The Countryside of Hospitaller Rhodes 1306-1423 explores the main themes of settlement, population and defence of the countryside of Rhodes from 1306 to 1423, approximately halfway through the period of Hospitaller rule. Based largely on the Hospital's Rhodian archive, this book is the scientific presentation of 208 documents brought together with detailed English summaries to help readers understand the documents and their technical features. While the majority of research into this subject has previously been focused on the town of Rhodes, this book concentrates instead on the late-medieval countryside, providing a new angle from which to view this complex period. Through a corpus of Hospitaller texts, it presents many aspects of the Hospitaller Order's history as well as exploring other crucial developments in the period, including both a discussion of Cristoforo Buondelmonti's description of Rhodes, and a section dedicated to the sources used within this work. The Countryside of Hospitaller Rhodes provides an ideal for academics and postgraduates of the crusades.

The Countryside of Hospitaller Rhodes 1306-1423 explores the main themes of settlement, population and defence of the countryside of Rhodes from 1306 to 1423, approximately halfway through the period of Hospitaller rule. Based largely on the Hospital's Rhodian archive, this book is the scientific presentation of 208 documents brought together with detailed English summaries to help readers understand the documents and their technical features. While the majority of research into this subject has previously been focused on the town of Rhodes, this book concentrates instead on the late-medieval countryside, providing a new angle from which to view this complex period. Through a corpus of Hospitaller texts, it presents many aspects of the Hospitaller Order's history as well as exploring other crucial developments in the period, including both a discussion of Cristoforo Buondelmonti's description of Rhodes, and a section dedicated to the sources used within this work. The Countryside of Hospitaller Rhodes provides an ideal for academics and postgraduates of the crusades.

This volume brings together recent and new research, with several items specially translated into English, on the sisters of the largest and most long-lived of the military-religious orders, the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem. In recent years there has been increasing scholarly interest in women's religious houses during the Middle Ages, with particular focus on the problems which they faced and the social needs which they performed. The military-religious orders have been largely excluded from this interest, partly because it has been assumed that women played little role in religious orders with a predominantly military purpose. Recent research has shown this to be a misconception. Study of the women members of these orders enables scholars to gain a deeper appreciation of the nature of hospitaller and military orders and of the role of women in religious life in general. The papers in this volume explore the roles which the Hospitaller sisters performed within their order; examine the problems of having men and women living within the same or adjoining houses; study relations between the order and the patrons of its women's houses; and consider the career of a prominent Hospitaller woman who became a saint. This volume will be of interest not only to scholars of the military-religious orders and of the Hospital of St John in particular, but also to scholars of monastic history and to those with a concern for women's history during the middle ages.

This title was first published in 2002: Dr Luttrell's work has helped change our understanding of the history of the small islands of Malta and Gozo, providing a more coherent story of the ways in which, during the Middle Ages, a small isolated Muslim community was converted into a more prosperous outpost of Roman Christianity with a unique cultural mixture of Arabic speech and European institutions. This selection of studies places the process within the context of developments in the medieval Mediterranean world and combines archaeological and architectural investigations with work in Maltese, Sicilian and other archives, with a particular focus on ecclesiastical matters; a new introduction brings the subject up to date. This work is of relevance to scholars of Islam and Christianity, while providing insights into the nature of an unusual island community whose significance far exceeds its size.

This fourth collection of Dr Luttrell's studies on the military order of the Hospital concerns its activities on the island of Rhodes, acquired between 1306 and 1310, where it struggled to contain the naval aggression of the Anatolian Turks and to settle the island and organise its society and economy. At the same time it had to exploit its Cypriot possessions and its European provinces in order to secure the manpower and resources needed to sustain its Eastern activities. The author has spent over 40 years working in the Hospital's archives on Malta and elsewhere throughout the West, studying the Hospitallers' military and naval affairs, their spiritual and medical activities, and the organisation of their Western priories and commanderies. These studies illustrate the workings of an extensive multi-national corporation dedicated to the defence of Christendom.

The studies in the present volume, on the history of the Order of the Hospital between 1306 and 1522, are not only concerned with the part it played in the defence of the Latin Levant, but also with its role in Western society. The first articles deal with the settlement of Rhodes, the conflicts with the Turks, and with the Hospitallers' participation in crusading expeditions. As important, however, is the question of how they managed to support their military achievements. Drawing on the results of many years' research into the archives of the Hospital, both in Malta and in the provincial archives, Dr Luttrell examines their administration of the Rhodian islands and details some of the resources they drew from elsewhere, notably the West, whether in terms of recruitment, money raising or the exploitation of their estates. Particular attention is given to the Hospitaller properties in Italy and Spain, and to the nature of Hospitaller life in these western priories and commanderies. Les etudes regroupees dans le present volume, qui traitent de l'histoire de l'Ordre de l'HApital entre 1306 et 1522, ne s'attachent pas seulement au rAle joue par celui-ci dans la defense du Levant latin, mais aussi A son rAle dans la societe occidentale. Les premiers articles s'interessent A la colonisation de Rhodes, aux conflits avec les Turcs et A la participation des membres de l'Ordre aux expeditions croisees. La question de savoir comment ils parvinrent A financer leurs exploits militaires reste toutefois importante; s'appuyant sur les resultats obtenus apres de nombreuses annees de recherches dans les archives de l'HApital, A Malte et en province, le Dr Luttrell examine leur administration des A (R)les rhodiennes et fait un compte-rendu qu'ils tirerent d'ailleurs, notamment de l'Ouest, que ce soit en terme de recrutement, de collecte de fonds ou d'exploitation de leurs terres. Une attention plus particuliere est portee sur