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A Brief History of the Knights Templar.
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I’m an associate professor in medieval history at Nottingham Trent University. My interest in the military orders began over twenty years ago with a very simple question – why? Jesus’ teaching to my mind clearly does not condone the use of lethal violence, so how did medieval Christians come to think that holy war warfare could ever be acceptable in the eyes of God? From this underlying question (which I still don’t feel I’ve satisfactorily answered!) emerged a curiosity about the military orders, who so epitomized crusading ideology. I began to ask wider questions such as: who supported the orders? How did they view people of other faiths? Why were the Templars put on Trial?
Jonathan Riley-Smith researched the Hospitaller order for many decades and his work is rightly regarded as a crucial point of reference for the order’s history. This book is amongst his finest achievements—a truly outstanding history of the Knights Hospitaller and their activities in the Levant from the eleventh to the early fourteenth century. It provides a lucid and succinct survey of the order’s hierarchies, vocations and actions.
As one of the greatest of the military orders that were generated in the Church, the Order of the Hospital of St John was a major landowner and a significant political presence in most European states. It was also a leading player in the settlements established in the Levant in the wake of the crusades. It survives today. In this source-based and up-to-date account of its activities and internal history in the first two centuries of its existence, attention is particularly paid to the lives of the brothers and sisters who made up its membership and were professed religious. Themes…
Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!
On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…
I’m an associate professor in medieval history at Nottingham Trent University. My interest in the military orders began over twenty years ago with a very simple question – why? Jesus’ teaching to my mind clearly does not condone the use of lethal violence, so how did medieval Christians come to think that holy war warfare could ever be acceptable in the eyes of God? From this underlying question (which I still don’t feel I’ve satisfactorily answered!) emerged a curiosity about the military orders, who so epitomized crusading ideology. I began to ask wider questions such as: who supported the orders? How did they view people of other faiths? Why were the Templars put on Trial?
Arguably the most famous event in the Templars’ history was their trial in the early fourteenth century, when King Philip IV of France levelled an array of charges against the order—most notably the accusation of heresy. Malcolm Barber’s The Trial of the Templarsworks through the events of the Templar Trial in granular detail, offering a deep and thought-provoking history of the event itself and the wider developments and powerful agendas which shaped its course.
Malcolm Barber's classic The Trial of the Templars recounts the dramatic demise of this elite military force in the fourteenth century. Having fought against Islam in the crusades in the East for nearly two centuries, in October 1307 the members of this respected Order were arrested on the order of Philip IV, King of France and charged with serious heresies, including homosexuality and the denial of Christ. Finding resonances between the fourteenth-century trial and contemporary events, Barber's classic account endeavours to tackle the unresolved controversies surrounding the consequences of the trial and includes discussions in the context of new work…
I’m an associate professor in medieval history at Nottingham Trent University. My interest in the military orders began over twenty years ago with a very simple question – why? Jesus’ teaching to my mind clearly does not condone the use of lethal violence, so how did medieval Christians come to think that holy war warfare could ever be acceptable in the eyes of God? From this underlying question (which I still don’t feel I’ve satisfactorily answered!) emerged a curiosity about the military orders, who so epitomized crusading ideology. I began to ask wider questions such as: who supported the orders? How did they view people of other faiths? Why were the Templars put on Trial?
The Templars and the medieval military orders are well known to have been enthusiastic castle builders, creating many massive fortifications across the Crusader States during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Nevertheless, their building activities extended far beyond the creation of strongholds. Whole regions lay under their dominion and they constructed many other structures including chapels, townhouses, mills, and workshops. This fascinating book explores the archaeological remains of the military orders, demonstrating their impact on the broader landscape of the Near East. It also examines the surviving objects they used in their everyday life, such as tableware and seals.
Including previously unpublished and little known material, this cutting-edge book presents a detailed discussion of the archaeological evidence of the five military orders in the Latin East:
the Hospitallers the Templars the Teutonic Knights the Leper Knights of St Lazarus the Knights of St Thomas.
