by Dr Evelyn Lord
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by Karen Ralls
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by Susie Hodge
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Templars: History and Myth: From Solomon's Temple to the Freemasons by Michael Haag |
The Knights of the Holy Grail: The Secret History of the Knights Templar by Tim Wallace-Murphy |
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Amazon.co.uk Review
The Knights Templar remain the most glamorous, but also the most mysterious of all religious organisations. Romanticised by Walter Scott in his novel Ivanhoe and by Wagner in his opera Parsifal, the Templars have been both celebrated as ascetic martyrs, dying for the greater good of Christianity, and condemned as deviant heretics, thieves and sodomites who sold the Holy Land out to the Muslim Infidels. In his carefully researched study The Templars, the acclaimed novelist Piers Paul Read investigates the truth behind the myth. Placing his account of the rise of the Templars within a wider historical and political context, Read argues that "The Templars were a multinational force engaged in the defence of the Christian concept of a world order: and their demise marks the point when the pursuit of the common good within Christendom became subordinate to the interests of the nation state."
This approach takes Read back into the Dark Ages and the context for the first Christian Crusade that culminated in the capture of Jerusalem in 1099.In an attempt to hold on to Jerusalem and one of the holiest sites in Christendom, the Temple of Solomon, the Templars were formed as a strict religious-military order, committed to poverty, chastity and the protection of pilgrims en route to the Holy Land. Read charts their rise to political and financial power and influence throughout Europe and the Holy Land, and their bloody (and ultimately unsuccessful) conflict with the forces of Islam over the subsequent two centuries. Read's account is painstakingly recounted but often lacks the verve and pace demanded by the colourful cast of characters, including Saladin and Richard the Lionheart. The best sections of the book deal with the shockingly cynical destruction of the Order by Pope Clement V and King Philip the Fair in 1312, preceded by the torture and death of hundreds of Templars who had already fought bravely for the cross in the Holy Land. The Templars are fascinating but in his attempt to avoid the more colourful and conspiratorial stories associated with the Order, Read's book may strike some as a little turgid, despite its admirable historical detail. --Jerry Brotton
Product Description
The Knights of the Temple of Solomon were a military and religious order founded in Jerusalem by two French Knights after the First Crusade. Its original purpose was to protect pilgrims from infidel attack as they journeyed to the Holy Land. St Bernard of Clairvaux drew up the order's rules, which included fighting the enemies of God under vows of chastity, poverty and obedience. The Templars had no difficulty in finding recruits. The promise of salvation through a life of action and adventure attracted men who had no aptitude for the monastic life. Wearing their distinctive white tunics with a red cross over their chain mail, the Templars soon became an expert military force and a powerful, wealthy order. Their wealth would be their downfall. When the crusading forces were driven from Palestine, the Templars' main activity became banking, and their enormous landholdings and financial strength aroused hostility and envy. In 1307 Philip IV of France, in dire need of funds, charged the Templars with heresy and immorality. They were arrested, put on trial and confessions were extracted by torture. When the Templars' Grand Master and other leaders of the order retracted their forced confessions and declared their innocence and that of the order, Philip had them burned at the stake. Piers Paul Read tells their story in the context of the Middle Ages, a period of history in which high idealism and religious fervour were mixed with unusual cruelty, greed and ambition. The story of the Templars is exemplary of the extraordinary age through which they lived.
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On maps drawn on parchment in the Middle Ages, Jerusalem is shown at the centre of the world. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
On maps drawn on parchment in the Middle Ages, Jerusalem is shown at the centre of the world. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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