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António Manoel de Vilhena

Portuguese nobleman; 66th ruler of Hospitaller Malta (r. 1722–36)

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 14, 2026
Entity authoritySource title only
Source-derived summary

António Manoel de Vilhena was a Portuguese nobleman who was the 66th Prince and Grand Master of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem from 19 June 1722 to his death in 1736. Unlike a number of the other Grand Masters, he was benevolent and popular with the Maltese people. Vilhena is mostly remembered for the founding of Floriana, the construction of Fort Manoel and the Manoel Theatre, and the renovation of the city of Mdina.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “António Manoel de Vilhena” as portuguese nobleman; 66th ruler of Hospitaller Malta (r. 1722–36). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around António, Manoel and Vilhena.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1722, 1736—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with António, Manoel and Vilhena providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “António Manoel de Vilhena”, the useful work is to connect “portuguese nobleman; 66th ruler of Hospitaller Malta (r. 1722–36)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 14, 2026. The first chronological checks are 1722 and 1736.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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  • Search vocabulary
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The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “António Manoel de Vilhena”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow António Manoel de Vilhena primary sources, António Manoel de Vilhena archive and António research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “António Manoel de Vilhena” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.