Contact between the Maltese and the many Sicilian and Italian mariners and traders who called at Valletta's busy Grand Harbour expanded under Knights, while at the same time, a significant number of Western European nobles, clerics and civil servants relocated to Malta during this period. The wealth and influence of Malta's noble families – many of whom trace their ancestry back to the Norman and Spanish monarchs who ruled Malta prior to the Knights – was also greatly enhanced during this period.