‘As the sun sees everything, so should the eye’: this was the guiding principle expounded in the 1588 Statutes of the Order of St John concerning management and control over its extensive urban and rural properties. In a similar way, this book seeks to provide its readers with the eyes through which to navigate a variegated Hospitaller landscape from Portugal to Italy and from Germany to Malta in the early modern period.

Priories, bailiwicks, foundations, and commanderies formed the power base of the institution, and the Order acted with local leaders and communities in a series of overlapping jurisdictions which led to both fruitful alliances and power struggles. The contributions in this book, by scholars from across diverse disciplinary and geographical borders, shed light on the archival sources and legal procedures, politics and diplomacy, social and financial aspects, as well as the landscape and architectural features of the Hospitaller network of properties. In so doing, they help to recompose a fragmented and often forgotten history forged in multicultural environments.

The Land and the Cross establishes a foundation for future scholarship and stimulates interdisciplinary collaboration to recover and protect a heritage that is today neglected, hidden, or abandoned. The book challenges readers in the field of Hospitaller studies and beyond to explore a wider world through the unique and original lens of the Order of St John.