The history of the Order of St John & The Hospitaller state on Rhodes and its western provinces, 1306-1462.(Review)

Hospitallers. The history of the Order of St John. By Jonathan Riley-Smith. Pp. vii + 152 incl. frontispiece and 100 colour and 75 black-and-white ills. London: Hambledon, 1999. [pound]19.95. 185285 1961; 185285 197 X

The Hospitaller state on Rhodes and its western provinces, 1306-1462. By Anthony Luttrell, (Collected Studies, 655.) Pp. x +340. Aldershot: Ashgate/Variorum, 1999. [pound]57.50. 0 86078 796 6.

Both of these books are by leading historians of the Hospitallers, but they differ markedly in character and purpose. Jonathan Riley-Smith's work is aimed at a general audience, and provides a good introduction to more than nine hundred years of …