The Templars: The Dramatic History of the Knights Templar, the Most Powerful Military Order of the Crusades

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In 1099, the city of Jerusalem, a possession of the Islamic Caliphate for over four-hundred years, fell to an army of European knights intent on restoring the Cross to the Holy Lands. From the ranks of these holy warriors emerged an order of monks trained in both scripture and the military arts, an order that would protect and administer Christendom's prized conquest for almost a century: the Knights of the Temple of Solomon, or the Templars. In this articulate and engaging history, Piers Paul Read explores the rise, the catastrophic fall, and the far-reaching legacy of these knights who took, and briefly held, the most bitterly contested citadel in the monotheistic West. Drawing on the most recent scholarship, and writing with authority and candor, Read chronicles the history of the blood-splattered monks who still infiltrate modernity in literature, as the inspiration for secret societies, and in the backyard fantasies of any child with access to a stick and a garbage can lid. More than armed holy men, the Templars also represented the first uniformed standing army in the Western world. Sustaining their military order required vast sums of money, and, to that end, a powerful multinational corporation formed. The prosperity that European financiers enjoyed, from the efficient management of Levantine possessions and from pioneering developments in the field of international banking, would help jump-start Europe's long-slumbering Dark Age economy. In 1307, the French king, Philip IV, expropriated Templar lands, unleashing a wave of repression that would crest five years later. After Templar leaders broke down and confessed, under torture, to blasphemy, heresy, and sodomy, Pope Clement V suppressed the Order in 1312. Was it guilty as charged? And what relevance has the story to our own times? In this remarkable history, Piers Paul Read explores the Crusades and the individual biographies of the many colorful characters that fought them. Title Page Copyright Notice Acknowledgements Maps Preface Part One: The Temple 1: The Temple of Solomon 2: The New Temple 3: The Rival Temple 4: The Temple Regained Part Two: The Templars 5: The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Jesus Christ 6: The Templars in Palestine 7: Outremer 8: Saladin 9: Richard the Lionheart 10: The Enemies Within 11: Frederick of Hohenstaufen 12: The Kingdom of Acre 13: Louis of France 14: The Fall of Acre Part Three: The Fall of the Templars 15: The Temple in Exile 16: The Temple Assaulted 17: The Temple Destroyed Epilogue: The Verdict of History Appendices The Later Crusades Grand Masters of the Temple Bibliography Index Also by Piers Paul Read Copyright