The Military Orders

Perennially fascinating, the history of the military orders offers a great variety of approaches, as is reflected in this collection of 27 articles, first presented at the Fourth Conference on Military Orders, held in September 2006 at the Museum of St John in London. Written by academics in Europe and the US, the material is divided into an initial 8 articles on broad topics, with the remainder devoted to case studies. Notable is the lengthy article on the navies of the military orders, by Jurgen Sarnowsky (U. of Hamburg, Germany). Other topics include the use of lay soldiers during the 12th and 13th centuries, Polish historiography of the crusades, the Teutonic Knights during the Ibelin-Lombard conflict, and a detailed discussion of the layout of the Jerusalem Hospital in the 12th century, by the archaeologist and architectural historian Denys Pringle (Cardiff U., the UK). The volume is well illustrated in b&w and includes a select bibliography. Annotation c2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Judi Upton-Ward is an Independent Scholar researching the Crusades and Ottoman history.