The Templars: The Dramatic History Of The Knights Templar, The Most Powerful Military Order Of The Crusades [Paperback]

Piers Paul Read (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 9, 2001

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: The Knights of the Temple of Solomon, called the Templars. In this engrossing and authoritative chronicle spanning three centuries, Piers Paul Read explores the Templars’ rise to political and financial power, their catastrophic fall, and their far-reaching legacy. Drawing on the most recent scholarship, discrediting the legends and myths that have long surrounded the order, he has written a remarkable history of these vaunted and feared warriors.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The Knights Templar remain the most glamorous, but also the most mysterious, of all religious organizations. Romanticized by Walter Scott in his novel Ivanhoe and by Wagner in his opera Parsifal, the Templars have been both celebrated as ascetic martyrs, dying for the greater good of Christianity, and condemned as deviant heretics, thieves, and sodomites who sold the Holy Land out to the Muslim Infidels. In his carefully researched study The Templars, the acclaimed novelist Piers Paul Read investigates the truth behind the myth. Placing his account of the rise of the Templars within a wider historical and political context, Read argues that "The Templars were a multinational force engaged in the defence of the Christian concept of a world order: and their demise marks the point when the pursuit of the common good within Christendom became subordinate to the interests of the nation state."

This approach takes Read back into the Dark Ages and the context for the first Christian Crusade, which culminated in the capture of Jerusalem in 1099. In an attempt to hold on to Jerusalem and one of the holiest sites in Christendom, the Temple of Solomon, the Templars were formed as a strict religious-military order, committed to poverty, chastity, and the protection of pilgrims en route to the Holy Land. Read charts their rise to political and financial power and influence throughout Europe and the Holy Land, and their bloody (and ultimately unsuccessful) conflict with the forces of Islam over the subsequent two centuries. Read's account is painstakingly recounted, but often lacks the verve and pace demanded by the colorful cast of characters, including Saladin and Richard the Lionheart. The best sections of the book deal with the shockingly cynical destruction of the Order by Pope Clement V and King Philip the Fair in 1312, preceded by the torture and death of hundreds of Templars who had already fought bravely for the cross in the Holy Land. The Templars are fascinating, but in his attempt to avoid the more colorful and conspiratorial stories associated with the Order, Read's book may strike some as a little turgid, despite its admirable historical detail. --Jerry Brotton, Amazon.co.uk --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

The Knights Templar are not very well known today; but many of those who know them consider them as a corrupt order of monks who administered a citadel in Jerusalem during the Crusades. Arguing that the Templars deserve a better reputation than this, Read's balanced study judiciously synthesizes the history of this important religious movement. Formed in the aftermath of the First Crusade, the Templars were members of a monastic order who helped protect Christian pilgrims in the Holy Land. Although similar to military orders like the Teutonic Knights and the Hospitalers, the Templars weren't, for the most part, warriors. When Christian forces held the Holy Land, most Templars aided them by managing the European estates that supported the military activities of the order. After the fall of the Crusader states, the Templars lost their military importanceAbut because their economic importance continued to grow, the pope and the king of France engineered their downfall through what Read considers to have been a miscarriage of justice. Templar leaders confessed, under torture, to all manner of sinful behavior and the order was destroyed. Best known for Alive (his best-selling account of cannibalistic survivors of a plane crash in the Andes), Read uses his keen eye for detail and facility with language to good effect here. Though he draws mostly from secondary sources, he enlivens his account with visual details; as he considers the larger political and religious significance of the Templars, he also describes the conditions of the monks' lives what they ate, where they lived, how they resisted sexual temptation, etc. But more compellingly, as he considers the rise and fall of this order Read tries to make their stories resonate in our own age (for instance, he notes that "the attitudes of many Muslims in the Middle East to the modern state of Israel is very like that of their ancestors to the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem)Aand he occasionally succeeds. (Sept.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press (October 9, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0306810719
• ISBN-13: 978-0306810718
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (73 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,453,362 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No frills history, November 29, 2000

By 

Daria Kelleher "Daria" (Kentucky USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Templars: The Dramatic History of the Knights Templar, the Most Powerful Military Order of the Crusades (Hardcover)

I have added this book to my personal library because it gives the history of the Knights Templar with clarity and precision. Reviewers who found it odd that the Templars weren't even mentioned until around page 90 overlooked the fact that it's difficult to just yank a story out of history without first giving some background. If you're looking for a more esoteric history that ties the Templars to things like the Shroud of Turin or the Holy Grail, you won't find it here. And, even though I enjoy reading those types of books, I still highly recommend this one. It's a no frills historical account.

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I'll have to disagree with the last review, October 11, 2000

By 

"countess-bathory" (Hurstville, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Templars: The Dramatic History of the Knights Templar, the Most Powerful Military Order of the Crusades (Hardcover)

I felt this book on the Knights Templar was very informative, especially since my knowledge prior to reading this book was far from extensive. This book explains the reasons for the Knights formation as a religious order, continues on through out the book with political, and structural issues. I feel that emphasis on the politics of the era is important as religion and politics were hardly distinguishable bureaucracies. My initial conflicting opinions on this religious order have been clarified to some extent since reading this book.

31 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Templar history or a short stroll through the Crusades???, January 3, 2001

By 

Gallowglass (Spokane) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Templars: The Dramatic History of the Knights Templar, the Most Powerful Military Order of the Crusades (Hardcover)

I was excited to read this book due to my interest in the history of the Templars, however I was very disappointed by the time I had finished. Although the book is well written, I would describe it more as an abridged history of the Crusades, followed by a few chapters about the destruction of the Templars, and topped off with a somewhat rambling concluding chapter that somehow ends up with a condemnation of the nation state!! Obviously some background history of the Crusades is necessary, but when the title of the book is "The Templars", the book should focus on how the Templars fit in with that history. I got the feeling when reading this book that the author had to remind himself to mention the Templars occasionally in the course of his descriptions of the Crusades!! My advise is to not bother with this book...spend the money on Sir Steven Runciman's History of the Crusades if you haven't already got it.