The Knights Templar and Their Myth [Paperback]

Peter Partner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1990

Bound by religious vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, the Knights Templar were a Military Crusading Order engaged in religious war in the Holy Land. At the end of the thirteenth century, after their withdrawal from Syria, they became the apparently innocent victims of a campaign of slander and persecution mounted against them by the French government.

The ruthless dissolution of the Knights Templar was only the beginning of a new and strange chapter in their history. They soon became the focus of numerous beliefs about their presumed occult powers, and by the eighteenth century their history had undergone a mythical metamorphosis--they figured highly in occult fantasies of magical practices and hidden knowledge as well as in the romance of the Gothic novel, with its frequent tales of monastic impropriety.

In this widely praised book, author Peter Partner elucidates the history of the Templars as well as the beliefs that have developed around them in more recent times. From the tangled traditions of occultism to concepts of crusading chivalry, from political conspiracy to governmental greed and papal corruption, Partner shows how a medieval act of political injustice grew into a modern fantasy.

Editorial Reviews

From Scientific American

Illuminating and very well written...enlightening and entertaining.

From The New Yorker

A systematic examination of the Knights Templar around whom such great magical myths have arisen... Partner has created a rational, terrifying picture of the barbaric times when popes were cruel and kings killed with impunity...Excellent work.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: Destiny Books; Revised ed. edition (May 1, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0892812737
• ISBN-13: 978-0892812738
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,575,115 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A brilliant historical look at the Templar Knights, January 28, 2003

By 

KNO2skull "kn02skull" (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Knights Templar and Their Myth (Paperback)

This book is not for anyone hoping to keep delusions about the Templar Knights. It does in places draw conclusions that are non-sequitur, but the history presented is factual according to reliable sources. As the author points out, it is possible that some of the crimes and 'heresies' attributed to the Templars could have been performed by some Templars, but it is unlikely that all of them performed the described rituals. The purported worship of 'Baphomet', for example, was probably created under the duress of torture. 'Baphomet' is the French word for Mohamad at the time, and the various descriptions given seem to be people searching for a way to stop being tortured. Did the Templars hold onto holy objects like the Ark of the Covenant, the Shroud of Turin, or the Holy Grail? These are questions that are not addressed in this book, except with an enduring scepticism. However, the author does leave room for possibilities. As a historically accurate depiction, it should preclude any such searches as a basis for knowledge. It is an interesting and factual look, with a fascinating plot.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Debunking the Myth of the 'Murdered Magicians', November 11, 2003

By 

Lee Freeman "lfreeman_histgen" (Florence, Al United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Knights Templar and Their Myth (Paperback)

Peter Partner's 'The Murdered Magicians: The Knights Templar and Their Myth' is a book no serious student of the Medieval crusading order of the Poor Knights of the Temple of Solomon should be without. For anyone whose knowledge of the Templars comes from the nonsense written by Baigent and Leigh in 'Holy Blood, Holy Grail' Partner's book is a must-read-but only if they are interested in historical fact and not the fantasies of the type offered under the guise of scholarship by popular authors like Baigent and Leigh.

The first part of the book deals with actual Templar history; the second half deals with the subsequent myths which developed around them. Partner does a good job of documenting how nineteenth century Masonic Lodges appropriated the Templar story in order to legitimize and provide an ancient pedigree for the Craft.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Very good, very specific., January 3, 2000

By 

E. Johnson "supertzar2069" (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Knights Templar and Their Myth (Paperback)

This is a very good little book requiring a great deal of rather obscure background knowledge to appreciate. The first half deals with the Knights Templar, from their conception in the aftermath of the first crusade to their utter destruction by inquisition after the loss of the final crusade two centuries later. The rest of the book explores how a strange mythology has grown around that extinct brotherhood; specifically how the rumors of hidden templar wealth and posession of secret knowledge has been integrated into the myth of Freemasonry.

To enjoy this book a substantial amount of background information is required. A somewhat throrough knowledge of the Crusades is reccomended; specifically Steven Runcimans Crusade Trilogy. The last half of the book would seem like a terribly confusing study in name dropping without some basic understanding of the Bavarian Illuminati, Freemasonry, or conspiracy theories in general. The paranoid diatribes of Robert Anton Wilson in his various Illuminatis Novels provide a nice foundation for this book to contrast against. Ironically, since these two schools of knowlege do not normally come together, this is a book written for an exceptionally small audience. It makes a facinating aside to students of the crusades, and an interesting counterpoint to the study of paranoid conspiracies.

Overall this is a very good book. Illustrating the most unlikely of Crusader legacies; the book should be read by those who enjoyed Runcimans work, but were dissapointed by his historical dead end conclusions regarding that bloody peiod in medieval history. It does loose a great deal of focus in the last few chapters, and with some more time devoted to fleshing out the authors argument it would have scored much higher than three stars. Unfortunately the reccomended background reading comprises roughly twenty three hundred pages of written material. I would very much enjoy a more detailed study of this subject matter.