Still, there's going to be very little out there for a better one-volume history of the Order. There's some justice to this view, thanks to the larger context of the time, but it is an example of where the blinders are. The Knights' attacks on Muslim shipping are presented as part of the defense Europe instead of just part of a cycle of violence on the Mediterranean. John, and takes a positive view of their activities throughout. The Shield and the Sword was certainly written with the cooperation of the Order of St. It reminds me very much of the end of Norwich's Venice, where a proud, independent state just can't manage much more than some hand-wringing in the face of a historical force of nature. This isn't too surprising, considering its a lighter book, and it has a long time span to cover, but is still slightly disappointing.Ī very interesting bit is the fall of Malta to Napoleon. The book stays with the 'active' part of the order, and doesn't go much into the workings of its European connections, the properties they administered there (and how that changed over the centuries), and recruitment of new members. Sadly, Rhodes does not get the same amount of attention on that subject, but there is some discussion. And while the centerpiece of the later history is what you'd expect the (the Siege of Malta in 1565), there's a very useful discussion of how they came to Malta, and problems of time and money when applied to fortifying the island.
In fact, this book is very informative about their time on Rhodes. And unlike Dan Jones' The Templars, it has the bonus that you won't find all of this in any one other place about a broader subject. Okay, overall, it is by no means a bad overview of the history of the Hospitallers.
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