Templars, Hospitallers and Teutonic Knights: Images of the Military Orders, 1128-1291 by Helen Nicholson (review)

780BOOK REVIEWS With the loss of the last Christian strongholds on the Levantine coast in 1291, theTemplars were, in the eyes of many, deprived oftheir raison d'être.Although they strove to continue their miUtary operations from Cyprus, they could no longer invoke their defense of the Holy Land to deflect criticism. In such circumstances, they were ill-equipped to defend themselves against the charges of heresy and moral corruption brought against them by Philip IV of France in 1307. Barber—whose The Trial of the Templars (Cambridge, 1978) remains the definitive study on the suppression of the Order—provides a concise analysis of the proceedings against the Order and its abolition, and concludes the book with a chapter on the literary and "pseudo-historical" legacy of the Temple. The New Knighthood is a welcome contribution to the scholarly Uterature on the Temple, and wiU long remain an essential work for anyone interested in the Order. William G Zajac University ofWales Swansea Templars, Hospitallers and Teutonic Knights: Images of the Military Orders, 1128-1291. By Helen Nicholson. (New York: Leicester University Press. Distributed in the United States and Canada by St. Martin's Press, NewYork. 1995. Pp. xvi, 207. $59.00 clothbound; $24.95 paperback.) The author begins by clearly stating her objectives and then sets out to accomplish them in a straightforward manner. The book is, as its title claims, a study of the images which the military reUgious orders evoked in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, that is, how they were viewed by various segments of society.After a general introduction, which sets forth the methodology and the types of sources employed, a brief chapter presents a chronological framework for studying contemporary attitudes toward the miUtary orders. The book is concerned with the three major orders, Templars, HospitaUers, and Teutonic Knights, inWestern Europe; Spain is excluded since it has aUeady been studied in detaU. A chapter deals with the attitudes of Christian rulers toward the orders , another with those of the clergy, and then those of various classes of the laity, as weU as those of non-Christians.A chapter treats of the representation of the orders in literary sources such as chronicle, epic, romance, and legend.Then the author considers the seU-image of the orders, what they thought of themselves and the image they sought to present.There is a brief chapter on the impUcation of the orders in the loss of Acre in 1291. Among other things, the conclusion notes—to nobody's surprise—that there was some praise for the orders and some criticism; the criticism grew stronger as time went on, especiaUy after 1250. This is foUowed by the notes, an extensive bibliography, and an index. BOOK REVIEWS781 This book originated as a doctoral dissertation at Leicester, in 1989, and has not divested itseUofthe characteristics ofthat genre.Although it seems,judging from the notes and the bibliography, that a great deal of research has gone into this volume, it has not been well digested and presented.The writing is repetitive and at times does not make much sense. The author's enthusiasm for the subject is very impressive, but her accuracy less so. One example can lead to a general conclusion, and the sources, including secondary literature, do not always accord with what she reports of them. There is an exceptionally high usage of such words as "probably," "likely," "apparently," and "perhaps." It is not clear that the author always understands the nature of the sources. On pages 58-60, for example, she compares five medieval cartularies with DelaviUe Ie Roulx's Cartulaire général de l'ordre des Hospitaliers without seeming to reaUze that the latter is not a medieval work but a modern compUation ofselected documents. All told, while this book contains a great deal of information on an interesting topic, it is an exceUent example ofwhy dissertations should not immediately be turned into published books. George T. Dennis, SJ. The Catholic University ofAmerica The Medieval Church in Scotland. By Ian B. Cowan. Edited by James Kirk. (Edinburgh : Scottish Academic Press. 1995. Pp. xv, 254.25.00) Co-ordinated scholarship has achieved a renaissance of Scottish historical studies: combined efforts...