Women, like men, joined the religious military orders that came about during the Crusades such as the Templars, Hospitallers, and Order of Santiago. This study looks deeper into female membership of these orders by placing the discussion of women in medieval military orders in the larger context of female monasticism. While all major religious military orders are taken into account, the focus of this study, and the brunt of new research, is on the female members of the Order of Saint John.

This study of the female members of the Order or Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem in the High Middle Ages analyses their presence in the context of female monasticism and compares their position to the position of women in other religious military orders. Introducing questions of gender into the history of the military orders.