Discussing in detail the distinctive architecture relating to their various undertakings (such as hospitals in Jerusalem and Acre) Adrian Boas places emphasis on the importance of the Military Orders in the development of military architecture in the Middle Ages. The three principal sections of the book consist of chapters relating to the urban…
The Year Mrs. Cooper Got Out More
by
Meredith Marple,
The coastal tourist town of Great Wharf, Maine, boasts a crime rate so low you might suspect someone’s lying.
Nevertheless, jobless empty nester Mallory Cooper has become increasingly reclusive and fearful. Careful to keep the red wine handy and loath to leave the house, Mallory misses her happier self—and so…
I’m an associate professor in medieval history at Nottingham Trent University. My interest in the military orders began over twenty years ago with a very simple question – why? Jesus’ teaching to my mind clearly does not condone the use of lethal violence, so how did medieval Christians come to think that holy war warfare could ever be acceptable in the eyes of God? From this underlying question (which I still don’t feel I’ve satisfactorily answered!) emerged a curiosity about the military orders, who so epitomized crusading ideology. I began to ask wider questions such as: who supported the orders? How did they view people of other faiths? Why were the Templars put on Trial?
The Templars are generally remembered as fighters and castle builders, yet their activities along the frontier depended heavily on the order’s huge support infrastructure across Western Christendom. Networks consisting of hundreds of estates spanning many countries dispatched vast quantities of cash and resources—as well as recruits and other supporters—to the Templars’ outposts in the Holy Land on an annual basis. In Templar Families, Jochen Schenkinvestigates these networks focusing especially on the relationships that developed between the order’s officers governing their landholdings in France and the many local families whose support enabled the order to function.
Founded in c.1120, in the aftermath of the First Crusade in Jerusalem, the Order of the Temple was a Christian brotherhood dedicated to the military protection of pilgrims and the Holy Land, attracting followers and supporters throughout Christian Europe. This detailed study explores the close relationship between the Order of the Temple and the landowning families it relied upon for support. Focussing on the regions of Burgundy, Champagne and Languedoc, Jochen Schenk investigates the religious expectations that guided noble and knightly families to found and support Templar communities in the European provinces, and examines the social dynamics and mechanisms that…
I've been fascinated by medieval history ever since I played hide and seek around Welsh castles as a boy. At university – a medieval invention, of course – I was able to sit at the feet of some of the finest historians of the Middle Ages, experts like Maurice Keen and Patrick Wormald. As a writer, I have tackled medieval subjects like Alfred the Great and Richard III, as well as the history of English rebellion. I have come to realise that the Middle Ages could be cruel and violent, just like our own time, but that they were also a time of extraordinary achievements that form the foundations of the world we live in.
I blame Dan Brown, but mention the Templars and you are usually met with a glazed look, as if you’re about to share your favourite conspiracy theory. William Watson’s book is a class, if not a universe, apart from Brown and co. It is an almost unbearably vivid re-creation of the world of the crusader kingdoms, and the corruption at the heart of Europe that first sustained and then destroyed their knightly protectors. In spare, unshowy prose, Watson demonstrates the darker side of the Middle Ages, in all its forbidding glory.
In the chaotic aftermath of the fall of Acre in 1291 and the reconquest of the Holy Land by the Moslems, the last survivors of the Order of the Temple make their bloody retreat from the Middle East. Loading the treasure of their Order into a decrepit, leaky vessel, they set sail for Europe, where, unbeknownst to them, King Philip of France plots their destruction. Among their number is Beltran, a native of the Holy Land, who has led the life of a soldier-monk for the past thirty years. World-weary yet incorruptible, Beltran is guardian both of the treasure and…
I became fascinated by history when, as a child, I visited the Coliseum in Rome; my father told me, “This is where they fed the Christians to the lions.” That awakened my curiosity for people of the past, and I went on to earn an undergraduate degree and a PhD in history at the Universities of Michigan and Hamburg respectively. My interest in the crusades was ignited by the enormous disconnect between popular perceptions and historical reality, and I have published two nonfiction books on the Crusader States, as well as seven novels set in the era of the crusades. The Knights Templar were an important component of my research.
