In 1099, the city of Jerusalem, a possession of the Islamic caliphate for over four hundred years, fell to an army of Christian knights intent on liberating the city from Islamic rule. From the ranks of these holy warriors emerged an order of monks trained in both scripture...
Praised for their asceticism, chastity and uncompromising defense of Christianity, reviled as heretics, sodomites and traitors can sell the Holy Land to Muslim infidels, inspired the creative genius of Wagner from Parsifal and Walter Scott in Ivanhoe, the Knights Templar formed...
Drawing on the most recent scholarship, this account evaluates the legends and myths that have long surrounded the order of the Knights of the Templar. In 1099, the city of Jerusalem fell to an army of European knights intent on restoring the cross to the holy lands. From the...