Publications increasingly reveal the great interest attracted recently by military orders generally and those of the Iberian Peninsula, in particular. Enrique Rodríguez-Picavea's Los monjes guerreros en los reinos hispánicos synthesises comprehensively this rich historical writing on all the medieval military orders in the Iberian Peninsula. Although a synthesis, as defined by the author himself, its impressive historical and chronological range covers the military orders from their first establishment in the late eleventh century to the present. To permit a better grasp of the concept of military-religious orders, he does not confine himself to Iberian orders, the core of the book; he begins by setting the historical context in which these orders were first created in the Latin East. The author examines the ideology, functions and organisation of the Templars, Hospitallers and the Teutonic Knights, and glimpses the smaller orders, strictly speaking not all military, of St Lazarus, St Thomas of Acre and the Canons of the Holy Sepulchre. The expansion of the so-called ‘international’ orders, the Templars and the Hospitallers, in medieval Iberia was a first and influential step in the creation of local orders. Rodríguez-Picavea's coverage of these orders is comprehensive. He describes Calatrava, Santiago, Alcántara, Avís, Montesa and the Order of Christ and also pays considerable attention to smaller, often overlooked, orders and even to failed attempts to create new ones, for example the naval order of San Bartolomé. In each of his four main chapters (divided into twenty-five different topics) the author provides a clear description of their establishment, ideology, internal organisation and conventual life, the composition of their hosts, the military and socio-political role of their castles and their involvement in the war against Muslims and Christians. Additional functions, non-military, are also studied: their charitable activities and services to the poor and pilgrims, and the role of some of the orders in the redemption of captives. Because these roles were, as the author demonstrates, expensive and depended on the financial capabilities of the orders, their economic policies and the management of their assets have received special attention. Characteristic of the Iberian military orders was their close relations with the local rulers, who made them their military and political instrument; eventually they were nationalised by the crown in the fifteenth century. These changes were significant: the orders gradually abandoned their military character, becoming aristocratic institutions of social control, through which the ‘Limpieza de sangre y oficio’ (purity of blood/ancestry and profession) was guaranteed. As throughout the book, the author places this process in its historical context, providing important insights into the history of the military orders but also of medieval Iberian society generally. As the book also aims at a more general audience, the differences between a crusader and a member of a military order, and also relations among the orders, might have been emphasised more. These points notwithstanding, this is a well written, highly informative book, enriched with beautiful pictures and useful maps and tables. The methodical treatment of a wide range of topics and the vast bibliographical coverage, of modern works but also of primary sources, make Los monjes guerreros en los reinos hispánicos a valuable reference work for general readers, students and scholars.