Regina Pernoud is one of my favorite scholars on the Middle Ages generally. Her books, Those Terrible Middle Ages: Debunking the Myths, and Women in the Days of the Cathedrals, are witty and well-aimed attacks against ignorance and prejudice.
In this book on the Knights Templar, she takes on with verve the many myths and misconceptions about the Templars. I particularly loved her analysis of Templar architecture, which starts with looking at the more than 9,000 Templar commanderies across Western Europe and their humble agricultural character.
Her chapter on the Templars’ banking activities is really more a dissection of the myth about Templar wealth and is completely compelling. All in all, this is a book that brings you back to reality and away from the silly conspiracy theories that still dominate so much literature about the Templars.
For centuries, historians and novelists have portrayed the Knights Templar as avaricious and power-hungry villains. Who were these medieval monastic knights, whose exploits were the stuff of legend even in their own day? Were these elite crusaders corrupted by their conquests, which amassed them such power and wealth as to become the envy of kings?
Indignant at the discrepancies between the fantasies, on which "writers on history of every kind and hue have indulged themselves without restraint", and the available evidence, RTgine Pernoud draws a different portrait of these Christian warriors. From their origins as defenders of pilgrims to the…
Palmer Lind, recovering from the sudden death of her husband, embarks on a bird-watching trek to the Gulf Coast of Florida. One hot day on Leffis Key, she comes upon—not the life bird she was hoping for—but a floating corpse. The handsome beach bum who appears on the scene at…
I became fascinated by history when, as a child, I visited the Coliseum in Rome; my father told me, “This is where they fed the Christians to the lions.” That awakened my curiosity for people of the past, and I went on to earn an undergraduate degree and a PhD in history at the Universities of Michigan and Hamburg respectively. My interest in the crusades was ignited by the enormous disconnect between popular perceptions and historical reality, and I have published two nonfiction books on the Crusader States, as well as seven novels set in the era of the crusades. The Knights Templar were an important component of my research.
A picture is worth a thousand words! History books are filled with text and lots of footnotes and bibliographies, but so much of what is written can be boiled down or better explained by good pictures. And that’s what Nicholson has done in this book.
To supplement her concise and factual text (she’s a leading scholar on the topic of the Military Orders), she’s collected hundreds of images that illustrate the Templars—their castles and manors, their churches, their seals. She also provides colorful depictions of them from medieval sources, both frescoes and illuminated manuscripts. This book evokes the Templars and their lifestyle in a way that other books don’t even try. I love it!
Much has been written about the Knights Templar in recent years, most of it highly speculative and with no historical foundation. They have been associated with everything from Freemasonry to the Holy Grail, the pyramids, the Shroud of Turin and space travel. A leading specialist in the history of this legendary medieval order now writes a full account of the knights of the Order of the Temple of Solomon, to give them their full title, bringing the latest findings to a general audience. There is no other accurate popular history of the Templars currently available aimed at a general audience.…
As my father was a keen amateur historian, family holidays always involved visits to medieval castles, abbeys, and Roman antiquities, but it wasn’t until I’d finished a University history degree and started training as an accountant that I encountered the Templars. Reading a primary source from the Third Crusade, I found the medieval author praised the Templars – yet few modern histories mentioned them, or, if they did mention the Templars, they claimed they were unpopular. My curiosity led me to undertake a PhD on medieval attitudes towards the Templars, Hospitallers, and Teutonic Knights, and eventually to a university post and a professional career in medieval history, writing history books focused on primary sources.
