In studies on mobility in the middle ages, the military religious orders are often neglected or overlooked. However, these orders shared the characteristics of international mobility and networks of extensive geographical proportions with medieval merchants, Jews, pilgrims and, from the early thirteenth century, mendicant friars. The military religious orders, particularly the Templars and Hospitallers, depended on intense west–east contacts for the exchange of personnel, resources and monies.

International Mobility in the Military Orders is the first comprehensive exploration of this topic, bringing together studies on the Templars, Hospitallers, Teutonic Knights and the military religious orders of St Lazarus and of Avis. This collection of essays by seventeen authors from nine different countries highlights a variety of aspects of the military religious orders’ mobility, including the frequency and quality of journeys, the number and types of travellers involved, as well as the reasons for, and the impediments to, travel. The essays are divided into two categories: first, general aspects and individual cases, and secondly, regional studies. 

We thank the University of Wales Press for their permission to republish the Preface and Introduction, written by Alan Forey

Preface and Introduction (PDF file)

Table of Contents

I General Aspects And Individual Cases
2 The Templars’ and Hospitallers’ High Dignitaries: Aspects of International Mobility Jochen Burgtorf
3 The Mobilization of Hospitaller Manpower from Europe to the Holy Land in the Thirteenth Century Judith Bronstein
4 The Exchange of Information and Money between the Hospitallers of Rhodes and their European Priories in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries Theresa M. Vann
5 Hospitaller Brothers in Fifteenth-Century Rhodes Jürgen Sarnowsky
6 International Mobility in the Order of St Lazarus (Twelfth to Early Fourteenth Centuries) Kay Peter Jankrift
7 Between Barcelona and Cyprus: The Travels of Berenguer of Cardona, Templar Master of Aragon and Catalonia (1300–1) Alain Demurger
8 John Malkaw of Prussia: A Case of Individual Mobility in the Teutonic Order, c.1400 Axel Ehlers
II Regional Studies
9 International Mobility versus the Needs of the Realm: The Templars and Hospitallers in the British Isles in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries Helen Nicholson
10 Mobility of Templar Brothers and Dignitaries: The Case of North-Western Italy Elena Bellomo
11 The Mobility of Templars from Provence Christian Vogel
12 Templar Mobility in the Diocese of Limoges According to the Order’s Trial Records Jean-Marie Allard
13 Hospitaller Officials of Foreign Origin in the Hungarian-Slavonian Priory (Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries) Zsolt Hunyadi
14 Catalan Hospitallers in Rhodes in the First Half of the Fifteenth Century Pierre Bonneaud
15 Secure Base and Constraints of Mobility: The Rheno-Flemish Bailiwick of the Teutonic Knights between Regional Bonds and Service to the Grand Master in the Later Middle Ages Klaus Van Eickels
16 Lepers, Land and Loyalty: The Order of St Lazarus of Jerusalem in England and the Holy Land, c.1150–1300 David Marcombe
17 Internal Mobility in the Order of Avis (Twelfth to Fourteenth Centuries) Maria Cristina Cunha
18 Conclusion Jochen Burgtorf, Alan Forey And Helen Nicholson

Interested readers can purchase this book through the University of Wales Press website: http://www.uwp.co.uk