryside settlements. One thus notices an immediate increase in the practice of husbandry which could not be carried out within the Citadel and the confines of old Rabat. The regular price lists published by the town Council points to a most varied production of meat and thus a considerable number of farms. The first extant list of 1565 lists over twenty different kinds ofmeat (NAG 1/1, 12r), and seventeen varieties are listed in 1593 (NAG 1/2: 433r-v). Production of the still typical local cheeselets (NAG 1/2: 437r), both fresh and peppered - gbejniet and gobon tal-bzar - meant that people were also keeping sheep. There was also a considerable production of fruit, vegeta-bles and other products (NAG 1/2: 432r).
Another clear sign of settlements outside Rabat is the number of countryside chapels. In the survey carried out by the Apostolic Visitor Pietro Dusina in 1575, fifty churches and chapels are listed. Of these six were within the Citadel, ten in Rabat, and thirty four in the countryside (AEGVA , 1575:192-203, 265-273). Their quality was uneven but the simple fact that they were standing points to a caring community in their proximity. It is interesting to note that a general rehabilitation of the chapels was taking place by the turn of the century. This is perceptible from the pastoral visits prior to 1598 and those in the following decades. Two suffice as an example. The Assumption chapel perched on ta' Dbiegi hill, Gozo's highest point, was not only in an optimum condition but was also one of the very few in Gozo with a bell on its roof(AEGVP, 1615: 26r). The second is another Assumption chapel at tal-H~imrija, Xewkija, which had been in a mediocre condition until about 1610 (AEGVP, 1608: 13v). It was then restored in a most excellent manner on the initiative and at the expense of Eugenio Romirez Maldonato, Governor of Gozo. In 1615, the bishop noted that mass was celebrated in this chapel every Sunday (AEGVP, 1615:43r).
This is one of the earliest references to the celebration of a regular weekly mass in a countryside chapel and the fact is thus very significant. It is first of all an undeniable proof of a resident population in the vicinity. It is also an indication that several of the country settlements had begun to gather a certain consistency and that the first villages had started to take shape. That this is related to a Xewkija chapel is no coincidence.
The people's mind had been partly put to peace by the increasing surveillance of the coastal areas and so they had decided to settle further away from the centre. This gave them a double advantage: they were closer to their farms and fields and they could enjoy better housing. The fact that by that time people were expecting a better living space and a healthier environment transpires from more than one enactment of the town Council (NAG 1/1: 44v.61r;1/2: 432r).
The population had by the fourth decade of the seventeenth century increased to just under 3000 (Balaguer 1645: ASV, Malta, 186: 406r). The Bando obliging people to sleep within the Citadel was hardly being enforced and observed any longer, and it was repealed on 18 April 1637 (Agius De Soldanis 1746: 142). At that time the first Gozitan villages had already taken shape.
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