Women had a recognised role in pre-industrial European society which varied according to the geographic location and their social standing. Although a substantial body of research is now available, secondary literature on the role of women in Maltese society and economic life is conspicuously absent. This is both an obstacle and a challenge for interpreting primary sources in legal archives. The case study presented in this chapter aims to stimulate discussion on the subject and investigate how the change of ruler in 1530 affected the economic role of women in Maltese society.

In 1536 Jean Quintin d'Autun wrote about Maltese women: ‘not at all ugly, but [they] live very much as if they were uncivilized; they do not mix with other people; they go out covered in a veil, as if to see a woman is here the same as to violate her’. How much did prevailing attitudes towards women, who, from d'Autun's description, seem to have been quite secluded from the rest of society, affect their economic activity? Were they passive in the face of many exhortations to obedience? Is there any indication of the consequences of the Catholic Reformation, when women's obedience and role in the family underwent a significant transformation? Can any distinction be detected between the elite and lower echelons, or between spinsters, married women and widows? What particular economic activities are recorded for female foreign settlers? Did Maltese women have the same attitude to business undertakings as their foreign counterparts? The following discussion does not look at female slavery and prostitution. Although these were thriving activities in the harbour area, the subject merits study in its own right, due to its peculiarity.

In order to validate the arguments presented here and place them in context, the existing framework of women's legal persona needs to be constructed from notarial references and the prevailing laws. The sample of notarial registers consulted was chosen on the following criteria: the notary in question practised in Birgu; the volumes were in a good state of preservation; both Rhodiot and Maltese notaries are represented in the sample.

How much weaker in the eyes of the law?

The legal systems and law codes of early modern Europe reflected prevailing theories and perceptions of women, based mainly on traditional notions of the weaknesses of the female sex.