The Knights Templars: God's Warriors, the Devil's Bankers

The history presented by this book is well documented. The author is careful to stay away from conspiracy theories, a pitfall of many authors who write about the Templars. The book is divided into two sections: The Holy Land and Europe, the two main areas of Templar influence. The author does well to describe the Templars' activities in these arenas. The author criticizes Charles Addison's History of the Knights Templar on many occaisions. He does so to point out that Addison's history is, at times, outdated. For example, Addison doesn't translate out of Latin, many of the more illicit crimes ascribed to the Knights Templar. Apparently such crimes as sodomy were too taboo to discuss in the 1800's when his work was published. This means that much of Addison's book is in Latin. The biggest problem with the book is the title. The author does not make the case for the Templars being "the Devil's bankers" anywhere in his work. He describes their banking and real estate enterprises but this doesn't justify such an ostentacious title. The title would appeal to conspiracy buffs, who would then read the book but be disappointed by the author's focus.

If you've wondered about the Knights Templars, who they were, what they did, and why they were important, this book will introduce you to them in a way that is fairly easy to understand without a bunch of confusing lineage tracing. From the Knights' endeavors to protect pilgrims in Palestine, to their more lucrative business endeavors in Europe, to their final hurrah tied to a burning stake, Frank Sanello takes you there. He shows how the Knights played a pivotal role in the Crusades, how they invented banking, and how royal greed can overcome most any obstacle. He also covers many of the myths surrounding not only their intiation rites and their beliefs, but also the myths surrounding their legendary wealth. Did they ever really have that much wealth? Where is it now? What about the Holy Grail and the Ark of the Covenant? While obviously nobody actually knows for sure about these things, Sanello does cover many of the theories regarding them.