The presence and activities of the military order in Italy have been little studied, says Bellomo (medieval history, Rutgers U.), partly because of a scarcity of sources. She offers a general picture of Templars in the northwestern corner of the country from such perspectives as settlement strategies and types of houses, hierarchical organization, and relations with local society. Then she profiles Templar houses that are known to have existed during her time period, and unconfirmed houses. The study began as her 2001 Ph.D. dissertation for Universitá Cattolica-Milano. Annotation ©2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)