The obvious best guide to the historical Templars is the regulations that they produced for their own use. This book is a reliable English translation of those regulations.
Of course these regulations only tell us what the leaders of the Order of the Temple believed that the brothers should be doing, not necessarily what they actually did do, day by day – but they give us an insight into the brothers’ ideals and what their purpose.
The regulations also include many examples of when things didn’t go as planned and what the brothers did about it, allowing us a glimpse of the problems and challenges the brothers encountered defending the crusader states.
Both monastic rule and military manual, the Rule is a unique document and an important historical source.
The Order of the Knights Templar, whose original purpose was to protect pilgrims to the Holy Land, was first given its own Rule in 1129, formalising the exceptional combination of soldier and monk. This translation of Henri de Curzon's 1886 edition of the French Rule is derived from the three extant medieval manuscripts. Both monastic rule and military manual, the Rule is a unique document and an important historical source. It comprises thePrimitive Rule, Hierarchical Statutes, Penances, Conventual Life, the Holding of Ordinary…
I became fascinated by history when, as a child, I visited the Coliseum in Rome; my father told me, “This is where they fed the Christians to the lions.” That awakened my curiosity for people of the past, and I went on to earn an undergraduate degree and a PhD in history at the Universities of Michigan and Hamburg respectively. My interest in the crusades was ignited by the enormous disconnect between popular perceptions and historical reality, and I have published two nonfiction books on the Crusader States, as well as seven novels set in the era of the crusades. The Knights Templar were an important component of my research.
What I found so exciting about this book is that it focuses on the vast majority of Templars who were not fighting men at all. Furthermore, it depicts the Templar's monastic and communal life. This is an aspect of Templar life that many novelists appear never to have heard about.
I particularly enjoyed the detailed look at recruiting and demographics, and as a novelist, Nicholson’s discussion of career paths was helpful. Yet it was the degree of integration in local communities that was perhaps most surprising to me. I wish that no one would write a novel featuring Templars without first grasping the essence of this book: that the vast majority of Templars lived out their lives like humble monks working on farms and praying far from the ‘glamour’ attached to their fighting brethren in the Holy Land.
The Knights Templar did not write about themselves, or keep diaries, so you would be forgiven for thinking there would not be much to know about their everyday lives. However, the records of the Templars' estates tell us how they lived—from the buildings they lived in and their furnishings, to the books and ornaments in their chapels, and their clothes and crockery. These early fourteenth-century records tell us about the men and women who worked for the Templars on their lands and in their houses, their tenants, and the people who owed them money. We can see what animals they…
We are all surrounded by darkness. And we are all drawn to the light.
The Orkney Islands north of Scotland are steeped in stories of selkies, seal folk who swim in cold ocean waters and shed their skins to sing and dance on land.
As my father was a keen amateur historian, family holidays always involved visits to medieval castles, abbeys, and Roman antiquities, but it wasn’t until I’d finished a University history degree and started training as an accountant that I encountered the Templars. Reading a primary source from the Third Crusade, I found the medieval author praised the Templars – yet few modern histories mentioned them, or, if they did mention the Templars, they claimed they were unpopular. My curiosity led me to undertake a PhD on medieval attitudes towards the Templars, Hospitallers, and Teutonic Knights, and eventually to a university post and a professional career in medieval history, writing history books focused on primary sources.
This is a detailed study of what life would have been like at the Templars’ commandery at Temple Balsall in Warwickshire.
Its author, Eileen Gooder, was a leading scholar in local history and an expert on the Templars in England. The book is based on her unparalleled knowledge of the inventories that King Edward II of England ordered to be made of the Templars’ estates when the Templars were arrested in England in 1308 and the accounts kept by the royal officials who ran those estates until 1313.
Gooder also reconstructed the trial proceedings against the Balsall Templars and what became of them, and their English brethren, after the trial. This is an excellent, short, readable, and reliable introduction to the Templars’ lives in Europe.
