The ecclesiastical orders of chivalry were founded in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries
against the background of the Crusades & in the Holy Land on the Iberian Peninsula and in the
Baltic states. The orders soon received broad support and were able to spread throughout
Europe. While the Knights Templar were dissolved at the beginning of the fourteenth century and
the Iberian orders of chivalry were in effect secularized at the end of the fifteenth century
the orders of the Knights of St John (of Malta) and the Teutonic Order in particular continue
to exist today although in modified forms. The religious orders of chivalry combined the
opposing poles of secular warfare and spiritual life. Within this intricate balance and
focusing on overriding themes in a succinct and well-founded way Sarnowsky traces the
development of the chivalric orders from their beginnings to the present day.
