The Knights Templars & the Key of Solomon the King

"The Knights Templars & The Key of Solomon The King" is as hinted at by the title in fact two books in one. The first half of the book (115 pages) discusses the history of the Knights Templar, and makes some deductions concerning their arcane practices based on information found in historical documents. This first half of the book is divided into six sections, with the addition of conclusion, notes and bibliography: >Introduction <br />>1. History <br />>2. The Persecution <br />>3. Templar Beliefs and Customs as Deduced from Their Confessions <br />>4. Ceremony of Admission Regulations Ritual and Symbolism <br />>5. Tales and Legends <br />>6. The Influence of the Order on Freemasonry and Modern Knights Templar <br />>Conclusion <br />>Notes <br />>Bibliography <br /> <br />I found the first half of "The Knights Templars & The Key of Solomon The King" to be well-written and the opinions of the author (A. Bothwell-Grosse) to be supported by the historical evidence contained in the text. <br /> <br />The author's main conclusions drawn from history are: (1) that "Freemasonry is connected with the ancient Knighthood of the Temple, but it is by a collateral not an ancestral tie;" and (2) "concerning the crimes attributed to the Order, it seems probable that there was a basis of truth... but it was a truth, perverted and misunderstood, distorted by the ignorance of uninitiated observers, who misinterpreted fragments of ritual that they could not comprehend, into profane or unseemly ceremonies, and who mistook the performance of symbolic ritual, intelligible only to the initiated, for acts of idolatry and murder." <br /> <br />For a student of the Ancient Order and the Templars, "The Knights Templars & The Key of Solomon The King" is a valuable reference. For someone who simply wants a look at the history of the Knights Templar in 115 pages, this book is recommended. <br /> <br />The second half of "The Knights Templars & The Key of Solomon The King" is the Key of Solomon, described as "The fountain-head and storehouse of Qabalistical Magic, and the origin of much of the Ceremonial Magic of medieval times..." The Key of Solomon is a grimoire or book on magic attributed to King Solomon (as several others were). The known copies originated in the Middle Ages and later, contains several paragraphs and terms inspired by Talmudic texts and the Jewish Qabalah teaching. The Key of Solomon was translated by Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers (1854 - 1918) a famous magician and one of the most influential figures in modern Occultism. He is primarily known as one of the founders of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. <br /> <br />In the second half of the book there is no mention of the Knights Templar, and whether the Templars practiced this form of Ceremonial Magic is truly anyone's guess. Perhaps some did, but then from history we know the in 1307 King Edward II of England declared that the Templars were "faithful to the purity of the Cat