Founded in 1080, the Knights Hospitaller of St. John and Malta was a militant order of monk-soldiers who alone outlasted the bloody centuries of the Crusades. Their last hundred years were spent as sovereigns of Malta, fighting Barbary pirates and policing the Mediterranean. Under their protection, Malta flourished, but the Knights themselves were softened by the years of relative stability and indolent living. When Napoleon invaded in 1798, the island fell easily and the Knights fled, powerless and depleted, to Russia. In riveting and colourful detail, The Last of the Crusaders tells the story of the decline of this once mighty order and of the island that was their final sanctuary.
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“Mr Cavaliero has a splendid tale to unfold and he tells it excellently. His colourful account of 'a worthy machine running down' is an unusual and Sitwellian piece of historical evocation.” --The Sunday Times
“The hundred years' story of the decline [of the Knights of St John and Malta] is told in detail and with authority… The Last of the Crusaders brings this era poignantly and accurately to life.” --The Times (UK)
“With scholarship and wit Roderick Cavaliero describes the decline and fall of the Knights of Malta.” --Daily Telegraph
“A splendid piece of history writing.. a great tale to tell..told splendidly. The Last of the Crusaders will continue to hold a cherished place on many a bookshelf.” -- The Sunday Times (Malta)
“Delightful...the author's modesty matches his erudition and wit. An absorbing and valuable book.” --The Tablet
About the Author
Roderick Cavaliero is a writer and historian, and author of Italia Romantica: English Romantics and Italian Freedom, Admiral Satan: The Life and Campaigns of the Bailli de Suffren, Independence of Brazil and Strangers in the Land: The Rise and Decline of the British Indian Empire, all published by I.B.Tauris.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
An Interesting Read,
This review is from: The Last of the Crusaders: The Knights of St. John and Malta in the Eighteenth Century (Paperback)
Cavaliero's The Last of the Crusaders was first published in 1960 so it is fairly old. Nonetheless it is still an essential reading for the Hospitaller's last century on Malta. Cavaliero, naturally writing in hindsight, presents the Knights' ousting from Malta in 1798 as long overdue; this makes for good reading but bad perspective. One gets the sense this is as much an elegy for the Hospitallers on Malta as it is a historical work. To Cavaliero's benefit, though, this is a subject that has received scant attention despite the general swell in popular interest in the military orders; he is to be credited with tackling this period of history with a kind of style other historians would be envious to achieve. In summation:Get this book? Yes. It is well worth it, despite its faults.
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