The twenty-seven papers published here represent a selection of those delivered at the Fourth International Conference on the Military Orders in 2005. Architecture, archaeology and the part which the orders played in Europe are well represented, along with work on northern and eastern Europe. Four papers deal specifically with military or naval matters, while another four deal with the spiritual life of the brothers and sisters. Family relationships represent a growing field of interest.

In the last two decades there has been an explosion of scholarly interest in the Military Orders. With a history stretching from the early twelfth century to the present day, they were among the richest and most powerful orders of the church in medieval Europe. They founded their own states in Prussia and on the Mediterranean islands of Rhodes and Malta. They are of concern to historians of the Church, art and architecture, government, agriculture, estate management, banking, medicine and warfare, and of the expansion of Europe overseas. The conferences on their history, which have been organized in London every four years, have attracted leading scholars from all over the world. The present volume records the proceedings of the Fourth Conference in 2005 and is essential reading for those interested in the progress of research on these extraordinary institutions. The twenty-seven papers published here represent a selection of those delivered at the conference. Architecture, archaeology and the part which the orders played in Europe are well represented, along with work on northern and eastern Europe. Four papers deal specifically with military or naval matters, while another four deal with the spiritual life of the brothers and sisters. Family relationships represent a growing field of interest. The majority of the papers focus on the Hospitallers, but the volume includes studies on the Templars and the Teutonic Order, as well as the Portuguese military orders.

This comprehensive survey of the military orders is based on a wide range of primary sources. Besides giving a clear account of the emergence of the orders, it investigates their military significance and the ways in which they obtained necessary funds and manpower. Their governmental structure and daily life are examined, together with the increasing criticisms they faced in the thirteenth century. The book ends with a discussion of the fall of the Templars and the changing roles of other orders in the early fourteenth century.

The first eight studies in this volume seek to address a series of questions concerning the emergence and the role of the military orders in the 12th and 13th centuries: the reasons for the appearance of the institution, the recruitment and instruction of novices, and, though the military orders were predominantly male organisations, the role of women within them. Dr Forey then turns to the orders’ role in the Crusades, both against the infidel and in ’Holy Wars’ against Christians, and their activities in ransoming captives. The last studies focus on the development of the Order of St John, and on two minor military orders; one of these, that on St Thomas of Acre, draws attention to the relations between England and the Holy Land, the subject also of the final paper, on the crusading plans of Henry III.

First Published in 2004. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

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