Dear Sylwia, Welcome to the list! (Have you passed the poetry-composition test yet?) On the Hospitallers--who, as you know, are often called the "Knights of Malta"--you might begin with Boleslaw B Szczesniak. The Knights Hospitallers in Poland and Lithuania. (The Hague: Mouton, 1969). There is a Polish volume I've come across and noted down in case anyone ever translates it (I cannot, alas, read Polish): Pawel Czerwinski, "Zakon Maltanski i stosunki jego z Polska na przestrzeni dziejow: szkie historyczny". ( Polski Osrodek Naukowy, 1964). The bibliography is quite extensive and includes many local studies, or studies bounded in time. Broader works include: E. D. S. Bradford, "The Shield and the Sword: The Knights of St. John, Jerusalem, Rhodes, and Malta. (New York, Dutton, 1973). H. J. A. Sire. The Knights of Malta. (New Haven : Yale University Press, 1996). J. S. C. Riley-Smith. "Hospitallers : The History of the Order of St. John. (London: Hambledon Press, 1999) There's a decent Catholic Encyclopedia article on the Hospitallers at http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07477a.htm, though on "the present state of the order" it's obviously dated. We actually have a chapter of the Knights here in little Richmond, Indiana. They have what friends tell me is a very nice meeting and drinking hall and give lots of money to children's hospitals and the missions. A fellow named Norman Redington, about whom I know nothing, has compiled a Website with some interesting bibliography and links: http://web.mit.edu/redingtn/www/ecole/ksj.html __________________________________ Patrick J. Nugent Earlham College Richmond, Indiana 47374 USA (765) 983-1413 [log in to unmask] __________________________________