The directory «Plots»
de Paule Antoine
(1551—1636)
Antoine de Paule, of the Lange of Provence and Grand Prior of St. Giles, was elected as Grand Master on the death of de Vasconcellos on the 10th March 1623. During this reign several naval engagements of more or less importance took place, which swelled the treasury of the Order and tended to increase the commercial prosperity of the island.
A decree of this Grand Master, of the 7th August 1631, ordained that all gold and silver coins of the value of one scudo and over were to be weighed both by those paying and those receiving them, under penalty of confiscation of the coins. This order was caused by the discovery that, much of the gold and silver in circulation had been filed by unscrupulous persons for the sake of profit. .In order to replace the great quantity of deteriorated copper coins which were current at this time, the Grand Master, by an order of the 6th August 1628, caused 2,000 copper pieces, varying in value from the carlino to the picciolo, to be struck and placed in circulation in the islands*
After a severe illness, de Paule died on the 10th June 1636, at the advanced age of eighty-five, after a reign of thirteen years.
S. M. O. M., 1991, Arms of Antoine de Paule
S. M. O. M., 1992, Fra' Antoine de Paule
