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Review
"Undeniably the work of someone who knows and accepts the standards of critical history, but ... who sees the past also as an epic or a colourful spectacle"
--Professor David Knowles in The Times Literary Supplement
"His scholarship is great, his theme both interesting and largely unexplored and his judgment sound"
--Economist
"The book is excellent and firmly based on the primary sources of which Seward has a remarkable grasp."
--New Society
"Compulsive reading, attractively written, and retaining one's fascinated interest throughout"
--Catholic Herald
--Professor David Knowles in The Times Literary Supplement
"His scholarship is great, his theme both interesting and largely unexplored and his judgment sound"
--Economist
"The book is excellent and firmly based on the primary sources of which Seward has a remarkable grasp."
--New Society
"Compulsive reading, attractively written, and retaining one's fascinated interest throughout"
--Catholic Herald
Product Description
The Templars, the Hospitallers, the Tuetonic Knights and the Knights of the Spanish and Portuguese orders were ‘noblemen vowed to poverty, chastity and obedience, living a monastic life in convents which were at the same time barracks, waging war on the enemies of the Cross’. These military religious orders emerged during the Crusades as Christendom’s storm troopers in the savage conflict with Islam. Some of them still exist today, now devoted to charitable works.
'The Monks of War' is the first general history of these orders to have appeared since the eighteenth century. Writing in The Times Literary Supplement, Professor David Knowles described it as, ‘Undeniably the work of someone who knows and accepts the standards of critical history, but … who sees the past also as an epic or a colourful spectacle’.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Criticisms of 'patrician narrow-mindedness' are irrelevant to any review of this undoubtedly excellent book. Desmond Seward's accounts of the crusade are both exhilarating and novel as seen from the angle of the 'Monks of War' who were not themselves crusaders but played an important and underestimated role in the battle for the Holy Land.
The admiration that the author has for the Knights of Malta is understandable once the book has been brought to a conclusion and one begins to appreciate the, perhaps, surprising length of their survival and their incredible contribution to the history of the Mediterranean and the Holy Land together with their continuing medical and relief aid for the sick and for refugees worldwide.
Desmond Seward is not writing a book which aims to praise the merits of 'secular democracy', and for that we can be grateful.
The admiration that the author has for the Knights of Malta is understandable once the book has been brought to a conclusion and one begins to appreciate the, perhaps, surprising length of their survival and their incredible contribution to the history of the Mediterranean and the Holy Land together with their continuing medical and relief aid for the sick and for refugees worldwide.
Desmond Seward is not writing a book which aims to praise the merits of 'secular democracy', and for that we can be grateful.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I found this book excellent as an introduction to the various religious military orders that have existed and some of which still exist today.
It paints small yet descriptive picture of several different orders and it led to my readings on the Northern Crusades, the Templars and the Teutonic Knights.
10 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Looking at a small slice of history over 1000 years (1000 AC-present time) often gives a new perspective of the history. In the book The Monks of War, by Desmond Seward, the slice or historical string that the book revolves around are the monks that started the crusaides, the mechanisms, the politics and what became of these organsiations up until our days. It is a truly facinating story written with great insight into the history and in a way that makes the story come to life, exiting and almost thiller like. If someone ever wonders why Europe is not part of the Moslem world here is the reason!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Not so bad
In general it's not a bad book. It's quiet a good introductory text to military orders. I read many book about the Templars and the Hospitallers, so the information provided about... Read more
Published on 8 July 2008 by Maciej Kubat
A very good book - can't stand alone
This book is recommended to readers, who want to know about the templars, the hospitallers and the teutonic knights. Read more
Published on 28 Mar 2005 by Jan Eskildsen
Heavy history
Whilst I agree with the other reviewers in terms of the amount of useful information contained in this book I would not recommend it to a casual reader. Read more
Published on 9 April 2003 by WilburII
How Europe learned to colonialize the world
These Knights orders are the essential elements we need to understand the concept, the objectives and the methods of a Crusade.
They are monks following strict religious rules. Read more
Published on 15 Aug 2001 by Jacques COULARDEAU
scholarship clouded by religious and political prejudice
I'm undertaking postgrad research on monasticism in medieval England. I found much of interest in this book, particularly the early chapters on the foundation of the orders and... Read more
Published on 6 Jan 2001
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